Carol Cox: Learn different ways you can structure your
keynotes. In this conversation with three of
the women who attended our recent in-person
workshop on this episode of the Speaking Your
Brand podcast.
More and more women are making an impact by
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Hi there and welcome to backstage with
Speaking Your Brand. I'm your host and
founder of Speaking Your Brand, Carol Cox.
Today we're going to talk about what it takes
to create and deliver a keynote that inspires
audiences, transforms audiences,
but also build your speaking career.
I'm excited to have joining me here today,
three women who attended our recent Speaking
Accelerator in-person workshop in Orlando,
Florida. We have Kate Richardson,
who lives here in Orlando,
where I live. She's a registered dietician.
We have Alfie McGinty,
who lives in Indianapolis,
Indiana, and she is a coroner,
which is not not an industry or not a
profession that I usually come across.
So we'll definitely talk about that.
And then Nikki Ramirez,
who is a leader to help HR departments and
other HR leaders in their profession,
and she lives in the Phoenix,
Arizona area.
As I mentioned, they recently attended our
one day speaking workshop.
We had a lot of fun, and they walked away
with the foundation for keynotes that they're
going to deliver now.
They are already established and experienced
speakers in their industries,
especially when it comes to talking about
more professional or business related topics.
But they wanted to challenge themselves and
think about how can they take the work that
they do, what matters to them,
but then turn it into more of a story driven,
transformational message?
As we think about for a keynote address,
or we're going to talk about all of that here
today before I invite them to introduce
themselves, I also want to let you all know
that our next one day in person speaking
workshop is coming up in Orlando on February
19th, 2026.
You can get all of those details and register
at speaking your brand.
Com Orlando.
All right Kait, I'm going to start with you.
Tell us about a little bit about what you do.
You recently also delivered a TEDx talk which
was so well done.
Why did you decide that you wanted to work on
a keynote?
Kait Richardson: Yeah. Well, thanks for having me.
Your workshop was so much fun.
I've been telling so many of the people I
know who do workshops and speaking
engagements to check it out.
And the reason I wanted to do it is because
about six months ago, I had heard some
podcast. I can't remember exactly what it was
that, uh, reframed all of the things that we
do in our businesses as either you're an
amateur or you can be a professional.
And I had done about, I don't know,
25 speaking engagements,
workshops. And I knew in my heart I love
doing it. I love speaking in front of
audiences. I've loved that ever since I was a
kid. I love being on stage.
I love helping people,
inspiring people.
But I felt like I was an amateur.
I was just kind of picking up things here and
there. I knew what to talk about.
I had an idea of how to deliver specific
information, how to get audiences engaged,
but I wasn't a pro yet.
And so doing the Ted talk and doing your
workshop, I feel like is helping me become a
professional, getting in there and really
mastering how to speak to audiences about
women's health and nutrition.
Carol Cox: Okay, well, I really like this distinction
between an amateur and a pro and really
investing in that skill building and all the
things that I think a lot of us who enjoy
speaking, we've been doing it for a long
time. We probably did it in high school and
maybe in debate team or acting or we did
some. So we kind of learned these things just
along the way. And so we're good at it.
But in order to be great,
I think to your point, Kate, you have to
invest in the things that you don't know,
that you don't know when it comes to this.
Yeah. All right, Alfie,
let's go to you. So as I mentioned at the
top, so you're actually a corner.
So can you tell us, well,
how did you get into that profession?
And then tell us a little bit about why you
decided to come to the workshop and work on a
keynote.
Alfarena (Alfie) McGinty: Yeah. So I've been with the coroner's office
and a death investigator for 28 years,
and I got into that sort of unexpectedly
while in undergrad. I went to an office to
work part time and do an internship,
and by day two, I loved the work.
I love the job. I loved everything about it.
And what I found is there's a lot of
education in death investigation.
So you are talking a lot about explaining how
the death occurred and those kind of things.
And so I kind of morphed into sort of this
educator, uh, in my speaking and talking and
teaching about death investigation.
And I wanted to expand,
and I thought the workshop would be a great
opportunity for me to expand a talk.
Right, like expand upon all the things that I
know about death investigation, but also in
life in general.
And so I wanted to do this workshop and oh my
goodness, I thought, I'm a teacher,
right? So I thought, oh,
I'm going to go. I'm going to sit down in
front of the class and learn a bunch of
things while sitting.
Oh no, it is so interactive.
And it had us up and moving and hanging out
with each other and talking and laughing
uncontrollably, um, in some instances.
So it was great fun.
And I walked away ready to have like four
talks. Right. Four keynotes.
So that was the exciting thing about the,
the the class that we did.
Carol Cox: Okay. Well good. Yes, we definitely get you
moving around. Right. Who wants to sit all
day? We sit all day on zoom.
Right as it is. If we're going to be in
person, we're going to be moving around. So
we're going to come back to this idea of
teaching and educational content and how that
is different from what you all worked on with
your keynotes. Let me say hi to Diane,
Monica and Aaron who are here with us live as
we're going. So thank you so much for being
here and letting us know in the comments.
Nikki, let me bring you in.
So tell us a little bit about what you do and
why you because you have been doing speaking
a long, long time.
You speak a lot.
So why did you decide you wanted to work on a
keynote?
Niki Ramirez: Yeah. Thank you.
Yeah. Thanks for having us today.
It's nice to see, um, Alfie and Kait,
too. We did have such a good time. And Alfie
was my table partner, and we did laugh a lot,
so. Yeah, I have been in the speaking world
since the 90s.
So it's been yeah, it's been a really nice
sort of long journey.
And to Kate's good point.
Like, I know there's always more to improve.
And Carol, you and I met years ago now in
another circle for, um,
women entrepreneurs who are ambitious and
trying to grow their skill set and their
businesses. And I've really enjoyed working
with you and Diane.
Um, so when the opportunity came up to attend
in person, build my skills and expand the
type of speaking. So really going into it
with the lens of developing this keynote,
um, it was just a slam dunk idea.
And I, you know, I'm thinking about and
moving forward with the idea of keynoting
because I think there is space to,
um, do a little bit more inspiring people to
figure out what their own next steps are.
You know, I think a lot of times when we see
a keynote, that's what you know, that's the
hope. And that's what I love about them. Just
kind of like, okay, well,
what could I do next?
And I think I spent years working with HR
professionals, small business leaders,
developing their HR and leadership practices.
And now I'd love to just be able to encourage
other people to whatever the thing is they're
working on, it doesn't have to be HR
leadership. Just be inspired to work on it no
matter what challenges they're facing.
So just needed to be there in the room with
you all to get that underway.
Carol Cox: Yeah, well, I love it.
And so then what we do in the morning during
the workshop is that we we teach you our
framework here and we give you the materials.
And so this looks familiar to you all because
this is what you did.
You had the boards that we gave you and then
you had your post-it notes. And we kind of
prompted you and guided you and asked you
questions that you then wrote down on the
post-it notes and filled in along the way.
And I remember that as you all were working
on them, Diane and I would go around and chat
with you and kind of see what you were
working on and how we could help.
And, Kait, I'll come back to you because like
I said, you've been like you said,
you've been doing speaking workshops,
you know, at least a couple of dozen of them,
and they're probably pretty information rich
where you're teaching the audience certain
things for them to understand about their
health and what you have learned as a
dietician and your own journey.
So how did thinking about this,
though, from a keynote perspective,
shift your idea of what kind of content and
what and how to frame your message?
Kait Richardson: Oh, okay. That's a really great question.
Um, so how to frame my message?
That's the first struggle that I had before
the workshop because I have so many messages.
I have so many things that I talked about on
a day to day basis, just in my work as a
dietician. Just for context,
I sit face to face with people at a desk and
they share with me their biggest struggles,
their stories, their backgrounds when it
comes to what they've had trouble with,
with health and body image.
And so there's so many things just floating
around in my brain and I'm like,
what actually do I want to speak about?
And, um, I can't remember the exact question
that you just asked me, but I think what
really helped me. I have my board here,
actually. Oh yeah. To show off was just
getting to the main point that I wanted to
share, and then learning how to interweave
the storytelling, the education in all of
that. Because when I've spoken at medical
conferences, the expectation is that you're
going to, you know, meet certain continuing
education criteria.
You're going to show a bunch of research,
you're going to back everything up with
science. You know, I'm talking to physicians,
I'm talking to other dieticians,
and they expect to see you prove your points
when you're talking and doing a keynote.
That's not the point.
The point is to share a message,
share a story, get the audience leaving and
feeling and wanting to make some kind of
change or improvement,
or take some information and apply it to
their own life. It's not proving every single
point that you say with research and science.
So this really helped me get to my key point
and interweave how to really connect with the
audience, how to make stories,
and how to make the messages actually stick.
Instead of just putting everyone to sleep
with facts and science and data.
Carol Cox: Right. Yeah, like using the facts and the
data to support the point that you want to
make versus the other way around. I think a
lot of times we we lead with like,
okay, here's the data, the science.
But like okay, but then how does that fit to
the audience and what's important to them.
And I remember that when in your act two.
So the middle part we talked a little bit
about stages.
So in keynotes it's helpful to to either
share with the audience three lessons that
you want to impart or like three pillars or
principles that you've learned or three
stages. So people go from stage one to stage
two to stage three in their journey as they
learn more, as they develop more awareness.
So and so. I think you ended up with three
stages that in your talk,
do you want to share a little bit about those
with with us?
Kait Richardson: Yeah, sure. Absolutely.
So just for for context,
I'm speaking in my keynote to Women in
leadership, women led businesses and women's
retreats. So usually women who are giving a
lot, doing a lot either to their business,
to their family, to their community.
And what I'm seeing in my work is these women
are doing such amazing things, but they often
put themselves last.
And as a result, when they're not putting
themselves first, when it comes to their
health, their nutrition,
their rest, their fun,
because that's part of wellness, too, is that
they begin to feel resentful.
They get burnt out.
They may experience unwanted health
consequences, breakouts,
unwanted weight gain. All the things that you
can think about that could go wrong start to
happen when women put themselves last.
So my framework shows how if we start from a
place of being self-sacrificing,
that that can really drain us. And what we
actually have to do is step in to being
radically selfish with our health,
choosing ourselves, saying no to things if
it's going to impede into our health rituals.
And then you can actually go into a place of
self-leadership because you're taking care of
yourself. And now you can give and serve your
community from a place of power and wellness
and not resentment and not bitterness and
burnout.
Carol Cox: Yeah, I love that. It's so inspiring and
impactful, but it's also very tangible.
And I think the audience will see themselves
in those stages and recognize,
okay, where am I at and where do I want to
get to? Yeah.
Okay. Well done.
All right, Alfie, so let's come to you.
So I know that you have a very personal story
that you decided that you wanted to anchor
your keynote in, to share with the audience.
So whatever you feel comfortable with,
do you want to share a little bit about that,
and then how you decided to frame up what
you, the core message or the core lessons
that you wanted to share?
Alfarena (Alfie) McGinty: Yeah. So four years ago,
I lost my son, my firstborn son,
Jimmy, um, to a fentanyl poisoning And what I
found was that grief was hard.
Although I had dealt with grief with other
families in this industry of death
investigation for many years,
20 plus years.
And then here it was.
Now I'm facing grief and I'm having to deal
with grief, and I just didn't know how to do
it. I couldn't get through,
um, how to just get up every day and keep
going. But yet, um, I wanted to talk about
it. And as we know, substance abuse and
substance use, um, is a very stigmatized
subject and just encouraging people to be
able to talk about it. So with what I learned
during, um, during the course with,
with you all, was that,
um, that there were pillars,
right, that there were stages of things to
talk about when it comes to the keynote.
And what was encouraging for me was giving
people inspiration to identify what some of
those things are as it pertains to grief.
So my three pillars were notice it,
name it, and nurture it.
And that's something that I had never thought
of before. So I came into this like,
okay, so I'm gonna have this keynote.
And, you know, I didn't think anything about
those three pillars and those stages until I
got there. And it was so encouraging.
Now I use this so much.
It's like, okay, this is good.
Um, but that was what I took away from that
and how to put that into into the talk and
put that into the keynote,
where now it's easy for people to remember.
In fact, I said it and now people are
repeating it. And so that was encouraging.
And that was just the one thing like the big
takeaway for me, for my own grief as I was
going through it. And now I have something to
work with other people on as it pertains to
navigating grief for others and with others.
Carol Cox: Hmm. Oh, well, thank you for sharing that.
And I the notice it, name it,
nurture it. Got the the got the alliteration
in there as well. So yes,
it makes it memorable for you.
Right. So you can remember it if you're doing
a podcast interview or a speaking engagement
or if you're on a panel or anything else,
you just kind of clicks into place and you
know what's important to share,
then obviously your audience can remember it
more easily as well. Yeah,
yeah. Okay, great.
Nikki, let's come to you.
So tell us, tell us a little bit about your
core message in your keynote,
what you decided for act two,
and then we'll come back to how you decided
to open with your with a personal story.
But let's start let's focus on act two and
what you put there.
Niki Ramirez: Yeah. So, um, thankfully I just got to meet
with Diane also.
And so I, um, I don't necessarily have my
three pillars dialed in,
like, exactly yet.
I'm still working on it,
but, you know, the keynote that I am putting
together. And then molding into this
fantastic framework is about reframing and
shifting our concept of being perhaps unlucky
sometimes. And so we're talking about how we
can cultivate and manufacture luck in our
lives through simple actions and attitudes.
And so yeah. So I'm on Alfie's tail here
with, you know, trying to find some good
alliteration and dial in.
I have like, I always have too much to too
many things to think about.
Too many. I have too many pillars.
will Carol. So working on it.
I know it's so important though,
to follow, to really follow the framework,
and I really believe in it.
And I'm so grateful that we were there to
just dial it in.
Because as a consumer of keynotes and I do
love, I love a good inspirational talk.
Always, I always will,
um, the best ones have really clear and
concise messaging. And so I'm working hard to
figure out what my, what my hook is a little
bit, but the concept is really about,
you know, thinking about how to create, block
and cultivate luck in our lives.
And it's a it's a mental exercise.
Yeah.
Carol Cox: Yeah. Well, something for you to think about,
Nicky. And this goes to anyone listening as
well. Is that so we talk about in that act
two, that core. It could be three,
three lessons like those hard one life
lessons. It could be three stages people go
to go through. It could be three pillars like
pillars are good if stages or lessons don't
make sense. Another way to do it this was
came to mind for you. Nicky is like three
myths or three beliefs we have about luck.
So like contrasting like the three myths or
beliefs versus what the act,
what actually it is.
And that could be a good way to like bucket
your key points in act two.
Niki Ramirez: Love it. Thank you Carol.
Yeah. Yes.
Carol Cox: And trust me, I get it. We all have too much
content. I have a gazillion slide decks and
presentations and I just know.
Okay, but for the 30 minutes or 45 minutes I
have for this audience,
what can I give them?
And then I'll give a different talk to a
different audience, and I'll get to use all
this other stuff that I have.
Niki Ramirez: Exactly. Yeah. And with the storytelling
piece of it, that's the other reason I came
to the event.
You know, I've always struggled to figure out
how to incorporate a good story into the into
the, into the keynote content.
And that was one of my sticking points I
needed to get, you know, get it again, get
momentum. So yeah, when we think about
pulling a story through it or using a story
to inspire a way of thinking,
I mean, that was definitely another reason
that I chose to go so I could help have your
help right there on the spot,
you and Diane to really say,
okay, this is where stories go and this is
how to link it to your message.
Carol Cox: Yeah, that was fun.
All right. So then so in the mornings you all
worked on your boards and then we had an hour
lunch, which was nice.
We could kind of just like take a brain break
and chat and eat.
And then in the afternoon we got to do some
fun exercises.
And then each of you took the stage for about
five minutes to practice delivering either a
story or a segment of the talk that you had
worked on and there.
So when you got to the stage to do your
practice session, you had no no slides,
no notes, no script, no outline,
nothing. So honestly, were you terrified?
How did you feel?
And then how do you think it went?
Kate I'll come back to you.
Kait Richardson: Well, I was definitely terrified because,
you know, when I talk about as a dietitian,
what resonates with people are the stories.
And especially when you can be really honest
about the things that.
Well, I'll give you an example. So growing up
my whole life, I was mostly insecure about my
body trying to be thin,
trying to fit in, trying to be popular,
trying to be liked like that was just the
narrative of my adolescence and young
adulthood. So then stepping up in front of a
bunch of professional women with your blazers
on and everyone looks really nice and sharing
with everyone about how growing up I was so
insecure is very nerve wracking.
But I felt when I was sharing that part and I
tied it into this real story I had about a
client who was in her 70s,
and she came to me just hating her body and
wanting to lose five more pounds,
and how that was an eye opener for me because
I was like, I don't want to be 70.
Worried about losing five more pounds. I
mean, I'm 31 and that's exhausting.
So I don't want to go the next 40 years of my
life doing that.
And so when I shared that story, I could tell
that women who were at the workshop could
resonate with that, because being a woman in
a body in present time is hard.
There's a lot of pressure,
and it's hard not to have negative feelings
about yourself. So it gave me a lot of
confidence to continue sharing that because
it's received well, even though it's really
scary. And one of the reasons it's really
scary. I felt this way at my TEDx talk as
well, is because when you're talking about
insecurities with your own body.
Everyone's looking at you. And so they're
going to be looking at your body. And people
are going to have thoughts about your body.
That's just what happens sometimes when
you're talking about it, you know?
And so getting over that takes a lot of
repetitions. And I'll never be 100% over it,
but I'd love to be 99% over it.
And so the repetitions are what I need.
Carol Cox: Mhm. That's an excellent point right. Because
if we're talking about something that's
vulnerable but it's not something that is
right there for people to look at that is
yeah I can see how that that's like an extra
layer of vulnerability that you have for
sure. But I think then you are role modeling
to your audience that you are here anyways.
And actually you could even say that out loud
to the audience, like, I know it's either,
you know, it's it's ironic or there's this
extra layer of vulnerability that I'm
standing here talking about my body. You're
all looking at my body, but this is what we
need to get more comfortable doing.
Kait Richardson: Yeah, because then you make everyone in the
audience feel more comfortable, and then you
could have more connection with the audience
off stage, which I think is also really
important for women who have businesses or
who have things that they're doing, because
you want to connect with the audience and
build those relationships.
And that starts with trust.
And so especially when I'm talking about
health and body image,
I want to be a person that people can talk to
about their biggest fears and involves
putting mine all on the table.
Carol Cox: Yes. Yeah. Excellent point about building
trust through sharing those your those
personal stories and the vulnerable moments
as well. Nikki, let me come back to you.
So I know that in the keynote that you were
working on, that you had a personal story
that you were going to open with and a story
that you had. You don't share normally in the
speaking engagements that you do.
Right. So how did it feel to work on that,
and then how did it feel to get up on the
stage and practice sharing that?
Niki Ramirez: Yeah, well, it was definitely a challenge
for, you know, having been on so many stages,
this stage felt like it was bigger and more
important than any stage I'd ever been on,
and it was only this far off the ground.
And how many? 30 women in the room,
right. So no, I mean, the the story that I am
sharing is the story that shaped the way that
I think about luck.
And so in the late, late ish 90s,
I was carjacked at gunpoint while on campus
at my college. And, you know,
a lot of years later and a lot of retrospect
later, I've been able to pick it apart and
figure out how that particular incident
actually spurred my interest and continuing
to be out in the world and connect with
people and really see people for what was
happening in their moment.
Because, you know, I think that,
you know, as we navigate the world so many
times, we're just passing by one another.
And, you know, taking that opportunity to
say, gosh, I'm so lucky that I learned how to
interpret someone's feelings of crisis,
how you know, how I was able to sit back and
say, okay, I'm going to slow down in this
moment, but I'm not out of this game.
I'm coming back to school.
You know, it was very so it was nerve
wracking to pull this very personal story
that, yeah, I had I had no reason to tell it
on any other stage. It just didn't fit into
the concepts that I talk about in most cases.
So yeah, it was really great to be up there.
And yes, it was nerve wracking and it was
very doable and it was such a safe and
comfortable space to grow.
And I finally it took me days to go back and
watch my video.
Alfie and Kate, I don't know how soon you
went and watched your video, but I waited
over a week to go back and watch it.
Carol Cox: I feel like that's normal.
I don't like watching my videos either.
Niki Ramirez: I waited for a week and then I said,
oh, that wasn't so bad,
right?
Carol Cox: Yeah, that's what always happens, right?
Like we make it up in our head about what it
is, right?
Niki Ramirez: So much room to grow. But it was not bad at
all. So yeah. Thank you.
Carol Cox: Yeah. You all did great again.
Like feeling put on, not put on the spot like
you knew what was coming. But still again,
like with not because we want you to get
comfortable with this idea that you know your
content, you know your stories,
and being overly prepared actually
disconnects you from your audience rather
than improving your the,
the rapport that you're trying to build with
them. So, Alfie, I'll come back.
I'll come to you now to talk to us a little
bit about what was it like in the afternoon.
So again, up on the practice stage,
sharing part of your talk,
but then even some of the other kind of
activities that we did to kind of help you
all get more into your bodies and into your
stage presence.
Alfarena (Alfie) McGinty: Yeah. So you just hit the nail on the head
when you said overly preparing as a death
investigator. I always have notes and I
always am prepared with something to back up
what I'm saying.
And you had to go on that stage with nothing.
And I was just like, I can't do this.
Like, I have notes, I need notes,
I need a presentation,
I need something, and to go up there and just
know the story and be able to tell the story.
Not only that, but also in a given amount of
time. So to to stay on the time task right
and making sure that you're staying in focus
and you're wrapping it up within a certain
amount of time. And then in addition to that,
the other takeaway, which Nikki I immediately
watched, probably while I was walking back to
the hotel room because I'm all about like,
practicing and making it better and doing
better and and what I noticed and what I
loved about that opportunity to be on that
stage was you all gave immediate feedback and
that presence of being on the stage,
um, how you move on the stage stuck with me
so much. So I still practice that,
right? Like, you know,
as you mentioned, like moving in a certain
way, not crossing your legs as you walk
across the stage.
That was like the fun part.
So I still practiced that because,
you know, you may or may not have a podium in
front of you. You may or may not have notes
or a presentation.
So those were the takeaways that I got from
that. But the other parts of,
you know, some of the impromptu things were
quite funny, like, you know,
just trying to describe and mimic what people
were doing. Right.
And, and I don't know what that exercise was
called, but that part of the workshop was
hilarious. But it also taught us how to be
impromptu, right?
How to think quickly on our feet.
So that's what we had to do in those minutes
while we were on that stage.
So those parts of the workshop were where you
got to get up and move and talk and just do
something different than you would ordinarily
not do in a classroom.
So that was the exciting part.
Carol Cox: Oh well, good. Well, good for you for
watching your video right away.
Wow. Like I'm usually like this.
Like I'm looking through my fingers to watch
the video. Like, yeah.
That's amazing.
Kait Richardson: Yeah.
Carol Cox: Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
All right. So I would love to hear from each
of you now. What is next for you?
What are what are you what are you working on
for 2026? You know, any what visions do you
have for speaking engagements that you want
to do or stages that you want to be on?
Kait.
Kait Richardson: Pitching. Pitching.
Pitching? Yeah.
Um, yeah. No.
Now that I have so much more clarity on the
keynotes and I also do nutrition workshops.
So workshops for small businesses.
So now I have a lot of clarity on the keynote
I'm going through and finding all different
types of conferences, medium large
businesses. And I am just working with a
coach to master my pitch game.
And I do have a few speaking engagements
lined up. I'm doing one for a nutrition the
Florida Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
actually, you'll appreciate it. It's about
using your story to empower your brand.
And you just released an episode about
policy. And that's what dietitians in Florida
right now are really trying to push,
which is being an activist,
helping our profession really rise up.
And so that's why they're having me come in
to talk, to help shape,
help give dietitians the courage to share
their story with policymakers.
So excited to listen to your episode and
glean some things from that.
And then I'm doing some in-person workshops
with local physicians in the area about
menopause and metabolism.
So a lot of fun things coming up,
um, in January.
And in between, I'll just be pitching.
Carol Cox: Oh, well that's great. Well,
I can't wait to get updates and hear about
all the places that you're going to be. And
yes, for those of you listening,
so definitely check out just the previous
episode about how you can use your voice and
your expertise to shape policy.
That's with my guest, Doctor Deborah Stein.
And so actually she was here in the LinkedIn
live chiming in in the comments here.
So she's actually joining our Thought Leader
Academy online program that starts in January
to help her develop her her keynotes as well.
All right, Alfie, let's come to you.
What is on deck for you for 2026?
Alfarena (Alfie) McGinty: Well, so my number one goal is to be like
Kait and do a Ted talk.
So all things in all roads are leading to a
Ted talk. That is the number one goal.
And then later pitching for new opportunities
to speak. Um, to do a keynote,
um, for larger, larger audiences and
audiences outside of death investigation.
So they're used to hearing and seeing me,
but I want to go outside of that particular
profession and maybe see where else.
You know, what I have to say can lead other
people and how inspirational it might be for
others. But that number one thing in 2026 is
that Ted talk.
Carol Cox: Ooh. Okay. Fantastic.
All right, I love it.
Nicky. What about you?
Niki Ramirez: All right. Alfie. Cheering you along.
It's going to happen.
You said it. Oh very good.
So 2026. Um, we're well we're hustling um,
at HR, Answers.com, just doing tons of HR
consulting. And so, um,
I'm taking the opportunity to introduce some
of the concepts from this developing keynote
to our clients as well.
So that's fun. They get to be my trusted
collaborators and test audience a lot of the
time. Um, and beyond that,
I'm really looking forward to being able to
get on stage with HR organizations and other
spaces where leaders are gathered so that we
can all talk about cultivating luck in a time
of, you know, difficulty and confusion in the
world. You know, I think we've all got our
own challenges, regardless of where we are in
our life stage or socioeconomic position or
all of the things that are very personal to
us, that make our life challenging. And so I
think it's just time for us to get together
and talk about how to cultivate luck.
And so, like I said, looking forward to
starting with people who already have a
voice. So leaders and organizations,
let's use our voice to lift people up.
That's that's where you'll find me.
Carol Cox: Oh, I love that you're bringing in this idea
of luck back into your HR content.
Niki Ramirez: Yes. Yeah, yeah.
Hr as a profession feels,
on average very unlucky because we do deal
with the problems within organizations.
And if we have time then we get to do
strategy and fun stuff.
But most of our time really is spent dealing
with issues. And so we could use a boost of
luck across the industry.
Carol Cox: Yes. All right. Fantastic.
Well, I'm wishing you all well and cheering
you on for sure.
Make sure to connect with Kait,
Alfie and Nikki on their LinkedIn profiles.
They're linked. The links are in the show
notes so you can find them there.
And if you would like to come to our next one
day in person speaking Accelerator workshop
so you can work on your signature talk,
it could be for a keynote,
it could be for a lead generation.
So a business presentation,
it could be the start of your TEDx talk.
Really. It could even be all three, because
there's ways to mix and match and repurpose
the one talk into these different formats,
and also have a lot of fun practicing on
stage and getting to know an incredible room
full of women. You can get all of those
details and register at speaking your brand
again, that's speaking your brand. And that
is coming up February 19th,
2026. All right.
Thank you so much, the three of you,
for being at the workshop,
for supporting each other and for coming on
and sharing your experiences here on
backstage with speaking your brand.
Until next time, thanks for listening.