Tag Archives: public speaking

Figure Out What’s Up For You

Today I gave a keynote speech at the 25th anniversary of the “What’s Up Down South” Economic Development Conference, Southern Utah’s largest business gathering each year.  Normally the conference is held in beautiful St. George but because of COVID this year the conference was held online.  You know it’s said that public speaking is the […]

If You Could Talk To Your Younger Self What Advice Would You Give Them?

“If you could travel back in time for a few hours and sit down with yourself as a teenager or young adult, what advice would adult you want to give younger you?” It’s an interesting exercise to ask yourself that question. And it’s interesting to feel the emotions that come as you consider the way […]

Use Them To Bless The Life Of Another

Over the past seven days I’ve given keynote speeches twice at Brigham Young University, once at Utah Valley University, I’ve spoken at a Women in Business Conference, I spoke at Southern Utah University, did a mentoring session, and I judged a High School business competition. As I was making the four hour drive back home […]

Feeling Better Inward Takes Turning More Outward

Last week I spent a few days doing both speaking and mentoring session via video conferencing on Zoom with groups of students from multiple Universities across the country.   During that time I was serving those students I wasn’t worrying about the pandemic we are facing, or the riots still going on, or the wildfires, or […]

So Many People Doing So Much Good

I spoke today in Atlanta Georgia at the National Ethics Directors Summit being held for University Ethics Directors from across the country as part of the APPE (Association for Practical & Professional Ethics) International Conference.  I was also able to spend the entire day with these Directors both before and after my talk and that […]

Don’t Wait For Conditions To Be Perfect To Begin

“Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.” – Alan Cohen Today I went and spoke at Brigham Young University to a class of around 350 students.  After my presentation I spent time doing open Q&A with them and I have to admit that the Q&A portion is […]

The Law Of Giving

The Law of Giving is very simple:  If you want joy, give joy If love is what you seek, offer love If you crave material affluence, help others become prosperous.”                                                                            -Deepak Chopra So my Cyber Monday turned into an early Giving Tuesday as I spent the first part of my day in a board […]

Never Work A Day In Your Life?

Last Thursday was quite the whirlwind of a day!  I started off my day in the morning heading down to Provo Utah to speak at an event put on by RevRoad. RevRoad is a business accelerator for entrepreneurs that offers coworking space, legal services, marketing, accounting, mentoring services, etc in return for equity.  They asked […]

Explore. Dream. Discover.

Today I went and spoke at the Intro to Entrepreneurship class at Brigham Young University.  Speaking to the students is one of my very favorite things to do because I look out into the crowd of young faces and I see so much about them that they haven’t even begun to recognize yet.  I’ve sat […]

The Best Energy Boost In The World!

I was unbelievably tired after returning home late last night from my four day trip to Palm Springs for back to back meetings on philanthropic giving and staying up until 4am writing my blog and attempting to take an initial stab at reading the mounds of emails I missed while I was away. That’s when […]

A Night I Will Never Forget

Tonight I had the privilege of being the very first speaker for this year’s annual Entrepreneurial Leadership Series up at Utah State University (hosted by the Huntsman School of Business) for around 400 students. USU holds a special place in my heart because my grandfather was a graduate there and he later taught there as […]

Sky Castles and Goal Posters

When my children were young we would lay down on our backs on the trampoline outside in our backyard and we would all three look up at the sky together and play a game we called “Sky Castles”. In our game we would take turns building our pretend sky castles by saying what we saw […]

What I’m Most Thankful For

As we head into this week of Thanksgiving I felt it might be an appropriate time for me to share what I’m most thankful for: My Faith. I am thankful for my faith in God.  My faith and love for my Heavenly Father is at the very core of who I am and it helps […]

I Wish I Spoke Spanish And So Did The People Trying To Translate My Speech

Today was an amazing experience for me. I was in the Dominican Republic to speak at the Convergencias Business Ethics & Integrity conference which brought together leaders from Government, Business, Media and Academia sectors from multiple countries in the region. The opening talk of the day was given by Elder D. Todd Christofferson on his time serving as […]

Nothing Lifts Your Spirit Like Doing Service For Others

As those who read my blog know, I got really sick over the weekend with a sinus cold. It seems like every year at this time I get them and they are seriously miserable. And frankly I would have laid in bed all day today being miserable if I hadn’t already committed several months ago […]

But Seriously Though, What’s Your Excuse?

Tonight I was a judge for the Young Entrepreneurs Academy Shark Tank where students from the age of 8 – 18 pitched their business plans in front of a panel of four judges and a room full of their parents and several of their peers. As these young people walked us through their business idea, […]

The Power of Empathy and the Comfort of Knowing Someone Understands

Tonight I had the opportunity to speak to a group of students and their parents involved in the YEA! Program which stands for Young Entrepreneurs Academy (www.yeausa.org ) , a non-profit program for students in middle school and high school that teaches kids to generate business ideas, do market research on their ideas, write business […]

The Executive Team is the single greatest factor that determines Success or Failure for any Company

Earlier today I was looking through some documents and I found an outline I had written for a talk I was asked to give clear back in 2005 on How To Build And Operate A Successful Executive Team. As I sat reading it, some eleven years later, I can tell you that if I were asked to talk on that same subject today I […]

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.

Of all the things I do with my time, one of the things I enjoy the absolute most is the opportunities I have to speak to groups of college students and to pass on to them as much knowledge as I can on all the life lessons I have learned in my journey from being […]

There is no foot too small that it cannot leave an imprint in this world

Today I went down and spoke to the students at Utah Valley University. I really love speaking to the students at the colleges because as I stand on the stage and look out at their faces I can’t help but be humbled by the amazing things these young people are going to go on and […]

Sing Choirs of Angels

One of the reasons I love this time of year most is all the amazing carols and music for the holiday season. I LOVE great music and amazing singers and I love it when they share their talent of singing for the world. I have nothing but respect for people who have a talent that […]

I’m Not Saying I’m Wonder Woman…Or Am I?

“I’m not saying I’m Wonder Woman, I’m just saying that I’m a princess with indestructible bracelets and an invisible plane.” Anyone who knows me knows that I have a serious love of all things Wonder Woman. My love for Wonder Woman started when I was a young entrepreneur just starting out in business. I was only […]

See How Far You’ve Come

It was exactly three years ago today that I signed the final papers to sell my company. As I look back over the last three years I am blown away at how much has happened since then. I transitioned out of my old company, I launched REES Capital (my angel investment firm), got our charity […]

One of the greatest things about being an adult…

 “One of the greatest things about being an adult is the feeling of euphoria when you get to change into pajamas.”   SO TRUE!!!!  Today was possibly one of the longest days I have had in a very, very long time. It actually started just after midnight last night when I found myself still awake, working […]

Why Did This Have To Happen?!?!

I was working hard on preparing a Powerpoint presentation for a talk I will be giving at a University tomorrow evening when my computer crashed, and of course it crashed before I had saved my work. After hours of hard work I yelled out “Why did this have to happen?!?!”  Arggghhhh!!! So frustrating, right!?! At […]

All We Can Become

Today I went down to give a lecture at Brigham Young University on Entrepreneurship.  Speaking at the Universities is one of my very favorite things to do because I just love the students!  I love their energy and their passion and excitement for life.  I love that they are full of hopes and dreams for […]

My Solution to the Government Shutdown – Send In The Mothers!

“Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world”. -Marilyn Monroe Before I explain the title of today’s blog, let me give you a quick recap of last Friday.  Last Friday I was asked to be a speaker for Senator Hatch’s Women’s Conference.  Senator Hatch has been a long-time friend that I […]