Speak with Empathy - B&T Talks about Stephen Covey's Habit #5: Seek First to Understand, Then Seek to Be Understood

Butter & Toast Toastmasters Club draws inspiration from Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and highlighting one habit for every meeting. This week, our theme is habit # 5. 

Speak with Empathy

by Gege Sugue

Seek to Understand then to Be Understood. That is Habit #5 in Stephen Covey’s bestselling concept, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It’s mainly about empathy.

Empathy might seem like something you need to do to be kind, compassionate, generous, forgiving. But it really is not a one-way street. Having empathy benefits you too. Empathy enables you to be more persuasive, when you’re selling insurance, properties, training programs, or ideas; or when you’re trying to be a good manager, counselor, coach, teacher, or leader. Empathy helps you to be effective in winning friends and clients. Empathy helps you to succeed.

As a speaker, you will find that empathy can work for you too. In my almost ten years as a Toastmaster, I feel that I have grown to be a more effective speaker. And it goes beyond polishing skills. It goes beyond learning to gesture or vary my voice. Stephen Covey says that technique, truncated from character base and the relationship you have with somebody, is hollow, shallow, and can be perceived as manipulation or duplicity. And though Toastmaster has taught me techniques, actual practice has shown me that it goes deeper into attitude. I have learned to make the audience part of the formula.

A huge part of the craft of public speaking is really that PUBLIC. Who are they? What do they want to hear? What do they need to know? What makes them laugh, cry, desire? How can what you know help them? When you take the stage, make sure it is clear to you how your speech can help them to become better, smarter, richer, more popular, more competent, more confident, happier.

In my first division contest, I panicked at the sight of a big audience. And I focused on delivering my speech flawlessly. I just did not want to mess up in front of the crowd. I focused on my speech. And on me. And it (and I) was a dismal failure. Nobody laughed at my punchlines, and I did not even place in the contest. And I missed out big time on connecting with my audience. I was selfish, and I failed. But I learned my lesson.

Now, when I deliver my speech, I look at my audience. In particular, I look at Sheila. Her face is very responsive—she laughs at the right time, she looks sad when you’re telling a sad story. She frowns when you’re annoyed. She wrinkles her brow when she’s confused. Her left eyebrow lifts a little bit when you’re being obnoxious or sounding full of yourself, and her face gets stone cold when she’s bored.  And I learn to adjust myself based on those cues. Of course, I look at other people too and adjust to their reactions as well. As a trainer, my eyes are alert for people who might be confused by the lesson, offended by my jokes, affected by my opinions, or are sleepy. The audience is my barometer, thermometer, speedometer, and they tell me if I’m doing well or I need to adjust.   How I react to their cues, questions, and reactions determines how much applause and appreciation I get at the end of my talk.

So, be an empathic listener. Be an alert observer. And you can be an effective speaker.

Here are three tips to be an empathic speaker:

1.       Know your audience’s needs, wants, values, culture, preference, attitudes, profession, and expectations.

2.       Adopt your speech to their needs.

3.       Respond to their response.

Of course, you still have to make sure that you are prepared. Knowing your material well, rehearsing your speech, and being confident that you’re coming in armed and prepared—these enable you to stop focusing on your speech, so that you can focus on the most important part of your speech--your audience.  

Toastmasters Think Win/Win

by Gege Sugue

So far, in our series of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, we have talked about 3 habits:

1.  Be Proactive.
2. Begin with the End in Mind.
3. Put First Things First.

All the above are focused on bringing about PERSONAL VICTORY. Toastmasters have chosen to become and to remain Toastmasters, to remain active in leadership goals, and to deliver speech after speech after speech, because they believe that their life and career goals can be achieved through better communication and leadership. They take a proactive view in self-development, and they set goals to mark their progress.  

With the fourth habit, we move into interdependence. The goal is PUBLIC VICTORY.

Habit # 4 is to Think Win/Win.

Thinking Win/Win according to Stephen Covey is:

“a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. Win/Win means that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial, mutually satisfying. With a Win/Win solution, all parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan.”

A really good example of a Win/Win interplay is how each club works towards its DCP goals. Every term, we try to achieve 10 goals that would ensure that our clubs are enabling individuals to grow and achieve.

Every club has a set of officers who seek to accomplish all 10 goals. These officers know how challenging that can be. It’s not like they could rely on just themselves to deliver those goals. They need the cooperation of every member. So they work together to ensure that the following are in place:

·         fun and quality meetings

·         a good mentorship program

·         active and effective recruitment and renewal activities

·         individual members delivering speeches towards their goals

·         recognition and motivation interventions

And they do this through motivation, communication, diligence, and creativity.

Every member who advances a norm towards the 10 goals becomes a generous contributor to the club’s success. But that contribution is rewarded by mentoring, motivation, appreciation, learning by doing, a sense of achievement, and the great feeling of being valued by others and adding value to others. All these lead to higher self-esteem and stronger skills.

That is Win/Win. Isn’t it great that you’re part of a Win/Win organization?

B&T Talks About Stephen Covey's Habit #3: First Things First

The Importance of Delivering Your TM Speeches

by Gege Sugue

This was originally posted in our printed newsletter program for the February 27 meeting--the 3rd in a series tackling Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Mentor: Hey! You said you’d deliver your next speech in the next meeting. That’s about two weeks from today. Send me your speech as soon as possible so I could give you my input.”

Protégé: I’m afraid I have to postpone that speech.

Mentor: But you’ve been postponing this for 2 years.

Protégé: I know. It’s just that we have this huge project. And my boss wants me to do overtime work every night.

Mentor: Oh, how about meeting after next?

Protégé: I can’t. A balikbayan friend is coming, and that will be the only day available for our barkada to meet. You know how it is.

It’s a familiar conversation. I’ve heard it from others. I’ve been part of it, both as the mentor aka nagger and the one being nagged. I have even heard it in my own head with my own conscience bugging me to finally work on my next speech. And I can feel for both the mentor and the protégé.

We’re just so busy these days. But who isn’t? Who isn’t trying to juggle work, family, school, relationships, hobbies, health activities, and social life? And how are we supposed to add on top of that twice-a-month meetings plus the time it takes to prepare, rehearse, and deliver speeches?

It’s tough. And it is most likely that among the above priorities, Stephen Covey calls them the big rocks, our family and our source of livelihood are the big rocks that come first. Toastmasters--less important, less urgent. I get that.

Stephen Covey’s Time Management book, First Things First, highlights Habit #3. He suggests a 2x2 matrix to categorize our tasks according to urgency and importance. Where each task falls into the quadrants tells you what to do about them.

Image from http://www.julienrio.com/marketing/english/eisenhower-box-save-time-prioritizing-tasks

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Things_First_(book)

Where does your Toastmasters life come in? Only you can answer that. Your own life purpose and values would clue you in on the answer. I am guessing that for a lot of us who decided to invest money for the membership dues, we have made that conscious choice to develop our leadership and communication skills through Toastmasters. I am guessing that for us who made that conscious choice, we did so because we think it’s important. As such, we have to prioritize it. We have to bump other activities as less important. We have to plan for it. We have to set aside time to make our investments in time and money worthwhile.

Toastmasters are some of the busiest people I know—successfully managing businesses, careers, family.  And I admire how they do so while also finding the time to play active roles in the Toastmasters organization, while advancing in their norms.

I admire my own protégé Penny Bongato—talk about busy. She’s constantly working, traveling, fulfilling her role as wife and mother. She is admired in her field and in her advocacies, and she is already an accomplished speaker. It would be so easy for her to just give up and say she’s too busy. But she doesn’t. Self-development and the goal of being an inspiring speaker drive her to plan, prepare, and deliver her speeches, no matter how challenging it may be. She targets a specific date for her next speech project, and then she sends her speeches way in advance so that her mentors could comment and make suggestions. Then she sets aside time for rehearsing her speech. She is proactive, aware of the end in mind, and she puts first things first. I am sure it is not easy. But she follows what Stephen Covey said: “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”  

Is Toastmasters important to you? Can it help you be the person you want to be? Can it help you succeed in your goals? Then make it one of the first things. 

B&T’s Big Bang

by Gege Sugue

So, is this meeting about the postulated birth of the universe approximately 13.8 billion years ago? When at some point, the universe expanded from a single point and has not stopped expanding since?

Uhm, not quite. I do not have enough geek in me to thematically and visually interpret a topic that mentions big terms like particle accelerators, high energy regimes, quark-gluon plasma, cosmic microwave background radiation, the homogenous and isotropic filling of the universe with an incredibly high energy density and huge temperatures and pressures. Uhm, yeah, whatever.  

And really, I dare not compare the evolution of our club to cosmic evolution. Even though B&T TMC and its members have evolved tremendously through the years. But still.

Neither is tonight’s theme our way of honoring the South Korean hip-hop boy band, Big Bang. I haven’t really heard of them until I had to Google images for this meeting, and their pictures greatly outnumbered the images for the TV show and the scientific theory. I guess they’re famous.

They’re celebrated, not just in Korea, but also in Japan and Taiwan. They were also declared the Best Worldwide Act at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards. Their album also charted in USA’s Billboard 200. Wow. Supernovae they’re not. Their fame does not seem to be waning. Just last year, they were listed as second on Forbes Korea’s Top 10 celebrities of 2014.

But then again, all this has nothing to do with B&T and tonight’s meeting. Except we’ve just slightly expanded our knowledge of world music; we’re artistic and well-rounded people, after all.  All we really have in common with the band is that we were born in the early part of this century. B&T officially started as a Toastmasters club in 2005, and Big Bang debuted in 2006.

What’s left is the CBS sitcom hit featuring Sheldon, Penny, and a bunch of geeks whose academic brilliance far outweighs their social skills. On its 8^th season, the show continues to entertain audiences, satisfy critics, and reap awards. Thanks to its endearing cast of characters, most of whom are bound by their love of science yet each one stands out as a unique personality, with a different background, contributing something special to the group.  

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that our club enjoys a similar kind of diversity. Some of us are brilliant, some are weird, some are funny, and some are all of the above. Some characters in the show and in our club are endearing; some, annoying. Some have great people skills; some, socially awkward. Some are geeks; some want to be geeks. Different people with different talents and specialties, quirks and idiosyncrasies. And it is this mix that makes the club tick. Each member brings in something different—unique passions, different skill sets, alternate perspectives--allowing us to excel in different ways. And this diversity is also what makes it fun and interesting to be a Toastie.

But tonight is not about the show. The Big Bang partly refers to how we start 2015 with our first meeting celebrating our evolution, our 9-year progression. Tonight will be an extension of our Christmas party as we award some special people in the club.

It has been a big bang year for B&T. Midway through the term, we have already achieved 6 out of 10 points, elevating us to Distinguished Club Status. We’ve consistently maintained charter strength membership; currently we have 34 active members.  Galactic!  

Accelerated particles from B&T have also orbited outside the club to show off their luminosity—High energy toasties Dondi de Joya and Sheila dela Cruz shone bright in the area and division speech contests, newbies with cosmic talents Howie Cruz and Fran Jose blazed through the Rookie contest, Gege Sugue and District Trainer Jeeves de Veyra shared important matters in district training events, and Area 16 Governor Joko Magalong has achieved (Almost) President’s Distinguished Area status. Stellar!

The Big Bang that scientists believe to have signaled the birth of the universe has not quite ended yet. The universe continues to evolve. The term is not yet over. Much work needs to be done. And our club will continue to move on to greater heights, from achievement to achievement.

But really, every B&T meeting is a big bang—a collision of fun and learning!

Penny Bongato, Speech No. 3: Our Role in Education – Take the Challenge

Delivered on October 23, 2014

Penny Bongato (Photo courtesy of Elaine Romero)

According to the National Economic Development Authority, unemployment rate in April 2013 increased to 7.5% from 6.9% in 2012.   Majority of the unemployed were high school graduates at 31.7 percent. Followed by:  college graduates at 21.3 percent) and college undergraduates at 14.6 percent. About half (48.2 percent) of the unemployed were aged 15-24 years old.

NEDA Deputy Director-General Emmanuel Esguerra said, “There is a need to improve the employ-ability of worker applicants, particularly those with secondary and tertiary education.” He further stated that we need a more effective partnership among firms,   academe and the government  to work on curriculum design." 

Curriculum gaps—these seem to be the problem. Graduates don’t have the employ-ability skills needed by companies.  This seems to be a continuing saga. Is there a way out of this? Is there something we can do to change our situation? The good news is there is. The other good news is that You are part of the solution.

Tonight I will share with you how YOU can make a difference and help our students be ready and prepare themselves to join the work force. Tonight I will show you HOW you can help. Are you ready?

Seduce Your Audience

The theme for our October 23, 2014 meeting is: The Art of Seduction

Seducing Your Audience

by Gege Sugue

“Romance the product.” My boss, back when I was in Product Management, would always remind us to romance the product whenever we were presenting our fashion lines. That meant to hold a pair of jeans or a shirt with reverence. To caress it in a sensual way. To show it off as if it’s a trophy wife or husband.

What my boss didn’t teach us was how to seduce the audience. I had to learn to do that myself. And I don’t mean touching myself provocatively. Though that helped too, when done right.

Why is it important to seduce the audience?

Because if you are to persuade your audience, you have to lure them into your world, your lair. You have to get them into the same side you’re on. Once they are trapped by the logical snare and emotional tug of your speech, then it would be so much easier to get them to drop their clothes or their armor of resistance.

So how do you seduce them?

Cooking up a Hearty Stew, Toastmasters Style

A Recipe for a Satisfying Speech

by Gege Sugue

n.b. - Our theme last week was Life Recipes. Part of our Art Series, the meeting brought out the foodies in us as we celebrated the Culinary Arts. 

Every time you deliver a speech in a Toastmasters meeting, it’s like serving a dish to an audience hungry for knowledge and entertainment. Here’s a recipe to help you cook up a delectable and hearty dish.

1.     Read the cookbook or recipe first. In Toastmasters, that refers to your speech manual. This tells you what ingredients you would need for success. It gives you tips and techniques to help you do it right. It might even help to consult a mentor Chef in the process. They have cooked up a lot of dishes in the past and have probably made a lot of mistakes too, so their advice will surely be helpful.

2.     Gather all the ingredients you need to make that speech really yummy. Collect facts, shop for stories, find the tools and equipment you might need.

3.     Prepare the base. Complex stews usually start with a base, usually a rich paste, that supplies the main flavor.  In preparing your speech, make sure you have a strong base—this could be the objectives or your speech paired with a cohesive outline.

Speaking through the Lens - B&T Meets on Sept. 25

French photographer Marc Riboud says: 

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”

At B&T Toastmasters Club, we savor every one of the 525,6oo minutes of the term. And we celebrate, art, life, leadership, and communication.

Join us on September 25, 2014 for another fun meeting at the Microsoft Philippines Office, 8th Floor, 6750 Tower, Ayala Avenue, Makati City . That's this coming Thursday. The meeting starts at 7PM, but you can come early to chat with the members.

Two icebreaker speeches are lined up. Resident Indie artista Minty Salonga will also deliver a speech. And because we will celebrate the art of photography, I think a lot of selfies will be taken. Be there. 

Framing Your Speech

Note: This is an article that will come out on this week's Take a Bite, B&T's Program cum Newsletter. I'm not sure if anyone reads any of the articles we post, so here's another copy you won't read. I think I will post the previous articles as well. ;) - Gege Sugue

Framing Your Speech

by Gege Sugue

This is our sixth meeting devoted to the Art Theme Series.

Why art?  I believe in the power of art to expand hearts, minds, and souls. These meetings can also be fun learning opportunities to discover art forms, poets, painters, photographers, musicians, filmmakers.

But I don’t want to discuss art in isolation. I always want to relate it to communication and leadership--what Toastmasters is all about. 

Now what can we learn from a 2-dimensional art form like photography, and how can we apply those lessons to communication, specifically public speaking? Let me share three photography tips.

The rule of thirds. 

This is one of the first things a student photographer learns. It refers to the act of dividing an image into a grid of 3 rows and 3 columns, and then placing the subject or the horizon line on the intersection points of the grid lines. The asymmetrically balanced effect achieves a more dynamic composition as opposed to just placing the subject at dead smack center, which makes it static and boring. (Here's more info about the Rule of Thirds.  And here's a blog post that shares how to use the rule for slide design.)

In writing your speech the rule of thirds can apply to how you structure your speech. Always plan the 3 main parts: 

• The Beginning, which introduces the topic, sets the tone, and catches the audience’s attention;
• The Middle, which contains detailed information. If you’re delivering a persuasive speech, fortify your speech with logical and emotional reasons and benefits. If you’re talking about an event, include here the 5 W’s (Who, What, Where, When, Why) and 1 H (How).
• The Conclusion, which is a good place to shout out your call to action and end in a way that’s memorable to your audience.

The power of three can also be used to add verbal punch to your speech. Veni, vidi, vici (We came, we saw, we conquered) is a powerful line that people remember even if they don’t anymore remember the context by which it was used. Using triads in your speech helps you, as well as your audience, remember important points.

Contrast

High contrast photos are more dramatic. When you place a light object against a dark background or vice versa, you highlight the subject, make it stand out. That’s why black and white photography, which relies on contrast and gradation, remains appealing and artistic. High contrast also works for colored photos. Check out tips on achieving high contrast with your photos. 

In delivering your speeches, contrasts in voice volume and pitch also emphasize specific segments you want to magnify and subdue less important information. Plus it also adds drama. Use a stage whisper or a booming voice when appropriate. Vary your tone to convey a range of contrasting, conflicting emotions.

Cropping

Cropping enables the photographer to remove unnecessary elements and the audience to focus on the interesting bits.

In speechwriting, make sure you edit out all noise and clutter, enabling you, the speaker to elaborate on the truly important points of the message. When narrating a story, you do not have to include everything that happened. Focus on those points that move the story along. Do not overwhelm your audience with information. Edit, edit, edit.

One last thing—in photography, light is one of the most important components. So let your speech illuminate.

Photographer and author Eudora Welty said, “A good snapshot keeps a good moment from running away.” I say, keep taking snapshots. Don’t let your good ideas from running away. Keep telling stories in words and in images.

Toasties Hold a Team Building Event

Butter & Toast, Toastmasters club members went to  Seraphim Resort in Valley Golf Antipolo on September 6, 2014 to renew their commitment to the club. Teamwork has always been one of the most cherished values of our club. We recognize the importance of good relationship among members and the interdependence needed for all of us to achieve what we came for in the Toastmasters Club,

We thank our President, Gege Sugue for hosting the event and opening the doors of Seraphim for us. We also thank Boom San Agustin for ably Facilitating the workshop.

 Here are some of the photos that captured the fun moments we shared on that day. For more photos, click Read More below or  follow this link.

Butter N Toast Roar Stomp Blast Meeting

Join Butter N Toast Toastmasters Club on September 11 as we celebrate another night of public speaking and art! Click this link for details on how to get to the club.

Tonight is Poetry Night at B&T

Join us tonight, August 14 as our club celebrates the art of poetry. 

Expect creativity, fun, and word play as we discover the rhyme, rhythm, and reason of our lives. 

This is the third meeting celebrating the theme of Art. 

The first meeting was about theatre, and the second about sculpture.

Meeting Recap: The ART of Sculpture, the B&T Way: Being shaped and Taking the time to shape others

Butter & Toast Toastmasters Club

Term 2014-2015; Meeting #2; 31 July 2014

The Butter & Toast Toastmasters Club ended the first month of the new toastmasters term with a bang, albeit one soft and pliant, allowing the toasties and guests to shape and be shaped through public speaking made more fun by the art of sculpture.  VP-Education Davie Dianco CC started the night of sculpture with her artfully-folded newsletter.

After President Gege Sugue DTM banged the gavel to open the meeting and Davie said the Invocation, Toastmaster of the Evening Ed Ebreo ACS set the fun atmosphere when he instructed the attendees (19 members including him – Taka, Joko, Lenlen, Faye, Jess, Penny, Dondi, Tisha, Ian, Sheila, Shani, Gege, Anne, Ed, Davie, Myee, Melissa, Jennifer, Sherilynn; and 6 guests – Raymund, Noel, Joy, Ann, Howie, Franiel, Queenie) to choose our clay piece among the rainbow array of clay, come up with any clay sculpture that we can manage to do in so many minutes, then use our creation during the round of introductions. 

525,600 Points to a Better Club

Toasties are so passionate about our growth as communicators and leaders that we are willing to engage each other in a fierce (but friendly) competition on achieving our personal and club goals. We divided the group into two teams who will battle it out on the following:

• Meeting attendance
• Speeches delivered
• Roles played
• Norms completed
• Guests invited and converted to new members
• Club, area, division and district contests participated in and won.

Everyone who attended the last meeting was very excited, and it looks like we're off to a really exciting term. 

Below are the mechanics for the contest. If you'd like to be a part of this game and the  Butter &Toast experience, join us now!

And did I mention that exciting prizes are at stake? I'll announce more about that later!

Now, let the trash-talking begin!

525600 points from Edwin Ebreo

Toastmasters Speech Project No. 5: Nurse Duty by Dondi Paulo De Joya

This speech was delivered on July 31, 2014 by Dondi Paulo De Joya for his basic speech no. 5

Who among you here has long patience? Do you remember the time your patience was tested? The time your patience had to grow longer? Good evening fellow Toastmasters. Tonight, you’ll be hearing a story of how this teenage boy back then grew his… patience. It was March 2005 when my father suffered a stroke. I just finished my Arnis training that Thursday when our driver told me what happened. I was quiet the whole time when we were going to Medical City that afternoon. It was a very silent summer for us that year. Things started picking up pace, though, on the day that dad went back home in May. We had a checklist from our doctor on how to take care of stroke patients. Now Dad couldn't eat, couldn't bathe, and couldn't walk by himself. So guess what? It was Nursing OJT for the whole family.

Butter 'N Toast Toastmasters Club Officers Go Planning

It is an exciting time to be a member of this Toastmasters club and even more exciting to be an officer. The new batch of officers  went home with wide smiles because they are all very happy with what they agreed to do for this term. Here's a preview:

1. Club contests - We are dividing  the club into two competing teams that will take turns hosting our twice a month meetings. Points will be earned based on attendance, speeches delivered, roles played, norms achieved, new members invited and club contests won among others. Great prizes await the winning team.

Ice Breaker Speech: My Journey and Why I Joined Toastmasters

This speech was delivered on July 17, 2014  by Ian Buenaventura.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Freud once said “If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”

He must be talking about someone delivering his icebreaker speech.

So Ladies and Gentlemen watch me, watch my skin, watch my stage fright ooze out at every pore.

This is why I joined Toastmasters. I am here to put myself in a situation that forces me to face my fear of stage fright and to expand my identity and grow as a person.

525,600 Minutes to a Better You!

525,600 Minutes to a Better You!

How do you measure a Toastmaster year?

by Gege Sugue

B&T TMC President, 2014-2015

525,600 minutes! 525,000 journeys to plan. 525,600 minutes—how  can you measure the life of a woman or man?

In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried. In bridges he burned, or the way that she died.

It's time now to sing out, though the story never ends. Let's celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends.  - Excerpt from Seasons of Love, a song from Jonathan Larson’s rock musical RENT.

It’s going to be a Happy New Year!

In the Toastmasters universe, the year starts on July 1. This gives us a chance to celebrate the new year twice a year. Now, isn’t that fun?

And like we do in the New Year, it’s also a good time to make some resolutions—this time focused on our communication and leadership goals.

How do you want to spend the year? What do you want to achieve?

The People We Know and the Stories They Tell

Basic Speech No. 10

Gege Sugue

“After nourishment, shelter, and companionship,” what we need the most in this world, according to author Philip Pullman, are stories.

I completely agree with him about the vital role stories play in our lives. That’s why reading novels and short stories gives me so much joy.

But for me, nothing beats the wonder, the pleasure, and the power of a real life story.  

And I’m not just talking about the real life stories of the rich and famous, the icons and the notorious. I’m not talking about extraordinary beings like Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi.

I’m talking about the stories of people around us, people we know. People whose lives have intimately touched ours, moving us, shaping us.

For instance, just a few weeks ago, we heard the story of Danny.

I loved his story for three main reasons. Number one--it reminded me of somebody else’s story. But I’ll get to that later.

Second, I loved it because it surprised me. I have always seen Danny as somebody successful, quietly confident, rich, well-connected, powerful. And it never occurred to me that behind that face is a history of economic struggles, personal insecurities, and other difficulties.

November 14, 2013 Meeting: Celebrating how Schiaparelli Inspired and Changed the World

Butter & Toast Toastmasters Club celebrates men and women who have inspired us to break norms, think out of the box, and make a difference. This Thursday, November 14, we celebrate the shocking Elsa Schiaparelli.

Come and be inspired. 

Source: http://babecycle.wordpress.com/