Diversity And Inclusion Keynote Speaker
My guest today is SpeakersU member Shola Kaye, a keynote speaker on communication, leadership, diversity, equity and inclusion, and workplace empathy. She’s the author of two books and an award-winning speaker. Shola has a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, completed scientific research in the field of Neuroscience at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and spent a number of years working in the United States in financial services. She has also performed on four continents as a professional entertainer, which is why she values creating programs that are both engaging and effective. Shola’s writing has appeared in industry publications such as Management Today and HR Zone and she has been featured in Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, and on the BBC. Her clients include Deloitte, American Express, and The United Nations and in our discussion, we talk about Shola’s transition from corporate executive to a singer to top keynote speaker on diversity and inclusion. Enjoy the episode. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
In this episode:
- Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
- Paid Speaking Engagements
- Finding Leads
- Workshops
Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript
Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors.
James Taylor 0:00
Hi, I’m James Taylor and you’re listening to the speakers you podcast, a show for aspiring and professional speakers. My guest today is speakers you remember Shola Kay, a keynote speaker on communication leadership, diversity, equity and inclusion, and workplace empathy. She’s the author of two books and an award-winning speaker. Sheila has a degree in natural sciences from Cambridge University completed scientific research in the field of neuroscience at the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and spent a number of years working in the United States in financial services. She has also performed on four continents as a professional entertainer, which is why she values creating programs are both engaging and effective. She’ll his writing has appeared in industry publications such as management today at HR zone, and she has been featured in Mary Claire, Harper’s Bazaar and on the BBC. Our clients include Deloitte American Express and the United Nations and in our discussion, we talk about shoulders transition from corporate executive to singer to top keynote speaker on diversity and inclusion. Enjoy this episode. So Shola Welcome to the speakers you podcast. Great to have you here. How are things going on your world at the moment?
Shola Kaye 1:10
Hey, going really well. Thank you, David. It’s great to be here. And yeah, there’s, it’s busy. I think, as we coming out of lockdown, there’s a real feeling of optimism in the air. So things are going really well.
James Taylor 1:21
So I mentioned at the top there just a little bit about you. But tell us about your training. How did you get into the strange world of keynote speaking?
Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
Shola Kaye 1:29
Yeah, it’s quite a sort of a winding journey for me because I started out in academic research. So I was doing research in neuroscience and those sorts of areas. And then I took a job in consulting, and I have a lot of people who know the sort of scientific background, we don’t get taught a lot about how to communicate, we’re really looking at sort of first principles, the numbers, the data. So I had this job in consulting, and I was a little bit timid, you know, didn’t really speak up at work. And I was working in the states where people are typically a lot more confident than Brits anyway. And my first little brush with my future there was being called into the Managing Directors office, and being told that I was being put on probation because I wasn’t speaking up enough. So this was a real kind of a shocker to me, I’ve been such a nerdy, hard worker at school, and now on probation. So I turned it around, managed to stay on at that company for a few more years, and everything was fine. And then came back to the UK then took another corporate job now as an account director. And this was right around the time of the Twin Towers coming down. And our big client was, I would say, a lawsuit prevents me from sharing their name, but the initials of ba. So that was a big client at the time, now I was flying. And so they had to cut headcount. And again, you know, I was, I was called into the office, told, surely not speaking up enough, not adding enough value. Sorry, we’re letting you go. So this was my beginning, you know, as a communicator, which isn’t a very auspicious beginning. So then I thought, well forget it, this corporate thing isn’t for me, I need to just rethink because I trained to be a life coach and did a lot of personal development work, and then thought, well, I always wanted to be a singer. So I ended up taking singing lessons. And then became a professional singer. So I did a lot of work. Sometimes with bands, sometimes solo with backing tracks, you know, going around the country doing some overseas gigs, as well. And I built a lot of confidence, you’ll see when you’re a performer, especially on your own, you will use the eyeballs upon you and having to communicate with the audience, and so on. And so that gave me a lot of confidence. And I just had this nagging sort of gnawing feeling somewhere that shows that you’re not done with communication that you need to push forward and perhaps try and speak. So I’m sort of a flashback a few years later, I’ve done some training and so on. And it caught me to be a professional speaker. And I did a TEDx talk about my experiences in the workplace, being fired, being put on probation, and lack of empathy, in part from my employers, but also a lack of perhaps asking for what I want even knowing what I wanted back then. And so that’s kind of formed some of the basis of what I talk about now in my keynotes, which is diversity and inclusion, empathy in the workplace, asking for what you want, communication, and it touches a lot of different areas. And I’m lucky that at the moment, I’m being booked quite a lot too, to share my story and share some frameworks with my audiences to help them you know, not do what I did, basically. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 4:43
So what a fascinating journey from the world of academia to the corporate world, to being an entertainer and now being a speaker and speaking for really amazing clients as well. On that, when you initially decided to make the move to that, becoming a speaker, was it because there was a particular message that you really wanted to share? Or was it because there was something that called you to? This is a kind of a vocation, being able to, you know, just communicate in that kind of way on stages virtual or in-person?
Shola Kaye 5:17
Yeah, I think it’s a great question. Because, in the beginning, it was more about, I thought that there will be, I thought there was a message, but I didn’t know what it was. And I thought that the way that I would communicate would be with groups of people. And I remember I had a business coach way back when, and we were in a cafe, and I was crying on this couch. And so she said, Why are you trying to be a speaker? Isn’t it? Okay, well, do you want to speak to me? I don’t know what the message is. But I think a lot of people they know they want to speak and the message may be that the stories were there already, for me that had already happened, you know, the firings and so on, but hadn’t yet been able to kind of mold that into something that was palatable and useful for people. So I think anybody out there who has this kind of yearning to speak, I think it comes from somewhere. So respect that and listen to it, and you might have the message inside you just give it time to develop and rifling if you like, because it did for me. So So yeah, – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 6:18
I think that’s great. You’ve seen that because I know in some parts of the media, it’s often but you’re actually some bureaus really push this idea that to be a speaker, you have to be the world’s greatest expert on a topic. And really, to be a professional speaker, you have to have, you have to have this niche. And you have to have developed over many, many years. And then you can go out and really speak about it. But I think it’s fine. What is more common is people are drawn to the speaking having an influence in that way using their voice in that way. They’ve got a bit of a sense, like you have like, well, I’m interested in this thing that I’m not quite sure what my lane is what my thing is. So when you started speaking, how did you start to chip away at that to kind of find what kind of USP you both gave you passion and gave a person’s purpose and your speaking, but also really connected with audiences.
Shola Kaye 7:16
When I started out, I was mainly speaking on communication skills, and I was leveraging my singing background. So I’d written a book called How to be a diva at public speaking. And diva wasn’t in that, as someone who’s a former chemist, I love a good equation. So diva was a little framework for people being dynamic, inspiring, valuable, and authentic every time they communicate. So that was the starting point for me. And I really thought that I would just stay with talking about communication skills. But then it was through a client, an American client. And they, when all this the Georgia boy thing happened and, and there was a lot more talk about diversity and inclusion. I’d really done my TEDx talk on empathy in the workplace. But I wasn’t really leveraging it. And the TEDx talk was out there. It wasn’t attracting a great deal of attention. But it was just sitting there, I’d had a couple of gigs I’ve gotten in India spoken to delight because of that TEDx. But it really hadn’t sort of taken off. But then I think what happened with this big push towards making workplaces more inclusive, there was suddenly a lot more interest in that topic of empathy in the workplace, how are people being treated, bring your whole self to work? And so one of my clients kind of said, well, you show that we think you’d be great for a referral to another business speaking on this topic. And I actually said, No, no, this, this isn’t for me. I actually gave them the email addresses from someone else in the area. I said, No, we really want you to come and do this. So it opened me up to speaking on diversity or empathy in the workplace. And it also opened me up to the US as well, because this was a client that was based in the US but didn’t just have an office in London. And it’s just it, I think, sometimes things happen, things unfold. And sometimes you’re resistant, because you’re thinking you’ve got a certain direction you’re going in, and then you think sometimes you just got to go with it. Because since I made that decision, and started to see that work, and really learn more on empathy. It’s, it’s been so busy, it’s just been, you know, my business has really taken off, which has been so great. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 9:21
And it’s what I find interesting is a lot of those things that come from your past, they’re really now kind of coming to their own now, in terms of sports in your work. I mean, the fact you’ve worked in America, you’ve lived and worked in America. Obviously, you’re from the UK, as well as you kind of got the European context. So you are able to speak to I know, technically we speak the same language, I think with America, but it’s someone who I’ve also lived with. You know, there’s a difference in terms of communication as well.
Shola Kaye 9:51
Absolutely, absolutely. And I think also from the diversity inclusion perspective, I mean, obviously American has a very unique history in terms of Slavery and so on and where they are now. And I think what tends to happen is when you’ve got a global company, and they are now virtual, they want speakers who can speak to their office in Singapore, India, USA all at once. And so sometimes I think having a bit more of a wider perspective on things. So having, as you say, live in the state in Europe, they really welcome that. Because then everybody’s being included, as opposed to just hearing one side of history and one perspective. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 10:33
So one thing, I’m interested in this diversity and inclusion offices, a huge area. Something I’ve always been intrigued by for people to speak in this area is how maybe a client initially might be coming to you. From the sense of Oh, yeah, we will be told, like we should be doing more of this. So it’s almost like a regulatory kind of tick box thing. And it’s not just diversity inclusion, there are lots of other topics like this. My wife speaks on ethics, as a topic and ethics can kind of fall into this thing. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, we say this, this is our value. So we should really be talking about it. But how do you move it from that place of being something that should be, you know, done a recut almost like, from a regulatory standpoint, as well, to something that is really about, like culture inspiring? And all that like lifting an entire organization? How do you take a client on that journey if they’re coming from one place?
Shola Kaye 11:31
Yeah, I mean, that’s a brilliant point. And I mean, just this morning, I was talking to a client that I do some work for, and they’d been assessing one of these, you know, CBT training, which literally takes years, you know, 20 minutes to take care of. And they said, Well, what do you think of the training, and I said, Well, you know, it ticks, the boxes, literally. However, if you’re trying to move hearts and minds, you can’t expect somebody to recall, you know, some sort of very, sort of cold sounding story that they saw in on the computer, and then use that, you know, day to day in terms of how they’re gonna make decisions, what they’re going to do with their colleagues, and so on. So if you really want to change hearts and minds, he ought to have at least some sort of human interaction, but it’s storytelling, possibly a sort of workshop aspect, or people sharing their own stories. Because what I’m finding, which is so great about virtual is, before speakers, you know, we’d be there doing our thing. And, you know, you could look at people’s faces and get people’s expressions. But in the chatbox, you can actually say, what do you think about this and in real-time you get people’s, you know, literal feedback. And so, I think, you know, in terms of utilizing that, while we also virtual, and getting people to share their own stories and communicate with each other, I think it’s, it’s, it’s invaluable. And I think it’s sharing, sharing the outcome of some of those sorts of situations where you’re running a keynote, or a series of keynotes or a workshop program, versus just that little, you know, we did our 30 minutes obligatory training, when people see the results of that, and they see how it can really change the culture, then typically, they also have into having a sort of longer program that’s more interactive. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 13:14
And tell us about how did you get those first paid professional speaking engagements? Where did they come from? What did they look like? How were they? What was your experience of them?
Paid Speaking Engagements
Shola Kaye 13:25
Yeah, it’s an interesting one, because I think it’s always hard at the beginning, you know, it gives you like, you just can’t do that really, while you just speak, wherever, you know, they’ll, there’s a place for people to speak. And for me that my TEDx really helped, because I’ve done a few, you know, quite low-paid gigs. And then I got this message from a place in India. And they were saying, Oh, well, our client wants you to come out and speak with empathy. You know, where’s that come from? And it turns out, it was Deloitte, who’d, someone had seen my TEDx in India, and then called, you know, wanted me to come out. So that was my first substantially well-paid speaking gig. And then of course, once you can say, I’ve done some work for Deloitte, you know, it kind of opens up more doors. And so I was getting more and more, but I think at the beginning, I mean, because I did some speaker training as well, I had that book, I was kind of hedging my bets, right. So I had some material out there for you to know, how to be a better communicator, as an individual or business owner. I had a bit of stuff out there for corporations as well. And I was just sort of waiting to see you know what we did, which, you know, hook the fish with a sort of bison if you like that if I use that analogy correctly. But, but, um, but anyway, so So yeah, it just turned out for me. I thought that the coach, you know, the expert coach route would move quicker, but for some reason, the corporation was working for me. And so, when I think after I got this, this first one from Deloitte, I got contacted by a big dental company, they wanted me to do some work for them. And it just kind of slowly, slowly, slowly started growing from there. And so then I started realizing Okay, We cater more to my corporate audience than to my individual and entrepreneur audience. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 15:05
And do you find you are doing mostly work within corporates, as opposed to associations going to in the US? The association markets are a really big market for a lot of speakers but says that you’re more focused on the corporate side.
Finding Leads
Shola Kaye 15:17
Yes, it has worked out that way. And I think not by design, necessarily, but I just haven’t got some big campaigns together yet for the association market. And because of having worked in the States, years ago, I’d really wanted to somehow speak business to the USA, and I guess COVID, it’s been harsh for some people. And it’s been an opportunity for others. Because everything went virtual, it meant that I could very easily speak to clients in the USA without them having to fly me and do this and that. And so I ran some LinkedIn campaigns, where I was doing LinkedIn outreach and got a few clients that way, and made sure that the campaigns were going out to the USA as well as the UK. I also got, I think I did some Google advertising. And I got a few clients that way. And then what’s been really great, it’s been referrals. So one client in particular, who’s ahead of HR, she’s, I think she’s part of some sort of HR circle of the HR rose. And she’s just been brilliant at referring to me. And just literally, I didn’t get yesterday for 1000 people and they didn’t tell me it was a referral from her. And then at the end, they said, Oh, well, you know, actually, you know, since they referred us, so I think sometimes if you can get a champion who really likes your work that can go a long way as well. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 16:35
I’m James Taylor, keynote speaker, and speaker business coach, and this is the SpeakersU podcast. If you enjoy listening to conversations that will help you launch and grow your speaking business faster than you thought possible. Then you’ve come to the right place. Each week we discuss marketing strategies, sales techniques, as well as ideas to increase the profitability of your speaking business and develop your craft. You’ll find show notes for today’s episode, as well as free speaker business training at SpeakersU.com. If you enjoyed learning about our guest today, then check out my interview with top speaker of your agent Andrew vine, where he shares his insights on the future of virtual and hybrid events. Hear my conversation with Andrew vine of the insight bureau at SpeakersU.com. After the break, we returned to my interview with show lucky where we discussed her experience of speaking at hybrid events. This week’s episode is sponsored by SpeakersU the online community for international speakers, which helps you launch, grow, and monetize your speaking business faster than you thought possible. If you want to share your message as a highly paid speaker, then speakers you will teach you how just go to SpeakersU.com to access their free speaker of business training, to tell me that that process with the HR person within referring you to peers in her industry was as was a defining thing that you really you went with a specific asked to that person or was that just a case of she’d seen you you’d work doing some work for her company, or his company. And then it was just a case of You’re so brilliant at doing that that you wanted to refer to yourself.
Shola Kaye 18:06
Yeah, luckily me, you know, it was the latter, because she’d done a couple of bits for her. They were really happy. And again, it was about interactivity, because they It was a global client, their head office in Switzerland, they’ve got an office in Boston, and across Europe. And they’d had a speaker that was very focused on the American market, and it hadn’t quite worked for Europe. So they wanted someone who kind of straddled the different areas. And so I came in and did a session, then they wanted another one and another one. And in the meantime, she was referring me on so yeah, I mean, I do want to get into a place, a sort of more defined referral program, but I’m not there yet. So that’s one of the things I need to work on. Thanks for the reminder, James. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 18:48
I mean, the other thing I was gonna ask is your topic, the speaker on, you know, around empathy and diversity and inclusion. It lends itself very well to multi-month programs, larger programs, rather than just the keynotes. So you mentioned earlier there, you’re doing keynotes, you’re doing workshops, I think maybe you mentioned there’s some coaching kind of going on there as well as mine I think, so what makes you excited to do this kind of larger programs now a mix of these?
Workshops
Shola Kaye 19:16
Yeah, I mean, it’s such a good point. Because of the amount of work that you do to sell in one keynote, you might as well do a little bit extra to sell in six months worth of programs. So I created a series I guess called the empathy to equity blueprint. And ideally what it does is it kicks off with this empathy at work, keynote because empathy is something that touches all aspects of, of the working life. Know from customer service, innovation and creativity. You know, it’s very, very broad. And then from there, taking it to sessions on things like unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, even things like communication, asking for what you want. Delivering feedback with empathy means these are everyday occurrences in the working workplace, but they can be done so much better. So I kind of sell the empathy in as this envisions the red carpet that all your other initiatives can sort of sit on top of, and be so much more successful if people can start with this attitude of empathy. And I’m finding that quite often you get a client that says, Yeah, we want a senior leadership session, as well as something for our sort of people on the ground, or we want something for management, as well as for sort of the teams. So it’s kind of working well, in that respect, I kind of can push it a little bit more, but yeah, I do agree with the wider approach. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 20:41
I think, you know, what, what you were talking about there as well as I was having a conversation just before we started recording with another speaker. And he’s very well known for building these very large programs for big corporate clients. And, you know, the average sales process is going to be between six to 18 months. Some of these clients, I mean, it’s like very, so it’s, but they usually have multi-year types of deals. And simply what you find like, how do you get that, you know, that level of buy-in from a client because that level is really the CEO, the C suite is making the decision. And sometimes it’s then going up to board level as well, because of the spending requirements. And he said, “ I’m not there to come in, talk to you about just this particular Talk, I’m there to make a change, organizational culture, change your organizational culture, I think was the way they expressed it. So it wasn’t just teaching skills, soft skills, or anything like that. It was a cultural change. And he said, once you start moving your organization towards thinking about that, he said, It elevates the whole thing. The whole discussion then moves up, because you’re now talking about the DNA of that organization, not just individual kinds of tactics as well. So I would say I’m really excited to get to know your SpeakersU member, it’s been great just watching you, as you’ve been going on this journey. And I think maybe when you came in initially to speak as you were just pre COVID, I think possibly. And we were talking about waste, like really, building especially the American market, but it was great now with Virgil if you’re building the American bucket for yourself, which is fantastic to see you actually have a real impact upon the culture of organizations in that country as well. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
Shola Kaye 22:33
Yeah, it’s amazing. And I think that’s a tough thing with COVID. Because it just sits there so indiscriminately, in a way that its different businesses. And as somebody who I guess I’m still singing part-time when COVID hit, so I was doing a bit of singing for the speaking. And obviously, the whole sort of music, live music thing just completely tanked. So it forced me to go all-in on speaking. And I just thought, Well, okay, this is the time Listen, this virtual window won’t be open for very long. So if I can establish myself, to the extent that people would, you know, the new after COVID, maybe fly me out there or continue to work with me virtually, or doing hybrid events, I was thinking, Well, you know, that you’ve got a limited time to make this happen. So they really did force me to move a bit faster than I typically would my typical snail, – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 23:22
snail’s pace. But it’s great, because whereas things are starting to open up Now, obviously, America’s you know, very strongly in lead towards opening up as a market. And obviously, in the UK, all those clients, you’ve been building, all those virtual programs are going to want you to come now and travel to the global offices and their global conferences. So your, your position, you really position yourself in a very strong way for the future. And, and, you know, and I think also the topic of empathy, and diversity inclusion, because the thing I was always interested in is, this is a topic I speak on, as you know, on creativity. And I remember talking to Sally Hogshead, a great speaker before and she said, you know, you know what’s there between creativity speakers and innovation speakers, and she said about $10,000 because creativity speakers, the I think the average fee at that point for creativity speakers, about $10,000 per keynote innovation speakers about $20,000. And I remember seeing that and actually kind of went against us and more No, I’m really more passionate about creativity, I guess innovation, so that’s I’m gonna stay with us even though it might not be the best financial decision, but actually, it’s kind of worked out pretty well. But the diversity inclusion I heard a number the other day from and this is not a well known particular speaker, but she speaks on this topic. She has a background in a well-known company as being ahead of I think diversity inclusion in that particular organization. And her keynote fee now is I think $100,000 for a keynote fee. So it is amazing just seeing now that not only is this topic becoming more Important organizations, but they’re putting their money where their mouth is. And they’re actually starting to kind of invest in it. So you’re a singer and your speaker, any, anything that’s been useful from your years of singing that you’ve been able to bring forward into your new speaking profession?
Shola Kaye 25:18
Yeah, I think the ability to multitask has been really helpful. And it’s funny because I did a hybrid speaking gig. I think just last week, I was thinking I wouldn’t do any live speaking until face to face till 2022. And then suddenly, I get called in to go to London and do a hybrid. And it was interesting because time went more slowly face to face than it does in the virtual environment. And I was thinking, why is that? And I realized that when you’re doing virtual, you’ve got so many other considerations, you know, on top of just speaking to the audience, and when I used to do singing when I did a lot of solo gigs, I did some band gigs, I did some use me my backing track, and my PA. And so I’d be at some event and you know, be singing the song thinking of what to choose next. There’d be a drunk person with that sort of glass of Guinness, hanging around my Bose PA system about to spill their Guinness on the PA. So if you’re watching them, then there’d be someone at the bar, say, Oh, can you just announce the last orders before? So I’ll be watching somebody who Oh, they, they were dancing them, in fact down what’s wrong with the music. So there are all these conversations and considerations going on at the same time when you’re performing. And what I found is that when I started speaking, virtually, because I like to be incredibly interactive, I like to have the chat box open. So while I’m speaking, I’m monitoring people’s comments, reading out a few comments in the chat, making sure that, you know, everything’s kind of working with all the tech. So I found that that just keeps me really busy. So I think I was able to bring some of those multitasking skills from singing and performing to working in the virtual environment. And I think that’s why if you say the live gig felt so much slower, still enjoyable, the face-to-face gig, but compared to the toe is just written a comment Oh, like a berry things that employees really do. And then reading out and then going to the next slide. So I think that you know, I do love that sort of thrill of all the things going on at the same time. So even when we do go face to face, I will want to keep a substantial component of virtual speaking in my business. Sure, – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 27:30
have you weaved your speaking, speak apart, but also the single part of you into your speaking programs now because I think about this, this topic of empathy. Right? I often when I think about empathy, I’m thinking about listening as well as an active kind of listening. And obviously, as a singer, one of your things is you’re listening cuz you’re listening, what’s going on in that line? Like, what’s that lyric mean? How do I want to interpret that lyric? So are you starting now at now? So I think like diversity as well, you think like these great choirs, when you’ve got different voices, doing different things, seeing different things, you’ve got the bass and you got the tenors, and you’ve got the sopranos and the mezzo-soprano is wherever. And so it can build something that’s much bigger than individual, you know, parts, or you started weaving any of your singers into your SpeakersU
Shola Kaye 28:19
You know, it happens. And it’s quite funny because I often speak to places that are very technical. But for example, I worked with the Space Telescope Science Institute last week. And I think sometimes when they’ll read my bio, they’ll drop the bit about music and singing because they feel like it’s not relevant to the speaking opportunity. So it’s something that I’m thinking about, you know, how can I weave that in? And I think those are great ideas. And it’s, it’s the sort of doing it for the right audience at the right time who are open, open to hearing that. So yeah, I’ll have to have a mull over what you’ve just said, James, and see if I can incorporate it. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 28:55
So what is next for sure, where do you see your career going over the next kind of year or so
Shola Kaye 29:03
What I’d really love to do is, as you talked about, you know, having these packages that go over six months or a year even, and just getting deep into very large organizations that can keep using me with different audiences, different initiatives. So I definitely like to do that. I’m also wanting to do a lot more of the big keynotes. So I’m going to be approaching some of the associations, international ones, and us ones as well to just get the name out there. And also empathy is such an important topic. And I think with DNI, there are still some people that say, Oh, well, we’ve got you to know, we’ve been doing DNI, we’ve got this about the other, but I think empathy is a kind of fresh angle on it. So I think there’s still a lot of opportunities to help people, you know, with their relationships, to inspire them to listen better, to be less indifferent to what’s going on around them. And yeah, so you know, I’m really, really excited to be part of it. To be honest about what’s coming up in the future. Well, it’s – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 30:03
It has been an absolute pleasure coaching you as well as working with you, it’s been fantastic just watching, like some of you that really, you know, we’ll be sharing, we’ll be working on something and then you can immediately go and do it and actually make it happen. And then watching the results from that as well. You mentioned Google ads, things that LinkedIn campaigns, outreach campaigns you’ve been doing. So I’m so excited to just kind of watch your CareerLink bills now. And I’m looking forward to maybe, maybe I could be your warm-up on one of those big stages that we get to do in the future?
Shola Kaye 30:35
Wouldn’t that be amazing? But yeah, we’ll see what happens. The great thing I was just gonna say it’s been great being part of SpeakersU as well. And, you know, I really love the way you package the information. It’s very, very easy for people to absorb. And, you know, it seems like you’re very prescient in terms of the topics that you choose. So I know that coming up, you’ve got one on selling, you know, big packages, which I’ll be I’ll be in the front row there, James, this – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 31:02
this week, we haven’t been to the coast. I’ve actually been writing that today, actually. So we’ve got a whole training on how to do those larger multi-month deals, and hopefully, it’s not going to take as much as six to 18 months to close some of these deals. What are some ways to maybe shorten that time frame for, for anyone. So Shola, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Where’s the best place for people to go to learn more about your speaking programs and to connect with you?
Shola Kaye 31:28
Wonderful, well, I’m on LinkedIn. Shola Kaye, if you are interested in empathy, I have a really handy little download that you can use, which is called preparing for empathy, which is it’s got some very easy strategies that you can put in place to be more effective. And so if you go to sholakaye.com/empathynow, then you can download that and really get in on the empathy game. – Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
James Taylor 31:54
Wonderful. We’re going to put all those show notes on all those links on the show notes at SpeakersU Shola thank you so much for coming on today. And I wish you all the best in the future of your speaking career.
Shola Kaye 32:03
Thanks so much, James. It’s brilliant. Thank you Take care. You can
James Taylor 32:07
subscribe to the SpeakersU podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts while you’re there. leave us a review. I really appreciate it. I’m James Taylor, and you’ve been listening to the SpeakersU podcast.
– Top Keynote Speaker On Diversity And Inclusion
