Who is Laura?
Dr. Laura Sicola is a leadership communication and influence expert, speaker, and author of Speaking to Influence: Mastering Your Leadership Voice. Laura is the founder of Vocal Impact Productions in Philadelphia, PA, and is known for her coaching and live on-camera trainings that turn executives into confident, inspiring leaders, whether on stage, on camera or just on the phone in order to get the results they want and make a positive, lasting impact.
Ultimately, her mission is to help people confidently and authentically master the 3Cs of “Vocal Executive Presence”:
- Command the room,
- Connect with the audience, and
- Close the deal.
Laura has spent over 20 years coaching, training, and speaking on topics such as leadership communication, pubic speaking, executive presence, media interviews, communicating through conflict, vocal empowerment for women in leadership, strategic networking and interviewing, intercultural communication, accent training for non-native English speakers, power-pitching and more.
Laura has been an advisor for the SupporTED™/TED Fellows organization, has coached over a dozen TED speakers, and has given multiple TED talks herself. Her TED talk: “Want to sound like a Leader? Start by saying your name right” has over 6 million views. She has appeared on on Fox & Friends First, NBC10 @Issue and PHL 17, and has been featured in Fast Company Magazine, Forbes.com, WLS890AM radio Chicago, Coaching for Leaders podcast and more.
She has spoken to audiences in the US, Egypt, Japan, Spain, China and Germany, and has worked with clients and students from around the world. Select clients include Comcast, Chubb, GSK, Independence Blue Cross, Vanguard, the US Department of Commerce, IBM, and Women Against Abuse. (Click here for a more comprehensive list.)
She earned her PhD in educational linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania where she also taught from 2001-2013. Previously, she earned a BA in International Studies and Japanese from American University, and an MS in multicultural/multilingual education and bilingual teaching credential from the California State University. She speaks Spanish and Japanese (and Pig-Latin!)
She lives with her husband and children in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drlaurasicola/
Twitter: @laurasicola
SELECT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
- Invited Speaker, “Secrets of Confident Public Speaking.” 2020, April. Professional Business Women of California, San Francisco, CA.
- Panel Moderator, “Negotiation and Persuasive Speech”, 2020, January, Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania Leadership Summit.
- Panel Moderator, “Outspoken: How To Get Your Voice Heard”, 2019, October. Pennsylvania Conference for Women, Philadelphia, PA.
- Invited Speaker, “Speaking to Influence.” 2019, April. Professional Business Women of California, San Francisco, CA.
- Invited Speaker, “Speaking to Influence.” 2019, April. Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Women’s Conference. Philadelphia, PA.
- Keynote Speaker, “The Sound of Leadership.” 2018, October. Eastern Regional Conference on Philanthropy, Philadelphia, PA.
- TEDx Speaker, Leadership Communication in Diversity. 2016, October. TEDxJBMDL, Joint-base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Trenton, NJ.
- Keynote Speaker, Vocal Empowerment for Women in Leadership. 2016, April. Target Markets International Conference, women’s initiative, Washington, DC.
- Invited Speaker, Executive Networking: Getting your ROI. 2015, September, Women in Agribusiness Summit, Minneapolis, MN.
- Invited Speaker, Vocal Empowerment for Women in Leadership. 2014, July. Global WIN (Women’s Innovation Network) on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC.
- TEDx Speaker, Want to Sound like a Leader? Start By Saying Your Name Right. 2013, November. TEDxPENN, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
- Invited Speaker Top 5 Strategies for Mastering Business Communication in the US and Beyond. 2012, November. Global Entrepreneurship Week, Pittsburgh, PA.
- TEDx Speaker, Redefining who we are as English Speakers. 2012 March, TEDxLAF, Lafayette College, Lafayette, PA.
- Keynote Speaker, Sounding off: Priorities and Practices in teaching Pronunciation. 2011, November. Penn TESOL East, Abington, PA.
- Keynote Speaker, Bridging the Gap: Connecting Research and Practice in TESOL. 2010, November. TexTESOL, San Antonio, TX.
- Intercultural Communication Strategies for Global Business. 2010, November. Global Entrepreneurship Week, 2009, Cairo, Egypt.
- Cognition and Second Language Phonological Development. 2008, March. Symposium of the Linguistic Agency University of Duisberg (LAUD), Landau, Germany.
- Communicative Lingerings. 2004, July. Association for Language Awareness, Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, Spain.
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