What Speaker Academy taught me about finding my voice

How many opportunities have you talked yourself out of because you were waiting for permission?

Permission to feel ready.

Permission to be confident.

Permission to believe you had something worth saying.

For years, I did not realise how much overthinking and seeking validation from others had shaped my decisions. It was not always obvious, but there was a quiet voice asking, “Are you sure you are ready?” or “Maybe you are not experienced enough yet.”

The truth is, waiting until you feel ready can become a comfortable way of staying exactly where you are.

Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs begin with one small decision to do something that scares you.

That was exactly how I felt on the morning I travelled to a Speaker Academy.

I was excited. I was nervous. And, if I am honest, I was overthinking everything.

Was I really ready to stand in a room with people I had never met? Did I have a message worth sharing? Would I belong?

Deep down, however, I knew this was not just another training weekend. It was an investment in who I am becoming.

So, I went.

Growth begins where comfort ends

Walking into a room full of strangers could have been intimidating.

Instead, it became one of the most encouraging environments I have experienced.

Over two days, strangers became supporters. Conversations became friendships. We challenged one another, encouraged one another and celebrated one another’s growth.

That, to me, was just as valuable as everything we learnt about speaking.

Bianca Miller-Cole and Dr Byron Cole created more than a training programme. They created an environment where people felt safe enough to grow.

There was laughter, moments of deep reflection, lightbulb moments and honest feedback.

Most importantly, there was permission. Not permission granted by someone else, but permission to believe in ourselves.

Speaking is more than talking

Many people know how to talk. Far fewer know how to speak in a way that genuinely reaches people’s hearts and minds.

Throughout the weekend, we explored what makes a compelling keynote, analysed experienced speakers, practised delivering our own messages and learnt practical frameworks for creating talks that do more than inform people. Talks that move them.

Watching Bianca and Byron break down their own keynote journeys reminded me that impactful speakers are not born. They are developed.

Every keynote begins with a story. Every story begins with courage.

The lesson I will never forget

Before we delivered our three-minute speeches, Bianca shared seven principles for building confidence. Each one challenged me, but one thought stayed with me long after the weekend had finished:

You lose 100% of the opportunities you don’t go for.

How many opportunities do we miss because fear convinces us to stay where it feels safe? Confidence is not something we wait to feel. Confidence is something we build by showing up.

I found that out for myself the moment it was my turn to speak. I gave three minutes on Breaking the Mould: The Power of Thinking and Learning Differently, and somewhere in the middle of it, I stopped trying to deliver a script. I was telling a story instead, having something closer to a conversation with the room than a performance.

The feedback afterwards was heartwarming and helpful. People said it had not felt rehearsed. One person told me I am not average.

The other principles Bianca shared were just as powerful. Ask yourself what the worst outcome could really be, then invest your energy wisely. Model the people who already demonstrate the confidence you admire. Act as if, until confidence becomes a habit rather than a performance. Be careful whose criticism you allow to shape your thinking. And remember that confidence, like any skill, can be learned, practised and mastered.

And when anxiety takes over, breathe. Sometimes we become so trapped in our own thoughts that we forget our body already knows how to regulate us.

The message

Those three minutes were memorable for a reason beyond the feedback. Part of our work over the weekend was refining our speaking brand, the single message we each carry onto a stage, and standing up to share it with a room full of strangers reminded me exactly why it is mine to tell.

This is not simply a topic. It is a part of my story.

Discovering I have dyslexia changed the way I understood myself. For a long time, I believed I had to fit other people’s expectations. I tried to hide the parts of myself that felt different.

Like many people with diagnosed or undiagnosed learning differences, it is easy to wear a mask. A mask that says you are coping. A mask that says you are fine. A mask that says you do not need help.

But wearing a mask is exhausting.

Through embracing my learning differences, receiving mentorship and counselling and, moreover, drawing strength from my faith in God, I discovered something far more valuable than pretending. I discovered freedom.

Freedom to think differently. Freedom to learn differently. Freedom to stop measuring myself against someone else’s definition of success.

That is the message I want every audience to hear. You are not defined by labels. You are not defined by other people’s expectations. Your differences may become your greatest strengths when you choose to embrace them rather than hide them.

That is not only my story. Across mainstream classrooms, special schools and alternative provision, I have watched the same pattern repeat itself in young person after young person. The ones who appear to be struggling are often the ones spending the most energy hiding, not learning. Give them permission to stop masking, and what they are capable of shifts almost immediately. The barrier was rarely the learning difference itself. It was the mask built to disguise it.

More than speaker training

What surprised me most was not the content. It was the people.

Listening to everyone’s stories reminded me that every person carries experiences capable of changing someone else’s life.

There was something incredibly healing about watching people become more confident simply because they were surrounded by encouragement instead of comparison.

That kind of environment encourages people.

This is only the beginning

I am incredibly grateful to Bianca Miller-Cole, Dr Byron Cole and the entire team for creating such a practical, joyful and inspiring experience.

Thank you to everyone I met over the weekend for your encouragement, honesty and willingness to grow together.

I arrived wondering whether I was ready. I left with something much more valuable. Not certainty. Not perfection. But clarity.

Clarity about my message. And clarity that the people we are called to serve do not need a perfect speaker. They need someone willing to speak with honesty, courage and heart.

If there is one belief this weekend sharpened in me, it is this. Potential is rarely the problem in a classroom or a boardroom. What gets in the way is how much energy people spend disguising their difference instead of using it.

Breaking the Mould: The Power of Thinking and Learning ‘Differently’ is more than a keynote; it’s an invitation to rethink potential, embrace difference and create spaces where people can truly thrive.

I’m excited to keep developing this message and sharing it in the right rooms