We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lisa Elia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission is to help people communicate with greater clarity, confidence, and compassion. This will serve them in business, their personal lives, and just about every interaction they have. There were two distinct moments when I felt unprepared and out of my depths that led me to my field of study, communication (with a public relations focus) and to later shift my career from public relations and media/presentation training to focus on communication consulting and preparing clients for high-stakes situations such as media interviews, speeches, presentations, and investor pitches.

The first pivotal moment was when I was four years old and my family had just moved to Geneva, Switzerland. A few days after we arrived, equipped with no knowledge of the French language at all, my parents put me in a kindergarten class where people only spoke French. A few words and phrases like, “I have to use the restroom,” would have been helpful to know, but I wasn’t taught any of that. My father had taken French classes provided by his employer before we moved to Geneva and my mother had learned some French. It might seem strange that they didn’t think to teach me a few things, but parenting was different back then for many of us. My friends and I laugh at how much we were on our own in many ways.

After several days of not understanding anything and being looked at like I was an alien when I spoke to the teachers who didn’t know any English, I was moved to an international school. One great lesson that I took from that and applied to most situations in my life was to make sure people have the information and preparation they need to navigate a situation.

The second pivotal moment that led me to my mission occurred when I was in my late 20s. I had a small marketing communications firm and I viewed myself as someone who was completely behind the scenes. I had taken one required public speaking class in college, but I never sought out the spotlight. One day, a friend called me and said she was supposed to present a one-hour presentation on how to create a marketing plan for your small business at the University of Delaware, my alma mater. She asked if I could develop the one-hour talk and deliver it in her place two days later. I said yes and got to work outlining and rehearsing my talk.

When it came time for me to give my talk, the organization was well organized, but I was very nervous and had so little time to prepare that I gave my presentation with my notes written on a piece of paper that rattled in my shaky hand. I did not feel good about it. I did well enough to be asked back a month later, and I vowed to do better. I got busy researching what occurred in the body when we got nervous and found and developed some techniques to manage nerves. I’d already been reading books on personal development, so I incorporated some mindset-shifting work into my preparation exercises. I also rehearsed a lot before my next presentation the following month. It paid off very well! I gave a solid presentation and booked several clients from the audience.

Over the years, I continued to develop my public speaking skills and research how to be the most effective communicator in various situations. I took classes in acting, voice, movement, and other topics. While running small businesses over the years, I learned on a daily basis how crucial it is to provide clear direction and clarity to your team, have the systems to facilitate that communication, and maintain compassion throughout. Having addressed thousands of audiences and worked with clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies, I’ve seen firsthand the importance of helping clients overcome the obstacles to becoming the best communicators they can be and how crucial it is to optimize communication skills and processes within an organization. It changes everything!

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 became interested in the field of communication during my freshman year in college when I took a class in small-group communication. I loved psychology and child development classes when I was in high school, and I did well in English class, so the combination of psychology and strategy and writing that made up the communication with a public relations focus curriculum intrigued me. Since earning my degree decades ago, I have mostly been self-employed. I headed up my own public relations firm in Los Angeles for many years where my team and I booked clients for top-level media interviews with outlets that included Today, GMA, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and hundreds of others. I saw that even my very successful clients who included C-suite executives, doctors, lawyers, and other experts needed media training, so I provided this service for them.

My clients experienced great transformations from my media training and some of them asked me to prepare them for presentations, speeches, investor pitches, and other situations. Over time, I realized how much I absolutely loved training clients and helping them solve communication problems and improve communications in their organizations. I shrunk my PR team and finished out my last PR client in 2016.

In addition to media training, presentation and speech coaching, and investor pitch coaching, I work with executives and teams to improve their communication skills so they increase productivity, happiness, and contribution by all team members.

What I find most fulfilling about my work is the confidence, clarity, and deeper understanding of themselves and their organizations that my clients gain from our work together. Every day I feel grateful that I get to do the work that I do.

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

I had to pivot quickly in 2008, when the housing market crash had a ripple effect, and the economy was really hurting. I had my PR firm back then and PR services were one of the first things to be cut when companies needed to tighten their belts, even if it wasn’t really the best strategy. I had relied solely on word-of-mouth and referrals for business for around a decade. I knew that with the market contracting I would have to do more to keep my firm going. I had a small team and did not want to lay off anyone.

I had a website built, signed up with coaches, and researched how to create an online course and organize and hold teleseminars (yes, that’s what we called them back then) to attract new business. I joined business organizations and contributed to them, referring people to the founders, and was subsequently asked to speak at their gatherings. All these activities helped me to bring in new business and increase revenue.

The biggest lesson I learned was to not give in to feelings of helplessness or negative circumstances, even if it seemed lots of people were experiencing them too, but to continually ask, “What can I do to keep moving forward?”

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I believe being a lifelong learner is important if you want to stay agile and grow in your career. Some books that greatly impacted me over the years are:

Your Erroneous Zone by Wayne Dyer (I read this in high school after seeing it on a bookshelf at home.)

The E Myth by Michael E. Gerber

Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain

The Power of Kindness by Dr. Brian Goldman

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Think Again by Adam Grant

Mindset by Carol Zwick

Grit by Angela Duckworth

almost anything by Malcolm Gladwell

One of my favorite podcasts is Hidden Brain. I listen to a wide variety of podcasts and audiobooks ongoingly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://expertmediatraining.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/expertmediatraining/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExpertMediaTraining/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaelia1/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/lisaelia

Image Credits
Photo by Sandy Grigsby