S3 E12: Finding Your Author Voice and How It Helps Your Speaking Career

08/03/21 • 37 min

Today’s Invisible Stories guest is author, podcaster, and speaker Nicolle Merrill. Nicolle has written for Four Seasons and National Geographic private jet tours, taught digital communication skills to global executives, and sold adventure travel programs in New Zealand. As the former Associate Director of the Career Development office at Yale School of Management, she coached hundreds of MBA students and professionals through all phases of their career transitions. Nicolle’s book, Punch Doubt in the Face: How to Upskill, Change Careers, and Beat the Robots, has been published by PYP. This book upgrades career advice for the future of work. In the book, Nicolle translates the headlines about robots taking all the jobs into a guide to help career changers navigate the new world of work. Nicolle’s human-centered approach to career changes, combined with a relentless curiosity about emerging career trends, has led to speaking engagements across the US, as well as in Canada and Ireland.

In this podcast, Nicolle and I delve into her life as a self-described job-hopper, and how she used her adaptability and Liberal Arts background to try out different career paths and guide others looking to do the same. Nicolle talks about

How she took her experiences in different jobs and combined them into her book, to offer others insight into what their career path may look like. She emphasizes that career changes are not linear, and that they take different shapes depending on who you are and your journey may not be like somebody else's journey.
How her attention-grabbing book title came to be, and how it is a larger message of learning to push away doubts and insecurities and be confident in your skill sets.
Her tone in her book, and how it really sets the stage for her speaking engagements and other branding elements. From the first few pages of her book, you know who she is and what she is about, and she is just like that in person. There is a congruence that just works.
The way she overcame her procrastination tendencies and carved out time each day where she would write whatever came to mind, without stopping to self-edit.

How she took her experiences in different jobs and combined them into her book, to offer others insight into what their career path may look like. She emphasizes that career changes are not linear, and that they take different shapes depending on who you are and your journey may not be like somebody else's journey.
How her attention-grabbing book title came to be, and how it is a larger message of learning to push away doubts and insecurities and be confident in your skill sets.
Her tone in her book, and how it really sets the stage for her speaking engagements and other branding elements. From the first few pages of her book, you know who she is and what she is about, and she is just like that in person. There is a congruence that just works.
The way she overcame her procrastination tendencies and carved out time each day where she would write whatever came to mind, without stopping to self-edit.

Previous Episode

S3 E11: Memoir and Your Shared Experiences Give Power to Readers Who Feel Unseen

Today’s Invisible Stories guest is the renowned speaker and bestselling author Terry Dyer. Over a span of 15 years, Terry’s professional career has been spent in Corporate America working in both for profit and nonprofit environments. His background consists of Talent Acquisition Management, Recruitment, Client Services, and Program Management with Fortune 100 and 500 companies. Additionally, Terry has volunteered his time to various organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and South Florida communities. Since 2007, he has served as a member of the San Francisco LGBTQ Speakers Bureau. He and the organization aim to dispel homophobic and transphobic violence by educating people about the Terry’s memoir, Letters to a GAY BLACK BOY, sparks conversations around racism, inequality, homophobia, and more.

In this podcast, Terry and I discuss the process he underwent to find his authentic voice and to put pen to paper to write his memoir. He shares his insight on:

How he started with a more academic tone in his book, but went back and revised the tone to have a more authentic voice. He wanted readers to feel like they were part of these heartfelt, open, honest, transparent conversations.
His purpose in writing this book, and how he wanted to take sensitive, uncomfortable topics like racism and homophobia, delve into why those topics are uncomfortable, and cut through the noise to find comfortability.
Even the audiences his book was not intended for, who had no shared experience with Terry, read his book and had it transform how they look at particular communities, and find universal commonalities.
How he decided what to include in his memoir, and what went through his head when considering how he should portray real people from his life who might pick up this book.

Next Episode

S3 E13: Finding Empowerment Through Telling Your Story and Others

Today’s Invisible Stories guest is Publish Your Purpose Press’s own Brandi Lai. Brandi is a contributor and the mastermind behind the creation of the anticipated The Real Lives Of Transgender and NonBinary Humans, the first anthology from PYP. Brandi also recently started her own business, Best-Laid Pens, and she specializes in ghost writing and development editing. Brandi is passionate about helping other people share their stories and making a platform for other people to amplify their voices.

In this podcast, Brandi and I discuss what it was like for her to be working on this new PYP project, and being the person spearheading this anthology. Brandi was passionate from the start about this project, and put her heart and soul into getting this book to happen. Brandi tells us a bit more about

The emotional and cathartic experience of working with the contributors, and relating to their stories on a personal level.
How as the collector of these contributors’ stories, she had to put herself into their story to capture their voice, and how that triggered her own emotions from her past. She had to learn how to cope with her own emotions and reflect back on her own experiences, while still making sure the contributors’ words were authentic and meaningful.
The ultimate goal of this anthology, which is to reach those trans and nonbinary people who are struggling or going through similar experiences, and give them hope for their own future. This book may also help cisgender people learn more about the lives and experiences of transgender and nonbinary individuals, and to act as a guide for those who love trans and NB people about how to support and relate to those people in their lives.
The ways this process of collecting these stories has empowered her to share her own story, and to become an entrepreneur herself much like the contributors to the anthology have done.