Leadership Development for LGBTQ+ Professionals starts with…
VOCAL EMPOWERMENT
What would change for you personally and professionally if you were empowered with the skills and knowledge to
Identify and explore your body’s cues for dysregulation and how to use those cues as tools to dig deeper into your self-awareness?
Discover your default inner voice that responds to the dysregulation, and have that inner voice work for you instead of against you?
Craft your ideas into easily understandable words for someone with no background on the issues that matter to you the most?
Learn through coached practice how to use conversations like that to draw people IN with open minds, rather than debating ideals?
Develop the ability to have and walk from conversations with greater joy in your identity and increased self-respect for how you handled yourself?
“I have had the privilege of seeing Elena speak at two events, and both times her powerful message has made me want to jump scream, ‘Yes!’
Her personal story, coupled with her passion to help others embrace their truth and fight for their lives, is moving and empowering. She has a gift for connecting with people and motivating them to take action. After hearing her speak I have been compelled to donate to the cause and convinced to share her message with others.”
If we want to powerfully speak out and influence as underestimated leaders, then it’s time to identify our stumbling blocks, learn the skills to deconstruct them, and discover all the ways that vocal empowerment can impact our communities, our careers, and most importantly, our self-worth.
VC founder, Arlan Hamilton says “We still live in a world where being underrepresented often means being underestimated.”. Hamilton’s VC firm invests millions of dollars in startups led by high-potential people of color, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, with great returns.
As members of marginalized communities, we are in a unique position to authentically advocate for those without a voice. However, also as members of marginalized communities, we have unique life experiences that have often taught us that speaking up is more trouble than it’s worth. We might have experiences of visibility and vulnerability that were met with mocking and disrespect, making us hesitant to ever speak up again. We might have vulnerability triggers that send our bodies into flight or freeze modes, causing crucial conversations to feel even harder. We also might have internalized concepts that because of those marginalized identities, we’re lacking something vital to have the qualifications to speak up.
Vocal Empowerment through Executive coaching will show you how to identify those stumbling blocks, learn the skills to deconstruct them and build better strategies in their place, and discover all the ways that vocal empowerment can impact our careers, our communities, and most importantly, our self-worth.
Key Challenges:
Members of marginalized communities struggle to have their voices heard. Because of past negative experiences as members of marginalized communities, underestimated leaders can experience triggers that prevent us from powerfully communicating our thoughts and ideas. Without knowing why, our bodies can be triggered right into dysregulation or flight/freeze mode, which makes us wonder if speaking out is even worth the trouble.
Underestimated leaders are often not equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to powerfully speak out, without a negative impact on them as an individual.
Key causes:
We all can see and understand that a lot about our world, particularly in regards to marginalized communities, needs to change. Often that change doesn’t happen unless someone with lived experience is able to powerfully communicate the impact of the damage, and how best to go about rectifying it.
Leaders whose voices need to be heard have often experienced (or witnessed others in their community experience), the negative effects of being willing to speak out. Visibility as a marginalized person comes with a risk that people with privilege rarely see or understand. Vulnerability is often met with mocking, shame, derision, and sometimes worse.
When underestimated leaders choose to speak out, the inner communication, thoughts of not being qualified enough to do so or worries about representing your entire community with just your perspective, can create a “speaking out hangover” that prevents us from continuing our advocacy.
Vocal Empowerment Coaching provides you with the opportunity to:
Explore the ideological, institutional, and interpersonal impediments to speaking up.
Learn how to get comfortable with uncomfortable physiological sensations that come up when speaking up as a leader from a marginalized community. Explore the ideological, institutional, and interpersonal impediments to speaking up.
Identify your default inner voice when you feel the desire to step up and speak out and develop the skills to develop an inner voice that works with you instead of against you.
Discover the personal benefits of speaking out including the increased sense of self-worth and incredible joy that comes in being able to powerfully share your authentic voice.