Are you looking for public speaking coaching for young people?

I like to say "Everything I know about speaking I learned from teenagers." I first started working with youth in Girls Incorporated's afterschool program, then as as a teacher's aide at a local alternative school in Santa Barbara. Next, I took on the role of Children's Program Coordinator for our county domestic violence organization.

This is where I was "thrown to the wolves," so to speak. I thought my job would be working with children in the shelter. However, a big part of that job was to go into high school classrooms and deliver presentations on healthy and abusive relationships.

As a theater major and former speech team competitor, I wasn't exactly nervous about getting on stage.

But speaking to teenagers was a completely different story!

I took the one-page outline I was handed, held my breath, and dived in. I've always had a positive attitude and a willingness to adapt... and I learned very quickly that, if I was going to make a real impact on these students, there were some shifts I needed to make.

I'm happy to say that working with youth became the most rewarding work I've ever done. I went on to create a full-time teen services program for the organization, in order to reach as many teenagers as possible, and I spent several days a week bringing workshops and discussion groups to high schools, alternative schools and juvenile justice facilities.

After I left that organization, I continued working with youth through another stint at Girls Incorporated and through my own nonprofit organization.

And then I left the nonprofit sector to work for myself. But I still love the opportunity to provide coaching and training to youth when I can.

This is why I added a formal offering of public speaking coaching for young people!

Organizations I've worked with include Cate School, Marymount School, National Charity League, UC Santa Barbara, National Speakers Association Youth Leadership Conference, and WriteGirl.

You'll find my 1:1 coaching rates here. Please get in touch to discuss public speaking workshops.

"Thank you so much for helping me with my speech. When I got on stage, I felt confident and prepared, and afterwards several people said that my presentation brought them to tears. None of this would have been possible without you. Going into this I thought that it was going to be super terrifying, but thanks to your help I felt perfectly fine."

Sabrina Dior, 8th grade student

 

"I know I mentioned that Sabrina is introverted but what I didn’t share is that her introversion has been extreme at times and has been accompanied with what I can only classify as social anxiety.

The idea of speaking in front of an audience of nearly 200 people literally made her feel ill.

As parents, one of the things that we want most is for our children to realize their potential and in doing so, to find themselves and believe in themselves. With your coaching, Sabrina not only was able to face her fear and speak in public, but she was able to do so superlatively.

Many adults came up to her afterwards and told her how moving they found her speech and that they teared up when she was speaking; others told her how interesting her topic was and they asked her questions about it and she was able to answer confidently and comfortable.

For those of us who know and love her best, to see our little girl standing with grace, confidence and pride in herself was the greatest gift. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart."

Rachelle Dior

"Giving young people the tools to feel confident while speaking in front of others will help them in immeasurable ways. These students will not live their lives trying to avoid public speaking. Instead, they will understand that speaking publicly is an opportunity. Ms. Braithwaite gave the students at Marymount a valuable gift with her training."

Hilary Doubleday, Parent Marymount of Santa Barbara

"Thank you for spending time with the kids last night. You were fantastic!

I don't think I've ever seen Cate students that engaged in an alumni event. You set a great tone for the Alumnae Network along with the Alumni Speakers Series.

I'm marking it down as a full-fledged success."

Casey McCann, Alumni Council President, Cate School Hazelwood Allied Moving and Storage

"Thanks for considering your audience and for putting together a dynamic presentation to 65 high school students, who you engaged from the moment you began. I thought the Q&A portion of your program best illustrated how interested the students were in the topic."

Meg Bradley, Assistant Headmaster External Affairs
Cate School

"Your talk really helped all of our girls to realize (some of them for the first time) that their feelings about performance are universal - and that everyone struggles with similar issues when it comes to speaking in public. The end result was that all of our girls were sincere and genuine and "real" at our performance on the 28th 🙂

It's because of generous women like you that we have such a successful program and we're able to empower so many girls each season.”

Kirsten Giles
WriteGirl

"I got a 98% and was chosen to participate in a speech competition with the same speech.

I made it to the finals, which consisted of four out of 436, if you count the students each of the 28 chosen competitors represented.

Thank you for all your great help."

David Perrault, Student
Pepperdine University
Malibu, CA