Interview: Michael E. Lara MD

Michael E. Lara MD Michael E. Lara, MD maintains a private psychiatry and psychopharmacology practice in Belmont, California, where he specializes in the treatment of mood, anxiety, and memory disorders.

He earned his undergraduate and masterʼs degrees at Stanford University and Harvard University respectively, then his doctorate of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. Dr. Lara completed his residency training in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University Hospital and Clinics. Dr. Lara is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. Lara has been the recipient of several research awards in the areas of cross-cultural psychiatry, including the University of New Mexicoʼs Annual Award for Best Original Research in the Area of Cross-Cultural Psychiatry (2001). He has participated in several key clinical trials, as well as served as an invited presenter at numerous national and international medical conferences. He is the principal author of “Understanding the Role of Culture on Treatment Adherence” in the comprehensive textbook, Best Practices in the Behavioral Management of Chronic Disease.

Pro-Track Profile

Dr. Lara signed up for the the Northern California National Speakers Association (NSA) Pro-Track training this year.

You can reach Dr. Lara at 650-592-1229 or on his website www.mlaramd.com.

To hear what he told me about how his medical interests fit with professional speaking and his expectations about the 2009 NSA/NC Pro-Track program, click on the podcast icon below.

Interview: Catherine Athans – Manifesting Dreams

Dr. Catherine Atherns Catherine Athans, Doctor of Clinical Psychology, is the author of several well-received books. She is a frequent guest lecturer on topics, which enable people to improve the quality of their lives. The recipient of several humanitarian awards, she is the founder of the Morgan Manor Foundation. Morgan manor donates to and supports the working poor in Santa Clara County, California. Dr. Athans wrote Make Your Dreams Come True Now! to supplement her series of lecturers entitled, How to Manifest Your Wishes, Dreams and Desires

Make Your Dreams Come True Now!  Book CoverMake Your Dreams Come True Now! supports our journey of discovery in terms of:

  • Let go the lies – distinguish face from fiction.
  • Get back on the path to love.
  • Benefit from great teachers’ principles.
  • Learn universal principles that operate just under the surface of life.
  • Grow in your family relationships and have more satisfying social relationships.
  • Find the healing power in your words.
  • Re-establish hope for your life.
  • Gain the life that God – the Source – meant for you to have.

In 2003, Catherine was a delegate to the global Peace Initiative for Women at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. There she lectured on How to Teach Children Peaceful Means of Communication.

She can be reached at catherine@angelsisland.com

Pro-Track Profile

To hear her discuss her book and experience with the NSA/NC Pro-Track Program, click on the podcast icon below.

Interview: Cindy Light – Image Consultant

Shining Spirit

Cindy Light 12 years ago, Cindy Light emigrated from her native China to America not knowing a single person or how to speak a word of English. All she had were four simple things: one small suitcase, two hard working hands and a heart filled with American dreams. Today, she is a successful entrepreneur, a certified image consultant, a professional speaker, and the author of an upcoming book about Chinese culture and its business impact.

Chinese background

Cindy graduated at age 19 from Beijing University. She started her career as an assistant professor of philosophy in Hangzhou Business University. Then she become a marketing and PR director for a big company in Hong Kong. Later, she was hand-picked by the Chinese Government to be a policy consultant helping foreigners set up their business in China.

Life in the United States

Despite her impressive accomplishments in China, setting out in the U.S. not knowing a word of English was not easy. However, while growing up with her grandmother, a master-tailor in Shanghai, she learned how to sew and design clothes when she was only five years old.

In 1999, she started her first business “Cindy’s Sewing and Design Studio” at her home in Atlanta. She designed and hand-crafted suits, dresses, home decor and even matching outfits for people and their dogs! Her work quickly attracted discerning people in the South-East.

Next, with improving English skills, she started to teach sewing, design and dress-making classes in local fabric stores. Soon, she was invited by clubs, corporations, and organizations to teach people how to dress right for their business and personal life. She had a flair for suggesting how to put together a powerful, beautiful and professionally appropriate wardrobe without spending a fortune.

In 2007, Cindy was hired as a speaker for the Association of Image Consultants International Conference on the topic of Chinese culture and it’s business impact. She now plans a book on this topic.

Pro-Track Profile

Following her success as a speaker, Cindy found the National Speakers Association website.

In early 2008, she flew to San Francisco and attended an NSA/NC chapter meeting. She signed up for the Pro-Track program and commuted to the next three meetings from her home in Atlanta before relocating to Sausalito.

To here what she told me about her image consulting business and her three tips for Professional Speakers on how to dress for maximum impact, click on the podcast icon below.

(Cindy Light is a certified image consultant, professional speaker, and author of an upcoming book about Chinese culture and it’s business impact. She can be reached at 415-889-9399 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              415-889-9399      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or via email at LittleBigSmile@aol.com)

Interview: Lauren Mayer – Humorist

Lauren MayerLauren Mayer is a humorist and songwriter who started piano lessons at 3 and started writing song parodies and funny songs shortly thereafter. (She needed to do something – she was a liberal Jewish kid in Orange County!) A die-hard high school debater, she graduated from Yale intending to go into politics via law school, but after taking a year off to explore theater writing in New York, she found her calling in cabaret and comedy music. She eventually moved to San Francisco to meet straight men, got involved in the once-thriving cabaret scene here (where her biggest challenge was convincing audiences she was a real woman, not a minimalist drag queen), and began writing special material for other singers, then private parties and corporate events.

Lauren worked for over 15 years with a partner, writing, producing and performing corporate theater for clients including Hewlett Packard, Wells Fargo, the California Funeral Directors and a convention of gynecologists, among others. When 9-11 wiped out most of their travel incentive business and her partner left the industry, Lauren worked as a vocal/performance coach and songwriter, releasing a comedy album, until her album led to a couple of gigs as a solo humorist, and voila, another speaker was born.

Pro-Track Profile

Lauren signed up for the the Northern California National Speakers Association (NSA) Pro-Track training this year to learn about the marketing and business end of promoting herself as a humorist – last time she did any marketing was before the internet, so it’s definitely a new world.

When Lauren isn’t at Pro-Track or entertainin audiences, she is a frazzled, sleep-deprived mom of 3 boys, ages 12, 15 and 42 (okay, one is her husband), and she recently released her second comedy album, “Return Of Psycho Super Mom.”

You can reach Lauren (and hear her songs and read her comedy blog) at www.laurenmayer.com.

To hear her tips on how to be funny on the platform, and what not to say to a bald CEO, click on the podcast icon below.

Interview: Dan Moirao – MBTI guru

Dan MoiraoThis month’s Pro-Track profile podcast features an experienced Myers-Briggs expert.

Dan Moirao is an educator of students — from kindergarten through working professionals. He has served as a classroom teacher, site and district administrator in a variety of school settings ranging from rural, to urban and suburban, representing every level of the socio-economic spectrum. His devotion to the importance of the learning and teaching process has been evident throughout his career.

Today, Dan is very much a traveling consultant. While he lives in Danville, with his wife Anita of 29 years, he finds himself traveling to Kentucky, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia and Minnesota and beyond.

Dan’s passion and work is a style model — the Myers-Briggs. While he started and continues to work with teachers on instructional strategies to increase student achievement, Dan has found his work shift organizational development. He has learned is that professional development for the “workers” isn’t the end — the organization and the systems that propel it are also important.

To hear what he told me about his work with Myers-Briggs and the value he finds in the National Speakers Association Pro-Track program, click on the podcast icon below.

You can contact Dan at TrDan@aol.com

Interview: Hank Brigman – Touchpoint Guru (redux)

Hank BrigmanI first met Hank at a Northern California National Speakers Association meeting in September 2007. I posted a podcast interview with him at that time, partly to demonstrate how easily podcasts can be created and posted. Since then Hank has signed up for the NSA/NC Pro-Track class and this podcast is part of the ongoing series of Pro-Track Profiles. So, for the first time ever, here’s a second Professionally Speaking podcast with the same person!

Hank’s passion for outstanding customer interactions – or Touchpoints – was born in the food and beverage industry. As a waiter and restaurant manager during collage, Hank experienced first-hand the financial benefit of consistently delivering outstanding customer experiences.

In 2002 Hank co-founded the pioneering research consultancy, Touchpoint Metrics. Hank served as its President/CEO, co-invented their Touchpoint Mapping methodology, and led Customer Experience Management (CEM) engagements with organizations large and small, including with GE, Microsoft, and AT&T.

Now known as the “Touchpoint Guru,” Hank is currently working on his first book, The Touchpoint Principle, How to Dominate Your Market Touchpoint by Customer Touchpoint.

Visit www.TouchpointGuru.com to sign up for Hank’s “Touchpointer” newsletter and for more information regarding CEM, Touchpoints, and how he can help as a speaker or consultant.

I caught up with Hank at a break in a recent Pro-Track class. To hear my interview, click on the podcast icon below.