I’ve been a speaker since I was in sixth grade. My mother enrolled me in Japanese school at the Hanapepe Hongwangi Mission. Now, I was a trouble maker and gave my poor sensei a very hard time. The administrators and the teachers were all very patient with me. An amazing thing happened while I was there learning how to read, write, and speak in Japanese; I became confident in becoming a public speaker.
Our sensei entered students into a Japanese speech competition held at the Mission. I memorized a speech about a camel. I practiced and practiced the speech over and over. I practiced in front of a mirror, I practiced while I was walking to and from school, and I practiced while I did my chores. As a class we practiced at the podium on the stage. This is the first time I wanted to really be good at something.
I barely remember the event. The night of the competition, the air was a little cool, the clouds were swirling in the sky and I felt that there was something magical to the evening. I had no idea that there would be a lot of people at the event. My mother had me dressed in a new muumuu she sewed just for the event. I saw all the faces in the crowd and was not nervous. I felt this overwhelming joy. I loved the thrill of going up those wooden steps and holding the mike. With my crutches planted to keep me still, I began this magical journey of a camel in the desert and connected with the audience and the judges. After my speech, I floated off the stage and felt accomplished. I think I won my category but that did not matter.
I have a minor in Speech and found the feedback and criticism during the classes to be beneficial to my growth as a speaker. I have been confidently speaking for organizations regarding their goals and their missions for 25 years.
I joined The John Maxwell Team because I was attracted to leadership growth and improvement. I found the laws to be simple but I can see that many businesses have difficulty implementing the philosophies. There are many areas to speak and share the philosophies of leadership and communication. The lunch and learns (seminars), the mastermind groups (workshops), and the coaching (one on one) are great tools for any organization to have for training. If you are interested, in any of the opportunities, please contact me at bambooshoothi@gmail.com. I offer free lunch and learns. Speakers gotta speak.
Now, I have this opportunity in front of me. I showed up for this dream of creating a message that will help other people. It’s easy for me to be an inspirational or motivational speaker but I want to go deeper than that. Enhancing a program or a leadership team to supersede their goals, gets me excited. Improving communication, facing conflict, and bettering systems are those areas that is a passion for me and I hope that is a passion for coordinators, managers, directors, or presidents.
What do you think my message should be?
Next blog: My body and resilience
bambooshoot 