Speaking Your Brand: Public Speaking Tips and Strategies 234: How to Create Content Using Your Authentic Voice with Ashleigh Rennie
The best way to describe this episode is to share what my guest, copywriter Ashleigh Rennie, wrote when she scheduled our podcast interview:
“When I was growing up in South Africa, the country was in the darkest days of the Apartheid. It was the 80s. Nelson Mandela had been in jail for twenty years. We were on the verge of a civil war. My parents were liberals who voted for democracy. And I was making speeches at school about social injustice, equality and marginalisation, and why Apartheid was wrong.
“Then I went to work for a non-profit, The Foundation for Tolerance Education, and I held workshops and made speeches about Apartheid, the Holocaust, and what it means to be a victim, a perpetrator, and a bystander.
“I'm passionate about being vocal about what you believe in. It's everything to me. It's a huge part of my business and my work as a copywriter. For me it’s feminism, human rights, animal rights, black lives matter, issues of privilege. I want my clients to find their voice and be unapologetic about putting it out there. But I also want my own voice to resonate with people.”
As soon as I read this, I couldn’t wait to interview Ashleigh!
Ashleigh and I talk about:
- Her background growing up in Apartheid South Africa
- How her early experiences influenced what she does now
- The importance of finding your authentic voice and weaving it into your business and your brand, in your copy and in your marketing
- Creating content that makes people fall in love with you because you're a little bit in love with yourself
About My Guest: Ashleigh Rennie runs The Story Team, her copywriting business. Her mission is to empower female entrepreneurs to embrace their authentic voice and weave it into their business, creating consistent branding and copy that converts. She works with female entrepreneurs from South Africa to New Zealand, from India to South Korea, from the UK to the USA, helping them with badass brand voice and copy tips. She is an unapologetic vegan who started her business from her car while working as a care worker. She swears too much, is far too loud, is working more and more on not caring too much about what other people think, and she wants to tell her story so that it may help other women to find their power.
About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.
Links:
Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/234
Ashleigh’s website: https://www.thestoryteam.org/
7 of the Greatest Public Speakers (really, no women?!?): https://bigthink.com/stephen-johnson/7-of-the-greatest-public-speakers-in-history
A more balanced list of great speeches: https://blog.wsb.com/powerful-lessons-for-speakers-from-15-great-orators
Get on the interest list for our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/.
Connect on social:
- Carol on LinkedIn = https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox
- Carol on Instagram= https://www.instagram.com/carolmorgancox
- SYB on YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS7AtXV0f_HL09mepAON65w
- Ashleigh on LinkedIn = https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleigh-rennie/
- Ashleigh on Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/thestoryteamldn/
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