What is one of the first things you notice when you see a beautiful woman? Her hair? Her clothing? Her jewelry?

I notice posture.  It’s true! I notice her movements and how she carries herself. But, it’s not just about looking feminine and feeling elegant–these are important, don’t get me wrong—it’s about a simple anatomic fact: posture and breathing are intricately connected.

Try this. Sit down and bend over your legs, letting your arms hang down to the floor.  Now, take a deep breath in. It’s a bit difficult, isn’t it?  While this little exercise is an extreme example of how our muscles and tendons can get overly restricted and cause a lessening of depth and ease in breathing, it does serve as an easy example that the abdominal muscles need sufficient space to move as they’re designed in order for us to breathe freely and effectively.  Poor posture restricts the movement (rise and fall) of your diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle that sits at the base of your lungs. Changing your voice requires careful attention and some significant changes to your posture.

Good posture = Good breathing

AND

Good posture = Good breathing = Good Voice

Proper posture leads to proper breath flow.

In this step, posture, Kathe provides some historical perspective about why appropriate posture is important and discusses two of early pioneers in this area, F.M. Alexander and M. Feldenkrais. Kathe walks you through two exercise routines and encourages you be mindful of how you move your space in space.

Awareness or mindfulness (I like the concept of metacognition) precedes and underlies all change!

Exceptional Voice, Inc., a woman and minority owned company located in Denver, Colorado and Falstaff, AZ. As a certified Speech-Language Pathologist, Kathe Perez has been working in the field since 1986 and has helped thousands of people gain power and confidence in the way they speak. Melissa Kurrle joined the Exceptional Voice team some years ago as an intern and now she will be joining our team as a certified speech-language pathologist. Shereceived her Master of Arts degree in 2017 from University of Kansas, one of the top ranking speech-language pathology schools in the nation, in Lawrence, Kansas.

 Kathe Perez & Melissa Kurrle

www.exceptionalvoice.com

www.podcast.exceptionalvoice.com

[email protected]

303-722-2181

We set goals for ourselves all the time. But many of us fall short of our desired target.  So, what isthe secret behind those who succeed versus those who don’t?  It may be that our own personality traits, like a healthy heaping of stick-to-it-tiveness, are an important part of our success formula. That’s why this episode is an interview with Stephanie, a gal I’ve worked with on and off over the years. She has achieved a voice that pleases her and meets her needs, and you can, too!

Don’t be like Coop. There is no rescue party.  You are it!

 Kathe Perez & Melissa Kurrle

www.exceptionalvoice.com

www.podcast.exceptionalvoice.com

[email protected]

303-722-2181

Exceptional Voice, Inc., a woman and minority owned company located in Denver, Colorado and Falstaff, AZ. As a certified Speech-Language Pathologist, Kathe Perez has been working in the field since 1986 and has helped thousands of people gain power and confidence in the way they speak. Melissa Kurrle joined the Exceptional Voice team some years ago as an intern and is at our Flagstaff location. Shereceived her Master of Arts degree in 2017 from University of Kansas, one of the top ranking speech-language pathology schools in the nation, in Lawrence, Kansas.

We do what we do in large part because we are in the habit of doing so and something in our personalities and our environments conspire to make it so.

We change when we need to.

In reporting on her research in her book Grit, Dr. Duckworth shares a variety of grit vignettes. Two stories that describe habituated behaviors standout–a toddler’s potty training and a teen’s tardiness problem. These habits only changed when external forces (peer pressure and job performance expectations) were acted upon them. In order words, cultural and environmental factors motivated these two children to immediately change their behavior.

What if, you created an environment that was so strongly motivating that you no longer allowed yourself to speak in that “former” voice? What if, your goal for changing your voice was so important to you that you never wavered in your pursuit of its achievement.

If it’s true, and Dr. Duckworth’s research supports this notion, that we get grittier as we get older, then with each passing day, your passion and perseverance can grow if you follow some specific steps about practice.

Grit is the pursuit of long-term goals with passion and perseverance.

The intent of this podcast is to help you understand that you can change the way you think about practice, and achieve better results thereby putting you are the right course so that you reach your destination.

In this podcast, we’ll review, Dr. Duckworth’s research on practice and outline some steps you can take to become grittier!

We tend to get grittier as we get older.

By subscribing to the Exceptional Voice Podcast, you’ll be notified of new episodes as they become available.   We’d love it if you would provide your positive review in iTunes. These reviews greatly increase the traffic to this site and help us share our knowledge and experience with others.

Be exceptional!

Kathe Perez

www.exceptionalvoice.com

[email protected]

866.4.my.voice

If there were an instant, foolproof way to create a feminine voice, don’t you imagine that with all your internet searches, time and energy you would have found it by now?

It is richly intuitive that perseverance is part of the formula for success. Then why hasn’t your hard work paid off? Why are you still unhappy with your voice?

Grit = passion & persistence for very long-term goals.

Perseverance is only a part of the equation. Kathe shares her recent find of this gold mine of information expertly presented by Angela Duckworth, PhD in the Hidden Brain podcast and in her best selling book Grit.

To listen for yourself to the original podcast that inspired Kathe.

The Hidden Brain Podcast is hosted by Shankar Vedantam and produced by Kara McGuirk-Alison, Maggie Penman and Max Nesterak.

Kathe Perez

www.exceptionalvoice.com

[email protected]

866.4.my.voice

From schools and healthcare to immigration and identification, policies affecting trans people are advancing every day. However, we are still quite a far distance from trans people living equally and fairly under the law as compared to their cis-gender peers.

Kathe and Brynn discuss existing laws and policies, and how we might inform ourselves to effectively advocate, thus helping to improve the lives of transgender people.

In 2011, NCTE and the National LGBTQ Task Force released the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. This was the largest study ever conducted, with over 6,400 transgender and gender non-conforming people participating.  The results showed that 63% of these participants had experienced significant acts of discrimination. The impact of this high frequency of discrimination has far-reaching negative effects on trans people’s quality of life and ability to sustain themselves financially or emotionally.

Participants reported that they had faced:

This podcast was adapted from a video interview. CLICK HERE to see the video.

Would you agree that health care is a right, not a privilege?

The transgender community has experienced significant societal recognition in the last few years. Dramatic and reality TV shows have hit the small screen with huge ratings and viewership. Celebrities have come-out as trans. The Obama Administration has put measures in place prohibiting discrimination against transgender federal employees. Our president also named the first openly transgender political appointee, and he was the first president to use the word “transgender” in a speech.

Just a few years ago, the GLAAD/Harris Interactive poll reported that only 8% of Americans say they personally know someone who is transgender. Since all the current positive and not so positive news stories that have exploded onto news channels and social media, and since Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out last year, hardly a day goes by where we don’t hear a story about a transgender person.

In a 2015 HRC (Human Rights Campaign) survey, 66 percent of people who said they know a transgender individual expressed favorable feelings toward them—compared with 13 percent of people who don’t have trans friends, co-workers, or family members.

Yet, supportive, caring and knowledgeable health care systems still lack a basic understanding what it means to be transgender, what gender dysphoria really is and how it is NOT a mental illness. Transgender people are NOT getting the care they need.

Kelley Winters chats with Kathe Perez about WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) 2011 Standard’s of Care, about the updated ICD -10 codes (medical diagnostic coding), DSCM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders changes, and trans children and youth.

This podcast was adapted from a video interview. CLICK HERE to see the video.

By subscribing to the Exceptional Voice Podcast, you’ll be notified of new episodes as they become available.   It would help us if you provide your review of in iTunes; it will greatly increase the traffic to this site and help us share our knowledge and experience with others.

Kathe Perez

www.exceptionalvoice.com

[email protected]

866.4.my.voice

Confidence in ourselves can mean a world of difference between a woman who is able to live her dreams and one who is not. One of the ways we develop confidence and a strong sense of ourselves is to have a support network. We, as women, need a solid foundation upon which to stand. Who are the women that make up your base? Mentoring is essential in helping you push aside that negative self-talk and replace with a strong focus on the woman you really are. Who are your mentors and role models?

In this podcast, Kathe and her two daughters, Shannon and Meghann share how they define themselves as powerful women and how they express their power in the world.

www.exceptionalvoice.com

866.4.my.voice

Kathe Perez

In Exceptional Voice’s second podcast, our host Melissa Kurrle looks at the key elements that are found in powerful voices and how we can maintian our power without sacrificing our femininity.

To read the All Things Considered story mentioned, CLICK HERE to go to the story.

www.exceptionalvoice.com

866.4.my.voice

Kathe Perez

Melissa Kurrle is a member of our Exceptional Voice team and will be hosting our podcasts.  The first podcast – You are your own perfect snowflake is authored by Kathe Perez, Speech-Language Pathologist and co-creator of Eva, the world’s first transgender voice training mobile app.

www.exceptionalvoice.com

866.4.my.voice