Episode #453

The Power of Vulnerability: How Sharing Your Story Can Be Your Superpower

With Brittany Richmond

Brittany Richmond is an experienced volleyball coach and counselor. She’s also an uplifting speaker and influencer who inspires teens to manage their anxiety and overcome stigma around mental illness. Our favorite part? She’s a coach for us here at The Speaker Lab. This week on Episode 453 of The Speaker Lab podcast, she shares how she speaks about incredibly vulnerable topics in a relatable and sensitive way.

Brittany already had a lot of experience working with students, so her story offers great insight into knowing when you can make a more impact as a speaker than one-on-one. Her own experience as a youth with crippling anxiety that was invisible to even her closest loved ones informs her message about proactively evolving through mental illness to live a thriving and fulfilled life. While she normally shares her message with teens, today she’s sharing it with you too–if you’re an aspiring speaker who struggles with anxiety, Brittany’s story is sure to give you a confidence boost.

Speaking to the youth market is a difficult task–making money, finding your niche, and marketing yourself all come with a special set of challenges. Brittany has really mastered the delicate balance of relatability and relevance. While she offers hope, she also offers tactical steps that leave her listeners feeling better equipped to deal with her struggles. On the show, you’ll hear how she keeps her niche narrow so she can better serve her audience. Perhaps most powerfully, Brittany explains why she tailors her message to the person she once was–the anxious teen who just needed to hear “you’re not alone.”

You’ll also learn all about:

  • How to be vulnerable without oversharing
  • Strategies for connection and engagement with a younger audience
  • How TSL’s SPEAK framework gave Brittany her roadmap to speaking success
  • Why COVID has resulted in a greater demand for mental health speakers
  • How alignment with your purpose defeats insecurity about your speaker qualifications
  • When it’s time to let your intuition guide what you say onstage
  • …and so much more!

Want to know exactly how to find and book more paid speaking gigs?

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About Brittany Richmond

Brittany Richmond is an energetic, charismatic communicator and a mental health expert of 10+ years. Right after high school, Brittany was diagnosed with multiple anxiety disorders (including an impulse control disorder) which led her into the field of counseling and psychology. From there, she has made it her mission to not only end the stigma, but “hug as many young people hurting” as she can with her story and her voice.

Brittany uses her own battle with mental health to inspire students, but most importantly, let them know that they are not alone; and that there is help and hope. When Brittany shares her life with anxiety, she tells compelling, relatable stories from what peer pressure was like, people-pleasing, even social anxiety which led to her being a 2x college drop out. She says, what changed her life in her own mental health battle was learning to lean into the things that brought her joy, which led to strong offensive coping strategies and creating structure in her daily routine. Brittany’s energy and knowledge instantly draws students in as she creates a safe place to be vulnerable and compassionate – to connect with students and help them start to build, develop and implement proactive coping strategies.

Brittany is a sought after teen mental health speaker and youth anxiety expert. She has given presentations across the country at conferences, conventions, school assemblies, and other student events.While Brittany does love speaking and inspiring students, she loves her husband and cats even more! She also loves rockin’ out in her vintage band tees and sequins while listening to 80s hair bands. If she’s not riding on her Peloton, you might find her at a St Louis Cardinals game, drinking coffee at a local coffee shop, or binge watching Christmas Movies or Gilmore Girls on her couch – she lovingly calls herself, a “hot-mess express, in a good way!” She lives in Green Valley, Illinois with her husband Zach and cat Missy. She can be reached through her Instagram at @thebrittanyrichmond or website www.brittanyrichmond.com

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