We were lucky to catch up with Rosemary Ravinal recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rosemary, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I have made a career out of being a media personality, corporate spokesperson and now, public speaking coach. But the story behind my love for public speaking and communication is that for most of my life I stuttered. I’m an introvert who had much psychological abuse as a child and adolescent. The emotional scars affected my speech. Voice coaches to manage the stuttering never worked. I learned to control it myself by doing radio broadcasting in college. I discovered that the immediacy and high stakes live broadcasting forced me into a controlled speech pattern. I learned to speak in shorter sentences and avoid words that tripped me. I recognize that many business leaders fear public speaking for many reasons. Most do it poorly. I have taken my combined experiences and created training programs that turn the natural abilities, accented speech, and language patterns of individuals into persuasive and impactful speech.

Rosemary, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Public speaking is the foundation of leadership. It has been that way throughout the ages. Today, speaking before live audiences goes hand-in-hand with virtual public speaking. Love it or hate it, video conferencing is here for the long haul. And leaders need to be good at it to succeed in the new workplace. The ability to convey executive presence, authority and expertise on the small screen has become an indispensable skill for communicators. That’s where I come in with my bespoke training methods and Virtual Communicator Toolbox. I believe in harnessing the authentic qualities and personality of every speaker. That is where the magic happens. I specialize in bilingual (English-Spanish) communications and provide customized programs to C-suite executives and small teams.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

A 25-year marriage ended in divorce 10 years ago. After a career in media and public relations that spanned 35 years, I decided to go back to school to get a master’s degree in global strategic communications at Florida International University. I had been vice president at public relations agencies, and communications leader at AT&T, Discovery Channel, Ericsson, History Channel, and Univision, to name a few. But I felt that my education was lacking that extra step to solidify my knowledge. It was the best decision at a painful pivot in my personal life. I studied full time, lectured and was a research assistant and co-author of several academic papers. The experience validated and enriched my knowledge of my profession. Then, shortly after graduating, I undertook the rigorous process of becoming Accredited in Public Relations by the Public Relations Society of America.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am over 65 years of age. I had to break from the misguided idea that individuals reach an expiration date. That could not be further from the truth. Elders are wisdom workers who bring much-in-demand empathetic skills that help leaders lead. The stigma of ageism is real. In truth, there are no limits to what you can do if you believe in your talent, knowledge and wisdom to guide your path to excellence at any age. Elder women face particular age discrimination which has a lot to do with the change in appearance that comes with ageing. Elder men are seen as distinguished; elder women are seen as diminished. As I grow into my third act of extraordinary achievement, I still struggle to “unlearn” societal misconceptions about age.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rosemaryravinal.com
• Instagram: @rosemaryspeaks
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rravinal
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemaryravinal
• Twitter: @rosemaryRspeaks
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/rosemaryravinal

Image Credits
Image First Miami