Today we’d like to introduce you to Yvonne Armenta.
Yvonne, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born and raised in San Francisco, CA to a beautiful, hustler of a mom from Tarimoro, Guanajuato, Mexico. It’s because of her hard work and determination that I am who I am and where I am today, truly. I don’t know how she raised three children all on her own! I’m the oldest of 3 siblings and the first in my family to graduate with a Bachelor’s in Media Studies & Native American Studies from UC Berkeley and a Masters of Business Administration from San Jose State University.
My deepest passion is helping people, especially the Latinx community, love the art of public speaking. It’s not only the most transferable skillet, but it also guides us in a journey of learning, unlearning, and cultivating who we are and how we want to show up in the world. This is why I started the Chats with Yvonne podcast where we dive deep into the art of public speaking taking a culturally affirming approach to learn how we’re already incredible public speakers because it’s a part of our cultura.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When I started my public speaking journey, I felt like I didn’t fit in. When given the opportunity to go on stage, I felt like I needed to be more of the assimilated version of myself, rather than the person that my mom, my friends, and even many of my teachers knew. I was being invited to be a keynote speaker to various conferences and I was navigating this new world for the first time, with little guidance on how to actually do it well because I knew no one else from my community doing it. No one who looked like me sounded like me, had a similar upbringing.
Though I was having to figure out my style, my voice, and how to make my imposter syndrome shut up, on my own, I found that I actually really loved public speaking because it made me feel empowered. So, I started taking it seriously. I wanted to learn absolutely everything I could about the art and how to be better. Everywhere I looked, I saw examples of “how to be a great public speaker” or “public speaking hacks” from people that looked nothing like me or weren’t a part of my culture and couldn’t relate to my lived experiences or cultural ways of storytelling. I struggled a lot with feeling that I needed to speak a certain way, use bigger words that made me sound smart, not move my hands so much because it made me look “clownish” (this is real feedback I’ve gotten by the way!), all which neglected the beautiful parts of my culture that impact how I show up as a public speaker. I speak in the ways that I know I’ll connect with my audience. I use words that feel good to me. And, I use my hands to express myself because that’s what’s familiar and effective in my culture.
We need more voices from our Latinx communities on stages across all industries and my way of making sure that that happens is through my platform: Chats with Yvonne.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have worked in the fields of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Events Marketing, Learning & Development, and found my sweet spot in Communications.
When I reflect on my story as a public speaker, my journey starts way before any of the keynote presentations I’ve done. I have always been considered to be pretty shy and quiet. At least that’s how others perceived me. Yet, I found myself being energized & empowered when I went on a stage. In elementary school, I was the MC for many of our cultural events, I was the Spanish-speaking MC for our graduation, and I loved performing in San Francisco’s Carnival every year. These were opportunities for me to break from that shy and quiet persona, into who I actually was, a beautiful combination of it all. Later, I found out that I’m actually just an introvert, with extroverted tendencies. So, an ambivert.
My “official” public speaking journey started in high school. Every semester we had a presentation that showcased the projects we worked on throughout, that led to our ‘benchmark portfolio defenses’ Sophomore and Senior year. The presentations were a form of assessment that determined whether we had learned what we needed to learn, but it was so much more than that for me. This is where I truly began cultivating my love for the art of public speaking and dissecting my experiences with it. I was then given the opportunity to talk about my educational experiences as a keynote speaker at multiple conferences. The experience of standing in front of a crowd of 1k+ people, made me dig deep to understand my strengths and shortcomings in the art. I always say I learned by doing and jumping right into it. I figured out the techniques that worked for me and that’s why I talk about public speaking today.
I am a Public Speaking Creative that loves public speaking and wants to help you love it too. I aim to ‘humanize’ the public speaking experience and make it less scary for people by communicating tips and tricks in a relatable, heartfelt, and funny way.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Speaking generally, being an introvert and a risk-taker at the same time, may not make sense. I tend to overthink a lot of things in my life, down to whether I should have included that last exclamation point or if it should have been a period instead. But here’s the thing, every time I’ve taken a risk, I’ve been rewarded with an incredible outcome.
I took the risk of navigating a world that I knew nothing about; college. I received my Bachelor’s and went on to receive a Master’s. I had no idea if people would want to learn about public speaking or even care to learn from me. I launched my platform and now help people 1:1 and in workshops become even better public speakers. I had no idea what moving to a new city all on my own with no acquaintances would be, and yet I am having one of the best times of my life and meeting incredible people.
I wouldn’t consider myself an avid risk-taker, but every time I’m met with a decision that is scary, I understand that it means I’m upgrading. I’ll share my very own and very personal affirmation with you. I always tell myself: Yvonne, Ponte Perra. And like magic, I go for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://snipfeed.co/chatswithyvonne
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chatswithyvonne_/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5nyRbYpRrQZcvcKkk0Ozqg
