Unlocking Your Authentic Voice: Expert Tips from Jessica Doyle Mekkes
10/06/23 • 37 min
Your voice is a powerful tool that you can leverage for success. Jessica Doyle Mekkes is a renowned vocal coach who helps women find their powerful, authentic voices. Whether you are a public speaker, leading a meeting, or just want to be able to speak up confidently in a personal or professional setting, there are many ways we can learn to exercise and use our voice more effectively. Manage your stress with breath work and role-playing, and consider that even your clothing choices can have an impact on your ability to deliver a powerful message. Most sound equipment is designed for men, so advocate for yourself, be mindful of the equipment you will be using, and make sure that it is equalized and positioned for your needs. We are not spending enough time thinking about how our voices sound, but when we use them properly, they can (and will!) command the room!
Notes:
👄 Jessica is a vocal coach and the Head of Musical Theatre at East Carolina University, where she teaches voice and vocal pedagogy: the sound of power and authority are stereotypically associated with older white males. 03:21
🤐 We usually don't think about our voices until we need them, and they're not there. 06:48
🫁 If your voice is a car, your breath is the gas: the nerve endings that activate the fight or flight are at the top of the lungs, and the rest or digest ones are at the bottom. 09:47
⏺️ What you sound like in your head is different from what your audience hears: practice speaking through role play and recording yourself. 14:28
👠 The path is very circuitous: fail spectacularly while finding your direction. 18:16
👉 If you're privileged, acknowledge that you're coming from that place, but don’t brush off your hard work and achievements as luck. 21:34
🥤 A regular drinking straw can help you warm up your voice: steam is as good for the voice as the sauna for the body. 24:18
📗 Jessica is publishing "a bible for women on speaking up without trepidation": it's about physical and inner voice, and you can pre-order it right now! 29:34
🌬️ In her work, Jessica fights “Impost-Her” syndrome and shares tools that build brain pathways and help your vocal muscles. 34:26
Links:
Connect with Jessica: www.jessicadoylemekkes.com
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor: https://amzn.to/3YV0Eln
Fuck Being Humble by Stefanie Sword-Williams: https://amzn.to/45PfSec
Connect with Adrienne: www.sheleadsmedia.com
Listen to podcasts for women by women on the She Leads Podcast Network: www.sheleadspodcasts.com.
- Rate, Review & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify
- "I love Adrienne and Sugar Coated!” <-- If you’ve thought this listening to any of my episodes, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me to spread the word about all the incredible people I have on my show and contributes to helping women leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere! Also, if you haven’t done so already, please follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you!
Your voice is a powerful tool that you can leverage for success. Jessica Doyle Mekkes is a renowned vocal coach who helps women find their powerful, authentic voices. Whether you are a public speaker, leading a meeting, or just want to be able to speak up confidently in a personal or professional setting, there are many ways we can learn to exercise and use our voice more effectively. Manage your stress with breath work and role-playing, and consider that even your clothing choices can have an impact on your ability to deliver a powerful message. Most sound equipment is designed for men, so advocate for yourself, be mindful of the equipment you will be using, and make sure that it is equalized and positioned for your needs. We are not spending enough time thinking about how our voices sound, but when we use them properly, they can (and will!) command the room!
Notes:
👄 Jessica is a vocal coach and the Head of Musical Theatre at East Carolina University, where she teaches voice and vocal pedagogy: the sound of power and authority are stereotypically associated with older white males. 03:21
🤐 We usually don't think about our voices until we need them, and they're not there. 06:48
🫁 If your voice is a car, your breath is the gas: the nerve endings that activate the fight or flight are at the top of the lungs, and the rest or digest ones are at the bottom. 09:47
⏺️ What you sound like in your head is different from what your audience hears: practice speaking through role play and recording yourself. 14:28
👠 The path is very circuitous: fail spectacularly while finding your direction. 18:16
👉 If you're privileged, acknowledge that you're coming from that place, but don’t brush off your hard work and achievements as luck. 21:34
🥤 A regular drinking straw can help you warm up your voice: steam is as good for the voice as the sauna for the body. 24:18
📗 Jessica is publishing "a bible for women on speaking up without trepidation": it's about physical and inner voice, and you can pre-order it right now! 29:34
🌬️ In her work, Jessica fights “Impost-Her” syndrome and shares tools that build brain pathways and help your vocal muscles. 34:26
Links:
Connect with Jessica: www.jessicadoylemekkes.com
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor: https://amzn.to/3YV0Eln
Fuck Being Humble by Stefanie Sword-Williams: https://amzn.to/45PfSec
Connect with Adrienne: www.sheleadsmedia.com
Listen to podcasts for women by women on the She Leads Podcast Network: www.sheleadspodcasts.com.
- Rate, Review & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify
- "I love Adrienne and Sugar Coated!” <-- If you’ve thought this listening to any of my episodes, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me to spread the word about all the incredible people I have on my show and contributes to helping women leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere! Also, if you haven’t done so already, please follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you!
Previous Episode
Unlocking Business Success: The Power of Self-Transformation with Mrs. Bob Gallagher
If your business is not doing well, it's because you are not doing well. Mrs. Bob Gallagher is the Founder and CEO of Mahalo Massage NYC where she uses Intuitive Massage to help her clients get more in touch with their body and mind. Many of us view a struggling business as a reflection of how successful we are as people, without realizing that this mindset is the real problem. We sacrifice ourselves with our work, and we worry about what others think because societal conditioning has convinced us that we need validation, so we must realize this and choose a new way forward. So much of the anxiety, tension and negativity in our lives is caused by us being stuck in these perspectives and choices that are holding us back, and living in that state creates a negative environment that hinders both our health and our business. Real success starts with recognizing that you have the choice to find and create the solutions you need to create positive change!
Notes
💆♀️ Bob's interest in meditation, body movement/mechanics, and many years of receiving bodywork inform her work as a massage therapist: promoting self-healing of the mind and body. 02:55
❗ Society has conditioned us to believe that we need to follow a certain path: it's a choice to make things happen because you attract what you reflect. 05:27
🎁 If you want things to change in a big way, you have to reach out and make a big choice: treat the negative like a gift. 10:20
❄️ We have been able to survive because of our relationships with each other, so why not call upon a friend or a therapist?: We are unique snowflakes. 18:45
🪞 I can see you if I can recognize where I am: you can't take care of anyone until you take care of yourself. 21:53
✅ What I do is not life or death because my primary goal is to live my life: if I sacrifice myself for my business, I create a dynamic of need and resentment. 24:52
!?️ Business is a reflection of me: I kind of know what I'm doing, but I also have the humility to recognize that every situation is unique. 29:40
👌 We don't have accessory organs because our design is perfect: art is a practice of observation that opens the mind. 33:01
🪷 When you recognize that you have a choice, the possibilities are endless: one experience feeds the next one, so recognize everything you have done thus far and hang out in the present. 36:13
Links:
Connect with Bob: www.mahalomassagenyc.com
Instagram with Spotify: @bobofmahalomassagenyc
Connect with Adrienne: www.sheleadsmedia.com
Listen to podcasts for women by women on the She Leads Podcast Network: www.sheleadspodcasts.com
Next Episode
Erica Carrico - Align With Your Purpose And Thrive
It's time to start following a new path and doing what you love and what you are good at before you burn out. Erica Carrico is an award-winning money and marketing coach who helps women transform their businesses to 6 and 7 figures so they can live their soul purpose. So many of us get stuck in the paradigm of slaving away in a career we don't really care about until we hit a devastating midlife wake-up call and finally get the spark we need to chase our true desires. Instead of treating our passions like side hobbies, we need to let go of our fears, reach out for help and fully pursue the careers of our dreams. External marketing, local publications and reaching out to mentors will set us on a trajectory to earning a living in a career that aligns with our ambitions. Burn all the bridges behind you and jump into your soul purpose!
Notes:
⭐ Erica is a money and marketing coach who has been in over 50 publications, including Forbes, The New York Times, and Yahoo Finance & she was the International Coach of the Year in 2020: kidney cancer was a point of change in her life and career. 02:40
🏫 The perfect business is what you're naturally good at combined with what you really love to do: we need to teach this to kids. 07:45
🤝 Treat your business like a business from the start, not like a hobby: Erica asked for help and hired people to do things. 12:47
⌛ Getting a mentor and not hiding behind the screen will help you not to waste years. 15:59
📺 Social media builds relationships with your existing followers, and that's internal marketing: external marketing is necessary for finding new customers, and Erica shares how she uses it. 18:51
🗞️ Local publications can get more business than bigger ones: fear and imposter syndrome block women the most. 23:11
💺 Fear will always be there: let it sit in the passenger's, not the driver's seat. 27:56
🤑 Erica has a program call Soul Business Accelerator for entrepreneurs that helps them get to six-figure business. 30:41
Links:
Connect with Erica: https://ericacarrico.com
Accelerator: https://go.ericacarrico.com/soul-business-accelerator43575332
Connect with Adrienne: www.sheleadsmedia.com
Listen to podcasts for women by women on the She Leads Podcast Network: www.sheleadspodcasts.com
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