We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Amelia Reigstad, PhD a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dr. Amelia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was in my 13th year as a university professor, I turned 40, finished my doctorate degree and then decided I no longer wanted to teach anymore. Ha! – What was I going to do with my life? I was fortunate that prior to the pandemic, I was speaking across North America at different conferences and events sharing details of my PhD study on gender differences in communication styles and their influence on the workplace – essentially how men and women communicate differently. There was so much interest and based on my previous work in the PR/communications industry, I knew how important effective workplace communication was so I decided to turn my research into a business. Fast forward and I now work with organizations and individuals to help them communicate better in order to increase productivity in the workplace.

Through this, I also noticed the need for women to use their voices to initiate change so much of my work is designed with women in mind through a cohort-based series I developed called The Women Empowerment Series. The work I do with women fills my cup and I throughly enjoy helping women communicate as their authentic selves.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a passionate change agent, speaker, facilitator, author and coach with a passion and love for knowledge. With over two decades of industry experience, I enjoy sharing my expertise across a variety of industries and design training programs, facilitate workshops, and lead team members to success. Through my inspiring, engaging, and dynamic work sessions, my purpose is to motivate teams, provide insightful and relevant content, and create a relatable, authentic, and practical experience for all participants.

As an expert in my field, I use interactive and engaging exercises to guide team members on their professional development journey and do so in an organic and authentic way. Organizations benefit by having:

• Wow’d and empowered team members ready to deliver impact
• Improved communication with team members, stakeholders, and clients
• Increased engagement, productivity, and team performance
• An enhanced workplace culture.

I have spoken on a global scale at numerous conferences and events and have taught a variety of university-level courses across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the U.K. Over the course of my career, I have authored numerous articles on gender, communication, leadership success, authenticity, and have published a book called, Virtual Communication Skills – How to Communicate Effectively in a Virtual Environment.

Last year I was fortunate to be selected as a Twin Cities Business Magazine Notable Women Entrepreneur of 2022 and am incredibly proud of the work I do as the founder of The Women Empowerment Series where I inspire and encourage women to use their voice to initiate change through authentic communication.

My work aligns with the following topics and I am available for customized workshops, keynote speaking engagements, conferences, meetings, and events, company retreats and professional development and team building:

• Effective Workplace Communication
• Gender Differences
• Linguistic Styles
• Women Empowerment
• Work/Life Balance
• Burnout
• Authenticity
• Leadership
• Organization Effectiveness
• Productivity
• Employee Engagement

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Who starts a business during a global pandemic? Me! Me!…I do! I do!

Not only did I start a business during the pandemic, it was a speaking and training business where my sweet spot was facilitating IN PERSON! This clearly was not going to work as we navigated our new normal for 2+ years working from home, wearing masks and being limited in who we engaged with. So, I had to pivot to an online learning environment and at first, I dug my heels in. I really didn’t want to facilitate over Zoom or MS Teams and it wasn’t until a colleague of mine sat me down (over Zoom no less) and said to me…”Amelia, if you are going to make this work, you are going to have to try to facilitate and offer your training programs and workshops online.”

It was a bit of a come-to-Jesus moment in the sense that my colleague was right. The pandemic at that time wasn’t going anywhere so my only option was to pivot and offer my work sessions and coaching online or forget my whole business idea. An entrepreneur at heart, I was up for the challenge and re-worked my business plan to successfully launch my company with a focus on online learning and development with the hopes of one-day being back in person. Guess what, I now offer both online and in-person options and my business is thriving!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Given my background in PR and communications, social media has always been in my wheelhouse and I’ve built my audience by being consistent in posting and ensuring my content is relevant, engaging and authentic. What you see if what you get and I found the secret to building a social media presence is to authentically be myself, post interesting content and photos and focus on positioning myself within platforms where my target audience is. For example, I am extremely active on LinkedIn because that’s where my business community is. Instagram works really well when I am promoting my women empowerment workshops. Knowing your target audience and generating interesting content is key!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ameliareigstad.com
• Instagram: @areigstad_effect.communication
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliareigstad/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORTWcOwNzlT9IP5rCytC3Q
• Other: Speaker Reel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsT15S-xIec&t=3s