Unlock the Power of Speech
By nature, I’m a talkative person and a storyteller who enjoys sharing her thoughts on a daily basis. However, coming to America paused my desire to tell stories because of the language barrier. Expressing my feelings and describing facts accurately required a conscious effort to search for the right words, which often left me feeling drained. At times, I refrained from speaking simply due to the uncertainty within me.
It was 1994, when I came to America for the first time and took an airplane ride for the first time.
That was the second year after I graduated from college in China.
Despite having studied English from middle school through college, I felt quite inadequate when I first arrived in this country. Certain words always seemed to blend together for me, such as “desert” and “dessert”, “soup” and “soap”, “monk” and “monkey”, “kitchen” and “chicken”. Imagine the embarrassment I encountered through the years.
Therefore, I muted myself most of the time, worrying about inconveniencing others or bringing misunderstanding.
I had kept silent at work because the presentation seemed daunting to me. I tried to avoid this realization and found excuses of not speaking up publicly — after all I was a technical person and relying on my engineering and quantitative skills was good enough.
Power of Speech
In 2009, four years after joining WF, my failure in presentations threw me to the lowest and darkest valley. I realized that my career had not advanced one bit even though I worked hard all of these years. I started searching for solutions. I passed promotion opportunities year after year.
One day, I saw a flier in the office for a Toastmasters club open house, during lunch time. I decided to check it out for pizza. I remember clearly — the club president delivered a speech about her struggles. She’s a woman from India. It’s her 10th speech. I was amazed. She did not look at her paper; she’s confident even with an accent; she could continue to eat her pizza right after her speech… If I were her, I would have probably choked due to nervousness.
I wish I could participate in the table topics discussion that day. But, I was scared. I blushed when they invited me to introduce myself. However, that day opened a door for me to see the possibility, growth, and potential. I started a journey, an unforgettable journey to speak up and raise my voice.
I was involved more in business meetings and projects discussions by sharing my ideas and suggestions. I raised my hand every day to lead myself, lead my team, and lead the business. I started getting recognized.
From 2012–2019, I earned four promotions at WF. I have become a vocal team member not only in my business line, but also the women’s leadership community and Asian Americans community.
One Step at a Time
It has been fourteen years since I joined the toastmasters club. Over the years, there were times that I wanted to quit because of busy schedules at work and raising three children at home. However, I remember one of my mentors told me, “When there’s a need from the toastmasters, take it, jump right in and you won’t be disappointed…”
I made the goal to achieve the disguised toastmasters title (DTM) within seven years — that means I need to deliver a speech once every quarter including the leadership requirement. During the busy months, I pushed it, but picked it up once relaxed. In December 2015, I finally achieved the goal of DTM. I co-founded two new clubs and mentored two struggling clubs.
The secret sauce was taking one step at a time — one speech at a time. It means continuously to pursue excellence by practicing and learning from others.
Last night, I won the International Speech Contest championship at the Toastmasters Division level. I will advance to District 57 to compete on behalf of my Division in May. This achievement is not only for my personal award after fourteen years of effort invested in the toastmasters, but also represents a win for immigrants, for those who continue to work hard to improve and learn, and for those who overcome the culture and language barriers.
Toastmasters have become my platform to tell my story and practice my public speaking skills. I have learned to be patient with myself. I don’t need to become the best speaker in the world to deliver a speech. I don’t need to know everything to raise my hand to ask questions. I don’t need to present the best story to convince everyone in the room.
One step at a time. Persistently speak up. Because I believe in the power of speaking up.
Build a Community
One day, I visited the Union Bank in San Francisco Toastmasters club — the club I co founded in 2014. After delivering a speech, I received evaluations and one particular evaluation note jumped to my eyes. It says, “Lucy, thank you so much for your inspirational speech. As an immigrant, I always have self-doubt. Because of your speech, I will continue the toastmasters and improve my public speaking skills.” I was so touched by this evaluation and kept this note in my wallet for many years. I never knew my speech could have the power of encouraging others.
That day, I realized one more benefit of giving a speech other than improving my own public speaking skills. It’s empowering others and building a community.
Words have power. My speeches have power.
At work, I use my speeches to motivate others and share my visions with my team and colleagues. At school PTA events, my speeches represent parent’s voices. At Albany API-Parent Engagement Group events, my speeches encourage API families to bond with each other and find unity in the community. At Chief network where senior women leaders cultivate relationships and support each other, my speeches share my experiences and expertise in the area of risk management and coaching and mentoring.
I believe in the power of speech.
I believe everyone has the ability to speak up, using voice, pen, and paper. Everyone has the power within themselves to influence, inspire, and uplift themselves and others.
To the immigrant community, to women, you have the power to build a better community.
Lucy Chen,
Risk Management Executive, award Winning author, coach, and speaker. (Her book, Build Resilience: Live, Learn, and Lead is a call to all who want to reignite hope, confidence, and their own power in a world full of challenges.)
