Boy have I been busy. With planning our Western Heritage Awards at the Museum and getting to know folks in Oklahoma City, I haven’t had time to blog. In all this bustle of the new year, I managed to join Toastmasters to really polish my public speaking skills. Sure, I’ve given plenty of speeches in my time, but there’s always room to improve. Plus, I’ve noticed that people who are good public speakers have the perception of being a good leader. Who wouldn’t want that?
Yesterday I gave my first speech, my Icebreaker. I’m proud to say I won the ribbon this week. I have posted it below:
Fellow members and guests, we can all name something in our lives that seemed to change our course of action. Whether destiny, chance, choice, or dumb luck we all have pivotal moments (pause) that as we grow we can look back over our lives and realize it could have gone a differently.
I was raised in Clovis, New Mexico. A small city of about 35,000 people located just about 12 miles from the Texas border. An air force base was located near Clovis, so we always had interesting and diverse people in our community. Both of my parents worked outside of the home so my younger brother and I went to a babysitter when we weren’t in school.
I grew up a shy child, always unsure of myself. I would hide behind my mother at the grocery store when someone would talk to her. I could never dream of approaching someone to become their friend or start a conversation. This became isolating.
But when I turned sixteen I began working at a local department store in our mall. It was really nice getting a paycheck….at that time I only made $3.85/hour. Can you believe that was minimum wage in 1990? But I didn’t care, I could buy whatever clothes I wanted to buy or go to the movies when I wanted. Later I realized that along with the paycheck came a change. I had to talk to customers to sell items in the store. I really came out of my shell and this became the first pivotal time in my life. The shy girl was going away.
A couple years later I graduated from High School and began going to a local university, Eastern New Mexico University. I pledged a sorority and met a lot of friends during that time. Need-less-to-say, my grades suffered from all of the fun I was having. So I decided I would move to Lubbock, Texas. At that point, I was done with school!
I saved that summer and moved to Lubbock with only $500 to my name. But I thought I was RICH…talk about dumb luck. I found a job at a bank and moonlighted as a waitress at a Mexican food restaurant…still one of my favorite types of food.
Now age 22 and completely on my own…my roommate and I were having a ball! Then something started to happen. It seemed that every where I went people would ask me if I was a student at Texas Tech. It made me feel extremely inadequate. Within that year, I applied to Texas Tech, was accepted and enrolled as a Public Relations major. It took me two years to finish my Bachelor’s degree, but I did it. All on my own. I had made a choice.
I graduated and moved to Temple, Texas (in between Waco and Austin) where I had a boss who would rival the woman in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada.” She was horrible! I decided at that time I may want to go back and get my Master’s degree.
So there, 11 months later, I was headed back to Texas Tech after being accepted and enrolled into graduate school. Two years later I had earned my Master’s degree in Mass Communications.
Afterwards, I lived in Midland/Odessa and worked for the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center at the Odessa branch as the manager of communications and marketing. In this small market I learned a lot about networking, management, public relations, marketing and just about anything else one needs to learn in my field of work. It was fun and the people were unbelievably nice.
I then had the opportunity after five years to move back to Lubbock (yes, that’s three times) and work for Chancellor Kent Hance, who oversees the entire Texas Tech University System. He was a former US Congressman so his office runs like the West Wing. I learned so much! This was a temporary assignment, so after about two years I was without a job.
A friend of mine was selling her catering business so she could stay home with her newborn baby. I had always wanted to own my own small business so I jumped in. Me–together with two other employees we cooked everything from casseroles, soups, salads, desserts, appetizers, etc. I wasn’t afraid to try anything. So by chance, I was a caterer.
Married a year ago April, my husband decided it would be good for his business to move to Oklahoma City. So I sold my catering business and started the job hunt. I was fortunate enough to get hired by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum as the Director of Public Relations & Museum Events. I’m really enjoying being back where I belong in PR, meeting a lot of new people and learning about the American West…and cowboys. It all happened so quickly and seemingly easily, I can’t help but think I have some kind of purpose here in Oklahoma City.
Over my 38 years I’ve had many moments in my life where I can see definite turns. I don’t always know how it happens, but when I look back I’m happy it did. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a similar moment here in Toastmasters. Madam Toastmaster.
Tags: icebreaker, public speaking, Toastmasters
