Why Smart, Talented People Stay Invisible at Work with Esther Stanhope (Pt. 1)

🎧 Ep: 220 Why Smart, Talented People Stay Invisible at Work with Esther Stanhope (Part 1)

🎥 Now on video on Spotify & Apple Podcast

What happens when the most talented person in the room is also the most invisible one?

That is the question at the center of this conversation, and it is one most high performers never stop to ask until the promotion goes to someone else, the opportunity passes them by, or they realize they have been holding back for years.

Esther Stanhope spent a decade at the BBC shaping some of the most compelling on-air talent in broadcasting. From the outside, it looked like the perfect career for someone who knew exactly how to command a room. But behind the scenes, Esther was the one holding the cue cards, not standing in the spotlight. She was technically brilliant. Visibly invisible.

That gap between talent and visibility became the foundation of everything she now does. Named "The Impact Guru" by Deloitte, Esther coaches business leaders, politicians, lawyers, techies, and creatives around the world to go from technically brilliant to Visibly Brilliant in meetings, pitches, panels, podcasts, and beyond. Her first book Goodbye Glossophobia sold out in three days. Her latest book Visibly Brilliant is out now.

In Part 1, Esther and Sonnie pull back the curtain on why brilliant people stay hidden, where the fear of being seen really comes from, and what it actually takes to start taking up the space you have already earned.

What You'll Hear

Why the most technically brilliant people are often the least visible Esther has worked with thousands of professionals who are practically running their organizations, loyal, hardworking, deeply skilled, and completely overlooked. She explains why visibility feels selfish to high performers, why that belief is costing them, and why being seen is not about ego. It is about impact.

The BBC promotion interview that changed everything After a decade producing live television and making everyone around her look brilliant, Esther sat down in front of six people for a promotion interview and completely fell apart. She was technically brilliant at her job. But she had never learned how to be brilliant in the spotlight. That moment of collapse became the turning point that built her entire career.

The six-year-old classroom moment that followed her for decades Esther traces her own fear of public speaking back to a single afternoon in primary school, an undiagnosed case of dyslexia, a mean teacher, and the humiliation of not being able to read aloud in front of the class. She was put in the remedial group. She believed she was dumb. And that story quietly shaped every career decision she made for years.

The difference between sharing and showing off One of the most powerful reframes in the episode. Esther draws a clear line between the two and explains why so many talented professionals stay silent, stay invisible, and call it humility. Sharing your insight, your stories, and your expertise is generous. It helps people. Showing off is selfish. When you confuse the two, your career pays the price.

How Deloitte turned her into "The Impact Guru" Esther shares the story of the day she spent coaching a dull author into a brilliant, joke-cracking, street-interviewing presence and the agent who came back asking what drugs she had given him. That was the moment she knew her BBC skills were completely transferable. A friend at Deloitte agreed. The rest is history.

The one daily habit that builds visibility over time One small act. Every day. A comment, a repost, a yes to a panel. Esther breaks down how visibility is not one big leap. It is a series of tiny, intentional steps that compound into confidence.

Sonnie's own story: sweating through a boardroom presentation Sonnie shares the moment she stood in front of her senior leadership team, certain her heartbeat was audible to everyone in the room. Someone told her she did a great job. She did not believe them. That disconnect between how we feel on the inside and how we show up on the outside is at the heart of everything this episode is about.

Moments You Won't Want to Miss

"Sharing is not the same as showing off. Sharing is generous. Showing off is selfish."

"I was technically brilliant at my job. But I had no skills to be in the spotlight."

"I wish I had met myself in my 20s, someone who said, spend a little time on yourself, on your confidence, on how you come across."

"Everyone is interesting. There is no such thing as not interesting enough."

"You don't have to be perfect. That freed me up completely."

This Episode Directly Answers

• Why do talented, hardworking professionals get overlooked for promotions?
• What is glossophobia and where does the fear of public speaking really come from?
• What does it mean to be visibly brilliant at work?
• What is the difference between sharing your expertise and showing off?
• How do you build confidence and visibility when you are starting from zero?
• What is FOPO and how is it silently stalling your career?
• Can public speaking confidence actually be learned, or are some people just naturally good at it?

Come Back Next Week for Part 2

Part 1 named the problem. Part 2 gets into the work. Esther goes deeper into what it actually looks like to step into the spotlight, the specific tools, mindset shifts, and real-world techniques she uses with leadership teams around the world. If you have ever wondered what it would take to walk into a room and truly own it, you will not want to miss it.

Subscribe now so you are the first to know when it drops.

About Esther Stanhope

Named "The Impact Guru" by Deloitte, Esther Stanhope is an executive presence coach, BBC broadcasting veteran, and author of Visibly Brilliant and the award-winning Goodbye Glossophobia. She helps business leaders, politicians, lawyers, and creatives around the world go from technically brilliant to visibly brilliant in meetings, pitches, panels, podcasts, and beyond. Based in Spitalfields, London.

🌐 estherstanhope.com · 📸 Instagram: @estherstanhope · 💼 LinkedIn: estherstanhopeImpactGuru · 📚 Visibly Brilliant

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Transcript

Wired Differently, Still Capable

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I didn't know that the, you know, my brain was wired differently. It's taken me a long time and a lot of failure and a lot of feeling the fear and doing it anyway to figure out. Once I started getting over that fear, once I started speaking on stages and in front of larger groups, and then I realized I like I can come up with ideas, I can work the room, I could be free to play, and I can let myself go. I absolutely love it. It's taken me a long time. Um, and a lot of shame and failure went before the success of being free and confident to speak in public.

Bold Leaders Welcome

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Welcome to Evoke Greatness, the podcast for bold leaders and big dreamers who refuse to settle. I'm your host Sonny, CEO, entrepreneur, and someone who's spent over 20 years building, leading, and learning what it really takes to rise. Every step of that journey has taught me something worth passing on. Lessons in business, leadership, resilience, and the psychology behind it all. Here you'll hear raw conversations, unfiltered truths, and the kind of wisdom that ignites something deeper in you, your courage, your conviction, and your calling. This show will help you think bigger, lead better, and show up bolder in every part of your life and business. This is your place to grow. Let's rise together. Welcome

Meet Esther Stanhope

SPEAKER_01 1:46

back to another episode of Evoke Greatness. I'm excited to introduce you to the woman Deloitte calls the Impact Guru. Esther Stanhope spent a decade at the BBC shaping some of the most compelling on-air talent in broadcasting. Then she took everything she learned behind the camera and brought it into the boardroom, and the results have been extraordinary. Today, Esther works with business leaders, politicians, lawyers, techies, and creative professionals all around the world, helping them go from technically brilliant to visibly brilliant in meetings, pitches, panels, podcasts, and beyond. Her first book, Goodbye Glossophobia, sold out in just three days. And now she's back with her brand new book, Visibly Brilliant. Esther is on a mission to make sure the most talented people in the room are also the ones who get seen, heard, and remembered. Welcome to the show, Esther.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Thank you so much, Sunny. It's an absolute pleasure to be here tuning in from London. It is late where you are. You're later in Friday than I am so far. Yes, I'm late on Friday night. I have a bit of an eye infection. I was gonna wear my really cool sunglasses, but I realize I can't see anything if I wear them. So I'm wearing no makeup, which is not my usual look, but it's it kind of goes with the theme of today, Sonny. So smashing it.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

That's right. We taught, I had the opportunity to chat a little bit before we decided to hit the record button.

Singing About Feeling Invisible

SPEAKER_01 3:11

And there is a cool little piece that I would love Esther to perform. I thought this was so perfect. All you women out there, you are gonna just like lean in and you're gonna so relate. She's got a little song for you here.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Yeah, you know, I'm not a singer and I'm not perfect. And this is I when I my book Visibly Brilliant came out, I thought, you know what? I used to play the saxophone. I find the saxophone a bit tricky to just play casually. So I thought, you know what, I'm gonna take up the ukulele. And my family said, Mom, don't do that. That's embarrassing. And I thought, you know what, I just want a little tiny song to go with my book. I just had an idea in my head, and I'm old enough and wise enough, and you know, I why not? Why not paint something or create something? So I took the Alison Moyer song from the 1980s, if you remember that. I'm showing my age now, and it's called Invisible. It's only a couple of seconds, okay? A couple of seconds. Invisible. I feel like I'm invisible. You treat me like I'm not even there, like you don't even get and that promotion, it ain't going nowhere. Invisible. I love it. It's just for a bit of fun. I'm not taking it seriously. But I do take being invisible at work seriously, and that's what the book's all about.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

And that's so much of what we're gonna dive in today, but I thought that was such a perfect entree into this conversation. How many of us have felt invisible before, right? Before jumping into these, I love to almost go backwards a little bit and learn a little bit more about how you got to where you are today.

The BBC Promotion Confidence Crash

SPEAKER_01 4:48

You spent 10 years at the BBC really nurturing on-air talent. Where was it that you had this kind of light bulb moment where those skills that were needed in the corporate world, not just on TV, not just behind the camera or in front of the camera?

SPEAKER_00 5:04

You know what? It's so funny because I spent 10 years at the BBC. Before that, I worked in television, I've worked in radio, I've interviewed Hollywood stars like George Clooney and Madonna. But I used to interview people with the microphone pointing that way. It definitely was not the voice, you know, I didn't record my own voice. I hated the sound of my own voice. I didn't like seeing myself on camera. I wasn't comfortable in the spotlight at all. So the whole of my my career, up until I set my own business up, really has been about nurturing talent, being the person behind the glass, the person with the cue card, the person writing the script, making other people brilliant. And then when I went for a promotion at the BBC, I remember them saying, right, you're gonna go for this promotion, and you know, you know, come in at after the show at 10 o'clock. I did a live show in the morning for three hours. That was my prep for my promotional interview. And so I rock up at 10 o'clock in the morning. I sit in this office at the BBC, and there's about six people in front of me looking at me, and I suddenly just I just collapsed, and my my confidence just drained out of my body. Now I was I was technically brilliant at my job. I was technically brilliant at being a senior producer. I could make anyone good live on air. In fact, I could make anyone good now in the workplace. That's my USP. I can make anyone speak well, feel confident, look good, look confident. But in that interview, I remember thinking, it was as if I'd gone back to when I was in the classroom, age six, and I couldn't really read aloud in front of the class. I just lost my I had what I know now is glossophobia, the fear of public speaking. And I realized I've got no skills to to be in the spotlight. I've got no skills to be able to speak. I've got no, I haven't got the skills to express myself. And I never realized that that was a thing. I never realized maybe I need to work on myself. Maybe I need to think about how I'm coming across my personal brand. It was completely alien to me. And now when I look back on that moment and I and I work with people in the workplace, I work with senior leaders, and particularly women in leadership. Now I say, I wish I had met myself when I was in my 20s. I wish I'd met somebody that said, you know what, just spend a little bit of time on yourself, on your personal brand, on your confidence, how you come across your goals, what your what you feel about your career, what you what you want, what are your core values? You know, who walks in the room? When you walk in the room, what are you good at? What are your key assets? What's your USP? And even now, when I work with my corporate clients and I say, what are you really good at? What are your best assets? Sometimes people go, I'm not good at anything. I'm good at doing my job. I'm good at doing my job. And I know what they are, they feel. So the the reason I wrote visibly brilliant is because I have worked with thousands of people that are technically brilliant at their job. They are practically running the company, they're holding it all together, they're loyal, they work long hours, they are so good, but they're not very good at being visibly brilliant. They haven't really worked on themselves. Because quite often they feel they're maybe selfish or egotistical.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

What about did you find that Sonny when you work with your clients? You are preaching to the choir here. I I still remember, I share this every opportunity I get. I still remember the very first leadership role that I got to be a part of. I got this promotion, and I go and I sit in front of the very first management meeting, and it's all the leaders around the table. And I thought, okay, don't say a word, don't ask a question, just try to be invisible, try to just be quite you know, seen and not heard. And is someone gonna stand up and go, what is she doing here? Why is she here? Because I think so often, and it relates with what you were just saying, we don't like to tout what we're we're really good at. You know, we're uncomfortable with the idea that we have gifts and skills and talents that are really good. And it seems like it's not until we get a little bit, for my case, older, like I'm to, I'm in my late 40s, and now I'm like, I'm gonna be the one speaking around the table. Someone's gonna have to ask me that, hey, can you pipe down over there? Because I'm gonna take up the space and I'm gonna say the words because I feel a sense of freedom around that. I don't, I'm not worried anymore about what's someone gonna say? What are they gonna think? And I think that's really freeing, but that's not always what happens in the beginning of our careers.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Well, I find people that are quite senior still fighting this notion of being visibly brilliant.

Sharing Without Showing Off

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Right. So I have this great one-liner, Sunny. I've got a one-liner that is that that changed my mind about this whole idea of selling yourselves, self-promotion, you know, tooting your own horn. I've got one sentence, and that this is what the book is about. Sharing, sharing your insights, sharing a bit of yourself, sharing your stories, your vulnerabilities, your lessons, sharing your expertise, your tips is not the same as showing off. Yes. Sharing is generous, and you might be helping somebody by sharing your experiences. Showing off, not so generous. Showing off is selfish, possibly a bit narcissistic. I think a lot of people feel that when they're posting on LinkedIn or they're putting themselves out there or putting themselves forward for a podcast or a conference, it's showing off. You know, if I'm a lawyer or I'm a data analyst, you know, I'm I'm busy doing my job. I'm busy doing my job. Uh, you know, what will they think of me if I take time to go and stand in a conference and spend time thinking about a presentation that isn't part of my day job. So this is my that's my mantra. Sharing is not the same as showing off. Sharing is influential. Sharing is joyful, it's a wonderful thing. And when you give yourself the freedom to celebrate your good bits, celebrate your stories, celebrate what you've learned, celebrate the fact that you can help others, it's you can be free. You don't have to be perfect. Absolutely. That's free me up. You don't have to be perfect.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

That's changed my life. Well, and I think oftentimes there are the people who don't feel like they can contribute. They maybe they don't, again, a lot of it is fear-based. Um however, when you invite someone in to contribute. So I love what you said about like when you're sharing that, that's like a contribution. It's a contribution to the conversation, it's a contribution to what we're working on or what we're talking about. And when people feel like they're contributing, that I think makes it less scary and like, oh, okay, I can lean into this. So I love that you said that. And I love that you make the distinction between them. Okay,

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SPEAKER_01 12:39

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Visibility, FOPO, Small Daily Steps

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah, I mean that that really that's what the book is all about. And this is the reality. When I work with clients and I work with leadership teams, particularly women, so many people feel that they're not that kind of person. I'm not the kind of person to be visible. You know, why should I be visible? You know, I'm only as good as my last project, I'm only as good as the hours I work, I'm only as good as the billing that I can uh the money I can earn for the business. The thing is, when you are visible, you are more likely to get new clients, you're more likely to get promoted, you're more likely to attract opportunities. You're gonna get more money, probably. You can win more business for the organization. So being visible, there's not really a downside. However, it's a bit scary. Because people think, what will they think? They might get FOPO, the fear of other people's opinions. Yes. What will they think of me? I'm not good enough. People say to me, I'm not interesting enough. You know, I work in data. You everyone is interesting. Everyone is interesting. There's no such thing as not interesting enough. So I and I look, I used to kick and scream at the thought of putting myself out there. I still suffer from imposter syndrome on a daily basis. I still second guess myself. I still find it quite difficult to post on LinkedIn. I think, oh, I'm not really good. Even today, I was thinking, I've got an eye infection, I can't wear my makeup. And then I've realized, I've realized, you know, I'm not perfect. It is what it is. I am what I am. I'm never gonna be perfect. And yet I know that I can I can contribute. I know I've got lessons, stories, tips, I've got insights, I've got experience, and I know I can help people to feel more confident. I know I can motivate people to try that little bit of visibility. One of my tips is just one thing a day. A tiny little dip your toe in, maybe a little email, maybe just like somebody else's post, maybe repost something, maybe comment on something, maybe put yourself forward to be on a panel, or maybe your guest on a podcast. Say yes. Say yes to opportunities, and it might be a bit scary, but try it. And and if you do a little something every day, you can build your visibility and that you can build your complexity.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

I'm curious, how did a client like Deloitte end up coming up with what they referred to as the impact guru? And what

From BBC Skills To Deloitte

SPEAKER_01 16:04

did that mean in that moment when you heard that?

SPEAKER_00 16:06

And I had never heard of the term personal impact before. And when I left the BBC, I did have a couple of contacts that I told them I'm leaving the BBC because I've decided I'm gonna help people off camera now and off out of a live studio. I'm gonna help people to be confident because I realized that what I was doing at the BBC, I was helping people go from sometimes clients would come in or guests would come into the show, and there was one time an author came in, and the the agent said, Look, Esther, could you give this guy a personality? He's a bit dull. And I remember thinking, I was I was in my live studio, I remember thinking, yeah, that's what I do. Like, of course I'm gonna give him a personality. He says, because normally my job was people would come in, and quite often if it was an author or somebody that wasn't necessarily a celebrity or used to being on air, they would say, I've gotta go live on air. And I'd be like, it's okay, this is what you do. And I kind of built my little mantra, your posture, your energy, your oomph, your speech, your eye contact, your smile, you know, your stories, and I would be like making them good really quick. So I I worked out how to help somebody to feel good about themselves and to perform really easily. And anyway, this guy, this agent said, Can you give this guy a personality? He said, No, no, will you take a day, not not just in the studio, can you really work with this guy and help him go from super terrified to really good? So I I spent a day with this guy. It was the first time I'd sort of tried my coaching programme. I'd never really I didn't even know what that really was. But the day that I did that, it was an author, a medical, a doctor. I remember this guy, he started in the middle of the early part of the day. He was like, I'm not sure about this, I don't think I'm very good, I'm so boring. By the end of the day, he was so brilliant. He was so funny. He was cracking jokes. I got him in the street interviewing people, and the agent came back and went, What have you done? You're giving him drugs? I'm like, what's this guy on? And then, and that was the day I decided I'm gonna take my transferable skills as a producer, as a senior producer. I'm gonna take all the skills I know because I know how to read somebody, I know how to find somebody's talent quick. I can tell the kind of person they are, I can tell their personality type, I can tell how they're gonna talk, how they're gonna respond to people. You know, I can quickly get stories from people. And I thought, they're really transferable skills. So I told a friend of a friend of mine who worked at Deloitte, I'm thinking about leaving. He went, that's what my leadership team need. So when you decide to leave the BBC, come and talk to me and we'll give it a go. We'll we'll do a little trial thing. So then I went to Deloitte and I and I did a little trial, and it was in an hour, it was transformational. Because my skills, they're not, I don't know about data necessarily. I don't know about governance and compliance. But what I do know about is how to communicate your message really well, and I really know about audiences. If you're in broadcasting, you understand audiences. You understand that when it's your job to communicate to an audience, you've got very little time and you need to pull it out of the bag fast. I love working in the corporate world like with someone like somebody, uh a client like Deloitte, because people are intelligent, they're bright, they're technically brilliant. Technically, and they're also logical. So, but they they don't quite know necessarily all the rules of broadcasting and show business and how to entertain an audience, how to be compelling. And so my skills were absolutely perfect, married with the technical skills, and they called it personal impact. And they said, you are the impact guru, because you know how to do personal impact. So all of my work, whether it's networking, whether it's speeches, presentations, uh podcasts, it's all storytelling, it's all about having personal impact. So that's how I got the name, and that's what I do. And you know exactly what I'm talking about, Sunny, because you've got personal impact. How have you learned how to be so good? That's the question.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Absolutely. It goes

Building Confidence Through Reps

SPEAKER_01 20:54

back to what you originally said, which was I it was in a corporate role and I had to speak in front of just my peers. It was a senior and executive leadership team. And I I think I came off like I felt more confident than I really was. Meanwhile, I just had to stand in front of my peers and give a presentation or something. And I will tell you, I can still close my eyes and I can go back and my heart, I thought for sure my heartbeat was heard outside of my body. I was sure they knew my heart was going about 180 beats a minute, and I would sweat. And I don't mean like a cute, glowy, I mean I would sweat. And so I knew how all of this physiologically impacted me, and that gave me even more fear. And I stood up there and and I and I did it, and I felt like I was gonna throw up. And someone said, Wow, you did a really good job. And I was like, What did you listen to? Because I I didn't do a good job. And they said, Yeah, and you did. And I thought, wait, what? You're seeing a very different person that I felt like I was up there. And so I really wanted for my own. Sake to feel more confident in being able to present, even if it was just with my peers. I hadn't ever even entertained public speaking. I too terrified, terrified of what that could look like. And so then I would just wanted to get better at that. And so I started putting, I would write on every mirror in my house. I am a clear and compelling speaker. Every mirror in my house had that on there. And every time I'd walk by it, I'd say, I am a clear and compelling speaker. And I started putting, if there was a conference, I'd, you know, and someone asked me to speak, I'd say, okay. And again, I would feel all the feels, but I would do it anyway. And I was probably not very good in the beginning. And I started to get a little bit better. It's like anything, it's like this podcast. My podcast was not good when I first started. I knew episode one was not going to be great because I was new at it. But episode five would be better than episode one. Episode 20 would be better than 10. And it's a matter of being committed to like the progression of getting better. And so I was willing to be bad at something for long enough to get better at it. And then I started to not be in my own head. I actually started to enjoy it. And I think that was like the shift for me was walking in front of a group of people, especially doing keynote speaking. Those people are there. They want to hear what you have to say. And so I walked in the room and instead of feeling like I was going to throw up, I love to go into a room ahead of time before anyone's in there and just look at the room and the chairs and the tables and think, okay, what do they, what vibe is in here? How can I serve this audience today? What can I share with them that they can walk out of here and feel like I can do this? I can, you know, whatever it is, find my voice. And so that I think for me has been the progression in my life. And I share very openly about not being very good at something. Everyone has to start there. And so I think that kind of gives permission for other people in a way that they don't need permission. But if they go, hey, wait a second, I can resonate with that. I feel that. I'm not very good at something, but I really want to try this. And so it that's why I felt like this topic and your content speaks so loudly to my audience.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

You know what is so funny because when to get good at something, you you'd have to be bad at it first. You have to do trial and error. And it a lot of people, when I, you know, when I turn up and I'm running a session to a leadership team, maybe, you know, in, for example, in Paris recently, there's a it was an engineering group, and I turn up and everyone's quite sort of technical and I'm wearing bright colours. And then I say, you know, I know you're thinking that I'm really confident, right? But I I say, I have to say to you, I was terrible at public speaking. I'm not born like this, I'm not naturally like this. And they went, oh, yes, you are, yes, you are. You're natural, it's all right for you, it's alright for you. I'm thinking, no, seriously, we're not born a natural public speaker. Like you're not born a driver. You have to learn how to drive. I was terrible. In fact, my first book is called Goodbye Glossophobia, Banish Your Fear of Public Speaking. I

Childhood Shame And Speaking Fear

SPEAKER_00 25:11

was awful at public speaking, and I what I've realized, Sunny, I don't know about you, but my natural personality type is extrovert. So I'm extrovert and I'm good at chit-chat, chit-chat. I like to have two-way conversations with people. I'm good in a group, I'm quite sociable, I'm quite good at networking. But I was terrible at doing anything on camera or public speaking because it's a one-way, it felt like a one-way street. Like there's no engagement, so you feel as if the other, you know, there's no there's nobody laughing and smiling and giving you encouragement. So it's like having a blank sea of faces saying, I hate you. And so it's like, if and I've I've worked out, you know, I've done a lot of research about this. You know, your brain, your your amygdala gland thinks fight, flight or freeze. They think if I was in a tribe and the tribe looked at me and said, I hate you, you would die because you'd be outside the tribe. So there's something about this fear. I was so interested in this. Like, what? This fear? This is so weird. But it happened when I was six years old. I was at school, and one of the teachers was a bit mean. And she said, Right, stand up, read this book aloud. And I stood up, and I didn't know nowadays, you know, you could call it dyslexia. I I've I've got dyslexia. I'm probably, you know, I I know I'm neuro-sparky. I'm the one in five, by the way. I'm one in five of those people. Um, so I can identify with people that feel like they're a bit. But when I was at school, I just thought I can't read. I I couldn't read aloud. I couldn't I can read. I could read. But when I stood in front of the class, there was something about the combination of shame, exposure. I I couldn't read the words. So I went so I actually couldn't read the words. So so then everyone thought, oh, well, she can't read. So I I kind of and it was so awful because I knew I could read in private, but I couldn't read it aloud. So I just thought, I'm just dumb, it's embarrassing, it's shameful. Um I was put in a lower reading group, you know, in in the kind of idiot group sort of thing. In the old days, you know, it's like the remedial group, which is, you know, really shameful. Um, and I think that feeling of read that aloud in front of the class, I think that feeling, I don't think it ever left me. And then when I try to do any kind of form, any form of public speaking, even though I'm in entertainment, I've done drama, theatre, I've always been the director because then I don't have to do it, or the producer, or the senior producer. I don't have to stand on the stage, I can be brilliant here behind the scenes. And I think really it's there's something that my confidence was knocked as a child, and and I think I could it took me all those years really to sort of unpick that and figure out. First of all, I didn't know that, you know, maybe I was my brain was wired differently. It's taken me a long time and a lot of failure, a lot of trial and error, and a lot of feeling the fear and doing it anyway to figure out, you know what, you know, when you said you enjoy it, you know, once I started getting over that fear, once I started speaking on stages and in front of larger groups, and then I realized, you know, I'm I I like I can come up with ideas, I can work the room, I can read the room, I can work, I can work with new material live, because I'm a live producer. Once I realize I could be free to play and I can let myself go, you know, I absolutely love it. But it's taken me a long time. Um, and a lot of shame and failure went before the success of being free and confident to speak in public.

Part Two Teaser And Goodbye

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Okay, this is where we hit the pause button.

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You just heard where it all starts. The shame, the silence. The moment Esther realized the most talented people in the room were also the most invisible ones. Next week she gets into the room with you, the boardroom, the panel, the pitch, and she's gonna show you exactly what to do when your heart is racing, your palms are sweating, and every part of you wants to shrink. Part two is where the transformation actually happens. And trust me, you are gonna want to hear this one with a pen in your hand, so come ready to take notes. We'll see you next week.

Meraki Blue Offer And Final Ask

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Okay, stay with me for just a second before you go. Living with Hashimotus and being in the middle of perimenopause means brain fog shows up in the middle of conversations, decisions, and moments that matter. And I refuse to stay there. I'm very selective about what I put in my body. Intentional. So when Meraki Blue came to me wanting to support this community, I said yes because I already believed in what they do. Methylene Blue, mitochondrial health, cognitive performance, mental clarity. It works for me. I want it to work for you too. Meraki Blue is giving the Evoke Greatness community 20% off. Use the code EvokeGREATness, all caps, no spaces at checkout. I promise you, your brain isn't broken. It's just waiting on the right support. If today's episode challenged you, moved you, or lit a fire in your soul, don't keep it to yourself. Share it with someone who's ready to rise in their leadership, their business, and their life. And if you haven't already, I'd be so grateful if you took 30 seconds to rate and review the podcast. It's one of the most powerful ways to support the show and help us reach more bold leaders like you. Because this isn't just a podcast, it's a movement. We're not here to play small. We're here to lead loud and elevate how we think, lead, and execute. One bold and unapologetic step at a time. Until next time, stay bold, stay grounded, and make moves that make mediocre uncomfortable.