When I first heard Judy speak at our leadership meeting, I was struck by her passion, her confidence, and her engaging presentation style. Judy is our lead finance officer for our business unit and a master presenter. Every time she speaks, I listen with great interest as she is excellent at simplifying a complex subject (i.e. Finance), using analogies to make her topic more relatable, and celebrating everyone’s hard work.
What is also surprising about Judy is English is not her first language. She was born in China and only came to the United States after finishing college. She still speaks with an accent today. Her accent doesn’t seem to phase her nor distract her audience. What stands out about the way she speaks above all else is her enthusiasm and her authenticity. Many readers have reached out to me before asking for help with their accent, their communication, and/or presentations skills. I am glad to be able to share this interview with you so you can learn from Judy and also become a master presenter.
I am grateful for Judy in spending time to record this interview with me. I appreciated hearing her story about how she developed her presentation skills. She shares in detail her journey from China to her career now. She also shares the secrets behind what makes her such a strong presenter. Lastly, she shares great advice and tips on what you can do to improve your communication and presentation skills.
Below is the first 5 minutes of our 22 minute interview. To access the full interview, please login or sign up for a Soft Skills Gym membership. Whether you choose the monthly or annual membership, there is a 30 days money back guarantee – no questions asked.
Audio Transcription
Lei: Judy, I’m so happy you are spending time with me. I’m really excited to have this conversation with you. For everyone listening, Judy is a colleague of mine, and I am super impressed with her communication style and presentation style. She has over 15 years of experience in both accounting and now is our finance lead for our business unit. I have witnessed her speak in very large settings to senior leadership with poise, with the right amount of pace in her speech, with great analogies that she has when she talks about something as potentially dry as finance or accounting, and really engages the audience. So, I wanted to have this conversation with Judy today to really find out whether that was a born skill that she was just born with, or is there something that she‘s been practicing so that we can all learn from her. And so, welcome, Judy. Thank you for making this time.
Judy: Thank you so much, Lei. Your introduction is very nice. Thank you. So nice to be here.
Lei: I’d love to hear a little bit about your background. Because one other thing I didn’t mention is you also speak with an accent. So, I’m assuming you’re from another country and came to the U.S. and then learned English. Or were you bilingual from another country as well?
Judy: I came from China. I was born and grew up in Beijing, and went to college there. And I came to the U.S. to study accounting.
Lei: Ah! Okay.
Judy: That’s my background.
Lei: Great!
Judy: Actually, I also speak Thai because my mom was born in Thailand. So, trilingual.
Lei: Wow! So, you learned English as an adult?
Judy: In middle school. We started to learn English in middle school, but really focused on reading and writing and taking tests.
Lei: In China. Yes. Yes. I meant like, you moved to the United States as an adult?
Judy: Right. I came here really to attend graduate school.
Lei: Okay. Awesome. Awesome. I wish I could share with people how you speak. When I first saw you in these meetings, I was like “Oh, wow!” What I thought was so great is, a lot of people get nervous speaking with a lot of senior leaders or just a lot of people. Even on Zoom, they get nervous. You don’t seem nervous at all. You pause when you speak. You’re very deliberate in what facts you focus on. Because finance charts sometimes can have a lot of facts. You always focus on a few pieces. And you bring a great sense of humor with your analogies, with your excitement for the topic. And so, I’m just curious — Is that something you always had? Or did you have to work towards being able to speak in the way you speak today?
Judy: Thank you, Lei. Your words are very encouraging. So, I think I hide my nervousness very well so people cannot really tell I’m nervous. Definitely, I wasn’t born this way. So this all comes from,really, many years of practice.
Lei: Was there a tipping point, would you say, of when you thought “Hey, now I know what to do.” And what did you do to get there? When you say you practiced, is this gradual? From all the folks that actually speak with an accent, you’re the most polished person, in speaking. Lots of people actually have a crutch or feel more nervous because of their accent. Was that ever a challenge for you, in addition to being able to speak to lots of people with poise?
Judy: First of all, I think I really like public speaking. I have a passion [for] it. Since I was in elementary school, I’m the one who really liked to raise hands, answer questions, very excited about sharing my ideas with my classmates. I talked a lot, and also I was a part of the college debate team, when I was in college in China.
Lei: But in Mandarin. Were you debating in English?
Judy: No. Only in Chinese, in Mandarin. But I like public speaking. I think I couldn’t do things well if I don’t like it. I really enjoyed it. I like to see the crowds and really share my ideas with them. So, I think that’s a good start. At least I like it.
Lei: Okay. So, what was the first experience after coming here and you had to present? What was that like for you? How was your English, and were you able to convert that passion in how you spoke already in Mandarin and in college naturally to your first set of experiences? I think you said you started in accounting… listen to the full interview inside the Soft Skills Gym.
Your comments: Do you have any follow up questions for Judy or I? I will make sure to share it with her and get her response.
Your comments: Do you have an inner voice that tells you that you are not enough? Do you where it comes from and how to ignore it? I look forward to hearing from you.
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Lei