Transformational Pathways

HIGHLIGHTS

• Toastmasters is a very diverse group 
• Getting welcomed with open arms 
• From New Jersey to New York club
• The youth of today are the elders of tomorrow
• Introducing the Youth Leadership Program
• Shaping the future one youth at a time

QUOTES

Jahnavi: “While you're here in Toastmasters, you can make mistakes. Because in the real world, mistakes can cost you your job. Here, you can make a fool of yourself and we will be here to tell you what you're doing wrong in a friendly way.”

Somesh: “It's all about, in Toastmasters club, building connection, and then having the right conversation, and collaborating. All my learnings from the Toastmasters club and senior toastmasters and having a good mentor made me serve the community and the young people by paying it back. Because as I teach, I'm enhancing my public speaking skills.”

Somesh: “What surprised us as teachers is the discipline. They always respect each others' opinion, and more importantly, it's all about diversity, right? How do you have diverse opinions, when you are doing debates but in a healthy manner, still respecting each others' view? Sometimes it makes us adults also learn from these young people.”

Connect with Somesh and Jahnavi in the links below:

• Somesh Chablani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/somesh-chablani-dtm-/
• Jahnavi Utukuri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jahnaviutukuri/

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/district46tm

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Toastmasters - where leaders are made.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Podcasts as a way for self-discovery 
• Growing up in Russia and the concept of conformity
• Learning English and moving to the United States 
• Joining Toastmasters and loving the sense of community
• Self-improvement and the Toastmaster process
• Leadership, acknowledging mistakes, and vulnerability

QUOTES

Angelika: “For me, every speech, every topic that I've presented at Toastmasters is a way to relive your experiences, and to kind of underline, okay, what did I learn from them and how did that influence me as a person.”

Scott: “The speech making process that's embedded into the Toastmasters educational curriculum, is a way to examine, reframe and process the events in our lives if we choose to make it so.”

Angelika: “Your club, you become like a family because you bring some topics that are very vulnerable sometimes. And being that transparent with these little parts of yourself, that gives you that sense of closeness and community.”

Angelika: “Being that open about your weak spots, that's the difficult part. But then you receive the support of the person, even of an evaluator saying, I understand, I've been through that, I know what that  feels like, I got you. That gives you strength.”

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/district46tm

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Toastmasters - where leaders are made.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Formative years: From journalism to teaching 
• Learning about and joining Toastmasters 
• There's always someone better than you 
• What makes a story good? 
• Leave your ego at the door
• Join Toastmasters to improve yourself 
• Embrace your verbs

QUOTES

Marc: "If you don't wanna make it yourself, you don't really want it."

Marc: "I would say that anybody, I don't care what level you're at, there is somebody you can meet, somebody you can speak to, somebody you can come across, who will just teach you things that you did not know." 

Marc: "If I'm a great speaker, if I'm a good speaker, if I'm a compelling speaker, if I'm a helpful speaker, if I'm a transformation speaker, it's only because I've come across people who have helped me, transformed me, taught me."

Marc: "Just pick one thing that you would like to be able to do better, one thing that would make you feel a little bit better about yourself and just focus on that. You don't have to be the next Tony Robbins, you just have to be the next version of you who's gonna tell that next story that you just heard or experienced or lived through."

Marc: "The secret to being an effective educator is understanding that even if you are on the front of the room, whether you are on the stage or the guy by the side, that it's always about the students in the classroom. That is why as educators we always have to throw the ego out the door."

Marc: "Sometimes, performance is a dirty word in public speaking. I say let's stop separating all these things and merge them together. Public speaking, performing, visual, verbal, we gotta put it all together."

Connect with Marc in the link below:

• Website: https://www.marcwilliamsspeaks.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-williams-speaks/
• Web Show: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChudlZE4_xiBaXxBNddoktw

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/district46tm

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Toastmasters - where leaders are made.

HIGHLIGHTS

• From pre-Med to Wall Street
• The critical importance of listening 
• Gains and opportunities opened by joining Toastmasters
• Speaking is only one part of communication
• Competition can be supportive and nurturing
• Lessons learned after testing positive for COVID-19
• Time spent with others is our best asset 

QUOTES

Robert: "As valuable it is to speak, probably more important to be a good listener."

Robert: "It's not only public speaking that is the value of Toastmasters to me. It's the communication. What Toastmasters has done is to help me to crystallize my thinking, focus my comment, hopefully get rid of a lot of noise that goes on in my head, and deliver a message, whether it's table topics, a formal speech evaluation, something that people will actually remember because the message is clear." 

Robert: "Motivate/inspire the people who work with and for you, and that's what Toastmasters do. They inspire and motivate others to help them with their journeys that those people might not have been able to do if they relied strictly on their own capabilities. We are the movers, we are the accelerators. "

Robert: "Because we are challenging one another to get better, we realize there's really no limit to our ability to improve how we speak, how we listen, and how we can better support one another."

Robert: "I came to realize in those 10 days, my situation was not permanent. It felt permanent, while going through it, but I realize it's part of life what we go through, our ups and downs. It's a temporary situation and it will get better. Times will change and we will adapt."

Connect with Robert in the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobgoodman1/

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/district46tm

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Toastmasters - where leaders are made.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Overcoming stage fright by honoring her father's memory
• Finding her voice and starting a singing career in Florida
• Paint the picture: show don't tell
• Recover from your falls, both literally and figuratively
• Trust in the process
• Growing your speaking skill with Toastmasters
• Contest speaking vs real-world keynote speaking
• What is lateral thinking?
• Public speaking in the age of Zoom

QUOTES

Verity: "True confidence, is when you're okay with things not being okay." 

Verity: "You've gotta live before you die, you've gotta smile before you cry, you can't fall unless you fly, you can't fail unless you try."

Verity: "If I look back at the first time that I had my heart broken, it was the end of the world. I didn't believe that I'd ever be okay. But subsequent heart breaks -— because life is a series of heartbreaks, I've learned that I will be okay. And yes, this is hard and I might need to mourn, and I might need to cry and it's a lot of ice cream and watching Netflix. but I know that inherently inside, I will be okay."

Verity: "Lateral thinking is just thinking sideways, off course from your normal direction of thinking, and arrive at ideas that are outside of where you would generally think."

Connect with Verity in the links below:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamverity/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamverity
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verityprice/
• Website: https://www.iamverity.com/

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/district46tm

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Toastmasters - where leaders are made.

HIGHLIGHTS

06:38 How Natsuyo landed in New York 

07:31 Natsuyo's unusual family life in Japan 

15:33 How Japanese communication is very different from the New York-American way

19:00 Getting started with Toastmasters

24:05 Diving headfirst into competitive speaking

25:45 Always focus on one big message

26:44 Speaking is entertainment: Catching people's attention

29:23 The process of improving your speech helps you grow as a person

30:56 Natsuyo's struggle with breast cancer 

34:59 Telling a story can heal both the speaker and the audience 

38:35 Intercultural communication: Connecting with audiences of different nationalities

41:52 Connect with Natsuyo

42:54 Natsuyo's favorite leader and speaker

QUOTES

17:58 Natsuyo: "The interesting thing about cross-cultural issues is you need to be flexible. You can't be far right or far left. You need to be able to gauge where the other person is in relative to where you are and how you wanna adjust to yourself so you are not only heard, but your message is acted upon. 

26:42 Natsuyo: "I always thought that performing arts and business don't merge. But at that moment, I figured out speaking is an entertainment, and you have to be able to entertain the listeners so that they will really hear you and act on your message."

29:48 Natsuyo:  "I really believe the speech writing process is about self-improvement or self-development because when you craft a story, you really have to go deeper into yourself, deep into your past, and really have a deep understanding of why you did what you did and what was your learning." 

34:54 Natsuyo: "I shared my story and I felt like I really felt like through stories. I can connect with the audience, heart to heart, and speaking was healing for me. So telling a story healed me and also it healed the audience to whatever they're feeling, whatever pain they had."

36:37 Scott: "You shared something intimate about yourself. And I, as a listener, felt connected to you, not just as a talking head or someone passing on information, but as a human being. And that's where the feelings inside come out and it's a genuine connection. There's real power there.

39:16 Natsuyo: "The message itself is really universal. It  doesn't matter what country you're from. Everyone has hearts and everyone has experienced some hardship. So when you, find a universal message, that resonates with everyone in the world. that being said, the way to deliver your story may be slightly different depending on who you're talking to, especially in different cultures."

Connect with Natsuyo in the links below:

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/natsuyolipschutz/
• Website - https://natsuyolipschutz.us/
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/natsuyol
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/natsuyo_lipschutz/

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/district46tm

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Toastmasters - where leaders are made.

HIGHLIGHTS

02:19 Seth's career: An engineer by trade, an artist and designer by heart

06:02 A natural introvert, Seth's desire to get out of his head led him to Toastmasters

11:08 Listening: At the core of being present and the other half of communication

14:15 Use both sides of your brain: Get comfortable saying "I don't know"

17:47 Building connection: Let go of ego and go from "mego" to "wego"

19:50 To be authentic, you have to know yourself 

22:35 Who is Sherpa Seth and the secrets of a Creative Warrior 

33:21 Seth's presentation to Toastmasters District 46

35:03 Mark Twain: It takes 3 weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech

36:53 Connect with Seth

QUOTES

08:25 "Toastmasters is to key to get out of your head. It's all about speaking in public, having confidence to speak in public. We're all about leaders who can speak, who can prepare a speech, who can speak on the cuff."

09:10 "To understand communication, you have to first listen and then speak. And that's what Toastmasters actually has taught me because, in terms of evaluation, evaluating someone's speech, you got to listen, you got to quiet the thoughts in your head in order to do that."

12:51 "That's what is communication is all about, A plus B equals C, right? Accept plus Build equals Collaboration and Communication."

18:30 "If you are run by the ego, you're never going to let others in. What I like to tell my students is that you have to go from 'mego' to 'wego.' It's called a Build It Together Mindset, a B.I.T. mindset. Go from me to we, and how do you do that? You let go of your ego."

Connect with Seth in the links below:

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbgreenwald/
• Website - https://creativewarriorsecrets.com/
• Email - [email protected]
• YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqXYyYjgsKWRKuvgpzElQDQ

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/district46tm

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Toastmasters - where leaders are made.

HIGHLIGHTS

01:27 Working in HR and finding satisfaction becoming a private tutor

05:16 The evaluative experience of Toastmasters equips HR for difficult conversations

08:54 Toastmasters: A venue to receive feedback made with good intent

15:28 Toastmasters is a family affair for Jasmin

18:35 Becoming more open to things because of Toastmasters  

19:51 Podcast Pioneers: A tangible way to connect virtually 

22:08 Toastmasters enhances you to do better in your chosen field

24:11 Muriel Shabazz is Jasmin's favorite Toastmaster

QUOTES

05:37 "One of the things that I value most about Toastmasters is their evaluative experience. The strategies that they recommend for evaluation I found to be so useful in so many areas... because there were many situations where I had to have uncomfortable or less than favorable conversations with people."

10:25 "Overall, learning to communicate with kindness and to be a good listener, which Toastmasters helps us do, is helpful across the board in every field because then you feel like you're talking to somebody who wants you to do well, too."

19:10 "Toastmasters has helped me increase my confidence in my competence. And so I'm able to say yes. If someone says here's an opportunity that I think fits you, I'm less likely now to brush it off. I'll say, okay."

22:56 "The most critical thing is the feedback because you get to hear from people who are hearing you in real time tell you how impactful you've been. Did you think that you've communicated this message? Well, they'll let you know... and now you know how to shift and rework it. So it's as effective as you want it."

Connect with Jasmin in the link below:

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmin-pemberton-6563bb129/

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/district46tm

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Toastmasters - where leaders are made.

HIGHLIGHTS

02:25 How Matthew started out in the world of comedy

12:58 Books, comedy, and the ability to laugh at one's self

15:37 Highschool humiliation, memes, and being banned from announcements

19:26 How to read the room as a comedian and a Toastmaster

22:51 How and why Matthew ended up with Toastmasters

28:36 Matthew's pathway: A helpful tool as a visual learner

32:58 Icebreaker: "A little alone time isn't so bad"

37:15 Toastmasters and comedy changed Matthew as the world is starting to open up

44:04 The Roosevelt line Toastmasters club vibe that Matthew is in

49:07 How Toastmasters pathway can help someone who wants to learn comedy

54:17 Matthew's favorite comedians and leaders

QUOTES

11:26 "It's important or helpful to come up with something funny to say when that bomb occurs as a way of rescuing the situation."

13:50 "It's all about control in any public speaking situation. The audience is gonna feel more comfortable if they feel like the person talking is in control. And comedy is a way of indicating you're in control by being able to ascertain an emotional response in somebody even when you're screwing up."

21:14 "What's great about Toastmasters is it doesn't just give you skills of how to talk to people, it gives you skills on how to listen to people. So it's a very conversational aspect to it... what people in this room and this group of what they're sensitive about. What might work and what might not."

24:40 "The best stand-ups are the people who don't view it as a performance, they view it basically just like a conversation you would have with anybody."

38:37 "Toastmasters to me has reignited just the love of communication with people. Just talking about anything, just being able to be out with people to talk of the cuff about anything. It not only makes you a stronger speaker as it has for me, but it also just reignited a certain for communication that maybe got lost when we were all inside or maybe never went away but now rediscovering."

47:34 "So just the idea of knowing that, like I can talk to this person and they will feel comfortable talking to me and we can have a free-flowing conversation. Even if either one of us has maybe had a rough day or whatever.”

50:21 "It can be a very uncomfortable, uninviting space for women in general. And also basically any marginalized group, because there are lots of men, shall we say who feel that comedy is still largely about who you can attack and who you can bring down and kind of revel in a certain amount of cruelty in their comedy."

59:20 "Leaders tend to just kind of naturally gravitate to positions of leadership. And part of gravitating to that position is respecting the people around you and making them feel important in a way that if they are asked that question, they will point to you."

Connect with Matthew in the links below:

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-fay-1a600988/
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/blondeone991/
• Twitter - @HisNameisFay

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 

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Toastmasters - where leaders are made.

HIGHLIGHTS

28:05 How Adam ended up with Toastmasters after all of his experience in banking, the Royal Australian Air Force, and being an Intelligence Specialist.

36:03 A Toastmasters club of which he was supposed to be president until the pandemic hit and how it affected the members and himself personally

38:54 Service towards the people in Toastmasters and why it was fundamentally engrained into Adam's life

43:04 Tactics Adam used to rebuild the club from shambles

52:30 Adam's experience to convince young and hungry executives to join Toastmasters and why it's a must

QUOTES

21:35 "I remember going to sleep one night in a pitch-black room and a rocket landed nearby and exploded. And the room went from pitch-black to as bright as the mid-day sun in a flash. As soon as it was over, I rolled over and went back to sleep. That's how you got used to it ... It was normal."

28:36 "I lacked a lot of self-confidence and I really needed to improve my ability to communicate, and my leadership skills. And I remember someone recommending Toastmasters to me. So I joined the Toastmasters club in Wollongong, which sadly no longer exists. Its name was Collieries Toastmasters Club."

37:47 "To give people a break from what was happening with the pandemic, in March, April, and May were particularly dark times here in New York. To give people a reprieve was my objective, to give people that space to grow. To be supported and to discover who they could be, was my plan. It was not easy but it was a lot of fun."

39:00 "If you're in a better position than someone else then help that person to achieve, to succeed, to learn, to grow, and develop. I've always believed in it."

41:45 "I knew the pandemic wasn't gonna last forever, I knew it was gonna finish at some point ... but I wanted to set those people up for success. I wanted to give them that foundation on which they could step forth and become better people before this was all over, or during it."

Connect with Adam in the link below:

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-cole-pmp%C2%AE-pmi-acp%C2%AE-csm%C2%AE-270987158

Find out more about Toastmasters, visit https://toastmasters46.org/ and follow District 46 on:

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/toastmasters46/ 
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-masters-district-46
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TMDistrict46/ 

Please rate, review and subscribe!

Toastmasters - where leaders are made.