I dreaded public speaking since I was a child, and I have more than one reason. Besides getting butterflies in my stomach beforehand, whether for a class project or an area speech tournament in high school, I still carry trauma from the day my father insisted on being in the room

In seventh grade social studies, our teacher Mrs. Hebert (pronounced AY-bair here in Louisiana) had us to memorize every stanza of Lewis Carroll’s classic, The Walrus and The Carpenter, as a lesson on life, literature, and legacy: The time has come, the Walrus said, To talk of many things: Of shoes

Within seconds he had passed in front of me, seated in my car at the red light intersection, before my delayed reaction spotted him and tuned in that bright and sunny day. He walked at a fast pace, escorting an old bicycle on the sidewalk, as if he were escorting his

(Note: I wrote this piece as a guest blog for entrepreneur and mentor Connie Ragen Green’s Huge Profits Tiny List website. I was grateful for the opportunity. Since then, even the President has dropped F-bombs on national television and it did not seem to have fazed individuals — at least, publicly.

Her words hit me which such force, I had to catch my breath. I had to draw in air. Her question — more like her demand — caught me off guard. Completely. It nearly knocked the wind out of me. It felt like a balloon does when it is deflated —