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Erin Weed is a speaker, author, social entrepreneur and expert in authentic communication. She founded her first company, Girls Fight Back, in 2001 which teaches women’s safety and self defense to young women around the globe. She started Girls Fight Back after the murder of her college friend, Shannon McNamara in 2001. In 2013 Erin sold GFB and started her next company, Evoso – which is a blended word that means Evolution Society. Erin and her Boulder, Colorado-based team help people seek their purpose and speak their truth.
Jennifer Brown: Thank you for joining me on The Will to Change, this is Jennifer Brown. My guest today is Erin Weed. Erin is a speaker, author, social entrepreneur, and expert in authentic communication. She founded her first company, Girls Fight Back, in 2001 which teaches women safety and self-defense to young women around the globe. In 2013 she launched her next company, Evoso, which is a blended word that means evolution society. Erin and her Boulder, Colorado based team help people seek their purpose and speak their truth.
So Erin you transitioned out of Girls Fight Back, and I’m curious – you learned so much in that chapter of your life, I know you’re still unpacking that – but what were your key takeaways from that period of your life, and how did you bring those forward into creating Evoso, which we’ll talk about in a moment? What was that evolution like for you?
Erin Weed: I would stand on stage at Girls Fight Back and, after I gave this 90 minute one-woman show, they’ve laughed, they’ve cried, I’ve taught them how to kick some ass, and I would constantly be surprised at how many people would wait in line afterwards to talk to me. I realized that most people didn’t want to ask me a question. Most people wanted to tell their story. And I realized that everyone has a story and everyone has a truth, and we’re so much more alike than we are different. So I started getting really curious about that.
I started Girls Fight Back to heal something in myself, and to help other people too. I started it right after Shannon was murdered and I really crossed a bridge from pain to peace over those 12 years – and I feel, as activists, it’s important to know when your fight is over. As activists, it's important to know when your fight is over. #TheWillToChange Click To Tweet And it’s not to say the issue is resolved, it’s not to say you never think about it again, but simply knowing that you can lay down your arms and say, “Okay.” I’ve seen a lot of activists have a hard time with that.
But I wanted to be very conscious of it because my work felt complete to me, I felt like I had done my work on behalf of Shannon that I needed to do, and I ended up selling the company to my booking agent at the time. So in many ways it was so perfect because she was already pretty much running the company, and to this day they are still going strong, I’m still an advisor. They still bring me in for training, and it’s amazing.
I was able to start branching out of that world and started working with TED speakers to develop their speeches to test out this idea that everybody has a story and a truth, and it turned out that that is true, even beyond the violence realm.
Everybody has a story and a truth. Click To Tweet
Jennifer Brown: Oh that’s so beautiful when you found something, and you put your heart and soul into it, and then you see it continue on after you leave is just one of the most special feelings ever, and you’ve left such a powerful legacy so I’m always so grateful that you did that work, and I’m also mindful of your journey and your need to honor your journey and what hat you need to wear next in the world.
You know we all do need to pace ourselves – we call it radical self-care; we call it founder or compassion fatigue – I think especially if you’re doing work that takes heart and soul every single day. I think those of us who do that are a little bit – or maybe a lot – more at risk with our own stamina and our own health. So I’m really glad you recognized that moment for what it was, and asked, ‘What’s next for me?’ Without leaving any of that behind completely, because it’s now a part of your legacy.
Everyone has a story, that’s a big theme for us, that’s the name of the podcast, right? “True stories of diversity and inclusion.” Even white, straight guys have a diversity story. People don’t always think about it that way, they think diversity is just about race and gender.
I know you have a diversity story, too, and we’ve talked about that. What would you share about your diversity story and your truth? I know a little bit about that part of your background, but how would you describe it, in terms of the parts of you that it’s taken effort to bring into the picture. Like conversations in your relationships – whether it’s family or work – where you hesitate to bring your full self to the interaction. That ‘bargaining with authenticity’ that we talk about so much…
Erin Weed: Yes, I can tell you a story about that. For me, in all the Girls Fight Back years, they were so powerful and I had such an identity in the cause, and I’d totally taken up that identity. Yet part of the reason why I had to walk away from that was because it wasn’t feeling authentic anymore, and I ended up getting pregnant, having my daughter, and at the time I was married, so I had a daughter and ended up giving birth to her on Shannon’s birthday.
It was just a crazy collision of so many things and it was such a big day because it really started to force me to see that maybe I was being asked to step into a new story. Just laying in that hospital bed holding my baby daughter who was born on Shannon’s birthday made me feel like everything was about to change for me, and I ultimately ended up leaving my marriage. I ended up selling Girls Fight Back. I felt challenged to step into starting this new company, and helping people like you really own your stories, and own your truths, and present them to the world in a way that is deeply profound for you and profound for the audience.
But it required me to shed in some ways the part of my diversity story that was me being the friend of the murdered girl, and really getting a lot of respect and kudos for that. It was never why I was in it, but it certainly came along with the work. For me to shed all of that and let it go in one fell swoop: the marriage, the picture perfect life, the little family of four, the entrepreneur who’s on a mission to help her friend – or to help the memory of her friend – and save women, and blah, blah, blah, and just start over… It’s a powerful thing: to know your diversity story but to not let it define you. And to be willing to change it, or to be open to a new story.
Know your #diversity story, but don't let it define you. #TheWillToChange Click To Tweet
Jennifer Brown: Yes. In essence, you took off the mantle that you’d been carrying – the mantle of someone else’s story. You asked, ‘Wait a second, who am I separate from this?’ It takes a lot of courage to separate from all those things that give us our identity and revisit them in your 30s as you did, right?
Erin Weed: Yes, mid-30s. I like what you just said about when it’s somebody else’s story. I mean it is really easy to hide behind someone else’s story, be the champion for their story, and I see this a lot in the activist world because on some level some people – not all people, but some people, I feel are hiding from themselves. And it’s important I believe on a regular basis for those of us who fight for other people to check ourselves and make sure we’re doing it for the right reason, and that we’re healthy, and that we’re balanced, because I’ll tell you I’m the poster child for doing it wrong in that regard. Like you know I nag my community a lot now about self-care, and taking care of yourself, and how are you doing? And how are your relationships? I mean it’s really important to me now because I massively screwed up over those 12 years.
Jennifer Brown: Yes and you know people come to you who are afraid of their story. They want to work with you but have absolutely no idea what they’re supposed to be about in this life. I mean it’s very existential because we have our jobs, we have our careers, we know what others want us to be, or expect us to be, and I think the process of coming to somebody who demands our truth, who demands that we uncover ourselves in the world because we have something important to say and share… That journey, you’ve seen it so many times.
How would you describe the way people come to you now and work with you, in the context of their journey? Because you’re right, I think a lot of people have an inkling to get themselves to you, that’s like one piece of the journey right? That’s a good start. But I think a lot of us instinctively feel like we’re not doing enough to honor ourselves, and we’re definitely not changing the world like we could.
Erin Weed: My company is called Evoso, which means Evolution Society. And the people that I consider the Evolution Society, they are the seekers and the speakers. They want to figure out what is true, and they want to share it with the world. So what our company does is we help people speak their truth, but before you could be speaking you need to identify what that truth is. And so to answer your question, when people come to me, it can be for a lot of different reasons. Some people, they’re just more in the seeker realm of, ‘Who am I? And what is this story? And what am I supposed to be doing with this? And I feel this deep compulsion to be doing big things in the world. Maybe I need to write, or speak, or create a company, or leave a company,’ or whatever. They feel that compulsion, and a lot of times people come to us from word of mouth. People like you will share your experience which sometimes is hard to put into marketing copy on a website. I would know because it’s tortured me for five years.
Jennifer Brown: Totally.
Erin Weed: But even my employees, they’re like, ‘I don’t know what to say.’ I just put them through our introductory experience called The Dig, and The Dig is all about getting to your truth, and we nail down a person’s story and truth all into one word. I believe everyone has a word that’s over your entire life that our story is our clue as to what that word could be, and I’ve seen the freedom that’s on the other side of getting to your word, and then we write a manifesto about it, and then you read it in front of the Dig group. And so by the end of the Dig you have spoken your truth in a way that a lot of people have never been given permission to before. And so we all start there, and so yeah I mean people come to me for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes it’s more just that seeker, other times, ‘Oh my gosh, I have a TED Talk to give in two weeks. Can you help?’ I may help fast forward the process a bit.
Jennifer Brown: Yes, you love a challenge. Do you think it’s enough to uncover our truth, or do we need to share that truth with others once we discover it? How do you advise people? It probably depends on the person in terms of when they’re ready to share it, right? Because sometimes those truths are really tough.
Erin Weed: Well, the first thing I’ll mention is that I believe there’s a difference between truth and transparency. I don’t believe we have to share everything about our stories in order to speak to the truth of them, and I think a lot of people don’t think of them as different things. So you know, for somebody who’s had a traumatic past or something awful has happened to them, I don’t feel like you have to tell that whole story in order to lead people. But for me, I try to keep the word ‘should’ out of this company because I’m a mid-wife, I’m a mid-wife for your truth, and I don’t have any expectation about when that baby comes out. Like it’s got to be done in a person’s right time, and I am really frickin’ patient because I know that if truth is spoken prematurely, then that could actually be harmful. And so yeah, I think part of what we do at Evoso is create a bit of a safe haven for that truth to fester, or to incubate if you will.
I believe there's a difference between truth and transparency. Click To Tweet
Jennifer Brown: That’s a good word.
Erin Weed: There’s no attachment. I mean some people go through a Dig and they never speak about it again. That’s cool. Other people go through a Dig and they’re like you, they go through every other program we offer, and now they’re this super successful speaker, podcast guru over here. And I mean I know you were doing all that stuff before we met too, maybe not the podcast, but I mean just like using that experience as kind of a home base and an anchor point for you to go out there and know that we’re still here when you need to come back and keep evolving. Because personally I don’t think we should- a lot of what I see that’s wrong with the self-help industry is this idea that we need to go and do a program, then we’re done. You’re never done. Ever. We need to always be evolving, our message needs to always be evolving in order to match us where our truth is at.
Our message needs to always be evolving in order to match our truth. Click To Tweet
Jennifer Brown: I think of what my experience was before I met you, I had already given my TED Talk at Presidio, and in that talk I had a couple firsts for myself. I had to come out onstage, which I didn’t know how that was going to go. It was five or six years ago, and TED didn’t have a lot of out LGBT speakers that I could see online. And then the other thing, a first I undertook was sharing the story about losing my voice when I had a lot of vocal surgery and having to reinvent myself. And so I think you and I worked on, when we did our Dig more recently, my one word was ‘Power,’ and I remember you identifying it and knowing me now I’d be curious to have you explain why that word really resonated for somebody like me, and how you landed on it. Because I think it’s a really interesting part of the Dig process.
Erin Weed: Yeah, I mean there’s always a big discussion that go into these Digs and I never diagnose people with a word. I mean sometimes – I’m more of a mirror than anything, and I remember in your Dig, you actually say that word a lot. And so I kind of reflected it back to you, and the thing about the word is that it’s usually the thing that’s our biggest struggle and our biggest gift. We’re the best student and we’re the best teacher all in the same thing. And so the word can be a bit confronting as I know it was for you, because you were working in this realm where you’re trying to equalize the power.
Jennifer Brown: Right, why would it be about power?
Erin Weed: Seriously, and so it seemed like it was almost a dirty word for you. But that’s exactly why you’re the perfect person to be in the position that you’re in because you bring a new version of what power looks like, and what we can do with our power, and how we can channel our power, and who deserves power? Everyone, you know? And I don’t know, I mean you’ve always been a fascinating person for me, an inspiring person for me just how willing you are to go into the hard situations, have the hard conversations, and emerge where they walk away and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, Jennifer Brown is like my new best friend.’ It’s crazy.
Jennifer Brown: Yeah it is crazy.
Erin Weed: And that is that power.
Jennifer Brown: Yes it is, it’s true. As painful as it might be.
Erin Weed: But you’re willing to do that. You’re willing to have those painful conversations and politely listen without a smirk on your face because you know there’s power in that. You know just by being present, even in the face of ignorance, you’re able to shift the conversation and that’s what makes you so effective.
Jennifer Brown: Well it was really cool to hear that word, and then to grapple with it in subsequent months and years, and having a speaker midwife, or just any kind of creative midwife or partner is such a beautiful blessing and privilege to have; somebody who holds a space for you to grow into even if you’re not ready to. When you’re confronting the mirror, and somebody that you trust in that kind of environment to say, ‘Here’s how I see you in the world,’ and to say, ‘Wow I hadn’t seen myself that way, and maybe that’s something I could grow into and embrace.’ And now I have a lot more texture to that word that you identified that day. I thought about it and realized how central it is to the work that I do, and my own power, and frankly the power of women, and people who may not be well-represented in the corporate space, which is where I focus. But you know, different definitions of power, you’re absolutely right, and I loved it. I thought it was such a gift.
And I wanted to also elucidate one model that you shared with us as we were doing one of your classes which was ‘truth, story, and personal lesson’ – I hope I’m getting that right. What are the bones for… you call it a ‘slinky speech’, whether it’s a five minute talk or a half hour talk? If we boil it down to those three pieces, how can people tell the story, share the lesson, and share the truth? We see some TED speakers do it well, I don’t think all of them do it well, and we’ll talk about that a little later – what works and what doesn’t work for a TED talk format – but tell us what is that core structure for when we share our stories and our universal truth?
Erin Weed: As far as content is concerned, anytime we have to write, or speak, or communicate anything, you’ve got to write. I mean we start with a story. And then as the interviewer, or the digger in my case, ‘Well what did you learn from that? What are the outcomes of that?’ This now helps you understand the person who’s communicating. Not only do they have a story but they’re attaching a meaning to it so that you can meet them there. It’s jarring when a speaker tells you a story but they don’t give you their personal lens on it because then you’re like, ‘Well how should I feel about this?’ Like if somebody tells a story about them having breast cancer or something; there’s a lot of different personal lessons that different people can be taking from having a life-threatening illness. You don’t know. But they could also be really devastated by it so you don’t want to sit there with a smile on your face if they’re wracked with fear. So asking what the personal lesson is is really important, and then finally tying it to a universal truth. These are the talks and the messages that will move the masses. These are like the Martin Luther Kings of the world – like how he ties it to a big universal truth, something that is true for all people. That’s when you truly take people on a ride. You get them in the raft when you tell your story, and then everybody picks up the oar when you share your personal lesson, so that when the universal truth gets thrown down, the whole boat is rowing together in the right direction, and that’s when we make change.
But I believe that in addition to those three pieces of content – story, lesson and truth – it’s also very important as just leaders and communicators to understand that there’s three places we can speak from to share that kind of content. And that is from the head, the heart, and the core. And so during a Dig, I’m often asking people questions that will elicit responses from the head, heart, and core. And the head is basically, ‘I think.’ So just ideas, facts, things that can be intellectually proven. The heart is ‘I feel,’ so those are emotions. And then the core is just right on your belly area, that is, ‘I want or I believe or I need.’ And when we can speak from these three different places, and from those places we’re sharing stories, lessons, and truths, that’s how we can most authentically relate to another person or an audience.
Jennifer Brown: Beautiful. Do we all have universal truths that are that big? Are you confronted with that? And I’m sure people that work with you say, ‘Oh I can’t possibly comment on that.’ Or, ‘There’s really no universal truth to be found in my story.’ Is that ever true?
Erin Weed: People will resist it for sure, because it’s usually the hard work that a lot of people don’t really want to do. I think there are some people that are stuck in a story that there couldn’t be something that’s true for all people because, ‘I’m so different,’ and ‘I’m so unique,’ and ‘I just don’t believe that’s true.’ I mean I do believe you’re different and unique, but I don’t believe it’s true that we don’t have something in common. Our mutual friend Ash Beckham is a great example. She came to me because she was one of those, ‘I have to give a TED Talk in a few weeks.’
Jennifer Brown: Got to love her.
Erin Weed: So I said, ‘Cool why don’t we do a Dig?’ And she’s like, ‘I don’t want to do a Dig, I just want to get this TED Talk out.’
Jennifer Brown: Just give me a speech.
Erin Weed: Which I get a lot because there’s the adrenaline attached to those situations. So we did a Dig and she told her story about her truth, and what we found is her word is freedom. And her story is that – for any of your listeners who aren’t familiar with her – is that she’s a lesbian woman, and when she was growing up, she wore the dresses and did all of that stuff to please everybody, and they didn’t know she was gay. And so she told me that whole story, and her personal lesson was it was really hard to not be who she was, and it took a lot of effort and energy to hide her true essence. But the universal truth that she honed in on and delivered so beautifully in her TEDx talk was that yeah she was in the closet, and it was the gay closet, but we all have a closet, and all a closet is is a hard conversation.
We all have a closet, and all a closet is is a hard conversation. #TheWillToChange Click To Tweet
And it’s that statement that got people who maybe are not gay supporters, maybe the white dude in the South who’s anti-gay even, he was now able to hear that message and even though they could not be more different – in different bodies and different lives – he could now see, ‘Oh wait, I’ve been in a situation where I had to have a hard conversation and I wanted to stay in the closet for awhile.’
She throws out a lot of examples in her speech like telling your five year old that you have to get a divorce, or telling your partner that you have cancer, or telling an ex that you cheated on them. I mean these are hard conversations to have, and it means we’ve all had a closet. So that’s a great example of going from story to personal lesson to finding a universal truth, because in her doing that, we were all able to have this mutual ‘ah-ha’ moment, and that’s I believe where change really happens.
Jennifer Brown: That’s so beautiful. I can relate. Back to that TED Talk, losing my voice was the head story, right? I told what happened. So my heart story is I felt heartbroken, I felt that I was losing my career, but also my means to express myself. And then moving into the truth and the universal truth is that I want and need to be heard. Like every human being, we want to be heard. So this very mechanical thing that happened to me that I honestly didn’t think it was a big deal to share. I remember when I was writing the talk I was like, ‘Who cares? Who cares about this? And isn’t it self-indulgent for me to tell this story? Oh poor me.’ But as I prayed on it, and slept on it, and practiced it, I thought, ‘Wow the voice is a metaphor for me of losing it, and also being LGBT and hiding my voice,’ which is a whole different level that so many people can understand. And then shifting my life career-wise in terms of now being able to work on giving others a voice who don’t have one in my diversity work.
It’s so healing to talk about it in that way because it makes sense of our own lives to be get on stage and share that – while terrifying, pressure makes diamonds, right? – moment. I call it your ‘message in a bottle moment.’ If people don’t remember anything else about you, what do you want them to remember? What do you want them to learn from you?
Changing gears a tiny bit, how do you see the speaker world evolving? As a woman, speaker, author, I look at how the men out there are making way more money than I do. They’re getting booked at bigger events than I am, while I’m on my own journey to claiming my voice and making sure that I have a platform to match that voice. But what about TED and other celebrated platforms out there is limiting in your opinion? How does it need to evolve? What have you discovered in all of us that you think is a key for what could be TED 2.0? Not TED but something different and what’s going to be your role in helping to create that?
Erin Weed: So we have an annual event called Evoso Live where we feature speakers that I’ve been working with to give these 10 minute talks that are using the exact format that I just mentioned – speaking from the head, heart and core, and sharing the stories, lessons and truths. And you, Jen, spoke at the one last June, and I remember people coming up to me afterwards, and some people actually tweeted #TEDisdead.
Jennifer Brown: Wow that must have felt good.
Erin Weed: It did feel good but I don’t think it’s true. I think TED has done a phenomenal thing, but TED is mostly an establishment that is set up to speak from the head. And I’m the head speaker coach for TEDxMileHigh which is the big event in Denver, and I also have that job for TEDxBoulder, and it’s a style that I respect very much. It’s presenting information, and its goal is to leave that audience smarter than you found them, and they do that very well. I personally feel the future of speaking is more in what I’m talking about, in bringing this fully integrated speaking from these three different voices that we have from the head, the heart, and the core. Because this is a fully dimensional human versus just a brain talking, you know? I think that we’re all becoming more hungry for the full experience of people, and frankly this kicked off when reality TV came into being, you know? Remember when there wasn’t the Real World and then all of a sudden there was the Real World? I’m probably dating myself.
Jennifer Brown: I know I was just going to say, Road Rules and Real World. I know exactly how old you are.
Erin Weed: Remember how crazy that was? Like people putting cameras in a house all the time? And watching their lives, and people couldn’t get enough of it. And I’m seeing that that is the future of people really wanting the full human experience. And the people that I’ve been working with who are taking this out into the world, they’re getting tremendous feedback, and frankly the younger the audience member, the more they want the information in that way.
Jennifer Brown: Yeah I mean I’m so encouraged by those audiences. They want to see the full person. In the workplace, we’re seeing that when it comes to CEOs and executives who grew up in a different time, and who think that a big title is sufficient enough to be trusted and followed. When I coach them, I say, ‘Your vulnerability is what people want to see. They want to see who you are, not just what you know how to do, or what you’ve accomplished. Your corporate bio or where you sit on the org chart is not going to matter as much as who you are. And whether or not you walk the talk. Have you done the work, and do you come across as authentic?’
Your vulnerability is what people want to see. Click To Tweet
That’s a real challenge, especially for older generations that have adopted this stance that they frankly have been rewarded for, and that has led to great success for many people. But I think we are seeing a moment where it’s really being redefined and I don’t know if you have a view on that. I’m sure there are more women and nontraditional speakers on your roster, too. Do you see a change in who’s doing the speaking as well? And what’s unique about them?
Erin Weed: If you look at most of the websites of the main speakers bureaus, you’re going to see a lot of old white guys in suits. And that’s not the majority of who I work with, or the majority who have come to us at Evoso. I mean jeez, there is no majority. There are so many different demographics. And I believe that more and more people of all backgrounds are being called to share their stories. This word ‘compulsion’ is really important to me because it’s different than desire. You know? Like there’s some people that want to be speakers, and then there are some people that feel compelled to, and we work with a lot of the compelled. We work with a lot of reluctant leaders even. I mean frankly there’s a lot of other ways for someone like you, Jen, to make money and to do in the world.
Jennifer Brown: True.
Erin Weed: But you have taken on a big hairy topic with big hairy challenges, and you rock it. But I don’t know – and this is for you to say – that it’s always because of this desire, or because you’re clicking your heels on your way into work in the morning. It’s this compulsion that we have as activists to make this world better. We must. And it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy our job, but it’s just what drives us.
I think for a lot of the activists and the change makers in the world, it’s this compulsion, and we should honor that. I feel like that’s going to be the new speaker. It’s not the polished National Speaker’s Association certified person who never misses a Toastmaster meeting. It’s the real, raw, experienced individual who’s got shit to say and who’s ready to say it.
Jennifer Brown: I love that idea of the reluctant leader. I think some people need to be encouraged. I know you’ve done that kind of work where you have encountered someone who has been thrown into an opportunity, like Ash was potentially. It’s so clear to the rest of us that she’s magic, and she needs to be seen and heard by many. But our own reticence to go through that, then the stress of that, and our fear, our lack of confidence, it has a ton of different origins.
You always refer to speaking as a team sport, and it struck me in my class that I went through with you for Evoso Live, which our listeners can view on YouTube, it was scary for all of us to a degree – for some of us more than others – to even get up on that stage. And I think we supported each other though it, and you held a space and said, ‘No please do share that, and you’d be surprised at how that’s going to transform your audience and connect them to you.’ And lo and behold we saw it happen, and it was beautiful, but it’s very vulnerable work, it’s difficult work, and I’m so excited for what you’re going to build because if what you’re building strengthens people to get that confidence and sign up for help and support so that they can tell their story, whatever their doubts are about it, it’s just beautiful and almost holy work. It’s really beautiful. Even if it never gets shared, like you said, it’s a journey that we all deserve to go on in terms of honoring our story and our truth. So yeah, so I’m excited to see what you’re going to create next. And do you want to give us a little preview of what you’re working on in your business, and how people can engage with you wherever they are in the process?
Erin Weed: Yeah absolutely. So most people start with us at the Dig, and this is a two day experience. People fly out to Boulder or we also go into companies and do Digs for leadership teams. It’s eight people, two days, and we get your story, get your truth, you write your manifesto, you share it, it’s highly transformational, and a lot of people get out of it different things. But what you definitely will walk out of it with is clarity of who you are and what you’re here to bring into the world, what your word is, and you’ve written a manifesto about it. So that’s the Dig, and then from there we have what’s called the Evoso Academy, and it’s just basically providing coaching, training, programs for people who want to learn how to speak their truth, how to put a speech together, how to understand the business of speaking. And then finally the thing that we’re just launching now is the Evoso Agency, and we are starting to represent people and book speakers that we have worked with, that we believe in, so they now have that sales channel as well. So the idea is to really take people on the full path, and you don’t have to go along that full path, most people just stop at the Dig, but I like the idea of having the progression to grow.
Jennifer Brown: Yeah and knowing you, and us – I’m in the agency community which you’re just launching – I think we’re going to influence the agenda for speakers as well in the places we speak, having your voice as a curator if you will, and as somebody who is coaching the folks who are making decisions about how to construct a program for thousands of people that are coming together to a meeting. I know that you speak about the power of speakers like this: they may not have sold the most books, they may not have three TED talks under their belt, but their story needs to be heard and it’s transformational when it’s heard, and I think we need a whole lot more of that, and people are craving that.
I’m excited to see who’s out there that’s hungering for more than what we think of when we think of, ‘Oh, I have to fill a schedule with motivational speakers.’ You’re providing another avenue to discover new voices – voices that resonate – and highlighting the power of truth, all our imperfections, and what we can all learn from each other.
So it’s exciting Erin, and thank you for your time. I hope everyone’s as inspired by you as I have always been, and continue to be. Is there anywhere you would like to direct folks to learn more about engaging with you, or watching you in action, that you’d like to share?
Erin Weed: You can check us out at www.Evoso.com.
Jennifer Brown: Great, simple. Alright Erin, thank you so much and keep up the good work.
Erin Weed: Thank you, you too.
Jennifer Brown: Alright, bye bye.
Erin Weed: Bye.
Erin’s website
The Evoso website
Girls Fight Back
Jennifer’s Evoso talk
Jennifer at TEDx Presidio: Finding Your Voice in the Workplace
Jennifer at TEDx Springfield: Finding Your Voice in the Workplace
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