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.

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.

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…

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

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…

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…

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…

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

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?

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.

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…

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.

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…

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

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…

“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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…