you tell me your story.
Oh, I have been in the broadcast industry
since I'm 14 years old.
I did my first radio commercial, which was a fluke.
I wasn't even supposed to do it, but I did.
And I got to play a teenage shoplifter for a radio spot
for a department store in Philadelphia.
And I thought, oh my God, they just paid me to speak.
All right, we could do this.
So I was a bit of a theater kid.
And then I majored in communications in college.
And I'm one of the few people,
well, one of the relatively few people who can say,
I've had a job in the industry all the years I've worked.
And that is saying something.
I've been very lucky.
I have pivoted where I've needed to pivot.
I've taken chances where I thought the outcome might work
and it did.
And TV, radio, producing, on air, anchoring, reporting.
And now what I do is to pay it forward
and to teaching is really at the heart of what I do.
I did that for a while too
at Hofstra University in New York.
And so this coaching is just an extension of that.
I love to help young people find their way in the business.
You know, and I say, yes,
I'm one of the few broadcast vocal coaches there are,
but voice is such an intimate thing.
I think your voice print is as individual
as your fingerprint.
And so to work with somebody on that,
that they trust me with their voice
is a very intimate gesture.
And so I handle it carefully,
but in helping anybody with public speaking tips
or anchoring tips or just building the confidence
to talk in front of a group.
Yeah, that's a joy for me.
That is awesome.
You know, what's so funny Susan is
because social media is out there,
often most people are talking to themselves, right?
And that's getting on FaceTime or, you know,
doing the selfies and the videos.
And I learned that when we're talking so much to ourselves
and posting it, we're not really talking to the world.
And the true meaning of speaking is to speak to someone
who may challenge you in your speaking.
And so I find that so amazing
that this is something that you do
because the work that you do right now is so needed
to have people engage themselves in others
and how to speak on stage.
So I applaud you.
I really, really, really hope people are taking advantage
of what you're doing because it's amazing.
Well, thank you.
And I like to say that I help you find your authentic voice.
I don't change you.
I don't give you a persona.
I don't.
And especially for women,
women don't tend to use their lower register
which sits down in their diaphragm
because one reason is our voices don't change
in puberty as boys do.
So our vocal cords are the size of
that they were when we were 12.
So we don't know whereas men do
because their voices change.
Ours don't, however, there is,
all women have a more authentic natural pitch
that sits lower in the diaphragm
and some women don't know how to access it.
And sometimes it's a physiological thing
but Jevanka more often it is,
it's a sociological, psychological, familial thing.
There was something that happened back in their childhoods
that made them hold onto a little girl voice
or the breathy voice or the sexy voice.
Yes, yes, yes.
And that got them through what they needed to get through.
But all right, if you're now speaking in front of people
and you're trying to develop an authoritative demeanor,
well, that can't be through a little girl's voice now, can it?
So that's one of the things,
and I didn't think going into this
that I would find 15 to almost 20% of the women I work with
have a background that has made it difficult
for them to access.
So I have learned to ask questions carefully
and I am engaged in their lives and I care about them
and I want them to succeed.
And sometimes I'm the only person who says,
I give you permission to step into the voice
that you're meant to have.
Now you give yourself permission to do it too.
For some women it's been life-changing.
Some started to cry.
It's so, no, and it's not the majority of what I do,
but those are the cases where I'm thrilled
to be able to help them.
And I see that you're very passionate about it
because a lot of, there's that statement that says,
find your voice.
And a lot of people don't know what that means, right?
And it's interesting how you're now touching on something
that is definitely heard all over the place,
which is find your voice.
And in women, and now that you're speaking with women,
yes, there is that childhood voice that we have,
that innocence, that thought process is that this is how
I have to ask for things, right?
And then I'll receive it then.
And then as you grow up, that same voice doesn't work,
especially definitely on stage or in the corporate world
or in the entrepreneurial world.
It doesn't work in your relationship.
No, it does not.
So let me help you here.
Because when you learn to speak from your diaphragm,
and I use breath work and some other tips,
one of the things you need to do to speak well
is to listen well and also to pause.
Yes.
Well, did they say silence is OK?
Where people find discomfort in silence?
Yes, they do.
And actually, it's one of the best things that can happen.
It can prevent you from saying something
you're later going to regret.
Yes.
It can bring somebody's attention back to you.
You could be talking at them and their eyes are glazing over.
Yes.
Well, stop talking for a second.
I love it.
And so are you do you do this on Zoom?
Is it or is it more in person kind of thing?
No, both.
I started at the end of the pandemic on Zoom
because thank God for Zoom.
And then I will go to TV stations.
And I have done that and worked with groups of people.
But you know what?
And it's fine.
But to be honest with you, working on Zoom
is perfect because it's TV screens.
And that way, nobody's traveling, nobody's at work,
nobody has anybody overhearing if you're in another studio.
I mean, I've done it.
But I think just doing the Zoom relationship,
and it also creates healthy boundaries.
Yes.
Yes, definitely.
And lots of reasons to do it on Zoom.
So that's what I mostly do.
Definitely.
And you also don't have to question someone
being in your space.
And your space is usually where your comfort zone is,
which allows you to be able to be you, the authentic person,
as you state, Susan, and not have
to change your surroundings.
Right.
That is a priority.
Trust me, and I have to trust you.
Yes.
I'm helping you build something, including your confidence,
including your ability to grow as a journalist.
Because not only do I, with journalists,
not only work on voice, but you have
to work on writing that goes hand in hand,
whether it's a sports play-by-play or sideline
announcer.
There are other things we can work on.
So there are things that just sort of come together
that starts with the breath.
Yeah.
And I love it.
I love it.
And it's also that point, too, where you catch an anxiety
attack, right?
Because you're about to go on.
You're about to speak.
And you can tell that your voice changes.
And the trembling that happens, we
don't even realize that what's going on in our body
is now in our voice.
And I don't know why I relate to this so much,
but you're bringing up things as like, what?
I get this.
I understand this.
And this is why it's so important, Susan,
to get people such as yourself on podcasts, right?
And to record something like this.
Because daily, we're just walking around, right?
We're just being people.
And we're just living this life.
But there is a voice.
We do have a voice.
There is something that needs to be said,
but we don't know how to say it.
And for someone like yourself that
teaches people how to speak and write, as you stated,
which goes hand in hand, no one thinks about that.
It's either the voice or it's either the writing.
And I realize podcasts have allowed
a very wide audience of people to connect with other people.
And I think that's great.
It's like radio was back in the early 1920s.
But one of the things that I still think you need
is some decorum, some framework, some how-to
in how you're going to speak, how you're
going to open the show, how you're
going to ask those questions, what you're
going to talk about.
Too many people think, and it's pervasive
in the younger generation, is, well, I'm just going to be me.
And you're just going to have to live with it.
I'm just going to be me.
Yes.
OK, but if I stumble across your podcast and I don't like,
and this is, before I agree to do a podcast,
I listen to the host and I see what they sound like,
what their production values are, how it sounds back.
If I'm hearing echo or if I'm hearing tin
or if I'm hearing a sound or even just
the vocal sound of the host, I will politely
decline because that's important to me.
And it should be important to everyone.
I have a friend who teaches, she's a voice actor in Boston
and she also teaches public speaking.
And she says that all of us have a vocal clothes closet,
meaning we put on different outfits
depending on where we are.
Now, does that lead you down that path of code switching?
It could.
But it also says to you, you will speak to a spouse
in a manner that you might not speak to your boss.
You would speak to an audience not in a way
you would speak to your four-year-old.
So we all have clothes for our voices.
You know, and I used to, interesting enough,
of course, like I said, all this is relating back
to a lot of things that I've heard.
So I call it the light switch.
And when I go into a room, I switch on.
And that light switch is I'm now conforming
to the room which I am in.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.