Meet Minna Taylor, a Communication Coach and the Founder of Energize Your Voice, who believes that confidence is the greatest resource for changing someone’s life.
Minna Taylor discovered her purpose in life after a series of ups and downs, but now that she has it set straight, she is helping others realize and live theirs through her establishment – Energize Your Voice. This actress-turned-teacher mentors individuals and organizations to leverage the power of authenticity and storytelling to instill a greater sense of confidence and high performance in how they pursue their path and passion.
Minna had a healthy childhood. She believes that she owes her success to her father who inspired her to excel in her academics and think about her future meaningfully, in terms of passion and not just money. Her childhood and the holistic environment of the farm she grew up in made her notice her acting skills. She reminisces, “My sisters were my playmates. We would go on long adventures through the fields and play make-believe with our costume chest.”
Minna has been trained to be an actress and has a Master’s degree in acting. She was an actress in NYC for several years and took up several jobs like walking dogs, cleaning houses, and teaching kickboxing to support her acting career that she was so passionate about. She was happy with her acting career when her long-term relationship ended after a series of tragic events. When others would have been devastated, Minna decided to review her life. She got upset to see how “dimmed” her light had become, and finally took some time off and went on a soul-search to discover her authentic self and purpose. Minna knew that acting was her passion but soon realized that teaching was the purpose of her life. Soon, she would merge the two to find her communication firm, Energize Your Voice – her true calling!
Minna believes, “All humans have universal experiences of fear and desire. We seek to be seen and heard. We all yearn for a feeling of belonging.” It is this belief and the desire to help people express themselves and optimize their potential that makes her grow every day. She has strong faith in education and the equity that comes with it and dreams of a world where everyone has equal chances. To convert this dream into reality, she has come up with a program called “Buy 1 Give 1“, wherein she gifts half a day of the training session in the skills of public speaking, presentation, and storytelling to a non-profit for every corporate program sold. This helps the non-profits increase their capacity, help and support more people, and increase the impact they have on the community. In turn, corporate sign-ups have increased because of this opportunity to support a local community just by enrolling in her program. Thus, a “social impact layer” is created that propagates the concept of equity.
Minna is satisfied with her endeavor now, but her journey was not without obstacles. Hailing from an acting background, Minna had no formal business education. She elaborates, “Early on, the biggest challenge was my complete lack of basic business knowledge. It was a steep learning curve and a long process of trial and error with a lot of question-asking.” Success is a continuous hustle, and even when she has found her foot, she has to work hard for growth and sustainability, especially in this Covid era. Discretionary budgets on learning and development are not a priority for precarious markets. Thus, developing a strong case in her organization’s favor and impressing clients with analytics around the efficacy of her programming is of prime importance. Talking about her strategy in the remote work culture, she says, “We utilize play and acting techniques, which is exactly what is needed right now for remote work. It offers a respite from the heaviness of the world as well as empowers employees to engage creatively and strategically in how they approach their work. It leads to a re-embodiment of speaking and leadership presence.”
She believes in the impeccable powers of practice. To quote Minna, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes it possible. Perfection doesn’t exist in the realm of human behavior. Seeking perfection is a losing venture. Striving for possibility leaves you open to discovering what incredible wonders lie beyond the boundary of perfection and help you discover what you are truly capable of becoming.”