I have been told that I have a radio voice. And for most of my early life, I did not fully understand what that meant or what I was supposed to do with it. I knew that I was comfortable speaking. I knew that words came naturally to me. But translating that comfort into a deliberate, purposeful platform — that took time, intention, and a lot of practice in front of rooms that were not always ready for what I had to say.
Now, after years of speaking on stages, in classrooms, in boardrooms, and at conferences around the world, I know this with certainty: your voice is one of the most powerful tools you have been given. And if you have been holding it back, the world is paying the price.
My speaking journey started in childhood.
Long before I had a book, a podcast, or a platform, I was speaking. In church. In school. In family gatherings where I noticed early that I could hold a room's attention in a particular way. I did not call it public speaking then. I called it sharing what I believed. And I think that distinction matters.
The best speakers are not performing. They are sharing. There is a transparency and a conviction in truly powerful speaking that no technique class can fully manufacture. It has to come from somewhere real. And when it does, people feel it.
Why your story is your most valuable asset:
One of the things I tell aspiring speakers — especially Black men who have been conditioned to minimize their stories — is this: the experiences you have been most tempted to be ashamed of are probably the ones your audience needs to hear most.
Your story of struggle, of recovery, of reinvention — that is not liability material. That is content. That is the bridge between your life and someone else's liberation. Every time you open your mouth and tell the truth about what you have been through, you are giving someone else permission to believe that they can get through it too.
Practical advice for anyone considering speaking:
Start before you feel ready. I cannot overstate this. There is no fully prepared version of you waiting on the other side of perfect conditions. You learn to speak by speaking. You find your voice by using it, over and over, in front of real people with real expectations.
Find your lane. Speaking covers enormous territory — keynotes, workshops, panels, academic lectures, corporate trainings, community conversations. You do not have to do all of it. Figure out where your message lands best and go deep in that space before going wide.
Document everything. Record yourself. Watch the footage. Take notes on what landed and what did not. Improvement in speaking is iterative and it requires the willingness to honestly evaluate your own performance.
Build a speaker one-sheet. If you are serious about getting booked, you need a professional document that captures your bio, your talk titles, your topics, your experience, and a high-quality photo. This is your business card in the speaking world.
You were given a voice for a reason.
I believe that. And I believe that every person reading these words has something worth saying — a story worth telling, a perspective worth platforming. The question is not whether you have something to offer. The question is whether you are willing to do the work of offering it.
Your voice can change a life. It might start with one. That is enough.
Open your mouth. Change the world. — Dr. Isaac Yao Addae