My mother, Theresa, was a force of nature:  Joyous, divinely artistic, unpredictable, enthusiastic and passionately invested in every moment she had the pleasure to inhabit. One sunny afternoon, when I was ten years old, after we had just finished eating tuna sandwiches at the white Formica table in our kitchen, my mother absentmindedly grabbed a black [...]

As a performer, the worst directors or coaches I ever had barked out a result and expected me to fulfill it. “Be more angry,” they’d say.  Or  “I need you to be more vulnerable.”  And I’d scratch my head, wondering, “how the heck do I do that? Give me something to DO?”   Because, as my [...]

As some of you already know, I watch American Idol.  I do this for many reasons, not the least of which is that I get to observe performers come through under pressure, which provides fodder for articles like this. Last week, one of my favorite of this season’s performers, Crystal Bowersox, knocked Kris Kristofferson’s classic [...]

You strike a match, and light a sputtering candle.  Around you, the wind whips, threatening the flame as it struggles to take hold. Instinctively, you cup your hand protectively around the tiny tongue of fire, feeling its warmth grow against your palm.  It wouldn’t take much to squelch this dancing flame—one well placed breath, one [...]

I can’t tell you how many speaking clients complain to me about their inability to hold people’s attention while they’re giving a presentation.  I tell them, “You get back what you put out.””  And then I turn on my trusty camera and videotape them doing their thing.  During playback, my clients get to see themselves as they actually [...]

 I don’t follow tennis much, but I am well aware of tennis stars Venue and Serena Williams, sisters who turned women’s tennis into a power game with their sheer physical domination.  Picking up the newspaper last night, I read an article about these exceptional athletes, and was struck by a statement that Venus Williams made [...]

The other day, Mark Le Blanc, my wonderful business coach, reminded me that, as a motivational speaker and presentation skills coach and trainer, I am always and only one big toe ahead of the clients and audience members I’m trying to inspire to greater fulfillment. He’s right of course. Every day I try to motivate [...]

I recently watched a PBS special about the life and career of singer, actress, cabaret artist and all-around stellar performer, Eartha Kitt.  Miss Kitt– who many of you will remember as the purring, growling, sinewy Catwoman from the original Batman television series) died this past Christmas day at the age of 81.  When asked by [...]

Last night I watched the semi-finals of Dancing with the Stars while lying in bed eating dinner with my husband and my three cats. Tease me all you want, but it was a whole lot more fun to watch people in satin and sequins mamboing and fox-trotting than, say, watching doom and gloom on the [...]

When I teach presentation skills to my coaching and training clients, I always tell them to prepare to the point that they know their material inside out.  Because, as jazz musician, Bradford Marsalis has pointed out, “If you’re not prepared, it’s too late.”  Of course, this applies to anything you’re trying to accomplish in life, [...]