Public Speaking

This past summer I was invited to give a Communications and Finding Your Voice workshop to Asian American Women’s Coalition (AAWC) 2024 Scholars – Asian American high school women graduates who had demonstrated excellence in academics, financial need, and community service. It gave me an opportunity to think about how I learned to do public speaking. In college I was afraid to raise my hand and offer my thoughts in large lecture halls at U.C. Berkeley. Gradually as my confidence grew, I began to test out my thoughts by contributing to class discussions, and then volunteered to take a leadership role as the co-chair of an Asian American network for my professional association. As my career grew, I had leadership experiences as the Associate Director in the Wharton School and as the Executive Director of the National Postdoctoral Association. When I represented my organization and gave speeches and presentations in regional and national settings, I learned to target my message to the group I was addressing in terms they would understand for maximum impact. I spoke to these AAWC Scholars about how to work on pacing, articulation, storytelling, and distilling to a few points what you want your audience to remember. Given that I was speaking to Asian American women, I also told them they would need to overcome stereotypes of Asian American women seen as quiet, obedient, foreigners, and model minorities. By presenting themselves as confident, knowledgeable, articulate women, they would challenge perceptions and stereotypes.