My story: overcoming my fear of public speaking

Thrown in at the deep end

Sometimes all it takes is one moment in time to change your life. That moment for me was in 2018 when I was called upon to deliver my father’s eulogy after having cared for him for two years as he battled cancer.

Delivering a eulogy is certainly not the time to work on your fear of public speaking! But that’s the situation I found myself in. When someone close to you dies, you can’t help but re-evaluate what really matters to you. As I stepped down from the podium that day, I made a decision.

It was time to change.

It was time to overcome the fears that held me back from living a full life.

It was time to say goodbye to anxiety and systematically overcome my fears, starting with my fear of public speaking.

Growing up, I had high levels of anxiety, stage fright and even panic attacks. I learnt to manage this through the practice of meditation, but the fear of public speaking seemed like something else

Was it even possible for me, an introvert with a history of anxiety, to be a confident speaker?

And was now really the best time?

There’s never a ‘good time’ to overcome your fear of public speaking

My father had just died, and I had been suffering from a health condition, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.), since 2010. I’d spent the first two years mostly bed-bound and the next six years working hard to get my mobility back.

During this time, I set up an online tuition business so I could work from home. By 2019 I was able to leave the house but could only be active for a maximum of four hours at one go.

Surely this wasn’t the time to face one of my biggest fears!

But I’d made a promise to myself.

Joining Toastmasters and becoming an award winning speaker

In 2019 I joined Toastmasters International. The meetings were three hours long and it took half an hour each way to drive to the sessions. It was just about manageable.

Training as a speaker became a big part of my life and I dedicated a lot of my time and energy to it. I entered multiple speech contests and became the District Champion of Impromptu Speaking in London 2023. I became a multi-award-winning speaker and also an accredited trainer.

The breakthrough moment

This journey taught me that anyone can become a confident and impactful speaker, even if you’re an introvert like me and don’t consider yourself a natural speaker. It really is about learning the skills, putting them into practice, then getting qualified feedback and applying it.

I realised that becoming a confident speaker also led me to feeling more confident all round and was a huge step forward in personal development.

I also had a burning desire to share this knowledge with the world. It felt like a massive breakthrough for me and I wanted to share this with others.

People need to know that being a great speaker is not a natural ability but a skill—and one that anyone can learn!

A transformative journey and the start of Breakthrough Public Speaking

Then came Breakthrough Public Speaking, a business with a mission to:

• Break through myths around confidence.
• Break through misconceptions that great speakers are born not made.
• Break through barriers to success by helping businesses grow by making speaking their competitive advantage

When the pandemic hit in 2020, I realised that although a very tragic period in time, this was also an incredible opportunity because the whole world went online.

I noticed that even amongst confident speakers who were comfortable speaking in front of a few thousand people, many of them feared being on camera for videos.

I honed my skills in virtual presentations and videos and this would become my niche area of speaking for the next couple of years. It also meant I could work successfully from home. I specialised in working with business owners to help them speak with confidence on camera for videos, webinars and digital courses.

In 2022, I moved to Southampton to be nearer to my mother who has dementia. I also had a significant improvement in health and decided to include in-person presentation skills coaching and team training.

To date I now have a coaching program that:

1. Helps business owners to create 5 key speaker assets for their business:

• Presentation
• Elevator pitch
• Webinar
• Videos
• Training course

2. Helps executives to become impactful speakers, whether that’s for a presentation (in person or online), an interview or a panel discussion.

I also deliver team training in:

• Presentation skills for business growth
• Communication, collaboration and high-performance teams
• Leadership & Management
• Conflict, Emotional Intelligence & Confidence

I am also a keynote speaker on a mission to change the world through changing the way we communicate in the workplace.