A Win or a Loss: Your voice and body language can give you a competitive edge
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A Win or a Loss: Your voice and body language can give you a competitive edge
Even in the finest law schools across the country, there are few classes on effective communication. A good deal of time is spent learning what to say, but very little on how to say it. Unless a litigator is a naturally gifted storyteller who instinctively knows how to keep an audience’s attention, many attorneys don’t…
Read MoreUsing Your Voice Behind Masks, on Zoom and In The Time Of Corona with Rena Cook
Rena says that in the age of coronavirus, we all need to learn how to better communicate from behind masks, on Zoom calls, etc. and she shares tips on how to do it! 0
Read MoreCoach To Coach With Jane Mudgett and Rena Cook
In this video, Jane Mudgett with Exceptional Leaders Lab shares financial tips while Rena Cook of Vocal Authority shares tips on having a strong voice and presence. 0
Read MoreThe Empowered Together Podcast
While in Scottsdale recently I met a group of remarkable young women. They produce a podcast called “Empowered Together.” Their focus is highlighting the many ways women are empowering themselves and others to achieve professional and personal goals. I was thrilled that they invited me to share about vocal empowerment-how voice training can help us…
Read MoreVoice in the Time of Corona
Advice from the Voice Lady – Rena Cook “Help, I caught something and I have lost my voice – what should I do?” I hear that a lot these days. As your personal “Voice Lady,” I want to offer a few suggestions that might help us use our voices better as we navigate the Time…
Read MoreIn A Manner Of Speaking – Paul Meier
Paul’s guest for June 2019 is Rena Cook, a TEDx speaker, author, and voice, speech, confidence, and presentation coach. Rena and Paul discuss voice and speech, particularly among women.
Read MoreTaming Performance Anxiety
Performance anxiety is part of the fight or flight response. It is a chemical shift that occurs in the body when the body feels it is in danger.
Read MoreFeatured in NSA’s Speaker Magazine
Building a professional speaking career is highly gratifying and also very challenging. The National Speaker Association makes that a whole lot easier. Among the benefits of membership in NSA is a copy of Speaker Magazine. I read it each month with relish. Three months ago I submitted a few thoughts on resonance and here it…
Read MorePodcast with Citizens of Tulsa
One of the great perks of the work I do is sharing it with amazing women like Charis Retherford. She recorded our conversation for her podcast Citizens of Tulsa. Check it out! You can listen to the episode here: https://citizensoftulsa.com/blogpo/2019/1/29/finding-your-voice-feat-rena-cook 0
Read MoreVoices of Experience January
Thanks to the National Speakers Association’s Chuck Gallagher, the host of Voice of Experience, for this interview. I am honored to share some thoughts about the speaker’s resonance. You may not have been born with the golden vocal folds of a James Earl Jones, but there is a lot you can do to make your…
Read MoreIntroducing New Vocal Authority Team Member
In case you don’t read beyond the first paragraph, I am going to start with the really great news. If you are a fan of South Park, you will find this announcement even more exciting. Eliza Jane Schneider was part of the South Park team from 1999 to 2003, among many other things. Look her up on IMBD—she…
Read MoreA Woman’s Voice: Asset or Liability
With two highly successful Women’s Marches, the “Me too” movement, “Time’s Up,” “Enough is enough and the numbers of women recently elected to political office, both locally and nationally, there is no doubt that this has been the year of the women! Women in record numbers are finding their voices figuratively and literally. Much is…
Read MorePower Without Press: The Foundation of Authentic Communication with Rena Cook
I was happy to be on BeTheTalk.com talking about Authentic Communication. You can listen to the podcast episode below and read the show notes here. 0
Read MorePower Without Press: The Foundation of Authentic Communication
Now before I go into power without press, it might be helpful to know that I trained actors my entire adult life. Now I started life as singer/actor/dancer and thought I was bound for Broadway. But I quickly discovered that teaching was where it was for me. Teaching is about us, whereas performing is all about me. Right? Not only that, but what did you think of my performance. I know, right?
Read MoreCheck Us Out on Explore Tulsa
I started to see the application to what I call real people. You know, non-theater people, they could use those skills. And so, I just slowly started looking around to see if there was interest. And then when I decided to leave OU, I wanted to try this other career as a corporate voice, speech, presentation coach, to see if there was a need for that.
Read MoreA Lesson About Presentation Preparation
Bucket list item #1: Do a TED talk. And…Check! Last Friday I did a talk for TEDxOU! It was amazing and gratifying in all the ways you would expect – the red circle on the floor, thought leaders from diverse backgrounds with challenging topics issuing forth in unique and inspired ways, opportunities to engage with…
Read MoreFind Your Authentic Voice with Rena Cook
In Episode 29 of Sally’s Performing Arts Lab Podcast, I talk with world-class vocal coach Rena Cook whose new book, Empower Your Voice: Women In Business, Politics And Life comes out in February. I’m your podcast host, Sally Adams. Every week I talk to people about creating original work for a live audience.
Read MoreA Woman’s Voice & Pitch
A woman came to me recently saying she wanted to develop a compelling and persuasive voice. When I ask what she meant by that, she responded by saying, “you know, lower and louder.” I wanted to hear her talk more so I continued to ask questions, like what feedback had she been given about her…
Read MorePublic Speaking Podcast
Thanks to Brad Post and Create The Movement for asking me to share my passions for all things voice. Enjoy listening! –Brad Post with Create the Movement Podcast 0
Read MoreEmpowering Women’s Voices
On January 21, 2017, I marched in Oklahoma City, while millions of other women marched around the world raising our collective voices! Now, more than ever, women are activated, engaged, filled with the hope that when we are truly heard positive change will happen! Today more women lead cities, states, companies and countries. Hillary Clinton…
Read MoreFind Your Voice
“Find your voice” is a phrase we hear in a lot these days: in finding a voice to speak truth to authority, in finding your voice as a women, in finding your voice as a writer or journalist, in finding a voice for a group or community. It can mean finding a clear message, or…
Read MoreBreath Is The Master Key to Compelling Speech
From Breath in Action, Chapter 12 by Rena Cook “Without mastering breath nothing can be mastered.” G.I. Gurdjieff “…to be inspired– with words, song, dance, or art of any kind – is to breath in, swim in, to merge with the Muse…becoming totally yourself.” Joy Gardner-Gordon Two common assertions form the foundations of contemporary voice…
Read MoreEmpowering Women’s Voices
As I am developing the post-OU, new professional chapter of my life, I find that I am becoming more and more energized by the topic of Empowering Women’s Voices. I have technical skills and techniques for releasing the voice, allowing women to have a more powerful, authentic and expressive speaking voice; and I have also…
Read MoreOklahoman Coaches Dialect, Voice For Lyric Theatre’s ‘Billy Elliot’
When Oklahoma City’s Lyric Theatre decided to stage “Billy Elliot,” artistic director Michael Baron asked Rena Cook to share her expertise. Actors tend to develop a good ear for accents, a necessity when auditioning for a role that requires an authentic-sounding dialect. In the musical theater, think of “Brigadoon” (Scottish), “Cabaret” (German), “Ragtime” (Yiddish) or…
Read MoreYoung Women & Their Voices
I have been fascinated and often concerned about how young women grow up using their voices. As a voice trainer, I frequently have to undo years of unhealthy and ineffective vocal usage habits. If you listen to voices on an elementary school playground you hear very little difference between boys and girls, bold, brave, loud,…
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