Turning Fear into Fuel on Your Speaking Path with Melanie Curtis

About this episode

In this episode, Melanie Curtis shares her journey from finance to professional skydiving and public speaking, discussing the challenges and turning points along the way.

“I’m a big believer in consuming what you sell and practicing what you preach…it’s a useful step on the path to understanding what’s possible and for growing in the skill set of standing on stage in front of any number of people that makes your body react and become nervous.” In this episode of The Speaker Lab Podcast , host Grant Baldwin sits down with Melanie Curtis, a world record-holding professional skydiver, seasoned coach, and sought-after keynote speaker. Their conversation explores Melanie’s unconventional career path, which began in the finance industry before she took the extraordinary leap into professional skydiving, amassing over twelve thousand jumps, and then eventually public speaking. Melanie opens up about the challenges she faced along the way, including imposter syndrome, persistent anxiety, and the internal doubts that can hold back even the most driven professionals. She reflects on why each stage of her journey was essential and shares the turning points that nudged her toward treating public speaking as a serious business, rather than a side endeavor. Throughout their discussion, you’ll hear advice on finding your target audience, building meaningful…

People in this episode

Host: Grant Baldwin

Guest: Melanie Curtis

Topics covered

• public speaking
• entrepreneurship
• overcoming fear
• storytelling
• imposter syndrome
• audience engagement

Keywords

• public speaking
• Melanie Curtis
• Grant Baldwin
• imposter syndrome
• anxiety
• storytelling
• entrepreneurship

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Speaker Lab

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