We were lucky to catch up with Jen Fitzgerald recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?
I would love to see the educational system teach students a second language at a younger age. Other countries require students to start learning a second language well before they are double-digits in age, but it’s common in the US for students to start learning a second language when they are in their first year of high school. Sure, there are immersion programs where students learn different languages at younger ages, but those are far and few between.
Some of my most life changing experiences happened when I was immersed in different languages and cultures through travel. I studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark for a semester during my junior year of college. It was my first time traveling abroad besides going to Canada and Mexico, both of which are common places for people from the US to travel to as their first abroad experience. Being in a different culture that speaks a foreign language humbled me because I had to learn the cultural norms, values, and at least a bit of the language to thrive.
When I travel internationally now, I learn how to say the basics in that language, such as hello and thank you. Whether the country speaks English or not, I learn about the cultural norms and values and practice those when in that country. For example, when I traveled to Japan, I mirrored the locals through bowing. When they would bow to me, I would bow back to them.
Learning new languages strengthens the brain. I’ve also heard anecdotally that people who speak different languages become a different version of themselves that match the cultural norms and values of the language they speak. Learning a new language is healthy for these personal reasons, but also professionally as it enables people to communicate across different cultures. It’s easy to rely on English because it’s spoken all over the world, but there are more opportunities to connect with people from different countries on a human level if you speak to them in their native tongue.
So, buy those plane tickets, and start traveling the world to practice languages! You’ll never know who you’ll meet and the impact they can make on your life… or the impact you’ll make on theirs!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a Professional Speaker who speaks on building relationships and career development. More specifically, my signature topics are my FACE Framework and LIKE Lineation. Through my FACE Framework (Familiarity, Authenticity, Curiosity, and Elasticity), I speak on building relationships by applying concepts of friendship to networking. Through LIKE Lineation, I speak on creating a career path based on what you LIKE to do. Both of my programs include stories from my life that tie into my content. I also facilitate fun breakout activities, my favorite of which is “Speed Friending.” This is my present, but my story starts with my past.
As a young child, I used to stutter. I went to speech therapy and took modeling and acting classes to overcome this speech impediment. It wasn’t until I attended a youth conference at the age of 14 that my dream job became Professional Speaker. I was amazed at how speakers at this conference could connect with audiences. I felt as if they were speaking to me directly even though they were actually speaking to thousands of people. I wanted to connect with others in this way and make a positive impact on them, but making that positive impact started in a way I didn’t expect.
After graduating from Loyola Marymount University, I worked in Higher Education Admissions and Enrollment as an Admissions Counselor. This became my dream job as it involved everything I LIKE to do in one job: public speaking, traveling, event planning, counseling, and working with high school students. I spent over 8 years as an Admissions Counselor before pivoting to professional speaking, but I’ve stayed relevant in higher education with jobs in application reading and essay reviewing. Although I initially intended to stay in college admissions, I was inspired to pursue my childhood dream of professional speaking after reading “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. While reading that book, I reconnected with who used to be the Director of Greek Life at my alma mater, who is now a Professional Speaker. He told me about a Speakers Academy that teaches the business behind speaking… the part I needed the most help with. I excitedly joined the program in early January 2024 and have been a Professional Speaker ever since.
In my speech on my FACE Framework, the problem I solve is inauthenticity in networking. Networking only feels cringey when our intention is to make connections for personal gain, but if we enter our networking efforts with the intention to build relationships without expectations, then we find that doors open and synchronicities follow. I also encourage audiences to stop focusing on making contacts and start focusing on making connections. Make connections for the sake of making connections! It’s important to remember that networking happens at more places than “networking events” since you never know where you’ll meet someone that makes a positive impact on you. In return, make a positive impact on others by thinking of how you can help them.
In my speech on LIKE Lineation, I encourage audiences to create a career path based on what they LIKE to do in order to find fulfillment in their career. Audiences include college students about to embark on career paths, those in the middle of their career who are looking to pivot to a new industry, and employees who like the company they work for, but want to feel that spark in their job again. As an Admissions Counselor, I saw a trend where students would choose a career path based on what they were familiar with or jobs offering the most stability. Although these are fine reasons to choose a job, they didn’t consider the thousands of other careers to choose from simply because they didn’t know about them. Therefore, I encourage audiences to stop focusing on the job title and start focusing on the job description. Finding enjoyment out of the day-to-day tasks in a job gives people fulfillment in their career as they use their talents and skills to make a positive impact on others.
Going back to my role as a Professional Speaker, what sets me apart from other professional speakers is my background as a stutterer. I am passionate about speaking because there was a time I could not speak. My background in Higher Education Admissions and Enrollment also makes me unique as I teach what I learned in that profession to various industries and audiences.
As I look back on my life and career path, I am most proud of the life I created. If you were to ask me as a teenager how my life would look in my thirties, I would tell you the answer that sounds like the American Dream: After graduating from college at 22, I would get married at 25, buy a house shortly after getting married, and have 3 kids all while working that W-2 job in a 9-5 office setting. What I love about my life is that most of this is true (“most” because some of it WILL be true), but under different circumstances. I did graduate from college at 22, but I got married at 29. My husband and I moved in together before getting married, and we still rent out the same apartment to this day. As I write this article, I am 36 weeks pregnant with my first child, and if you do the math, I’m in my early thirties. I used to have the W-2 job, but I have always worked regionally (AKA remotely from home) and travel a lot for work. Never in my wildest dreams did I picture myself starting a business and starting a family at the same time, but life became more fun when I let go of control and expectations and instead listened to what I really wanted out of it.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One of my biggest life lessons was when I learned how to network. I was a sophomore in college attending my first networking event. It was a panel presentation followed by appetizers and conversations. I wore a black pantsuit to look super professional and brought print outs of my resume and cover letter. During the panel presentation, there was someone who worked in Public Relations, and I knew I needed to talk to him. He was going to be the ticket to my internship at a PR firm in Los Angeles!
As I approached him, I gave him my resume and cover letter. I complimented him on the advice he gave during the panel presentation. I told him I was interested in interning at his company. I encouraged him to contact me. All in all, even though I was a nice student with positive intentions, the impact I made on him was that I was just another college student eager to get an internship. I didn’t take the time to build a relationship with him by getting to know him for who he was before doing business with him. The relationship was clearly transactional. Needless to say, I never heard from him again.
I may have left that networking event without an internship offer, but I learned the importance of selling yourself as a person before selling yourself as a business partner or employee. Build relationships with people because you like them, not because you need them. Get to know people for who they are, not what they can do for you.
Entering my first networking event, I thought that the potential employer would immediately see my value and potential. I knew it, so why wouldn’t he see it? Although people have a first impression of you within seconds of meeting you, it takes them much longer to build trust to hire you and work with you. My mistake at this networking event was thinking that trust is built quickly when it is actually made gradually over time. Regardless, there are people in your life who have connections for you that you may not expect, and you may be an unexpected connection for someone else. You never know where people’s lives will take them, but you also don’t know where your life will lead. Be on the lookout for ways to help others, and help them in return.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
The first step of finding clients was tapping into my existing network. These are people who know me from in-person and virtual interactions on a regular basis. They are more likely to respond to me because they know both who I am as a person and my positive intentions behind interacting with them. Even if they don’t hire me directly, they gave me ideas for how to grow my business and referred me to clients who hired me.
In short, referrals are how I get most of my business. It’s important to be direct and ask your network if they need the service that your business offers. People know what I do, but I am proactive about getting the word out via phone, voicemail, email, social media, and in person interactions.
I was also happy to see that cold calls work! When I cold call a potential client and they don’t answer, I leave a voicemail and send a follow up email so they have various ways to follow up with me. These forms of communication are also a few points of contact already, let alone the contact I plan to have with them in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jenfitzgeraldspeaks.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenfitzgeraldspeaks/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenfitzgeraldspeaks/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jenfitzgeraldspeaks
- Other: Innovation Women: https://speaker.innovationwomen.com/users/17380
Image Credits
Photos in red shirt: Brandon Vannier