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We're continuing the series we've been doing this month all around inspiring you to use your voice, no matter what your topic or your industry. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that I've been really excited about...
We're continuing the series we've been doing this month all around inspiring you to use your voice, no matter what your topic or your industry.
If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that I've been really excited about artificial intelligence and ChatGPT and all of the ways AI can help us both personally and professionally.
For this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Denise Musselwhite, a technology maven with a rich background in IT and a heart set on women's empowerment in tech.
Here's why you absolutely can't miss this episode:
Denise's story is a testament to the power of perseverance, innovation, and the crucial role of women in shaping the future of tech.
Join us as we explore the intersection of technology and empowerment, and get inspired to harness AI in your professional journey.
Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/389/
Denise’s website: http://techandthrive.me/
AI Resources: https://techthrive.me/techai
The Kindness Beacon GPT (requires a paid subscription to ChatGPT4): techthrive.me/kindness
Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/
Enroll in our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/
Connect on LinkedIn:
Related Podcast Episodes:
It's time to escape the expert trap and become an in-demand speaker and thought leader through compelling and memorable business presentations, keynotes, workshops, and TEDx talks. If you want to level up your public speaking to get more and better, including paid, speaking engagements, you've come to the right place! Thousands of entrepreneurs and leaders have learned from Speaking Your Brand and now you can too through our episodes that will help you with storytelling, audience engagement, building confidence, handling nerves, pitching to speak, getting paid, and more. Hosted by Carol Cox, entrepreneur, speaker, and TV political analyst. This is your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience.
Carol Cox:
Listen in to my conversation with Denise
Musselwhite all around empowering women in
the age of AI, on this episode of the
Speaking Your Brand podcast.
More and more women are making an impact by
starting businesses, running for office and
speaking up for what matters.
With my background as a TV political
analyst, entrepreneur and speaker, I
interview and coach purpose driven women to
shape their brands, grow their companies,
and become recognized as influencers in
their field. This is speaking your brand,
your place to learn how to persuasively
communicate your message to your audience.
Hi and welcome to the Speaking Your Brand
podcast. I'm your host, Carol Cox.
We are continuing the series we've been
doing all around, inspiring you to use your
voice no matter what your topic or your
industry. If you've been listening to this
podcast for a while, you know that I've been
really excited about artificial intelligence
and ChatGPT and all of the ways that it can
help us both personally and professionally.
Well, I had the pleasure of sitting down
with Denise Musselwhite, who was a CIO.
That's the chief information officer for
many years. She has a deep background in it,
and she is such a strong advocate for
women's empowerment and leadership in
technology. We talk about her journey to
becoming one of the few Latina CIOs and how
that journey impacted her, and then we dive
into artificial intelligence and seeing it
truly as a collaborative partner in our
professional lives.
Denise talks about some of the custom gpts
she's been creating. If you have no idea
what I'm talking about, you're gonna learn
more. In this episode, we also talk about
Denise's recent leap into entrepreneurship
and the work that she's doing with women in
tech. And then we wrap up with speaking tips
that Denise has for you.
If you're new to the podcast, welcome at
Speaking Your Brand. We work with women
entrepreneurs, professionals and leaders to
clarify their brand message and story,
create their signature talks, and develop
their thought leadership platforms.
If you would like to find out what your
speaker archetype is so you can leverage
your natural communication strengths and add
to them to make you an even more dynamic
speaker, you can take our free quiz as
speaking your brand.com/quiz.
It's ten multiple choice questions.
It only takes a few minutes to complete, and
then you get your results right away with
recommendations of what you can do.
You can again take that free quiz as
speaking your brand.com/quiz.
Now let's get on with the show.
Welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast,
Denise.
Denise Musselwhite:
Thanks. Thanks for having me, Carol.
I'm so excited to be here.
Carol Cox:
Likewise, as listeners know, I've been doing
episodes related to artificial intelligence
to AI for the past year, plus maybe 15 or 16
months. And, you know, probably like every
couple of months. I have a topic related to
AI because I'm excited about it.
It's potential how we can use it as a
collaborative partner and all all the
benefits that we can use as entrepreneurs
and as professionals and as speakers.
And I know, Denise, when I did one back in
January, you emailed me and said, oh, like,
I love to talk about AI.
I'm excited about it.
And I said, yes, okay, let's do a podcast
episode. So here you are.
And I got to know you.
Well. When you attended our recent three day
in-person client retreat that we held in
Orlando, you also lived in the Orlando area.
So that was so much fun.
So let me ask you this, uh, first is what
got you interested in technology, like when
you were young, did you like, did you like
gadgets? You know, did you like early
computers? Like what?
What kind of led you into this field?
Denise Musselwhite:
Oh, Carol, I love this question.
For me, it's a bit of nature and nurture.
My parents are immigrants to the United
States from Puerto Rico and the Dominican
Republic. They moved here when they were
teens, and after my dad got back from the
Vietnam War, he learned from his cousins and
friends how to be a mechanic.
And he opened his first repair shop when I
was a baby, and he named it Denise Service
Station. Can you imagine?
That was located in the in Bronx, New York,
um, around 1976 ish.
Okay, so I grew up in my dad's repair shop
with a very handy dad in the family.
My mom was his office manager and handled
all of the paperwork and office management
duties related to that.
Well, before I went into fifth grade, my
parents decided to move our entire family to
Orlando, Florida because they were fearful
of the middle school that I was going to
attend in the Bronx.
The neighborhood had changed around us, so
they sold everything.
I remember them, um, stopping at the bank in
their brand new station wagon to pick up all
of their life savings in a briefcase.
I sat on that briefcase on our ride to
Orlando, and the reason they picked Orlando
is because family values are made.
Where? Mickey Mouse lives like.
Seriously. So I was about ten when this
happened, and around the age of 11 or 12, he
opened a new repair shop called High Tech
Tune-up, located right here in Orlando.
And every day after school, I went there
because they couldn't afford to have like,
child care after school, um, with my
siblings. And my dad recruited me to be his
right hand to translate the technical manual
that came with the computer diagnostic
device, to interpret the codes that he
needed to repair these newfangled cars in
the mid 80s.
And then I would translate that to his
mechanics. And that's where my passion and
love for technology was born.
Even though I was a really curious kid, I
was like the kid who would stick things into
the electrical socket to see them happen.
Right. Um, but he embraced it and the rest
is history. I helped my dad's mechanics
translate that computer diagnostic device.
Then I did that at law firms while I was in
high school, backing up all of their
computers when I was just 16.
And then I went to UCF and graduated with a
degree in technology management and pursued
a very, very successful career in technology
management, which resulted in me being the
chief information officer for um independent
schools, and one of the few Latino women to
hold that role. There's less than 2% of
women who are Latina who make it to the
C-suite in technology.
Carol Cox:
That's amazing, Denise, and congratulations.
And I love hearing that story of you and I.
And it does sound like it's a blend of
nature and nurture, like the right
environment. But clearly you had a natural
inclination to want to stick things into
electric sockets and figure out how they
worked. Oh, so let's talk a little bit about
your experience as a CIO, as in the C-suite.
And then I know you more recently you
decided to become an entrepreneur.
So we'll talk about that. But what was the
like for you to be a woman?
And as you said at a Latina woman in the in,
you know, high up in the technology field,
and I assume that you did speaking
engagements along the way, you know,
conferences and events that you would speak
at. And what was that like?
Denise Musselwhite:
You know, um, it was really invigorating for
me, like I said, because my dad normalized
being in a male dominated space when I was
young, despite the cultural norms
surrounding women.
Um, in the Latino culture, I didn't feel
like I didn't belong there until I felt like
I didn't belong there.
So the higher up I got in technology
leadership, the less I felt I belonged
because it became increasingly male
dominated. Um, I felt like I had to turn
myself inside out in order to really show
up. Like what I thought I was supposed to
do. I needed to show up like men do
professionally, so I tried.
I did do that, and I also probably
overprepared for meetings, just like I know
many of my clients and other women in
leadership do in order to overcome,
overcompensate for this feeling of, um,
lacking of confidence.
Or I need to really show up more than
everybody else in order to get noticed.
So it was wonderful and also challenging at
the same time. And that's part of the reason
why I made a decision to make a pivot.
When I reflected on how I was spending my
time as a leader, I was seeing myself
presenting technology complex, technology
complex, uh, um, concepts and strategies to
help accelerate technology in the industry.
Where I spent most of my time, when I
thought about who I was presenting to, I was
looking at rooms full of men, right.
That not that there's anything wrong with
that. But when I really reflected on how I
wanted to make an impact, I decided to
change my topics so that I could attract
more women. And those topics were more in
alignment with what I found to be my deep
purpose and what I wanted to make an impact
on. And that's helping to create spaces
where women feel more included in a male
dominated industry like technology.
And everything changed after that.
I was now presenting in spaces where more
women were present because they were coming
for the content around how to succeed in a
male dominated industry.
Carol Cox:
Yes. And we're going to talk, I know in just
a few moments about AI and the impact AI is
going to have, not only in the workplace,
but really society wide.
And I am such a huge advocate of making sure
that women's voices and women's experiences
and women's expertise and our insights are
part of the conversations that are being
had, because after all, we are 50% of the
population and we're going to be impacted
just as much as everyone else.
So as you mentioned, you recently made the
transition to become an entrepreneur.
You founded Tech and Thrive.
So what what has that been transition been
like? And can you tell us a little bit about
Tech and Thrive, who it's for and how you
help the women in there?
Denise Musselwhite:
So it's been an adventure for sure.
So I pivoted away from my 25 plus year role
as a chief information officer to, um,
figure out what I wanted to do when I grew
up, like so many people do, and decided that
my heart was in starting something that
would step into the gap for executive
coaching and leadership development for
technology professionals, women, and other
underrepresented represented professionals
who would appreciate having a trusted
advisor like me alongside them in their
journey. So Tech and Thrive provides
leadership development to technology
professionals and technology teams.
I just got back from a wonderful full day
retreat in Georgia, um, leading
conversations with 100 technology
professionals on a technology team, and
that's the kind of work that I'm doing now.
And I also have lots of one on one clients
that I serve to help them lean more into
their leadership, um, and to sharpen their
skills, their.
Carol Cox:
Well, let's dig into I.
Denise, I always love talking to a fellow
tech enthusiast.
You know, I even though my master's degree
is in history and like my career trajectory
was to be a professor, I made a very like
180 degree turn into software development.
This was back in the early 2000, founded two
technology companies. So I definitely have
maybe this natural inclination towards
technology as well.
So when ChatGPT launched at the end of 2022,
I had my hands all over that right from the
beginning. I've been excited about the
possibilities and the potential, as well as
recognizing some of the potential downsides.
But Denise, what excites you about AI?
What are you seeing as the possibilities?
Denise Musselwhite:
Oh my gosh. Um, so like you, I'm an early
adopter. I was all in as soon as, uh,
generative AI became available to the
masses. And I've been fully involved with
exploring how it can support me as a CEO and
also how it can support my clients in the
work that they do.
Um, for me, I spend a lot of time playing in
the tools that are available and, um, even
built my own GPT to support myself and to
support my clients. One of them is called
the Kindness Beacon, which is a GPT that
provides affirmations and support when
individuals are feeling overwhelmed because
so much of a C-suite member's life is in
overwhelm, because so many things are coming
at us, so much so I built the Kindness
Beacon just for fun.
And it's really a cool tool, um, which we
can link in your show notes.
And I've also built myself a GPT that I use
that is my business advisor.
Since I'm a small business and I need to
have someone to bounce ideas off of, um,
it's me and myself and I, as a CEO to the
startup, um, I built a GPT to provide me
with business advice, and it does a pretty
good job to do that.
I had to be really good at engineering
prompts, so I've taken some free courses on
that to get really good at engineering
prompts and using it to accelerate
productivity for myself.
When I think about my clients, because
they're technology professionals, they feel
a unique double bind here where they have to
provide, um, the boundaries around AI to
their organizations, and they also have to
empower their teams and themselves to use
it. Right?
So that's a difficult place because not only
are they creating the guardrails for how to
protect their organizations, um, assets,
intellectual property, etc., they also have
to dive straight in to figure out how to use
it at the same time. So they're.
I'd like to say building the plane while
they fly it. They have not even figured out
I and they have to create policies and
procedures around it.
So I'm proud to say that I'm the board chair
of an organization that is doing an amazing
job at this, the Association of Technology
Leaders in Independent Schools.
They have just published a resource, in
collaboration with three other associations
that serve that industry, that informs
boards on how to navigate AI.
And that's where some of the work is
happening right now, is trying to define how
organizations and individuals should use AI
in responsible and ethical ways within their
organizations. So that's where most of the
conversations are for me.
I asked AI to tell me what I should be
thinking about before we get on here, and it
told me that I should be thinking about how
I use it to analyze data.
Lots of information quickly.
It asked me.
It told me that I how I might use it as a
productivity tool, and it also challenged me
to come up with ways to use it to support my
coaching clients.
So that's what I thinks I should be doing.
Carol Cox:
Okay, well, you know, funnily enough, when I
sent you an email, you know, leading up to
our our recording here, I said, you know, I
know we want to talk about AI.
Is there anything in particular?
So you mentioned a few things, including
this AI double bind and some other things.
So I basically took your kind of like two
sentences about what to talk about.
And I asked ChatGPT I said, okay, here's
what, here's what we want to talk about.
And for my podcast, what are some like
questions or what are some conversation
points. And it gave me a whole long list.
And then I kind of sent that to you.
And then we figured, you know, we pulled a
few of them there. So this is where, you
know, we're using AI not as a replacement,
like we're still here, obviously, having
this conversation. We're still choosing what
questions make sense for this podcast and
for the listeners.
What questions make sense for our areas of
expertise and the insights that we can
share? But we're using AI.
We're using ChatGPT as that collaborative
partner to kind of give us a starting point
instead of having just a blank document in
front of us.
Denise Musselwhite:
Yeah. So yes, it is a strategic partner to
the work that we do.
Figuring out how to harness it without
hurting our organizations is a real
challenge, because it's the Wild West right
now, right?
It's just arrived.
Ai has been in existence for decades, right?
But generative AI has disrupted us, just
like the internet disrupted us in the early
90s. Just like the iPhone disrupted us, just
like the pandemic disrupted us.
Um, this is another disruption.
I think AI shines a light on how important
it is for us to hone in to those emotional
intelligence and interpersonal skills that
are so important that cannot be replicated
with technology.
So my number one takeaway as I kind of watch
it is how are we empowering our teams to
make themselves irreplaceable by.
Increasing their emotional intelligence,
their human centric leadership, and
leveraging AI to increase productivity.
But. Not replace human connection.
Carol Cox:
Yes, and that is so well said, Denise.
I absolutely love that, because, you know,
the thing that humans are great at is being
human. And that's the thing that I can't do.
It can mimic it like, you know, it can it
can write great. It actually can be very
empathetic when when you as a, as a
therapist or as a coach.
But we know it's mimicking humans because
it's been trained on human writing and human
data and all everything that we've given it.
And so I agree, like, you know, sharing like
storytelling, you know, as humans we have
embodied experiences.
So how, you know, sharing those stories with
each other and and helping each other out in
that way and then doing that, you know,
strategic, high level thinking that's going
to move our organizations forward or that's
going to move society forward.
And using AI, you know, to help us solve big
problems. That's some of the things that I'm
excited about. So, Denise, you mentioned
about, you know, making sure that
organizations and their team members, you
know, kind of, you know, have are, you know,
getting the guidance that they need.
So, you know, and I know that you're doing
work with organizations.
So how do you see professional training and
education evolving to prepare us for a world
where increasingly, AI is going to be doing
a lot of the tasks and responsibilities that
we've done and some of the tasks that we may
have enjoyed doing, and some tasks where
maybe we're glad, right, to have the AI do
it for us instead.
Denise Musselwhite:
You know, I think that it's a great tool for
accelerating progress.
And I could see how, um, rather than people
being fearful of it replacing jobs.
But how might we create more with the talent
we have, because they have accelerated their
possibilities for productivity in ways that
weren't possible before.
Right. So how could we create more of
whatever that, um, strategic offering that
we, we share as an organization?
Because I enhances what we do rather than
thinking about it as sacrificing and cutting
employees, how could we make employees more
productive so that we can accelerate change?
Right? How can we produce faster?
How can we stand up leadership and
development courses faster to serve the
niche that we need within our organizations?
Um, providing more opportunities for people
to connect more personally with what they
need from professional development.
What's interesting to me is so much of what
I talked about when I was a CIO in education
tech was about personalized instruction for
students and the employees of the
organization. Ai provides us with this
really unique opportunity to get that right,
because it is really great and at taking in
all this data about the people in your
organization and refining it and producing
outlines, courses that speak directly to
what that person needs in a way that a human
can't do that quickly.
So I just see opportunity.
Even though there is a lot of ethical
concerns that I still have.
Um, with regard to the medium, I don't think
that it scares me away from digging in and
encouraging organizations to do the same.
Carol Cox:
Yes, I'm completely with you there, Denise.
Like, this is, you know, these are these are
very powerful tools, very useful tools.
And they're going to be here in one form or
another. So we should get comfortable using
them and seeing their benefits, but also
making sure the conversations are happening
about ethical use, making sure that
companies have guidelines.
As far as you know, what data can be used,
what's proprietary, how employees should be
using it, and so on.
And, you know, it reminds me of there's a
Wharton Business School professor named
Ethan Mollick who is very into AI, and he's
been he's been in it for a while, and he
writes these great LinkedIn and newsletters
about AI. And so recently he had these four
questions for organizations to ask
themselves. And I think not only for
organizations, but, you know, entrepreneurs,
even even entrepreneurs, small entrepreneurs
like us. So I'm just going to read the four
questions for the audience so they can just
kind of put this in their mind and start
thinking about these things.
Is thinking about AI with AI, what useful
thing do you do that will no longer be
valuable for you to do it?
Because the AI can just do it faster,
better, easier? So what's that thing that
you that's just no longer going to be
something that you should be doing?
Question number two on the flip side, what's
impossible thing can you now do because of
AI? So something that seemed impossible
before, but now you or your organization or
your team can do it.
Number three, what can your organization do?
Or you know, you as as an entrepreneur to
move to a wider market or to democratize
your services, right.
So we think about like the Thought Leader
Academy and the speaking coaching that we
do. Like obviously we're very like we like
small groups. We're like very hands on.
But there's a way to democratize our
frameworks that our way of putting together
presentations. So how can we use AI to do
that? And then the fourth question is kind
of the flip of democratizing it.
What can you move to that's upmarket or
personalized, right.
To have that deep personalization, that
adaptive technology to really help users and
learners where they're getting stuck or or
their learning style that's best for them,
like you were talking about with learning
and development organizations.
Imagine that as a team member, I want to
learn something new, but my learning style
is different than someone else's, and maybe
I'm starting from a different place.
Like I have more knowledge than someone else
on that particular topic, and I don't
necessarily need to start way back at the
beginning, but I can start further along.
But the AI is going to already be able to
pick up on that.
Denise Musselwhite:
Yeah, I love those questions.
Those are great questions for your listeners
to ponder.
Um, I often in the technology team
development work that I do start with
questions, discussion prompts about how I
can shape the future of their team
collaborations. How could they utilize it in
practical ways to create time when time is
at a premium?
Um, some of the ways that I've heard have
been really useful and practical are there's
this stereotype that technology
professionals prefer, um, to interact with
computers, um, versus human beings.
This, um, is not entirely true.
There are talented and fantastic
professionals who really appreciate
interpersonal communication, but if you are
one of those people, you can use AI to help
you draft, um, emails.
If you struggle with that kind of of medium,
coming up with what an email should say when
you have to launch a new feature or product,
right. Um, there's also ways to utilize AI
to diagnose, um, system optimization in ways
that humans can't process that amount of
data. Um, protecting us from a cybersecurity
perspective, AI can accelerate the way that
we do that, um, so that we can protect our
systems faster and better.
So there are so many outcomes of having
these discussions with tech teams.
Um, and I wonder how other organizations are
leaning into these conversations using those
prompts that you shared to really get in the
weeds with how it can, um, accelerate and
enhance the work that we do.
The other thing that I always share with
people is like.
Don't let your fear keep you from learning
something new.
There's so much out there that is free.
It is. There's no excuse to not taking a
course or spending 45 minutes learning how
AI works.
Because it really your future depends on it.
Carol Cox:
Yes, yes.
As you know, the Saints have been going out
around for a while now that says, you know,
I won't replace humans, but humans with AI
will replace humans without AI.
Denise Musselwhite:
This is I, you know, as sad as it sounds,
it's true. And it's it's no different than
when the internet came and disrupted
everything. It's just the new version,
right? It's the new version.
The 2024 version of Google.
Carol Cox:
Yes. Or having a website as a business.
Denise Musselwhite:
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. So there are so many resources out
there that I am going to share with you, to
share with with your your listeners and your
viewers in the show notes.
I have a couple of terrific resources that I
share that make AI more accessible.
One of them is free courses that are
available to anyone who wants to learn more,
and then a directory of all of the AI tools
that exist, so that you can figure out which
tool is best for what you want to do.
Carol Cox:
Oh, fantastic. All right.
Thank you so much, Denise.
Well, let me ask you this, since obviously,
you know, you're a big advocate of of more
women in technology, especially in the
leadership level. I have been a strong
advocate for that for years as well.
What do you see is is a way to encourage
more women to pursue careers in technology,
you know, including in AI and what have you.
What has the role of mentorship played for
you in your career, and how do you see that
being an impact?
Denise Musselwhite:
Well, I mean, I wouldn't be sitting here with
you, um, as a CEO of Tech and Thrive without
mentorship, sponsorship, and supporters
along the way, I could not have done it
alone. So.
For when I talk to women who want to either
break into technology or who want to, um,
grow in their own technology practice as
leaders, um, because they all have their
eyes set on a higher role or more money,
whatever it is for them, there is no
replacement for ambition and intrinsic
motivation. Right.
So those are the two things that are
absolutely essential to you making your way
in any profession.
And there's no shortcut to that.
So my first piece of advice is to find a
mentor or sponsor.
Within your realm of influence, whatever
that may be, and ask them to support you.
Right. And that nobody's going to come
knocking on your door to say, hey, I want to
support you. I see something in you.
Um, this is something that you have to do
for yourself. So step out of your comfort
zone and find those people in your network
who can be a sponsor and supporter.
I am one of those people who is ready at the
ready to be a connector for technology
professionals. So if you don't have this
person in your world, I invite you to reach
out to me on LinkedIn.
I will connect you.
I will plug you in.
If you have the ambition and the intrinsic
motivation to lean in to your potential, I
am all for it. I'm here for you.
Carol Cox:
Oh, that is such a kind offer, Denise.
Thank you so much. And yes, our listeners,
make sure to connect with Denise on
LinkedIn. Links in the show notes whether
you need her to connect you to a mentor or
you just want to follow her because she puts
out great content on LinkedIn as well.
And, Denise, I know you're also involved in
a Women in Technology organization.
Can you tell us about that?
Denise Musselwhite:
Yes. So I am the board secretary for a new
venture called the Women in Tech and
Entrepreneurship, which launched in Florida
in May of 2023.
So it's not even a year old.
Our chapter in Florida isn't even a year old
yet, or our chapter in Orlando isn't even a
year old yet. And the organization is poised
for great success because our, um, CEO is
dedicated to providing free access to
connection, support and professional
learning to any woman in technology or
entrepreneurs adjacent to technology who are
wanting to build community without, um,
drama. And right.
That's an important.
Yeah. So an inclusive, warm, inviting where
you can show up authentically to connect
with other individuals who are passionate
about technology and entrepreneurship in a
non-competitive space that is fully free.
This has been a remarkable innovation for
me, having been in a male dominated industry
for the bulk of my career, to have a place
to connect with other like minded
professionals, not just women, but also
their allies, to move the needle so that
this place feels more inclusive.
Mhm.
Carol Cox:
Oh that's wonderful. Well I'll make sure to
include a link to that as well in the show
notes. So listeners can can find that.
And Denise, since this is a public speaking
podcast, I can't let you go without having
you share some insights and lessons you have
for the listeners who are also speakers.
Like as I mentioned at the beginning, you
did recently attend our three day in-person
client retreat, and it was so fun to see you
develop as a speaker during the three days
that we were there. So what kind of speaking
tips do you do you have to share with our
listeners.
Denise Musselwhite:
Are speaking tips.
You know, I, I think that because the most,
most of the world really is scared of
speaking, you know, this is a fear that many
people have.
Um, you're not alone in this feeling that
it's scary to stand in front of people and
speak. I encourage you to put yourself out
there in safe places with people who you
trust, like I did at the Speaking Your Brand
retreat, because those places where you have
supporters and encouragers are the place for
you to practice.
And there's no fear of failure when you're
doing it because you simply want to grow.
So choose a place where you can test, put
yourself out there for presentation at a
small conference, or at an organization that
you care about deeply.
And. Do it.
Just do it.
And if you are still scared, then seek Carol
out for support.
Her podcast is a great, great resource.
And you know, being scared is part of the
process of growth.
So what I'd like to tell people who ask me
about this, because I speak a lot, is what
do you do about being nervous before you go
up? I learned how to turn those nerves and
that adrenaline into excitement.
So I retrained the feeling and I retrained
my brain. When I have those butterflies,
which every single person that I know does,
they are because I'm excited to share and to
meet everyone that's there.
And when I reframe it, it's easier.
It's still a challenge because you have to
prepare, but.
That feeling.
Those butterflies are me being excited to
share what I think, and I know is really
important for the audience to hear, because
it's going to move the needle for them.
Carol Cox:
Yes, I love the reframe, and I completely
agree with you that, you know, we get
nervous. It's a physiological reaction our
bodies have for good reason, because our
bodies and our brain wants to protect
ourselves. But reframing it into like number
one, this is normal to the feel, the the
butterflies and the nerves.
So number two, I always say like work with
it, work with the energy, move your body
around instead of trying to fight against
it. And then I always say, once you get
started, like once you're into the first few
minutes, generally those nerves are going to
dissipate and then you're just going to be
in your flow.
Denise Musselwhite:
Yeah, I yes, yes, yes to all of that.
Carol Cox:
Denise. Let the listeners know the best place
for them to connect with you.
Denise Musselwhite:
The best place to connect with me is on
LinkedIn so you can find me there.
And then I also, of course, have a website.
The shortcut for that website is Tech Thrive
dot me.
Tech thrive dot me because I don't want to
force your listeners to try to remember my
complicated name, Denise musselwhite.com.
So I created a shortcut for it.
So tech Thrive me is my website, and
everybody can find me at Denise Musselwhite
on LinkedIn.
I am looking forward to hearing from your
audience, and I hope that you'll DM me
something that I don't know that everybody
recognizes about being a CEO.
Is that a lot of this work of
entrepreneurship at the start, you do it
alone. So shoot me a DM, tell me how you're
doing. Um, it's a lonely place to be alone
in a business growing.
And I love hearing from people who listen to
the podcast with insights and, um, additions
or, you know, any kind of insights that they
might have.
Carol Cox:
Oh, fantastic. All right.
So make sure to reach out to Denise, send
her a message. Thank you so much for coming
on the podcast.
Denise Musselwhite:
Thank you for having me, Carol.
I'm a huge fan, you know that.
And I my answer is always yes whenever you
ask.
Carol Cox:
Okay, well well okay.
So keep that in mind for next time.
Thank you. Thanks again to Denise for coming
on the podcast. Don't forget to take our
free speaker archetype quiz so you can find
out which one you are, and leverage your
natural communication strengths and add to
them. You can get that free quiz as speaking
your Brand.com slash quiz.
Until next time, thanks for listening.