Speaker, professional beatboxer, and public speaking coach at Charismaki
Welcome to our Member Spotlight, where we highlight the incredible individuals that make our community thrive. This month, we would love to introduce you to Jackson, our resident public speaking coach and beatboxer.
We've had the pleasure of hearing his story and getting to know the person behind the brand. He shares his achievements, challenges and learnings with us. Let's dive into his story!
My Work
I’m a speaker, professional beatboxer, and public speaking coach at Charismaki. At Charismaki, I help entrepreneurs, creatives, and working professionals become charismatic speakers. My goal is to help you overcome speaking anxiety, stay memorable, and connect with your audience authentically.
Whether it’s a keynote, a short introduction at an event, pitch to clients, personal story, interview, or business presentation, we'll work on a customized plan to help you deliver your information in an engaging and confident manner.
As a coach, I specialize in content and delivery training, focusing on:
Capturing Attention: Helping you keep your audience engaged with a strong opening hook, close, engaging voice, body language, how to pause, and stage movement. Say goodbye to boring speeches.
Idea Articulation: Helping you formulate crystal clear ideas that are easy to digest, including examples that add relevance to your audience’s world.
Structure: Helping you make sure your overall ideas are laid out with maximum impact that serves your key message.
Managing Nerves: Helping you embrace your own ideas and eliminate the fear of getting judged. I teach tactics on how to appear confident, even during high stakes environments.
Storytelling: Weave in impactful stories that support your key ideas.
If you have an upcoming talk prepared, our sessions will be focused on effective rehearsal and reviewing content. If you have an idea brewing for an upcoming speaking engagement, we can work together to craft an awesome speech and rehearse it.
The end goal is to make you proud of what you’ve created and share your ideas with confidence!
My Journey
I’ve actually had this business idea since I was 16. I’ve always liked helping people and I grew up with a public speaking and performance background. My earliest speaking engagement started at a storytelling competition when I was 7, and I had the opportunity to perform piano on a cruise when I was 5. Growing up, I’d help my classmates out with their school presentations. I feel really grateful to have a speaking coach and world class piano teacher at a young age. It became the foundation of learning stage presence and performing under pressure.
After university, I wanted to make sure all of my time went towards levelling up communication. I joined Toastmasters to gain regular speaking practice, began a career in sales, and over the course of making 50,000 sales calls, I obsessed over influential behaviour, capturing attention, and speaking with a conversational and confident voice. In relevance to public speaking, sales has given me tools to develop a style that garners audience engagement and authenticity, which I model my teaching after today.
I quietly worked on Charismaki over my sales career, networking with life coaches to get their feedback on coaching models, and during the pandemic I launched the business and am grateful for the opportunities to share my expertise.
I'm very excited for the future.
My Passions
My goal in life is to ensure that everyone feels comfortable in their own skin.
There's no bigger reward than when I see someone speak with confidence and own the stage.
So often, we feel like we don't deserve to speak in front of people and defer back to the “real speakers”.
These same people have incredible ideas. I truly believe that public speaking and communication is a set of skills that can be learned just like anything else in life. If you’re committed to getting better, you can train and you will see progress.
If I have the opportunity to help you advance your career, become a thought leader, simply get comfortable enough to introduce yourself in front of 5 people, that's a win.
My Inspiration
Honestly, I’m really grateful that my family put me in public speaking training when I was young. It is a foundation for who I am today. My dad is someone who didn’t prioritize my grades, and heavily focused on respect. There’s a Chinese idiom that roughly translates into “neither humble or arrogant”, which basically means to respect people based on their character and not due to their social class or seniority.
It’s a phrase that has really helped me with my career because it has helped me connect with people on a human level rather than their job title.
Another life changing piece of advice was given to me by one of my old managers, who told me to listen more than I speak. I tend to stay interested in people more than I try to be interesting.
My Challenges
Curriculum: When I first launched the business I was laser focused on creating a program that was a one size fits all approach. But the truth is, everyone struggles with different areas. Throughout my experience, I’ve gotten much better now at creating custom approaches with models that guide clients in the right direction based on their needs.
Imposter effect: I was 23 when I did my first paid speaking gig. It was a motivational talk in front of 200 people meant for business owners on health and wellness, and the audience was in their mid 30s to 40s. To be honest, it was a daunting experience content wise because I didn’t think I had anything valuable to offer. But honestly, it worked out because I got to share my own perspectives about life from the lens of a 23 year old, which is an age they can't experience again. It made me realize that all ideas have value in this world, and we oftentimes take our own perspectives for granted because we live with them.
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My Skills
I'm passionate about helping you look like a natural speaker, and not someone who was 'trained by a program'. It's important to me that you learn how to vary your body language, less important to me that you're specifically adopting a 45 degree outward arm spread within the 'executive zone'. Beyond all, there are different styles of speaking when you're sharing an idea in front of 5 people, 20 people, or 100 people.
My methodology focuses on tactics, not concepts. If someone tells you to 'speak up', I will specifically share with you vocal techniques on how you can improve your volume. In an unorthodox way, as a professional beatboxer, I'm very in tune with how we use our voice.
I also like to draw from inspiration from different walks of life. While I’ve watched an unhealthy amount of TED talks, I also like to draw elements from other areas like live music performances, how stand-up comedians engage the crowd, and how late-night talk show hosts speak. I learned all the traditional rules of public speaking so I could break them, and I intend on using 23 years of public speaking experience to help you craft your own style.
Everything we do is going to be specifically focused on maximizing audience engagement to ensure they remember you and your key message.
My Views
I’m optimistic for the future. Even in the era of AI, public speaking will continue to be a skillset that will not be replaced. If you want to be seen as someone who is credible and positioned as a thought leader, you’ll need the skills required to communicate effectively.
In October of 2023, the USA saw a 59% increase in new business filings versus the number of filings
pre-pandemic. I’m confident new business owners and employees will require public speaking skills to showcase their expertise and get in front of the right audiences.
E-learning is also an industry that is growing extremely fast, and it's a market I'll be tapping into soon.
My Hobbies
I’m really passionate about studying the human voice. Outside of public speaking coaching, I help operate a local beatboxing community called The West Coast Groove.
Beatboxing to me is about self-expression and celebrating the limitless possibilities of how we use our voice. Every so often I enjoy doing beatboxing gigs. When I have spare time, I also enjoy playing video games, watching stand-up comedy, singing, listening to music, and I'm slowly working on my jazz piano.
My Goals
I focus on 1:1 coaching, I have a list of workshops that will be coming out soon for group learning, and am building a separate product line called “The Art of Talking Forever” that will focus on conversational mastery. I’m really excited about this because I actually see socializing and public speaking as two different sets of skills, and my ultimate goal is to help people succeed in all areas of communication.
As a resident specialist at Nook, I'm also extremely excited to help support people in the community and can't wait to be a part of the exciting programs that they will be launching in the fall :)
My Advice
Here’s a piece of public speaking advice.
The old adage, “less is more” and “keep it simple”. As speakers, we often try to jam pack as much information as possible for value. That’s good, but we end up neglecting information retention. People won’t remember everything you say, but if you spend time building curiosity and create compelling reasons for people to go home and continue doing research around your expertise, you’ll naturally be viewed as a thought leader because you helped your audience take action.
Focus on helping people take action by the end of your talks. The first half of the battle is the speech itself, the second half is continuing being top of mind afterwards.
Want to connect with Jackson?
Jackson is a Nook resident specialist and supports members with Public Speaking, overcoming speaking anxiety, and to stay memorable.
You can connect further with him on his socials.
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