Your Voice Is Not the Problem. It Never Was.

LoveliEsteem
Jun 28
5 min read

"Join host Loveli Brown and executive speech coach Sarah Gershman on the 'Healing Through Conversations' podcast as they discuss how to articulate effectively, find your voice, and speak with confidence and authenticity."

A conversation with executive speech coach Sarah Gershman on speaking anxiety, authentic communication, and what it really means to unlock your voice.

I have been in corporate spaces for nearly 30 years.

And for about ten of those years, I was not fully there.

I had the straight hair. I had the adjusted tone. I had the laugh that was a little softer than my actual laugh. I was present in the building, but I had left myself in the parking lot.

And I thought that was professionalism.

What it actually was, was exhausting.

Sarah Gershman

So when I sat down with Sarah Gershman, executive speech coach, founder of Green Room Speakers, and one of the most thoughtful voices in the communication space, I knew this conversation was going to be different.

Because Sarah does not teach people how to perform better.

She teaches them how to stop performing altogether.

The Shift That Changes Everything

Sarah's philosophy sounds simple. But do not let that fool you.

Stop asking: "How do I impress them?"

Start asking: "How do I help them?"

That one pivot is what she says transforms everything, your confidence, your presence, your relationship with your own voice. When you stop making your fear the center of the room and start making your purpose the center of the room, something in you settles.

Something exhales. And the person who has been over-preparing, over-apologizing, and never quite saying the thing she actually came to say?

They starts to find there way back to themself.

What We Cover in This Episode

This conversation covers a lot of ground, and all of it is good. Here is what Sarah and I get into:

The mindset shift from impressing to helping This is the foundation of everything Sarah teaches. It is not about lowering your standards. It is about redirecting your energy from fear to purpose, and watching what happens when you do.

How childhood experiences shape the way we speak as adults Sarah shares how her own childhood theater experiences shaped her relationship with communication, and how early experiences, including trauma and stage fright, can quietly follow us into boardrooms and conference calls decades later. This part of the conversation hit close to home.

Reframing public speaking as a gift Most of us were taught to think of speaking in front of others as something that happens to us. Sarah flips that completely. What if showing up to speak was something you got to give to the people in the room?

The fear of hearing your own voice, and why it matters So many women have never listened to themselves speak. Not really. Sarah talks about why learning to tolerate, and eventually love, the sound of your own voice is a foundational step toward confidence.

Breaking through hierarchical and formal workplace cultures Corporate environments have unwritten rules. Some of those rules are designed to keep certain people quiet. Sarah talks about how to navigate those spaces without disappearing inside them.

Storytelling in technical and data-heavy presentations If your job involves presenting numbers, research, data, or complex information, this section is for you. Sarah makes the case that storytelling is not just for keynote speakers. It is for anyone who wants their audience to actually care.

Building confidence through small, consistent steps Confidence is not a personality trait. It is a practice. Sarah shares how her online course, Speakers RX, was built specifically for the women and professionals who need real tools, not just inspiration.

Joy, levity, and authenticity as professional superpowers This is the part that made me smile. Sarah talks about what happens when you bring fun back into the way you communicate, and how playfulness, creativity, and genuine warmth actually make you more effective, not less.

Managing speech anxiety with real techniques Sarah shares specific, practical exercises, including how to match a skeptic's tone and use body language strategically, to calm your nervous system and stay grounded when the pressure is on.

Mark your calendars, beautiful.

Sarah's Season 9 episode airs on Thursday, July 2nd at 7AM, and we are opening with a conversation that is going to rearrange something in you. "Articulate, Don't Perform:

Reclaiming Your Voice Without Losing Yourself" , and honey, we did not hold back. This is the episode you send to your group chat. This is the one you listen to on the way to the meeting that terrifies you. This is for her. And you know exactly who she is.

Podcast poster of Loveli Brown in a lime shirt, text reads Healing Through Conversations and Real Healing.

🎙️ Healing Through Conversations with Loveli Brown — Season 9

Tune in to the "Healing Through Conversations Podcast" available on these platforms:

This One Is Personal

I want to be real with you for a second.

I spent nearly a decade code-switching at work. Shrinking. Smiling through things that deserved a different response. And I genuinely believed I was being professional.

What I was actually doing was disappearing, one adjusted sentence at a time.

The minute I stopped? The minute I decided to just be, fully, unapologetically, occasionally too-much-for-certain-people me?

Everything shifted.

My performance went up. My confidence went up. My relationships at work improved. And the people around me started exhaling too, because when one of us gives ourselves permission, it quietly gives someone else permission as well.

That is what authentic communication does.

It does not just make you a better speaker.

It makes you a freer person.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for the woman who rehearsed her brilliance in the mirror, and then walked into the room and apologized for it anyway. It is for the woman who knows her material better than anyone in that room and still second-guesses every word before it leaves her mouth. It is for the woman who has been told to be more confident by the same people who punish her for being too direct. It is for the woman who learned early, from a classroom, a home, a workplace, or a world that had very specific ideas about how she should sound, that her voice needed to be edited before it was acceptable. And it is for the woman who is simply tired. Tired of performing. Tired of shrinking. Tired of making herself smaller so other people can feel more comfortable.

Your voice is your power.

It always has been.

About Sarah Gershman

Portrait of Sarah Gershman smiling in a blue blazer beside text about her speech coaching on a white background.

Sarah Gershman is an executive speech coach with over 20 years of experience helping professionals, executives, law firms, and organizations communicate with confidence, clarity, and authenticity. She is the founder of Green Room Speakers and the creator of Speakers RX, an online course designed for professionals who are ready to stop performing and start communicating with purpose. Clients across industries describe working with Sarah as transformational. Not because she taught them to sound more polished, but because she gave them permission to sound like themselves.

🌐 greenroomspeakers.com 📲 Linkedin: @greenroomspeakers

Listen Now

🎙️ Healing Through Conversations with Loveli Brown — Season 9

Tune in to the "Healing Through Conversations Podcast" available on these platforms:

Let's Keep This Conversation Going

If something in this post made you stop and say "that is me", I want to hear from you.

Drop a comment below. Share this post with a woman who needs to read it. And subscribe to Healing Through Conversations so you never miss an episode.

Because every time a woman learns to articulate instead of accommodate, she gives another woman permission to breathe a little easier.

That is the work. That is why we are here.

Around here, we articulate. We do not accommodate.