IAM962- Communications Expert Teaches Women on Public Speaking

Monique Russell is the communications expert you want on your team. She teaches women leaders and teams how to turn likes into loves in their business and life. Originally from the beautiful islands of The Bahamas and Nigeria, she's an author, professional speaker, executive coach, and sushi lover.

• CEO Hack: Journalling
• CEO Nugget: Build up your team and community
• CEO Defined: Fulfillment and constant improvement

Intentional Motherhood: Who Said it Would be Easy – on Amazon

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clearcommunicationcoach

Full Interview:

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Transcription

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[00:00:18.10] – Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO podcast.

[00:00:47.79] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh Harkless from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Monique Russell of Clear Communication Solutions. Monique, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:57.10] – Monique Russell

Thank you, Gresh.

[00:00:59.10] – Gresham Harkless

Definitely super excited to have you on, and the pleasure is ours to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Monique so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Monique is the communications expert you want on your team. She teaches women leaders and teams how to turn likes into loves in their businesses and lives. Originally from the beautiful island of the Bahamas in Nigeria, she's an author, professional speaker, executive coach, and sushi lover. Monique, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:27.20] – Monique Russell

Yes. I can't wait. Let's do it.

[00:01:29.70] – Gresham Harkless

Let's do it. So, before we jump in, I wanna hear a little bit more about how you got started and how you got this incredible love for sushi. Could you tell us a little bit more about all the awesome things you're doing and all the things that make you passionate?

[00:01:41.00] – Monique Russell

Oh my god. First of all, I'm super passionate about everything I do, including eating sushi. Right? But, I'll tell you that story about sushi in a minute. But let me just tell you that my whole passion for public speaking started when I was eight years old. So I was eight years old. I was put in front of groups of a hundred or more, and I was publicly speaking professionally. And I loved it. So every time people ran away from speaking publicly, I was the one running towards the mic, wanting to be the facilitator.

And I think that's part of the gifting that led to what I'm doing today. But as far as my business is concerned, it didn't start with a clear trajectory. I was supposed to get on TV and do my international broadcasting once I graduated from college. That didn't happen. Applied for, like, eight billion jobs. I'm being facetious here, but didn'tintoet in the journalism division that I wanted. And so I just started working in corporate, and I started supporting executives at different levels.

And I started to see what made leaders good, what made leaders great, what made them respected at work. With my background in communications, I always wanted to be in this and provide insights, and they would often come to me and ask how to handle complex problems, employee engagement issues, and communication issues. You know, they say it's soft skills, but it is not. It's really hard. So I would often get asked for advice. And in two thousand eight, shortly after I had my son, I relocated to, Georgia. I was in California, and I hooked up with a women's group called Women Aspiring Together to Succeed.

Before that, I had birthed this idea in my mind of doing training workshops, and communication workshops to help employees and their leaders to connect efficiently. I called it Island Communications. That's what it was when I started, but that didn't go anywhere. It has evolved. And I started after I connected with those women in that women's organization. I started to see myself differently. I used a vision board, and always had goals, but never used a vision board as a way to set goals.

So that sparked a whole, different aspect of myself. From there, I began freelancing. I began doing a lot of different things in communications. Fast forward to where I am right now about four or five four or five years ago, where I got really clear and focused that I wasn't offering, you know, advertising or PR or marketing services in my business, which is what I was doing in addition to other aspects of communication services, I'm fully focused on interpersonal and intrapersonal. So I offer workshops. I am a professional speaker, and I do keynotes, and I do breakout sessions, and I do group coaching.

[00:04:41.39] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I appreciate that. And I think so many times, when you see somebody that's so successful and able to communicate so well in helping other people do that, you almost think that it happens, on one day and then the next day, you know, you have this, successful business. But I love that you went through the progression of how you establish your business because I think so many times we forget that success is not one day. It's the culmination of all the different events and things that we have in our lives.

[00:05:08.69] – Monique Russell

You could say that again. And it's it's constant growth in the prog process, so you don't ever really fully arrive. And when you think that you fully arrived, well, good luck. I'm sorry. Because no advantage is sustainable forever.

[00:05:24.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I love that. I always say they use the word gift that you have. And I think, if we realize that the gift is in the journey, not in the destination, then that's really where we start to enjoy and we get to embrace the best self that we can be on every day, and love everyday basis.

[00:05:41.60] – Monique Russell

Yeah. It's easier it's easier to say that than to put that into practice. You know, because sometimes you're like, okay. Now okay. Now, like, this what's going on?

[00:05:51.19] – Gresham Harkless
Yeah.

[00:05:51.89] – Monique Russell

I've been working on this for a little bit now. Let's do this. So, I mean, especially to those that are just considering, especially coming on the heels of last year, we have a lot of people, and I admire and I encourage them to think about starting businesses, to think about diversifying their income and having their corporate job, as one income stream and having their business, their gift, and their passion as another way to fulfill themselves because a lot of people aren't fulfilled in their primary job right now.

So I just feel like if you're thinking about doing that or you're starting to consider what I offer is it even needed in the marketplace or is it even relevant in the marketplace? I would just say con continue to pursue that path and make sure you do your validation and do your testing. But most importantly, know that it's not going to be an overnight thing. Know that you have to put in some time. Be patient. Be willing to test and adapt and adjust, and you'll just be fine.

[00:06:59.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And and the the they say the secret to the overnight success is it takes ten years. Right? And we have to really yes. We have to understand that and capture that into our business and what we're building. And so, I know you touched a little bit, on how you serve your clients. Could you take us through anything you might have not talked about or not discussed on how you work with your clients, and what you feel sets you apart in just what I like to call your secret sauce?

[00:07:23.89] – Monique Russell

Okay. So, a lot of times clients come to me, they say, I want to be, more seen, as more credible. I want to be more confident in speaking. I want to be able to speak at a moment's notice, off the cuff, be more comfortable with my peers, and want to use, use public speaking as a way to be seen, heard, and understood. And there are hundreds, hundreds of other public speaking coaches, out there. There are so many different programs out there, but there isn't any that blends what I blend. And so what I blend or what I bring to the table is a blend of self-awareness. We call it emotional intelligence and public speaking. And that is from my years teaching in the university in intercultural and interpersonal, communications from my journey and my own stories, teaching and coaching people.

But what I do is help them uncover their own unique stories because people don't know how to tell their backstories. And a lot of times the stories that they use in their presentations are either quotes from some of the famous people that we know. Don't start with how, fill in the blank. You know what I'm trying to say. But, you know, so we have a lot of people that use other people's quotes and other people's stories as a way to connect the dots. But I know, Gresh, the way that we stand out and connect deeply with our audiences by telling our own stories.

So if you don't know what your story is, if there are some troubling things in your story that maybe you haven't come to pass to grips with, I can bring those stories out, help us put them on the table, walk through each point and to determine which part of your story connects with what your audience needs. Not everything in your story is gonna be relevant to your audience. You could tell a great story, wonderful, highly emotional, you know, out of this world. But if you're telling it to the wrong audience and it's not resonating with them, then you've missed an opportunity. And right now people don't often tend to come back to someone repeatedly when those types of opportunities are missed. They're just looking for the next best thing.

So I take women primarily business owners, and corporate professionals through the journey of self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and how to build that confidence from the inside out, not the public speaking confidence. Because getting on the stage and feeling confident that, oh, I did this and I did that, that's performance confidence. That's one thing. You get off the stage and you feel like crap. You still feel like it wasn't good. Maybe they didn't think I had anything of value to say. It's not resonating. It's falling flat. They're not engaged. All of these things you're feeling once you're done, even though you're out there on the market, you're visible, you're seen, you're heard, but you're not understood.

And so this is where I widen the gap because public speaking technicality is easy. We can tell you about the technique all day long. Blending somebody's emotions, walking them through their emotions, it's hard. But it's not hard for me because it's a part of my gift. This is how I'm able to help women and men. Some men come, but primarily women leaders. They come to me and they get their confidence-building skills up. They slay that imposter syndrome. And then they tell their story from a place of power and not shame. And that just helps them to get more clients. It helps them to be more clear in their message, and it helps them to increase their profile.

[00:11:14.89] – Gresham Harkless

I love that you do that. And so, I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:11:27.89] – Monique Russell

Yeah. So personally, for me, it's journaling. I mean, I'm an emotional intelligence self-awareness junkie, right? I'm all about practicing solitude and identifying where where and when I need to be still. And so for me, journaling is just a methodology that I use to make decisions. It helps me to address what emotions are present, where I feel stuck, and who I need to reach out to. So journaling is a practice that I recommend. Everybody is not open to it. But for me, oh my god. You really wanna mess me up in my business? Stop me from journaling. We gonna have a problem.

[00:12:08.50] – Gresham Harkless

I love that hack. I love how it ties into helping you to make those decisions. And so, I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It could be around communications or it might be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you would tell your younger business self.

[00:12:24.70] – Monique Russell

Oh, gosh. I would say, first of all, build your community quickly. Like, build your community quickly. Don't even waste time surrounding yourself with people who are not entrepreneurs because you just gonna be wasting time. Like, if I could do it all over again, I would just completely immerse myself in entrepreneurial communities. I would build up my team quickly. I would invest in coaching and therapy faster because these are mindset tools, you know, as entrepreneurs, business professionals, and leaders these are the biggest assets in our minds.

[00:13:01.20] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping our different quote-unquote CEOs are on the show. So Monique, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:13:12.39] – Monique Russell

For me? Oh, gosh. It means that it means so many things, but it means first of all, fulfillment, number one because I get to work and do something that I enjoy, something that I am skilled at and passionate about. So it means fulfillment and it means continuous improvement, like constantly. It means that you're always learning not just about your industry, about other industries, about sales about marketing, about PR, about what you're always thinking about your customer and your customer's needs. So to me, that in itself is a recipe for continuous improvement, internally and externally. You have no choice but to grow. You cannot be stagnant as a CEO. That's what it means to me.

[00:14:09.10] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I appreciate that, and I love how you tie that into who we're trying to serve, and what problems we're ultimately trying to solve. If we understand, just like we talked about during these times, there's disruption, there's things that change. Sometimes the way that we solve those, problems or or provide those solutions will change as well. So we have to make sure that we're always learning, always sharpening, always getting better so that we can be of service to our clients and our customers at the end of the day.

[00:14:33.00] – Monique Russell

Yes. And remember that sharpening the store gotta start with you. As you grow, everybody else around you grows. So definitely, I am in full agreement with that.

[00:14:45.39] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, I appreciate that, Monique. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and how best they can get a hold of you, find out about your podcast, hear about all the awesome things that you're working on.

[00:14:59.89] – Monique Russell

Okay. So you can, you can reach me on LinkedIn, Claire's communication coach, Monique Russell. You can find my podcasts Bridge to You, Unity in Black, and Understanding. And the podcast is amazing. So make sure you listen to it and subscribe and rate. And then you can find me on my website, which is clear communication solutions dot com. Clearcommunicationsolutions.com.

Reach out to me if you're interested in coaching, reach out to me for keynote speaking, or if you are in a corporate setting and you're looking for trainers and coaches for your employee resource groups, black employee resource groups, women employee resource groups, You can reach out to me or you can also connect with me if you are looking for resources. The ultimate Speaker's Guide is a guide that helps you to tell your story and get into the mind of your audience, cutting fifty percent of your learning curve. And then the intentional motherhood, who said it would be easy. A must-read for all mothers right now.

[00:16:07.50] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I truly appreciate that, Monique. We will have the links and information in the show notes as well. Everything you do is phenomenal. So your podcast and all the resources that you provide, I truly appreciate you, for providing so many gifts and and great content and information for the world. I appreciate you for, of course, being on the show as well, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

[00:16:26.79] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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