When I was six, I emceed the kindergarten talent show. If I close my eyes, I can go right back to that day and feel myself standing up at the edge of the stage, overlooking a dark gymnasium full of grinning parents in folding chairs. Instead of feeling nervous, I felt emboldened and purposeful.
After each act, I would march in my saddle shoes up to the microphone, applauding, and enthusiastically praise my classmates for their inspiring jump-roping or magnificent piano solos. I had volunteered for the job and took it very seriously. At one point, I caught my teacher, sweet Mrs. Dallman at stage left, stifling a giggle during one of my introductions. I didn’t know then that a six-year-old girl channeling Dick Clark probably was pretty funny to watch. But it was such a blast, I could have gone on for hours. I adored the chance to boost my friends’ confidence, pump up the crowd and soak up a bit of the spotlight myself. My whole six-year-old body was buzzing – like I was tapping into an amazing energy source – and I remember it lingering for hours after.
Today, I feel like I’m right back in those saddle shoes – peeking through the velvet curtains, buzzing with excitement.
I’m unveiling something so big for me and so big for you today: my proprietary Star Mapping System – a one-on-one coaching program for artists, authors and advisors who feel ready to expand their visibility, reap the rewards and light up the world. And the kindergartener inside me is jumping for joy. Really, friends, I’m all choked up over it.
After many years of working in media + marketing, I ditched corporate life in 2007 to launch my own creative biz, hellbent on leaving the communications career behind and making my living as an artist, blogger, speaker + radio host… dedicated to helping people choose to see the beauty in everything. And overall, it’s been wonderful.
But along the way, something happened that I had not planned: creative, compassionate entrepreneurs started coming out of the woodwork, asking for help defining their talents, finding their voice and promoting their work. Artists. Bloggers. Therapists. Designers. I ignored the requests for a while…then slowly started saying yes. yes. yes. And every time I got to help someone tap into her inner superstar, my heart thumped and my body buzzed.
So I started creating things on the side, just to satisfy the requests and keep my heart thumping. I launched a blogging ecourse. And a PR ecourse. And The Limelight Letters. And all the while, behind the scenes, I’ve been quietly mentoring + coaching friends…and friends of friends…and total strangers who asked for a map to find their way.
And then, in December, I ran into an old friend – one I’d (quietly) coached a year before. She grabbed my hands, looked me in the eyes and told me she knew others I was helping – and then said this: “I’m so excited for you. It’s like you’ve found your true calling.” Her words took my breath away. I felt dizzy, like my head couldn’t keep up with my thumping heart. Days before, I’d been thumbing through Parker Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak, and had read his wisdom about the word “vocation” – which is rooted in the Latin word for “voice.” He writes,
“Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.”
And there it was – needing a nudge from a friend to show me that a big piece of my true calling had been tugging at my heartstrings all along. I’d been so busy helping others listen to their lives – that I’d forgotten to listen to my own. So today, I’m formally unveiling The Star Mapping System – an approach to self-promotion and self-worth that I’ve been preparing for months, years, my whole life.
Turns out all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.
