Today’s riveting guest on the Speak Up with Laura Camacho podcast is Mike Acker, communication and public speaking coach. Mike had to overcome his own communication challenges growing up such as a speech impediment and moving to Mexico at the age of 10, where he didn’t speak the language. These challenges spurred him to find how he could show up with CONFIDENCE in the workplace, public speaking engagements, and beyond. Mike has divulged his hard-earned wisdom in 17 different books and workbooks ...
Jul 18, 2023•33 min
This episode of the Speak Up with Laura Camacho podcast features influence expert and positivity PRO Brian Smith, PhD. Brian is Founder of IA Business Advisors, The “I” in Team Series and more than FIFTY successful companies. He most recently authored: Positive Influence: Be the I in Team with his daughter, Mary Griffin. Brian began his career in the military where he learned about the importance of structure. He then went to school for accounting, ending up in the tech & computer systems wo...
Jul 11, 2023•35 min
In today’s groundbreaking episode of the Speak Up with Laura Camacho podcast, host Laura interviews Tim Creasey. Tim is the Chief Innovation Officer at Prosci where he strives to empower teams to more successfully manage change. He is also the author of: Change Management: The People Side of Change. If the fast-paced changes happening in the post-pandemic, AI-saturated workplace are catching you and/or your team off guard, this episode is for you. Tim has researched and documented the best ways ...
Jul 04, 2023•37 min
Today’s guest on the Speak Up with Laura podcast is Gabe Zichermann, and we are talking about ENGAGING your audience. His book, The A-Ha! Method: Communicating Powerfully in a Time of Distraction addresses the challenges that arise with public speaking and communication in general in our high tech era. If you struggle with anxiety about presentations, or wonder if your audience or team is actually paying ANY attention to you, this episode is for you! Gabe and host Laura Camacho cover best practi...
Jun 27, 2023•38 min
Our fabulously creative guest today is Sarah Sofia Knepp, EXPERT content creator and event designer. Sarah pivoted from politics to event design after planning her own wedding. She decided to start her own event-planning business and—starting from scratch in Charlotte, NC—soon learned the value and necessity of having a strong network. Twelve years ago she stretched into content marketing and has been helping people get connected virtually and in-person ever since. If you want to have a STRONG n...
Jun 20, 2023•42 min
Dr. Michael Banissy recently wrote the HIGHLY relevant and timely book, Touch Matters: Hugs, Handshakes, and the New Science on How Touch Can Enhance You Well-Being. Dr. Banissy was fascinated with the human person and was a self-professed people-watcher for many years. His interest in the biology behind psychology led him to research physical touch—one of the first senses we develop. If you have struggled with how to use physical touch in a professional setting, this episode will DECODE the lan...
Jun 13, 2023•37 min
Today’s VIP guest on Speak Up with Laura Camacho is the hyper-successful Atif Rafiq. Atif worked as the global CDO of McDonald’s and Volvo before becoming president of MGM Resorts Intl. Now he advises on the board of Clearcover and Flutter Entertainment. He is author of Decision Sprint: The New Way to Innovate into the Unknown and Move from Strategy to Action. With the rapidly changing working environment due to AI and a plethora of other factors, we must master innovation strategy and perfect t...
Jun 06, 2023•37 min
Our guest today is the vibrant and engaging AJ Vassar, international business coach and speaker. AJ comes from an underprivileged background being the eldest of 8 in a single-parent household. As he grew up, he realized that, regardless of finances, everyone has their struggles. Now he coaches individuals to sell and/or become professional speakers. If you want to be someone worth listening to, this episode is for you. AJ’s experience and wisdom will help you communicate your VALUE and SELL your...
May 30, 2023•41 min
Today’s engaging guest on the Speak Up with Laura Camacho podcast is President of Formfree, Eric Lapin. Formfree is an innovative company in the finance world which uses direct source data to accurately assess credit risk. With a finance background, Eric has invaluable insight into managing risk-taking and innovation in the workplace and maneuvering times of change which we are all seeing at the moment—whether we like it or not! If you want to make CHANGE HAPPEN but are risk-averse, or if you ar...
May 23, 2023•29 min
Today’s guest on Speak Up with Laura Camacho specializes in helping leaders leverage their body language for impact. Join Laura in this bracing conversation with speech-writing award winner Richard Newman. After high school, Richard wasn’t sure what career he wanted to pursue and ended with his spending time in a Tibetan monastery teaching the resident monks English. This wildly unique experience taught Richard how to communicate with others beyond words and sparked his interest in authentic and...
May 16, 2023•37 min
This fascinating episode of Speak Up with Laura Camacho features the fabulous Dr. Valerie Fridland, sociolinguist and professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her area of research is about the relationship between language and society. She wrote a book to help educate us about her findings entitled: Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English. Dr. Fridland grew up in Memphis, TN. Because her family was not native English speakers, they were treated as very exotic. This helped ...
May 09, 2023•39 min
In this episode of Speak Up with Laura Camacho, Laura has a wonderfully candid conversation with Jenne Sevilla, a certified financial planner, about one of the trickiest topics: money. Jenne entered the field of life insurance sales after college. She found that it did not come naturally to her, her tendency was to educate and develop relationships as opposed to sell quickly. After facing the same issue at a different firm, Jenne realized that insurance sales was not for her. She decided to take...
May 02, 2023•41 min
Influence starts with a first impression. This is a mini-episode that will tell you exactly what you need to know about improving your elevator pitch to build massive social capital. In fifteen fast-paced minutes Laura will cover: - The most important quality you bring to a conversation - The number one tip for taking leadership of the conversation - Some ways to talk about your work to communicate the value you bring to the table - How to OWN all that you have to offer - The number one turn-off...
Apr 25, 2023•18 min
Michelle Gladiuex is founder of Gladieux Consulting, which helps organizations of all types and sizes use training and coaching to improve their workforce and workplace. Her approach to having courage at work includes learning how to manage risks, uncovering your blind spots, and getting an accurate perception of how others see you. Michelle had a love for science as a student and dove into organizational psychology. After 20+ years of working with many types of organizations and successfully im...
Apr 18, 2023•35 min
A friend introduced Laura to Jenny Melrose, a teacher-turned-massively successful business-owner who now consults influencers. She’s the influencer to the influencers. 😎This timely conversation drops a number of influence tips but intel that’s even more scarce: the essentials you need to launch a successful side hustle. If you’ve ever had to deal with that dreaded icky feeling that your career is eating too much into your family life, Jenny’s dealt with that as well. Jenny’s also a major introv...
Apr 11, 2023•40 min
Welcome to episode #3 in the Supper Club Series! This conversation spotlights influencer and leading She Said/She Said podcaster Laura Cox Kaplan (@lauracoxkaplan), who spills the tea on building influence, winning over hard hearts and sharp minds, and even the steps to get a role on corporate or nonprofit boards. A corporate and non-profit board member and adviser, Laura has more than two decades of executive experience in public policy, communications, corporate governance, and stakeholder eng...
Apr 04, 2023•53 min
Here at Speak Up with Laura Camacho, we’re all about influencing the c-suite and BECOMING the c-suite. In this episode, Laura introduces you to her colleague, Donna Griffit, a Corporate Storyteller who has worked globally for over 18 years with Fortune 500 companies and Startups. Leveraging her early days in theater, Donna developed the ability to magically spin raw data into compelling stories that captivate audiences and drive results and now she’s sharing that with us. Donna’s book, Sticking ...
Mar 28, 2023•40 min
Episode 177 Successfully Communicate in Enterprise or Startup with Jason Andree Laura met Jason through a mutual friend and he turned out to be a model communicator for an authentic, not puffed-up leader. He was living in Switzerland working at GSK when he got the opportunity to take the CMO role of US-based Nufabrx. This startup is one of the fastest growing companies in the country and offers patients an innovative pain relief through specially-treated fabrics. Jason takes us on the journey of...
Mar 22, 2023•37 min
Welcome to episode #2 in the Supper Club Series! This conversation spotlights publicist Patricia Mae Olson (@patricia_mae_olson), an influencer, owner of Piqued PR, podcaster, and member of the Supper Club, a group of high-end lifestyle business owners. Patricia’s PR firm, Piqued PR operates in the suburbs of Philadelphia and offers public relations, social media management, influencer marketing, events for fashion and lifestyle brands. Patricia Mae believes in decorating colorfully, entertainin...
Mar 03, 2023•39 min
Welcome to episode #1 in the Supper Club Series! Lauren Jacobs (@thecheerfulbaker), is an influencer, a gourmet cookie baker, and member of the Supper Club, a group of high-end lifestyle business owners. Lauren worked in retail after college and then became a Sales Rep for American Greetings. After her first child was born she decided to stay home. Fast forward to 2015, she took up baking. After multiple cookie decorating classes, she got hooked and began to decorate cookies for retail as well a...
Feb 21, 2023•41 min
This episode brought to you by The Practical Guide to Effective Communication: Get Recognized for the Value You Already Contribute by Laura Camacho, PhD. It’s a great day to listen to Laura’s juicy conversation with Sonja "Dynamo" Price. Sonja is a top Career Strategist, Salary Advisor, and Leadership Coach with. Her mission is to support professionals to enjoy greater meaning, better work-life balance, and significantly higher pay. She has worked directly with Tony Robbins, trained with Al Gore...
Feb 06, 2023•44 min
Laura’s guest is Don Colliver, public speaking internal expert at Google and around the world; leads improv, clown, and sketch comedy classes for the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre. . Don’s mission is to help every communicator profoundly impact their audience through the power of authenticity, listening, and play. He recently released a #1 Bestselling Amazon book entitled "Wink: Transforming Public Speaking with Clown Presence" to help anxious speakers and organizational teams everywhere connec...
Jan 16, 2023•44 min
This episode of Speak Up with Laura Camacho is brought to you by The Practical Guide to Effective Communication: Get recognized for the Value You Already Contribute Dr. Mindy Weinstein is a marketing expert and author from Scottsdale, Arizona. She is the founder and CEO of Market MindShift, specializing in high-level powerful tips to use scarcity to create more interest in you and your ideas. After a career in marketing, she decided to do a deep-dive into persuasion. She realized that out of all...
Jan 01, 2023•37 min
This episode is brought to you by The Practical Guide to Effective Communication: Get Recognized for the Value You Already Contribute. Hesha Abrams is an internationally renowned mediator from Dallas, TX. With over 30 years of resolving intense conflict and difficult problems, Hesha comes to us as an expert in addressing conflict with pragmatic approaches. Hesha’s innovative approach and thought-provoking solutions obtain favorable outcomes for even the most complex conflicts. From a young age, ...
Jan 01, 2023•42 min
Why improve your communication skills at work? What's the value in having more executive presence? Or feeling more comfortable with intimidating audiences? It comes down to having more influence. Influence means people know you, like you, and trust you and you get to shape the decisions that affect you. It means people think of you, they remember you and what it is you bring to the table. In this quick, intense episode, Laura shares a quick introduction to what it means to have influence at work...
Jan 01, 2023•17 min
This episode is brought to you by The Practical Guide to Effective Communication: Get Recognized for the Value You Already Contribute Today’s fascinating guest on the Speak Up with Laura Camacho podcast is Shelby Scarbrough: entrepreneur, author, and speaker associated with Harvard School of Entrepreneurial Studies. Shelby started off as a political appointee organizing trips for the Reagan and Bush administrations. She has also worked with Pope John Paul II, Presidents Reagan, Bush, Carter, Nix...
Dec 12, 2022•52 min
This episode is brought to you by The Practical Guide to Effective Communication: Get Recognized for the Value You Already Contribute. The guest on today’s episode of Speak Up with Laura Camacho is Millennial and Gen-Z expert Vivek Iyyani. While Vivek was freelancing as a facilitator and youth coach, he participated in various enrichment programs in different schools working with teens on confidence, leadership, and team bonding. Along the way he realized this was the group that would soon be en...
Nov 30, 2022•43 min
The hyper-interesting guest on today’s episode of Speak Up with Laura Camacho is Michael Reddington, CFI (Certified Forensic Interviewer). He wrote the book, The Disciplined Listening Method: How A Certified Forensic Interviewer Unlocks Hidden Value in Every Conversation. As a Certified Forensic Interviewer, Michael traveled all over not only conducting interrogations, but also teaching professional investigators how to get to the truth using non-confrontational techniques. His experience in the...
Nov 14, 2022•52 min
Today’s delightful guest on the Speak Up with Laura Camacho podcast is health and wellness coach, Lisa Burbage. Lisa began her wellness journey after her battle with breast cancer, which served as a wake-up call to her regarding the importance of physical and mental health. She realized she had many aspects of her health that needed improvement and began making serious changes. This led Lisa to want to empower others to avoid the pain and difficulty she went through on her own. After getting her...
Nov 01, 2022•41 min
Today’s fabulous guest on the Speak Up with Laura Camacho podcast is intellectual property attorney and personal friend, Angie Avard Turner. Angie knew she wanted to be an attorney since she was very young, but also had a creative side she wasn’t sure what to do with. As a young adult she attended law school in Michigan, moving back to Georgia after graduation. It was then that Angie began learning and exploring her creative side, especially through learning Adobe and working in design of paper ...
Oct 16, 2022•47 min
