321: Public Speaking as Advocacy with Yvonne Armenta

321: Public Speaking as Advocacy with Yvonne Armenta

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[00:00:00] Before we get started, I want to share something for my listeners who are navigating grad school or supporting others who are, are you feeling stuck or overwhelmed in your grad school preparation process? Or maybe you're part of a campus program, trying to guide students through it all with limited time.

Staff and tools. Tools. Trust me, I've been there and I've got something for you. I offer interactive and culturally responsive grad admissions and sustainable productivity workshops designed specifically for first gen bipoc, low income neurodivergent, and non-traditional students. These workshops go beyond the basics as I cover everything from personal statement writing and funding your degree to overcoming burnout and building systems that actually work for your life and circumstances.

If you're a student, I invite you to tell your program directors or support staff about these [00:01:00] workshops as they're tailored to fill the gaps. Most programs can't always cover, and if you're an advisor or program director listening in, I get it. I've been in your shoes as a former program director myself, and I collaborate with institutions of all sizes.

I'm also committed to working with your budget to make sure your students get the support they deserve. You can learn more and view testimonials at grad school fem train.com/speaking, or head to my talka dot speaker profile to view my sample speaking videos and read what past campuses have said. Let's work to close the hidden curriculum gap together.

Welcome to the award-winning grad school Femtoring podcast. The place for first gen Bipoc to listen in on inclusive grad school stories and learn about personal [00:02:00] development and productivity tips. This is Yvette Martinez Vu, a certified coach, consultant and author, and I will be serving as your Femtoring, providing you with insider knowledge to help you reach your personal and professional goals.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Grad School Femtoring Podcast. This is your host, Doctora Yvette. Today we are talking about all things public speaking as advocacy, happens to be one of my favorite topics because I like public speaking and I like advocacy work too. Our guest is Yvonne Armenta and she's a student.

speaker, public speaking consultant, podcaster, and founder of Latina Presente, dedicated to creating spaces and products that guide [00:03:00] introverts and Latinas in their public speaking practice through her monthly workshops, in person events, podcasts, chats with Yvonne, public speaking con cultura. and public speaking practice cards.

Yvonne shares practical strategies for mastering public speaking con cultura. Welcome to the podcast Yvonne. I'm going to be just going between Yvonne and Yvonne.

Yvonne Armenta: That's what I do. That's what I do all the time. You know, it's definitely a process of, I introduced myself as Yvonne growing up in school and you sort of get used to that. I hear Yvonne a lot at home and with my family. So it, yes, como sea.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I'm glad because that's why I had to ask before we recorded it because I know for me, it's a tendency of going back and forth with the Spanglish. And so sometimes you might catch me pronouncing people's names. You know, in more ways than one, if I know that we share that language, but in any case, I'm so happy that you're here.

I would love for you to get us [00:04:00] started. The first question is the biggest question, which is always a little bit more about you, who you are, what you do, and whatever you're comfortable sharing about how you got to where you are today.

Yvonne Armenta: Well, first of all, thanks so much for having me and hosting me in your space. I'm really excited to be here. I know we've had a few conversations around public speaking, and I always say this to anybody that I work with, that I come across with, that allows me to just talk about public speaking with them, is thank you for the opportunity to nerd out about something that I really love. With that being said, I am Yvonne Armenta. I grew up in San Francisco, California, born and raised in the Bay Area. And I started public speaking, I would say, at a very young age. I think when you look back and reflect, which is what I tell people to do all the time, you start to notice, ah, I actually engaged in the art of public speaking at a very early age.

And the way that I experienced it then has a lot to do with how I do it and how I experience it today. So [00:05:00] my public speaking journey goes way back. But I am the oldest of three. I grew up with a single mom, low income household, and I always mention those things because I think they really dictated the way that I would then go on to experience my public speaking career, my career in tech, pretty much every single facet of being a first gen within this Thanks. World of career oriented or taking the stage till this day. It still dictates a lot of what I do I officially started my public speaking journey in high school. I Keynoted a conference and I would say I learned The less traditional way. I didn't go to of through a certification process. I didn't go to, you know, clubs or anything like that for public speaking.

I learned by doing and that paired with my career in communications and tech. I always did public speaking on the side, but I had this idea of. Success means I'm going to work at the tall buildings in San Francisco and get my nine to five. [00:06:00] And that's what I want to do, because I think that's what I'm supposed to do. And I, I had a really fulfilling career in tech in communications and social impact for about eight years, three years ago. Actually, four years now, I started my consulting business Chats with Yvonne, where I do public speaking consulting workshops, one on one with folks, and also at the same time, managing my own public speaking career. So a little bit of me, what I do. I could probably go on and on. I think we all could when we're asked this question, but I really want to center our conversation around advocacy today.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yes. Yes. I think that a lot of us, when we hear people's stories, we try to find some commonalities. We are both eldest daughters. We were both raised by single moms. We're both from California and I'm from SoCal, not very different vibe, but still still West coasters. And also I heard you say that you started public speaking pretty early [00:07:00] on.

And while. I wasn't doing public speaking per se intentionally as a kid. I did a lot of theater and I was like the graduation speaker for my elementary, middle school, high school graduations. I never identified as a public speaker. And so I find it so interesting that you've been doing this for a while, and then you continue doing it in your career.

And then at some point you made that pivot, you said three or four years ago of starting your consulting business. And so I want to hear more about. That journey of intentionally doing this work, calling yourself and doing the work of a public speaking consulting, and also like even just because your background as a first gen Latina is very distinct in that when I think about public speakers, you said I wasn't doing the traditional route of maybe Toastmasters, or I don't know what else other people do.

To prep for [00:08:00] public speaking, but I'm sure there's a lot of different organizations, certificates, et cetera, that you can take to become a professional speaker. But in your case, You're like, okay, I'm going to start this consulting business. I'm going to start to do this and I'm going to focus on being first gen being Latina and being an introvert.

I love all those things. So I'd love for you to share a little bit more. Take us back to that moment where you decided to pivot and to start doing this, even if it I'm not sure. You were doing it on the side or in any case, you just started doing this professionally and more public facing instead of just on the side. Yeah. Can you say more about that?

Yvonne Armenta: Of course, yeah. So my being hired as a speaker was my side hustle, right? So there was a conference I would get asked to speak and I would go do that. And I always say that I kind of felt like I was living a double life because at work I wouldn't necessarily tell people about this because again, I am an introvert.

It felt weird to have the spotlight there. To some weird way, [00:09:00] I felt more comfortable with them, not knowing that part of what I did. So I've been public speaking for over 11 years and doing my own speaking. one day I always say this, I have a podcast episode where I talk about all of the jobs that I've had.

And as much as I tried to stay away from public speaking, it always kind of found its way to me. But during 2020, when we were all working from home. There was an opportunity to do the, the company that I was working with at the time launching a talk show, a virtual talk show where the interviewer interviewed celebrities about their wellness, their creativity, what they tap into all these different things.

And they were looking for someone internally to do it. I had somewhere at some point said to someone. Gosh, I think it would be so cool to be a host of a talk show one day and like have my own thing. That's really one of my dreams. And the person that was leading that initiative reached out to me and said, Hey, I heard this is one of your dreams.

Would you like to do [00:10:00] this? And I was really scared because it was the first time that my two worlds came together where I was being a public speaker in this capacity. Like someone knew that I wanted, that I was a public speaker and that I really wanted to do this. they gave me the opportunity internally. As in my work in tech, I had always been internal facing to where I'd led our company wide meetings. I facilitated all these things. So it wasn't now that I look back at it. A lot of my co workers tell me this now. It's like it's not surprising to us that you do this. Like, I don't know why you were trying to hide it. We kind of could see it and knew it all along. So one, that's my tip. Like, don't think that people don't notice it. They see your, they see your skills. They can see you shine through. Right. So anyways, I was given the opportunity to be the, host for this talk show, I really, really enjoyed it. And at the time I was also going through recovering from bunion surgery. So mentally I was like, gosh, this is so draining. And I found again, my light [00:11:00] in. public speaking and what I was doing and it felt so good to be in that space and to not almost be hiding that part of myself right that I did every single day just not at work and I decided, let me start an Instagram where I just share tips.

It wasn't even like, hey, let me. Share about me and my public speaking journey. It was I want to share tips on public speaking because people fear it so much, and I know why they do. I fear it, too. Every time that I'm about to go speak, my heart goes faster anything, right? I can feel those nerves. But over time, I've developed the techniques that I need as an individual to be able to show up because I really do love the conversations that I have and the transformations that I'm able to talk people through. So I decided to start launching and sharing on social media. And from there, it was, Hey, Yvonne, do you do any one on ones? Hey, could you lead a workshop on this? And my background is in communications. A [00:12:00] lot of that I did internally in tech was also learning and development, community management.

So all these things I had already been doing and was already good at facilitating Yvonne. experiences. So I started doing a ton more workshops. In addition to my speaking engagements, it became a lot more about the actual knowledge and practice of public speaking. And there is a need out there.

And my messaging was around being Latina and being an introvert because those things really have shaped the way that I show up as a speaker or don't show up as a speaker. And so Using reflection to peel away at those barriers that keep us from going on stage, but also using those same layers of who we are to be the very thing that show up when we are on stage, is how I developed my consulting business.

To me, it's centered around who you are. So, no one experience with me, consulting wise, is the same. Because, to me, it's like I need to understand where you are, how you [00:13:00] feel about public speaking, use your hobbies, use your Person who, who you are to create techniques that work for you when you take the stage paired with storytelling, right?

I, tapping into our cultura, storytelling is what we do. It's who we are and it's not in always in this old super linear of beginning, middle and end, right? Storytelling is nonlinear in our cultura. And I think that more of that needs to be present on the stage. So that was a long way of me saying. doing it on the side for a really long time, had an opportunity to do it in the workplace, in my career in tech, and decided maybe this is something that other people want to learn more about. And that's where it started.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I appreciate you giving us some insights on this. What it sounds like is a pivotal moment for you. That moment that you were, you know, face with the decision, do I bring these two worlds together? The public speaking you'd had been doing on the side and then your [00:14:00] day job and having this opportunity to become the host of a show.

Sounds like it was a really wonderful opportunity for you and was also perhaps the impetus for you to start to share your work on social media and then to start to attract little by little more work, the one on ones, the workshops and so forth. Now we know you have a podcast and you found a way to bring together so many different facets of you from your professional experience to your personal experience, to your cultura to help other people really take ownership of who they are, where they come from, what their preferences are introvert versus extrovert. I'm thinking here and even just finding a way to own their voice, to own their stories. And I see that as a form of advocacy. Because it's really teaching folks to [00:15:00] empower themselves and take that agency back over their voice and to use their voice.

And so, in this case, I would love to hear more about what you think about when we start rethinking public speaking, not just as this thing that you do professionally, but really a life skill that all of us can benefit from nurturing and enhancing. So what are your thoughts when you think about public speaking as a form of advocacy?

Yvonne Armenta: Gosh, I have so many thoughts here, right? And first of all, the, the act of practicing public speaking itself is, is advocacy, it's resistance, it's activism, right? Reason is many of us are centered on public speaking. Yeah. I can't speak up, especially as an introvert, right, if I'm not speaking up, that means that I lack confidence in what I'm saying or what I'm experiencing, and it dilutes the experience of being a Latina and being first gen and introverted to you just lack confidence.

So let's solve that [00:16:00] problem of lack of confidence from you, where I see it is that we just live in an extroverted world that lacks cultural competence, right? So if I look at it from that lens, it tells me that. Actually, it's not that I lack confidence, it's that the spaces that I'm in, I'm still too often one of one of one of five, I'm still my forms of communication are still too often questioned. My knowledge and the way that I acquired it is still too often questioned because it isn't officially in a textbook. And so the act of acknowledging that our cultura already Makes us incredible public speakers because we practice it all the time and our our elders Tell us stories all the time just because it doesn't fit again.

This mold what we consider to be great storytelling. doesn't make it any less impactful. Think about the last time that your abuelita or your mom or someone in your family told you a [00:17:00] story. It's impactful because you resonate with it because they exuded emotion when they spoke. It has nothing to do with them saying, let me follow a beginning first.

This happened and then this happened and that happened, right? Which is where our brain automatically goes because we've been conditioned to think of storytelling in that way. And so when you decide to practice public speaking, centering your lived experiences and the very things that make you who you are, that already in and of itself is advocacy because you're saying, I'm here, I'm taking up space on this stage and I'm doing it a mi manera, estoy aqui and I'm going to do it in this particular way and you're going to feel the impact of it, right?

So that's the, on an individual level, yeah. The representation part of it, the actual speaking, right? We use that we use our lived experiences to craft incredible stories to craft messages that touch the masses. And that means that whatever thing, whatever social. Issue we are really [00:18:00] passionate about or care deeply about, we can speak on it and we can not only make change because we have the facts and because we understand what it's like, maybe through the experience, but because we have the emotional capacity to understand and to be with someone in those moments.

So we, as the messengers can be with folks, even if they can't necessarily say it out loud, we can also you. Elevate, right? So I always say this, like all of us have different, all of us have different lanes in the, in the revolution. I like to say, I always say that mine is helping people craft their message and their stories so that they can go out and share it to people and change the world that way.

Someone else's is, hey, prioritize your self care, right? Because that's always needed. Public speaking is the tool that quite literally helps us make sense of our message and share it with the masses.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I love that. I love viewing public speaking as a [00:19:00] tool for advocacy as a means of, increasing representation of certain types of usually systemically excluded folks or even shedding light on a message that's important to you. If it's tied to social justice or any other things that are important to you?

I can deeply resonate with that. And even this idea of like, we all have our lane, we all have the things that we're really passionate, interested, and willing to fight for. And you just have to figure out what that lane or what those lanes are for you. And you can use public speaking as one of many tools to keep doing that work. So in terms of for folks who maybe are not 100 percent sold on the public speaking side of things where they're like, Yeah, I get that. It's important to get involved in advocacy work. But I don't know that I want to do the public speaking. I don't know that I want to be in front of a stage or I don't know that I want to be [00:20:00] doing a lot of storytelling in front of a lot of people.

What do you have to say for them? Especially for my first gens who are like, Oh, that's scary. Or all the fears that you mentioned earlier coming up. Why should those of us that are first gen be personally invested in public speaking in particular?

Yvonne Armenta: I always like to say this, but you may not love public speaking, but public speaking really loves you. Okay? It finds you. Think about these moments when you're called to tell your story or to share an experience or to share your knowledge. No matter where you are, it is something that just draws you to the art of public speaking.

And when I say public speaking, yes, I mean on the stage, but I also mean you facilitating a fireside chat. I mean, you having these one on one conversations with someone, right? It's everything that is the spoken word. It is anything and everything that requires you to talk with someone and connect with someone in that, you know, using your [00:21:00] voice. In particular, and sometimes I think this even of my own first gen story. Right, because we are surrounded our com by our community, meaning all of us have a first gen story in the community, we start to think that it is not that it isn't worth sharing as much, or that it won't do anything if I share it.

Because we all have the same first gen story, and the truth is that we actually don't. Right? All of us have such a unique lens to it, and part of advocacy means. Holding space for different views and different stories to be shared and told. And so whether it's Hey, let's actually create the space where people feel comfortable to do this.

Or let me me take up space in this in this first gen story space so that it is a more well rounded understanding of what it is to be a first gen. Right? And then In addition to that, it's, I like to think about my first gen story is different than [00:22:00] yours, is different than theirs, is different than everybody's, right?

But at the core of what it is, is we've struggled to climb a ladder or we've struggled to, with, with lack of, you know, with that learning curve or

of representation or no one else was there. So I had to figure it out in this very unconventional way. And. Me figuring it out in this unconventional way.

Now I'm in the space and I feel lacking because I did it in this unconventional way and not in the way that someone else did sharing our first gen story allows all of us to say. no, no, we, we do belong here. This is our space. And even if it wasn't created for us, how can I make sure that someone else doesn't feel the same way?

And I think public speaking to me is so much more than just speaking and talking and taking up space. It's about creating a path, creating an avenue where maybe there isn't one creating a thought process where maybe there hasn't been one [00:23:00] innovating on what could be innovating on this transformation of this is how I.

Did it, and maybe you can do it like I did it, but I want my story, if anything, to inspire you to do it differently, to do it your way. And I think that's what we should all aim for is like difference is I do it, I do it this way, but you don't have to, but if it works for you do it. And so it's important for us to continue this advocacy work because. experiences are really unique, even, even though it feels like it may not, even though it feels like, oh, it's all so first gen. It's like, that's not true, especially in the spaces that we're a part of. It's very, very important.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I want to echo, you know what you said right now about how everyone's first gen story is different and I'm a big fan of nuanced first gen stories. I don't want to hear the same deficit oriented story of like you struggled and then you finally made it and then you [00:24:00] went to Harvard or whatever, like, yes, we have heard these stories, but we don't all have that same story.

We don't all have the same identities, even if we all fall into this first gen category. And also, we don't all do things the same way, even in the practice and the art of how you do your storytelling or your public speaking. And so. Let's flip the coin or go to the other side of things. So first I was like, what about the folks that are unconvinced and don't want to do this?

Now let's talk about the folks that are like, yes, definitely. I want to become the next best public speaker. I want to do this professionally and personally in all the ways. I mean, it's one thing to be inspired and to want to do it. And it's another thing to put it into practice. So I'm curious if you have any practical strategies or techniques or anything that you've learned. And I know you just told us we all do it in our own way, [00:25:00] but anything that you can share that might be helpful to our listeners who might be getting started on their public speaking journey. And they're trying to take this a little bit more seriously.

Yvonne Armenta: Yeah, I mean, I would say you have to implement a process and it's going to feel like a lot. You have to implement a process of practice. And what I mean by that is some of us may be like, well, I know my story. I know my first gen story. I lived it. It is what it is. I can talk about it, but there is a very.

Specific type of way that you communicate and can communicate a story depending on who the audience is, what the context is right. So I would spend time sitting down and actually crafting that story. And something that I like to do is I'm a journaler, is that a word? I journal a lot. so what I will do is I go back to my journal prompts because that is the deepest, most steepest inner thoughts that I have, right?

And I look up themes. I'm like, what keeps coming up for me? I will write [00:26:00] down themes as they come and they're not full sentences, right? So derived from my journal and you can do this even without your journal, but I start to about my story and say, what are the themes that keep coming up for me? Because those themes help you develop a signature topic. Right. When you think about my first gen story, what, what is, what do I actually want to communicate? When you are developing a speech, let's say you're, I, it's different for different things, but let's say you're doing a speech at a conference. One, you have to attach it to the theme itself, but often those keynote speeches are speeches of transformation or speeches of lessons learned. So what lessons have you learned over time and what specific stories fall under? what specific happenings in your life helped you achieve those lessons, right?

And that's a way to start framing your outline for your speech and thinking about what impact you really want to make. And there's so many different legs that I can go. [00:27:00] here, as far as your storytelling, but it really is get organized with it. Public speaking often requires us to make decisions about the information that we're sharing.

And it's not that one piece of information is more important than the other, or one happening in your life is more important than this one. So I have to, you know, not share this one. It's, you're just making a decision for the day of what information you're going to present people, keeping in mind impact.

So take time to actually sit down and write out your story. You'll find that when you actually say it out loud, there's some things that you're like, mm, that doesn't really, I don't need to say that, right? and then the second layer of that, when you write your story and outline themes, is now I get to go back into that story and add color to it. What I mean by this is that so many of us, the first time that we write a speech of transformation or a lesson learned, we'll say, well, I I am first gen, oldest daughter, [00:28:00] income, single mom household, and I grew up this way. Then I went to elementary school and I learned that, blah, blah, blah, we almost narrate what happened and we list off what happened instead of, instead of immersing people in a story. So I like to think that that's your outline. You describing me. At first, and then, and then, and finally, that's an outline. The way that you add color is by tapping into your senses. So any given moment, okay what does it actually look like, feel like, sound like? Is there something that you can touch in that moment when you're experiencing being a first gen, low income, oldest daughter of three from a, raised by a single mom?

What does that actually feel like in your body, right? That's when you start to get a little bit more creative with your storytelling. So that's storytelling. That's the, the, the part of actually developing your speech. But I would say if you are someone, let's say you have already done a couple of speeches here and there, it's really important to just tell people, to tell people, say it out loud, say that you're available to, [00:29:00] to be booked to speak, say that you are a speaker and let people know that that is something that you do because no one will know if you don't tell them. Right? So that's the second, second part of that. And then I would say tap into your network. So many of us already have a network of folks that maybe know us personally, or maybe us, maybe a layer removed of that, but they are, they know who we are, they know what we stand for, they know our work ethic, and they can help us get speaking engagements that then lead to even bigger and better speaking engagements.

So I know sometimes in our community, it feels like Oh, I'm just using people, right? But when we think about it, it's reciprocated, right? I give you, you give me. If I have this to offer and in return, if you give me this, I can do this for you too, right? So tap into your network and reach out to them to say, Hey, I'm available to speak.

I'm speaking on one, two, and three. Do you know anybody that is looking for a speaker in [00:30:00] this, in this area?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I'm taking a quick pause to tell you about one of my favorite time saving tools, Descript. I use it to transcribe interviews, generate podcast show notes, create short social media clips and record, easy to share tutorials for my clients. It's also incredibly useful for academics. You can create accessible course materials with captions and transcripts, share explainer videos with your students, and make all of your material searchable and easier to organize. If you're looking for a more efficient way to work, check out my affiliate link in the show notes.

I love all of the strategies you shared from starting out with documenting your story, the journaling process, identifying some overarching threads, the themes, to then using that to create an outline. Or to start to take that story and add more [00:31:00] color to it. So thinking about the senses or thinking about what is it that stands out to you in these particular moments.

And then after that, I know you mentioned tapping into your network, but what was it that you said right before the tapping into the network?

Yvonne Armenta: Let people know that you're

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Thank you. Oh my gosh.

Yvonne Armenta: speak.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: That was actually an important point I wanted to mention because I was like, there was one thing that I really wanted to touch on, pero se me olvido, because brain fog, and also it's okay to, it's okay to not have a perfect speech, you know, it's not, it's okay to make mistakes, whatever comes up, like folks, I, I don't think people realize how much grace your audience can offer you, and it sometimes humanizes you when things like this come up.

This happens to me when I speak all the time, I'm like, Oh, what was that word? And then, I'll tell someone in the audience to let me know and then they let me know and they participate and I'm like, thank you.

Yvonne Armenta: 100 percent 100 percent and I tell this to people all the time, especially the first time that you [00:32:00] go out there and say, this is my signature speech, you are going to present it and it's going to have an incredible impact out in the world. But being a public speaker to me is about being in a constant state of studying yourself, right?

And not studying yourself for the aim of perfection, but studying yourself for the aim of stability in yourself as a speaker, right? Like what do I need to feel confident? Even though I know that people left feeling impacted by what I shared. I know that I can deliver in a way that makes me feel more confident in my delivery.

So what do I need to do? Right? That's, it's, it's not even about that was a good or bad speech. It was, did I feel good in like in my body delivering it next time? What can I do to make myself feel great so that the impact can be even greater?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And then to go back to that point about,, you want to tell others that you are open to public speaking, that you're already actively doing [00:33:00] that. I hope that I can encourage people. Alongside, I mean, you're encouraging us to, but like to just add to that, because in my the start of my entrepreneurship journey, when I started to do this for a living, I started to feel really self conscious about telling people I felt like, Oh, I'm making it about me, or it feels icky.

And even during speaking engagements, instead of letting folks know. Here are my offerings. Here are the other things that I do. I wouldn't, I would just assume if they're interested, they'll just look me up. And I didn't want to bother people. I didn't want to feel icky. I didn't want to feel salesy. I didn't want to seem as I, like I was showing off.

And I just want to remind people that if you don't tell folks that you are a public speaker, they're not going to know, and they're not going to reach out. And it's tied to the last part that you said about the relationship building in telling folks. There might be folks out there who really, really need to hear your [00:34:00] story and you have no idea because you are dimming your light and feeling like oh, I don't want to bother or I don't want to be icky I don't want to be salesy and it's like at at the end of the day you are who you are So when you take action when you share your story when you tell people that you're public speaking folks can tell like they can tell what your intentions are if it's going to be what is it when some people have like relationships that aren't reciprocal.

They're very like

Yvonne Armenta: hmm. Transactional.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Transactional yes that so folks can tell when something feels that way or when something is actually you nurturing a really great relationship and then the last thing I want to say and then i'll get to the next question is This point about talking to other people leaning on your community and your network and also asking people for their input and their feedback.

I think that that's another thing to that. It's really tied to [00:35:00] what you shared in terms of the strategies, because sometimes we can write our story as much as we want, but we might miss some really obvious things because like you said, when we're around so many people that are like us, we think we're, we're very ordinary, but we're not.

Yvonne Armenta: Yeah, and and and like practicing. It's interesting to that you say that because practicing our story with folks that are outside of our immediate community is incredibly important because I can say first gen and you automatically have an idea of what I'm talking about. You automatically have a certain lens that you adopt when I say those words, but someone else, everybody else in the world doesn't unless they're also first gen, right?

And it's and and that can help. The way that we craft our story, it us to add more detail to what we're saying. It allows us to actually focus on the immersion, the immersive experience of our transformation versus just assuming that someone knows what First Gen is. Like, when I led with [00:36:00] that, I knew that the audience here knew that I was that means, right?

But maybe if I'm at a different, you know, someone else is listening, I have to define that for people. And maybe it's not first gen is 123. It's actually let me define it through my story through what actually my lived experience is. And I want to tap into what you just said to about telling people, right? And sharing your call to action right at the end. Let's reframe it to, if we're able to do this together as advocacy, right? You're advocating for yourself when you're doing that and saying it out loud. I know today our theme is revolved around public speaking as advocacy and not only the act of speaking, but everything that comes after that, getting yourself out there and telling people that you're available to speak or that you have this business is advocacy. And I, I I'll share my experience, but. I was [00:37:00] terrified of posting on LinkedIn because I had this fear of being perceived by the people that I worked with and, you know, because I'm an introvert and all this stuff, I was like, they're going to be like, wait, you didn't act like that all out there when you were, you know, working with us was like, yeah, because there's lots of layers there, right?

There's lots of layers to unpack. There is a Latina in tech, but I decided to just post about my, my cards, the public speaking practice cards on LinkedIn. And I got the biggest order to date. And then I decided to post about me doing my consulting finally after literally this is recently, right? A couple months ago.

And I said, Hey, I do this, right? And I started getting everybody that I worked with in the past, like this makes so much sense. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited that you're doing this. One of the CEOs from the last company was like, all this time we thought you were just. Kind of just naturally good at this, but you were you're actually a trained [00:38:00] individual and I'm like, gosh I was assuming that everybody else would think these things of me and that was completely Different than what I thought right?

I I didn't expect negative comments by any means but I didn't expect the outpouring love and positive positivity that I also got and the referrals that I got from Literally that one post and so if anything and sharing, saying it out loud, allows other people to show up for you without you necessarily even having to ask all the time, right?

Though we should practice both, right? But, but that to me was an experience where I was like, hmm, advocacy helped me. Expand my, not only my, you know, the amount of people booking me and, you know, paying for, for things, also it allowed me to see myself through a different lens. And that's what we need sometimes.

It's like advocacy allows us to say, Oh shoot, this is really needed. This is, it's not just me. It doesn't [00:39:00] just live within me. This work, the things that we do are actually needed out in the world.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Right, and a part of the advocacy work that you do too is around supporting folks who are also introverted like you and I. And I want to go back really quickly before I ask you about that. In particular, you mentioned you mentioned that for sometimes like those of us that are first gens, there's there are a lot of assumptions that are made around some similarities, or you when you hear about someone having a first gen story, you have something in mind already.

And the same can be true, or the same can be said around introversion. I can be like, oh, she supports introverted folks. So I kind of have an idea of what she does. But we have to push back against our assumptions, even the assumptions of oh, what are people going to think el que diran that comes up that sometimes can have us playing small.

But in your case, you're introverted. [00:40:00] We have these assumptions around Introverts not being able to speak or not wanting to speak publicly. Tell us a little bit more about your work supporting introverted public speakers. What does that look like? And I, I'm assuming that you're, that you're helping introverts leverage their natural strengths, but correct me if I'm wrong. Cause again, we've got to challenge the assumptions here.

Yvonne Armenta: No, I mean, that's exactly what it means to bring the introvert on the stage, right? I think one of the one of the strengths of being introverts is that we spend a lot of time in our minds. And that means that at any given point, it's not overthinking, it's deep thinking. And that means that I have thought about, if I say this out loud in this particular way, what are some of the outcomes of me doing that? That is an incredible public speaker. That tells me that you are emotionally intelligent enough to understand that your words have impact. And I often also say that as introverts, we Need [00:41:00] more information than not before saying something out loud to be informed about what we're saying that makes incredible public speakers because it tells me that you're not just talking to fill up space.

You're talking with intention, right? So all these little things that we do, that not little, but that make us who we are are really, those are practical techniques for being public speakers. Then when we talk about the energy, right? As a public speaker. You give a lot of energy when you're on stage and you receive a lot of energy. So often the misconception about introverts is that we're in our shell, right? That we can't be loud and bold. We can! We can be loud and bold, especially when we're passionate about something. Especially, are you kidding me? If I've spent my entire life deep thinking this one thing, you don't think that given the opportunity I can go up there and talk about it? And, and that's the key word, is given the opportunity. Give me the opportunity to actually say something out loud in my own way. about, I think about this all the time. [00:42:00] I say that we live in an extroverted world, which means there are so many moments where you just don't give people enough time to say something, right?

I remember being in class and my heart starting to pound when the teacher would ask a question. I knew the answer, but I wouldn't raise my hand. I would wait really long. And right as I was about to say something, the professor would move on. And that was, oh, now the lens of Yvonne is that Yvonne is. shy, reserved, and doesn't like to talk, doesn't share in class, right?

But maybe my writing and maybe the assignments were spectacular because I was doing my deep thinking there, right? So, something that I like to implement is I leave a lot of room for thought. I leave a lot of room in my practice and space for you to just sit there with those thoughts and not feel like you have to respond to me right away.

Or that you have to say something right away. It's about giving you the space to do that. And in my workshops, if it's not with your camera on or even in the chat, I believe that it's important for [00:43:00] us to give people multiple ways to interact with the content, right? I don't need you to necessarily write your thoughts down in the chat where everyone else can see it, but maybe you want to send it to me.

And just know that you are engaged, or maybe you want to send it to me afterwards after you sit through the workshop with your camera off, because I don't care if you have it off or on. It doesn't tell me anything about how deeply or not you're engaged in what I'm talking about, right? You chose to be here and. Maybe send an email to me afterwards with your questions or your thoughts around the topic. I think it's about, in my work, to me, meeting introverts where we are and in the spaces that we, that we exist is, I want to do things differently than the things that cause me anxiety everywhere else in the world. I don't want to feel like I have to act like something. I want to feel like it is okay and safe to be me and to, my own process in this space, and I know that being a public speaker and communicating effectively is essential in anything that we do, and I [00:44:00] don't believe that introverts lack communication skills.

I just believe that we lack the space to fully explore all of our thoughts so that we can then. Share, share it out loud. And that's the main difference in the work that I try to do. I think it can feel very contradicting to some people to say introversion and public speaking what, but it's actually hand in hand.

It's not this crazy idea, this out of mind concept, right? I can be on stage and be loud. And be bold. And then I have to go on a retreat for like 48 hours to not talk to anybody. Right. It's just about understanding my, myself, my introversion and centering everybody's introversion because everybody experiences it differently.

Right. So asking you the questions and saying, well, feels good. Let's just talk about what, what actually, what do you actually need in order to feel like you can share this out loud if you want to and using those things to give you techniques around public speaking. So it's not a one size fits all thing.[00:45:00]

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: What I find really interesting about what you just shared in supporting. introverted public speakers is that in doing so you've actually nurtured and fostered some pretty inclusive and accessible spaces. And what I'm thinking about right now in particular are the parallels between introversion and certain types of neurodivergence

so as someone who is autistic and for those of us that are autistic, we have differences in how we communicate, differences in how we socialize, differences in our behavior, differences in our processing time, you having spaces where folks can participate in different ways, where folks don't necessarily always have to have their camera on where folks can give themselves the time that they need to process information and [00:46:00] then ask their question after there's actually quite an inclusive thing, so I just want to compliment you for the work that you're doing, because even though this is work that's geared towards introverts, I feel like every time that we try to accommodate differences, we end up making spaces a lot more inclusive, even beyond the folks that it's intended for. So, yeah, just shout out to you for that.

Yvonne Armenta: Thank you. Thank you. I mean, I, I, I totally believe that to be true. I think that when we focus on being intentional in our inclusion, even from one, right, because I can't possibly try to cover every single, There's going to be something that I'm missing, right? But when you are intentional with maybe just one lens or two lenses at any given time, I think it does open the space to say, Hey, or Hey, have you thought about doing it?

This way, because the entire point to me is being able to create a space where it's not scary to say the thing [00:47:00] out loud, where it's not, you're not going to negatively, right? You're not going to get points deducted in class. If you get it wrong, you're not like, you're not going to get participation points knocked down.

If you don't say it within the 15 second time work that I, you know, set aside or paused for a second to me that it's about not having any negative. repercussions of being who you are. And, and that's at the center of, of the practice and the spaces that I want to create for practice. So thank you. Thank you for saying that.

Cause I, I, I don't think that I had actually sat down to acknowledge that or even think of that side of it.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I just really appreciate that. I wanted to just let you know that your work is appreciated and that more of us need to, have these types of conversations because it's, it's super interesting to notice the parallels, you know, in this case, parallels between introversion and say neurodivergence, or there's all these other parallels between like first gen experiences and other types of [00:48:00] experiences.

So we can learn a lot from one another. And I'm just grateful that you are even providing these types of spaces and that they're available. Because when I think about the start of my public speaking journey, I never felt included in that way, and if I had had a space like yours, I think that it would have made that much more of a difference.

It was definitely would have helped out, and I would have, I mean, there's so many things that you can say about, like, shoulda, coulda, woulda. We did the best with what we had, right? But now that we know better, we can do better.

Yvonne Armenta: I mean, trust me, I know all about that. Like, like I said, I think especially I started my public speaking journey being like, let me Google top public speakers. I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled, didn't find a Latina. It took me a while to find a woman. Right. And I think the first one was like Oprah or something on there, but it was after a long list of men. Tony Robbins at the very top. I even went to a Tony Robbins session and I didn't pay for it by the way, but I went to a Tony Robbins session. You start to google people who are great speaker and, [00:49:00] and I. wasn't until I after I felt comfortable and confident in my actual skill set as a speaker that I decided to peel back at all those layers of, okay, but where am I within the art of public speaking? I'm great at it. I'm good at it. But where is Yvonne in all of this?

And I, I want us all to start from that point. It's like, where am I in all of this and then work to say, all right, maybe I can improve on this a little bit, but it's centered in who I am not comparing myself to anybody else that's out there.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: As we get close to wrapping up, I'm curious if there was any question that you were hoping that I'd ask you that I haven't up to this point.

Yvonne Armenta: Hmm. I'm stumped here.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: It's okay. Some folks say, Nope, you're good. And others are like, actually, I came prepared with the question that I was hoping you'd ask me and a whole answer to it.

I

Yvonne Armenta: mean, I, I think maybe, [00:50:00] maybe something, it's just a topic that I, a quick thing that I will say is we like to think of everything as being in its own bucket. Everything and everyone and every is interconnected. So when you think about your public speaking journey and you're maybe afraid you are fearful of even starting and it feels intimidating. Think about the things that you do love to do. Think about those hobbies that you have. If you're a worm, think about what about those stories. You know, you love or think about using the actual book and reading out loud as a form of your public speaking practice. Think about if you are a runner, if you like going on hikes, there are ways to bring the very things that you already love and enjoy doing into the art of public speaking, not just the way that you and what you talk about, but the way that you actually practice and the techniques that you adopt.

So if that if that brings you closer to the art, because it is, I think. Such a powerful tool for [00:51:00] connecting with yourself and one another and making the world a much better place to live in. If that is what's going to help you love the art of public speaking just a little bit more, I would love for you to explore that a bit more.

Your hobbies and public speaking go hand in hand.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Ooh, you've got, you're getting me to think about that too. I'm like, wait, how can I incorporate my hobbies into my public speaking? I hadn't considered that.

Yvonne Armenta: Yeah, your techniques, if yeah, I mean, I, I, I have, I could go on and on about this, right, but I always ask people that I work with, like, tell me what you like to do, because, like, what you like to do is going to help me find specific techniques to help you in public speaking, so that it comes from a lens of skill set, but also foundation, like, this is who you are,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I like to buy beaded earrings, but I don't know if that's considered a hobby. Yeah. Yeah.

Yvonne Armenta: it could be, it could be literally the colors that inspire you. It could be [00:52:00] the act of, hey, when you go and buy something, what does it actually feel, right? So let's use that as a form of practicing public speaking. There's a lot I could nerd out

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah, I mean, a lot of times when I wear earrings, I feel like I'm channeling the person that made them. And so that's why I like to be intentional about where I buy them and who I support, et cetera. So yeah, anyway, that's an aside, I'm getting distracted here, but you're getting me excited because it just goes to show you that there's so many different ways to do this.

There's so many different ways to frame it, to help you in this. process and that public speaking is for everyone is what I'm hearing you say. Well, now that, yeah, now that we're getting close to wrapping up, I would love for you just to share any closing words ideally some words of advice for our audience, anyone in particular who would love to keep working on their public speaking skills, keep improving on that, or even [00:53:00] maybe it's not public speaking per se, but they want to use. Their voice in some way to do advocacy work that's important to them.

Yvonne Armenta: Mhm. The one thing that I'll say, which is, I thought about this the other day while I was on a run, but it was in particular was about running, right? Este deporte nos pertenece es de nosotros. Public speaking nos pertenece, es de nosotros, right? Our voices is ours and it's, it's so beautiful. And so we should be using it and we should be using it to help our communities.

We are already, so we grew up in community. We know what it's like to be in community and how powerful community is. Using our voice to advocate for ourselves and for the betterment of our community is always a good thing. It will always be the right time to do that. And so my words of encouragement to you is to practice hearing your voice.

Practice hearing what it sounds like. Say the things out loud, even if it's just with yourself in, in, in the room. Maybe it's pick up the phone and record yourself, but get [00:54:00] used to the sound of your voice because it's so needed in the world.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I appreciate you saying that what comes to mind when you said that, especially using the example of runners, I use that example of running when I try to support folks in developing a practice. So whether it's a writing practice or a running practice or speaking practice, it's runners run, writers write.

So in this case, speakers speak. And so I, I just appreciate you reminding us that, that, that's something that you can keep working toward and keep practicing. And once again, that this is available to anyone, if you want to, you know, make the time and energy for it. Well, now that we're getting close to the end, I don't want to leave you without you telling us all the different ways that folks can follow you, connect with you, support your work, get themselves some of the public speaking con cultura cards that you [00:55:00] have or anything else that you want to share about you, about your work and connecting with you.

Yvonne Armenta: Yeah, I mean, chatswithyvonne.Com, chats with Yvonne across all platforms. I have a podcast where I talk about public speaking con cultura. I'll bring up weekly different topics related to public speaking. We do use the public speaking con cultura practice card deck, which are cards that I created to help you practice your public speaking from wherever you are mixed in with a little bit of cultura in there. And I. host a monthly workshops . Some in person events across California for now hoping to expand that soon. But ways that you can work with me are continued in all on my website's workshops one on one if you or your organization want to host a workshop around public speaking or a few days of public speaking seminars would love to be in community with you all in that capacity.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Love that, love that. Okay. Well, I am so glad that we could do this. I appreciate you for sharing [00:56:00] all of your insights, all your knowledge, all of your stories and consejos. Thank you so much, Yvonne, for sharing time with us today.

Yvonne Armenta: Thank you for having me

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: ​thanks so much for listening. If you liked what you heard, here are three ways you can support the show. The first is to make sure you're subscribed and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. The second way is to get your copy of my free resource kit linked in my show notes. This kit includes tools, playlists on all things grad school, productivity, and personal development.

The third way to support my show is to follow me on social media. You can find me on Instagram with the handle at gradschoolfemtoring and on LinkedIn by searching my name. Thanks again for listening. And until next time.