Speechwriter & Speaker Coach
I've always loved words. As a kid, I was a ferocious reader of biographies. People fascinated me. I loved their stories. That's how my fascination with telling people's stories began. In middle school, I even started shaping stories of fictional people doing amazing things.
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This lead to my first political campaign where I worked as a field organizer responsible for the logistics of campaign rallies: think porta potties and city permits. One day, my candidate needed spoken remarks and I was enlisted as a speechwriter. I haven't looked back.
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While I haven't worked in politics for a long time, I've always continued to coach and write for speakers. I love the craft of speechwriting so much, I got my Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Indiana University Bloomington. I've written speeches for people you know and I've studied the great speeches throughout history.
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While a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, I directed TEDxCU. Working with each speaker reminded me how much I love helping leaders tell their story.
A coach is a teacher who knows how to pull the best out of you. I've studied the greatest communicators and learned how to pull the best out of people of all abilities and experience levels. When you put these three things together (speechwriter, coach, and academic study), I am a bit of a unicorn because I know what to do, why you need to do it, and how to make it happen. make
I don't write off-the-shelf speeches. These are speeches where you give the writer a topic and out pops a speech.
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I only write my speeches for people who have something to say. They only want to speak about something that exists at the sweet spot of their experience, expertise, and knowledge. And, every single person I work with wants to transform their purpose into impact.
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The only way we can do this is if the speech is authentically you. Your ideas are the foundation.
Your story's the spark. I just build the fireworks.