Quick context about Nov. 9th, an invitation to you, and overall purpose here at LiveYourTalk

At the core here at the blog is talking about speech making and speech craft in general — and how to emerge ourselves into distinct, resonant public speakers….serving our audiences along the way.

This aspect of service is apart of conversation here too — how to use voice (and deed) to help those less fortunate and the organizations that achieve this purpose.

That’s why I support the GiveToTheMax event, a great day of online giving — on November 9th — to raise funds and awards for DC’s regional nonprofits.

Want to get involved with GiveToTheMax?

• Area nonprofits can register to participate on the big fund raising day (11/9th).
• Or you can get involved by supporting your favorite nonprofit or spreading the word to help.

On that note: your breakfast invitation
And this is your invitation to join a flash-mob-breakfast-for-fun-fundraising event hosted by my business LiveYourTalk along with the ever good Shana Glickfield, partner of Beekeeper Group.

What inspired this flash-mob-breakfast idea?
In the spirit of Digital Capital Week and the GiveToTheMax fundraising drive — we wanted to plan a coffee and breakfast to enjoy our community, gobble up some good food from a DC institution, and donate whatever we all can to help Miriam’s Kitchen — an area nonprofit which assists thousands of DC’s homeless and less fortunate

The who, what, when:

• When: Wednesday, Nov 9th
• Time: the fun morning time between 7am to 9:30am
• Where: DC’s historical Ben’s Chili Bowl
• Directions: how to get to Ben’s
• More on menu: Coffee is on us….; if you crave more breakfast, Ben’s has a great menu for you to purchase from.
• Just bring your sense of giving; and we’ll have donation stations set up for you.

So if you’re in the DC area:
Shana and I look forward to seeing you, enjoying breakfast, and helping out Miriam’s Kitchen!

More info and how to donate:
Here’s more insight about our efforts to support the GiveToThe Max drive, and Mirima’s Kitchen, on Nov. 9th.

Tinu Abayomi-Paul “lives her talk” …regularly speaking-up for the underserved and taking action to attain a greater good.

Thanks to her for this video conversation about Africa and how $5 can overcome “situations of scarcity.”

Tinu is a friend, BlueKey Campaign Champion, and refugee advocate. She has shared great appreciation for the work by USA for UNHCR. And in this video, Tinu shares striking examples of how a few dollars impact living standards in Africa.

To show support for refugees, please visit TheBlueKey.org.

As an expression of giving to the moms you care about, what would your heartspace gift look like?

Wrestling with Mother’s Day & a renewed perspective
Sometimes Mother’s Day gets me anxious. It feels silly to admit.

But Mom and I have lived apart for years now, with her and Dad in Colorado, with my husband and me in DC. When Mother’s Day rolls around, anxiety has often seeped in my brain. It feels like a pensive, tugging inner voice that says:

“Whatever you do for Mother’s Day, it will fall short. Your mother is THAT fantastic. What gift could possibly honor that enough? And by the way, how can you live so far away from your momma?!”

Darn those inner voices of guilt! Do they ever talk at you too?
But this year, it’s time to re-focus that silly inner guilt. There’s something and someone in particular who helped to re-direct that anxiety to something with greater purpose and uplift. Stacey Monk and her To Mama With Love initiative motivated this re-direction and a great reminder too:

Our mothers give us many reasons to celebrate.

To more consciously embrace that mindset – and to swallow up those habits of angst with nothin’ but love – I’ve created a heartspace for and about my mama over at Stacey’s compelling social art space called To Mama With Love.

It’s more than celebrating just one mama (that’s my Mama Melba at right!)
This initiative and art project create a unique forum to celebrate our moms. But it’s also a chance to recognize – and support – specific mothers around the world who are impacting their communities for the better.

Folks can both celebrate moms in their lives with “heartspaces” but also help foster the efforts of mothers like “Mama Lucy” Kamptoni. She sold chickens in her Tanzanian village and turned her income into a primary school that now serves over 400 children.

Here’s an excerpt below of a letter written to my mother; the full letter was apart of the heartspace dedicated to her. Thanks to Stacey and the Epic Change team for creating this meaningful place to express mama goodness.

A heartspace excerpt: mom speaks up for self-respect:

But then open house night arrived, as did the chance to meet Mr. Novak directly with you and Dad. And it was then your strength and grit made a distinct impression on all of us. You let Mr. Novak know he was a “sexist pig who had no right to downgrade your daughter or anyone else’s daughter for that matter.”

I was stunned. Dad was grinning and silent.
The force of your words carried a sense of championship. I had never seen a line drawn in the sand like that before. It was the first time I consciously realized the real consequence of that teacher’s treatment. It was unmistakeable and that moment changed my outlook toward gender perceptions and self-respect.

###

Happy Mother’s Day(!)

Top image Heart of Palm by Gare & Kitty, Creative Commons

I appreciate silent meditation although I’m inconsistent in practicing it. I find the benefits of silence have great effect — in creating a sense of calm and clarity of mind.

Video is a favorite tool too. And this #Silent10 video project is an experiment at combining the two interests. It’s a simple project where each week I and sometimes others just look silently into the camera for 10 seconds.

All this works with a few questions churning in my brain: Can practicing silence and using video effectively unite? And if so, can a meditative impact emerge for those on both ends of the video clip?

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…pic from the session happening now at Sisterhood University pilot workshop. Great, resourceful time here.

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More on these unique voices and presentations soon!

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Welcome! Quick fyi: below was submitted as a guest post to Women Grow Business to publish week of 9/13/10.

A colleague and I recently discussed women’s self-promotion styles compared to men. Then Clay Shirky’s blog post “A Rant About Women” came up and his thought provoking remarks on the subject. His comments also sharpened my own reflections that I had resisted admitting (image Golden Reflection, Creative Commons, by Chad Galloway).

I wish Clay Shirky’s rant from earlier this year contradicted my own observations i.e. that women often threaten their own success by failing to promote themselves effectively or by avoiding that axiom “fake it till you make it.” Clay’s post said this ‘fake it till you make it’ trait is one men seem to exercise with ease and that women would do well to exercise more.

I look forward to when he’ll discuss his rant (and the consequences from it) this week at the WomenWhoTech Telesummit.

Owning up to ‘authenticity 2.0′
Even though my observations of women in many cases, especially those here at Women Grow Business, differ from Shirky’s premise – some of them also resonate. I know for sure I could be more diligent at promoting great women (and men too!), at promoting myself, at going after certain speaker submission goals (quick aside – Susan Mernit shared a great, inclusive speaking calendar that’s tech and business centric).

How are your promotion skills (for self, others)? Honestly I’d like to think my strengths are solid yet I can name plenty of instances when I suppressed self-advocacy to avoid criticism or vulnerability – recently.

A woman thing?
It can be said that avoiding vulnerability is ok and human vs just ‘a woman thing’. But could someone (or their magic wand) just share their magical always-a-confident-elegant-self-promoting-dynamo potion? I’m ready to consume…

This isn’t something that’s savory to admit out loud. But if my self-leadership is to further benefit the life it leads and those impacted by it, then I better own up to this ‘authenticity 2.0′ age we live in and admit Clay Shirky’s rant still hits home.

Be more like men?
As he also admitted toward the end of his rant, he doesn’t know the solution. That makes two of us. Should we women assert self-promotion more like men? Should we teach young women those ‘fake it till you make it’ self-promotion mentalities to better land competitive jobs? Clay Shirky thinks so and as of this writing, I give it a strong maybe.

From the vantage point of preserving authenticity, one part of me resists telling us women to model men’s behavior (image Winds of Change by Kharied, Creative Commons):

“Let our true selves ring free! Self-promote as you will (or not).” …says that inner Joan of Arc. Yet it is matched by an inner devil’s advocate that says: “Girl, you’re kiddin’ yourself. You gotta up your game and promote more like a bandit.”

Do your inner Joans of Arc and devilish advocates wrestle with eachother too? It’s unclear what teachable and generational solutions are to what is a very sensitive appraisal of our gender. There are many nuances, variables, and layers to this topic (in and beyond sexism) that Clay and many others have addressed.

How often does this topic come up in your communities?
What’s your perspective? Do you believe it is an over addressed subject or one that could be discussed more openly?

A summarized approach that’s renewing my commitment to diligently self-promote (with ideally some grace too!):

• commit to being one’s best advocate;
• assert a ‘public speech 2.0′ mentality in business and personal development. Are the great stories and strengths of your business and your expertise ready for engagement i.e. for stage delivery (a speech), a persuasive conversation (a sales dynamic or job interview), and social networks (your online community)?
• seek out strong and compelling forums (that can also be promotional environments) which engage women, like for starters, Women Grow Biz(!) and WomenWhoTech Telesummit. As mentioned Clay takes the rant to the summit on 9/15th. Full disclosure – I’m on WomenWhoTech’s advisory committee but have much respect for the incredible line-up that includes TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde and 30+ other fabulous women in tech and social media.

What’s your approach to consistent habits of promotion (for self and others)?

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In the last 24 hours, a chance emerged to join Geoff Livingston and the Citizen Effect’s Gulf Mission trip.

Primary goal:
To learn about, interview, and meet fishermen in the area – and how social media, with different nonprofits, can help the fishermen specifically. The blogger team will share all forms of content from the field with hopes to reach Mississippi and Alabama as well.

Thanks to Citizen Effect for this chance to collaborate with your team.

….tray tables and seat backs up, ready for take off.

Jill M. Foster
principal
live your talk

forbes.com says:
1 of 30 women entrepreneurs to follow on twitter

http://twitter.com/jillfoster

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jill@liveyourtalk.com
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