Interview of Pamela DeRitis

Episode Summary:

Episode Summary:

In the newest episode of the InPowered Women Podcast, the host, Sharon Lee chats with the founder of Connect & Captivate, Pamela DeRits.

From being in acting and improv to now having her own LLC that focuses on public-speaking, Pamela has plenty of wisdom nuggets to share. She’s worked with people across a plethora of avenues like medicine, sales, marketing, and more. Pamela’s work in acting has influenced the way she’s been growing Connect & Captivate. With a belief system rooted in authenticity, listening to the audience, and expressing better, she ensures you’re able to stand out.

Most of her lessons start from strengthening the foundational barriers speakers face and then slowly transitioning into building confidence and clarity. Tune in now to deliver your next on-camera conversation bigger and better.

Insights from this episode:

• Don’t speak to the entire crowd, focus on your ideal persona
• Separate your emotions and words while you’re working on relationship-building
• Self-consciousness and nervousness is the death of delivery
• If you’re a great listener, you’re one step closer to being a good speaker
• Your words don’t matter as much as the way you deliver them to an audience
• Go big, then go home
  

Quotes from the show:

• “Connect & Captivate is a result of years of evolution of me as an actor and a businessperson. In a nutshell, I offer on-camera speaking coaching for execs and it is based on my acting and improv background” – Pamela DeRits, InPowered Women, Episode #18
• “The Meisener Method is rooted in learning to listen very intently to your scene partner and putting all of your intention on the other person as opposed to being all caught up with what’s going on inside your head”  – Pamela DeRits, InPowered Women, Episode #18
• “It will help you to relax and be less self-conscious if you are imagining who you are talking to. Put your attention on the other person” – Pamela DeRits, InPowered Women, Episode #18
• “The more you’re in your head, you start questioning and you have self-doubt” – Sharon Lee, InPowered Women, Episode #18
• “We drilled and drilled and drilled those foundational skills of listening, of living in the moment, to the point where I could have a conversation if you would” – Pamela DeRits, InPowered Women, Episode #18

Episode Transcript:

Speaker 3

Welcome to the InPowered Women’s podcast, where we tell the stories of Unstoppable Female Leaders who Excel, Uplift, and Secure a clearer Path for Female Leaders in the Future. And I’m your host, Sharon Lee. Hello, and welcome to our next episode of the InPowered Women podcast. I am Sharon Lee, your host, Principal of Pinnacle Strategic and I am so excited about today’s episode. But before we get to my guest, let me thank our sponsor, which is Prosper Performance and PT. Are you frustrated with traditional treatment methods? At Prosper Performance and PT, we take a whole body approach to musculoskeletal health, addressing both dysfunction and damage with 100% one-on-one personalized care. Forget E-STEM and ultrasound. Our unique one-two punch approach gets you back to what you love pain-free, Contact Kristin today at kristen@prosperperformance-pt.com. And with that, I have the lovely Pamela DeRtis, owner and founder of Connect and Captivate. Hello Pamela.

– Speaker 2

Hey, Sharon. It’s great to be here. Thank you for having me on today.

Speaker 1

I am thrilled that you’re on today. It is so funny. You go to networking functions and you think, I’ve worked all day. Do I really want to go? And you pull yourself up and you go, All right, fine. I can smile a few more minutes. I’m going to go. And so we met at Kira Willis’ event over at Painted Horse in Alpharetta, right? And it was just so happenstance and just had to get to know each other, get on a call, and we’re like, Oh, my gosh, this lady rocks. We need to tell her story. Tell me a little bit or tell everyone a little bit about Connect and Captivate and what that is.

Speaker 2

Connect and Captivate is a result of years of evolution of me as an actor and a business person. In a nutshell, I offer speaking and on-camera coaching for executives, and it is based in my acting background, acting and improv background. It started out as a freelance effort, working with other video producers, corporate video producers, things like that. They would bring me into their gigs and have me help their clients that were very stiff on camera, very awkward on camera. I just started getting more referrals and eventually incorporated, and here I am, the owner of my company.

Speaker 1

I have this vision that they have this plan, they’re going to put this dude on camera, whatever, and all of a sudden they’re going Okay, this is just not working. And so did most of your gigs come last minute where you’re just rushing in and figuring things out on the fly?

Speaker 2

Yes. In the beginning, it was exactly that. I would come in either on the shoot date to be an on-set coach or very shortly before the shoot, try and do what I can. I mean, I’m always grateful for the work, so I will never pooh-pooh that. But it’s definitely harder to instill new skills when you’re right on top of the shoot date versus when you have some lead time to practice and incorporate those new skills into your everyday routine.

Speaker 1

Obviously, you have not only skills because you have lived the whole acting experience, but you also seem to understand the makeup, the DNA of all of that if you’re able to coach somebody. Let’s back up just a second and get into what is your background in that whole acting world and all that.

Speaker 2

I started in adulthood, actually, and it was around 2009, so 15, 16 years, something like that. I moved to Atlanta for a corporate career, but I kept seeing all these announcements about all these movies being shot in Atlanta. I was like, I want a piece of that action because Acting was always an aspirational thing for me to do. I wanted to be on camera, and I had this idea of what acting was all about. I went out for a lot of extra gigs, and I landed those. Then I started auditioning. This was before I had an agent, before I actually knew how to act for real. But I started looking up independent films and web series and things like that that were being shot here. Lo and behold, I was cast in the lead role a couple of times. These were short independent films, so not high stakes. But I thought, if people are going to put me on camera, I’d better learn what the heck I’m doing and actually learn how to act. I put myself through a new, at the time, program It was all around Meisner technique. That program still exists. It was at the Robert Mello Studio, and he had a very unique approach to teaching Meisner.

Speaker 2

The Meisner method is rooted in learning to listen very intently to your scene partner, put all of your attention on the other person as opposed to being all caught up what’s going on inside your head. There is some of that as well, but it’s really learning intently to focus on the other person, listen, react in the moment, live in the moment. That’s what brings a scene to life. All of that brings a scene to life. I felt like all these skills are things that the business world could use and could take advantage of. That’s why I started shifting into teaching business people what I was learning as an actor.

Speaker 1

Wow. I mean, I’m sitting here putting myself in the role of this actor, doing the listening intents. And that is very sales-ish. You do ask those questions and you don’t formulate what your response is based on what your product is or whatever, while you should be listening to them. But I’m thinking, though, if I have a script that I’m trying to follow and I’ve got all of this other in my head, I’d be like, squirrel, what’s the shiny octet? There’s no way I’m focusing. I would be terrible. I’d be your worst nightmare.

Speaker 2

Actually, if I may, segue, for a second. The technique that I teach and that I learned, now I’ve adapted it for the business world. I don’t teach it exactly as it’s taught for actors, but But one of its core strengths is helping you to learn to separate the words you’re saying from the relationship that you are building. The words don’t matter in the end. The saying like, it’s not what you say, but it’s how you say it. That is true, and it’s also become a truism that is overused. But in what I teach and in the acting world, that is something you put into practice every minute, every day, every hour. It’s fundamental. You learn to separate your words from your emotional state, your relationship with the other person, all of that stuff. So you learn how to handle a script.

Speaker 1

Let’s take that idea and put it into some sausage being made behind the scenes. You were talking about being brought in where you’ve got this corporate executive They’re a little bit too stiff on camera, and I’m a sports girl. So here I am watching the football bowl game or whatever. And then you’ve got the CEO of a drink manufacturer or something like that that comes on stage. And everybody is so excited because their team just won and there’s confetti going everywhere. Then he stands up there and says, We are very proud to be here. I’m assuming this is all of a sudden, Pamela, come on, you got about what to buy. There’s high stakes. There’s a lot of money in that thing. For to be representing his product is not going to do it justice by doing that. If you are in that scenario and he’s about to walk out on stage and just do this in front of the world, what are you going to tell him to, A, calm his nerves, b) make him be more authentic and actually represent his brand well?

Speaker 2

These are a little bit different skills than the longer term skills that I was telling you about in terms of learning to listen and all that stuff. But there are things you can do in the moment. So when a client brings me the day of the shoot, and I’ve never worked with them before, I will concentrate on these shorter term wins. So for example, I would tell that stiff executive, it will help you to relax and be less self-conscious if you are imagining who you’re talking to. Just like we actors do, put your attention on the other person. In this case, since that man or woman would be the only person on screen, they would have to imagine that avatar in their head. Most business people will have some avatar persona that they’ve built. That’s their target market. Want to imagine someone like that, but that you know in real life that you want to talk to and just talk to one person, talk to that person. The other thing I would tell them in exercise, I would actually go through this exercise with them. It’s great for this thing where I’ve got to relax fast, I’ve got to break out of my rut, I need to stop sounding like a broken record, and I need to do it in five minutes.

Speaker 2

No pressure. There are a bunch of ways to do it. My favorite technique for it, though, because it’s fun and it works, is what I call go big, then go home. We have all heard the phrase go big or go home. I’ve adapted that phrase for my own purposes, and I call this go big, then go home. That encapsulates what this exercise is. Let’s forget about the listening. Let’s forget about I have to be authentic and all that stuff. We’re just going to put ourselves in the most cheesy, over-the-top soap opera that we have ever lived in and just Or if you’re in, you pick an emotion. It could be jubilance, it could be grateful, anger, whatever it is. This is your time, and it’s not going on camera. This is what you do before the camera rolls. You pick an emotional state, how you want to communicate, and then you just say some words. You choose some words. It doesn’t matter what they are, because remember, the words don’t matter. Then you go really big with that. You just act like you are in the cheesiest soap opera. You get physically big, you use your arms, you move around, you use your voice, and you overdo it with the emotion.

Speaker 2

You do this a few times. Then when the camera’s rolling and you come back to center, that will have the effect of getting you out of that lock-in where you were in your head of delivering it over and over the same way. It’ll break you out of that. You’ll feel more fluid. You’ll also feel more fluid simply because you’ve been having fun and expending energy. You’ve been physically expending energy doing this. That is a great way. If you want some immediate gain, it doesn’t replace learning these skills. But it’s great for this short term, that executive who really needs to loosen up on camera.

Speaker 1

What I remember at one point when we were talking, you said that your own perception of what you’re looking like on camera is very different than what it actually is. I go back to taking golf lessons. You’re on screen, and I would fight with my golf pro, your arm wasn’t straight. I swear my arm was straight. We’ll look at the video. Oh, shoot. My arm was not straight. Keep your head down. My head was down. I mean, in your head, you’re focusing on all these different things that you’re supposed to be straight. My feet were supposed to be in this way. I know they were, but it’s so much to think about all at one time. And then you go back, like I said, you look at the video and all of these things were out of whack. But, okay, I at least was focused on the ball. It’s like, take those small wins or whatever. From that perception, if that person sees themselves as being different on camera than what you’re actually seeing, what do you do?

Speaker 2

I mean, the way I teach is a layered approach. I’ve gone through this myself. I went through the process of trying to learn this acting technique and improving my on-camera performance. What I do with my clients is I start very simply. I start with basic foundational exercises that are not high stakes. When I say high stakes, I mean high emotional stakes. We’re just here just to learn, let’s ease into it, and I layer skill upon skill as they master what they’re doing. I I think any good coach will do that for you because I’m learning golf right now, and I’m learning a lot of different things at the same time. It is frustrating because I want to just pull back and say, Okay, what do I start with? I know the swing and the arms and keep my arm straight and my head down. But what’s the one most important thing that I can focus on right now? Everything else can be as messy as it wants to be while I focus on the first thing. Once I’ve got that down, I’ll incorporate the next thing. That’s how I teach, and I believe that’s the most effective way.

Speaker 1

If somebody is out there listening and says, Okay, I’m going to be delivering this presentation tomorrow. That’s not on camera, but still you have to be on, and that’s real life. That person, no matter what role you’re in, you may be making a sales presentation or you may be whatever, even if it’s not to a whole group. What are one or two things that you might be able to give someone as a nugget to say, If you don’t do anything else when you’re in front of that prospect tomorrow, tomorrow, make sure you do this?

Speaker 2

The one thing I would tell them, if you have a talk that you’re getting tomorrow and you have to pick one thing to concentrate on is really where your attention goes. Because self-consciousness and nervousness is the death of delivery. So the more you can do, even if it’s small things, to get out of your head, and again, put your focus on your audience, walk in the room and just notice things about one, two, maybe three people at the most. You don’t want to overdo it. Whoever sitting closest to you, you can notice things about those people. Oh, she’s wearing a pretty dress, or that guy’s got a snazzy suit on, or, boy, he looks like he doesn’t want to be here, or whatever it is. It doesn’t really matter what you notice. The point is your attention is over there and not on your head. Just put your attention on someone else, on something else, rather than being all up in your head, and that will help.

Speaker 1

That makes perfect sense. People would think about that as confidence. You’re talking about getting out of your head, and I completely agree with that. But I do think that the more you’re in your head, the more you start questioning or self doubt or whatever. I am working with some very green sales folks right now. We were doing some role playing, which I’m assuming you do a lot of. I am definitely not the acting coach and all of that. But the one thing that I noticed, it’s almost like in their head, they were reading what their notes were, and it was very staccato, and there was no inflection in their voice. There was no big eyes and looking around the room and moving your arms and all that. I told them, it’s like singing. If you had just sang that as a song, that would have been a terrible song. You would have been on one note. There was no highs, no lows, no big crescendo and all that. You’re just staying in that one line. And that’s the death line right there. Engage them, use your hands, ask them those questions. I’ve always been about selling by analogy.

Speaker 1

And if you start telling a story, you start getting animated. That brings out that personality. Anyway, I’m just basically saying this makes so much sense. I’ve just never heard it from a coaching standpoint, and this is really cool to hear the mechanics behind it all.

Speaker 2

If I may, plug something. I just rolled out a program for salespeople. And it’s called Command the Close, all of what I’ve talked about, and then some, as applied to being in a sales situation. This is a dedicated program just for salespeople. I do teach the on-camera skills in that program, but the emphasis is much more on interpersonal reactions. I’ll give you a little secret about when I was learning to act. For the first, probably six months or so, we were never on camera. We did not do any on-camera work. Even then, when we started to do it, we started to tiptoe into it Because what we did was we drilled and drilled and drilled those foundational skills of listening, of living in the moment, to the point where I could have a conversation, if you will. I put it in air quotes because you’re not actually having a conversation. There’s a very specific structure to it. But emotionally and relationally, you were creating this whole life, this whole scene, using very few words. You would get to the point where you could do that in your sleep and just say, Hello, hello, hello, back and forth to one another.

Speaker 2

But you have this whole three-act play of emotions and falling in love and hating the person and whatever it was. It got to the point where you could create this life in a scene with very, very few words. That was all based on the listening and the emotional connection. For salespeople, they may be on camera and they need those skills, but what they need more is to persuade their prospects. How do you persuade people except if they get to like you and trust you? How do they like you and trust you? You listen to them, you connect with them emotionally. You make them feel safe in your presence like you have the answer to their problem. This is one very effective way, and I would argue almost the only way to get to that point with your prospects. But you have You need to drill it in an environment where you can mess up and you can figure things out while you are working on it so that when you get out into the field and you’re with those salespeople, they get the result of what you’ve been working on. They don’t know you’re doing this training.

Speaker 2

They don’t need to know. It I just need to know that they love you for some reason, and they can’t figure out why they love you, but they love you.

Speaker 1

The only piece of that that I can’t get my brain around is very few words. In my world, there’s lots of words. There’s always lots of words.

Speaker 2

But remember, the words don’t matter. They don’t matter? Words It won’t matter. The words don’t matter. I like to recount the story because it warms my heart. But when I was growing up, we had a golden retriever. He was the sweetest dog, and he was our family dog, beloved. I was sitting on the porch with my dog, Sam, and my father one day. I was young. I don’t even remember how young I was, but I was young enough not to know the answer to the following question. I asked my dad, Does Sam understand when we talk to him? My dad said, Well, he doesn’t understand English words, although now research is actually showing that they do understand some words. But back then, my dad said, Well, he doesn’t understand what the words mean, but he understands your tone of voice. My dad turned to my dog and he said, As an example, he goes, Sam, you’re the best dog there ever was. You’re just such a great dog. Sam’s wagging his tail. My dad goes, Now watch this. Sam, you are the most naughty, awful dog, and you are just terrible, and we are going to get rid of you tomorrow.

Speaker 2

He said something close to that. Sam, wagging his too. And looking at my dad with these lovey-dovey eyes because the words did not matter. That was what my dad was emoting, what my dad was showing Sam that he felt, and he felt love, even though he was using different words.

Speaker 1

Speaking of stories, We were talking about bringing these ideas to life because I think about sales and I think about making a presentation, maybe doing a speech or whatever. I’ve never really made the connection with the whole acting piece of it. And so I’m just so enamored this idea because it makes so much sense. Again, it’s just something I hadn’t really thought about. You and I were talking before about somebody that you were working with, somebody that was more on the clinical side, more of a dry personality, but he really wanted to be, what was the word you use, aspirational with his audience. That’s asking a lot for someone that has more of that dry personality, but really wants that authenticity and that emotion or whatever to come through. Do you remember the story? Do you know where I’m going with this? How you were able to bring that around? That was cool.

Speaker 2

He remains today one of my favorite clients, and I love all my clients, but working with him was very special. So he is a doctor. When you think of doctor, you think of the stethoscope and the lab code. They come in and give you bad news, and that’s the view of doctors that we have. But most of all, they tend to be somewhat detached. I know that’s the way they’re trained, very clinical in their messaging, in their language. He served a specific audience, and he did want to be more aspirational with audience, and he wanted to come off more of a James Bond type of figure to his audience. So he brought me in. I’ll actually start with what we didn’t do. What we did not do was try and copy James Bond. He didn’t do the, Okay, let’s try and act like what Roger Moore does or what Daniel Craig does or any of the other actors that have played James Bond, they have certain things in compulence. We’re not copying them. We can’t be them. No. That won’t be convincing if you’re trying just copycat somebody else. What we’re going to do is build your version of James Bond.

Speaker 2

I used a very specific improv exercise that I do with my clients to build from the ground up his version of James Bond. We went through this several times over several sessions, actually more than several sessions. We had a six-week engagement, and we would work this improv exercise and other exercises in addition. But this was a foundational one for him. What it taught him to do was go inside of himself and bring out those aspects of James Bond that he has. If you or I were asked to emulate Wonder Woman, what in you is like Wonder Woman? Do you have a desire to save the world? Are you compassionate? Can you spin around really fast and change clothes. I know I can’t do that. But there are elements of that character in all of us. That’s why Superheroes resonate so much with us, because we have elements of that. It’s aspirational. I helped him figure out, Okay, how does your version of James Bond enter a room? How does he use his voice? How does he move? How does he handle certain situations? Let’s put him in these situations and see what comes up.

Speaker 2

It was fun. Again, got him out of his head, and it got him thinking a different way because when he talked to his audience, he didn’t have to think, Okay, what does Roger Moore do when I need to do that thing? No, it’s already in him, and he brought it to the surface. That is one of my favorite stories. I worked with him. He did his shoot, and I would say six months, maybe longer later, he called me back to work with one of his salespeople because he had enjoyed the session so much and he saw the value in it.

Speaker 1

That’s nothing different than any sport that you do or something like that. When you’re working with them in those improv ways and all that, that becomes muscle memory. It’s just mental. But some of it is physical because it is using your hands, using your eyes, using your mouth. What was he trying to shoot, ultimately? Was this a commercial?

Speaker 2

Yeah, he had several infomercials that he wanted to shoot. I’ll take on an additional thought, just something for your audience to mull over. In my world, there are a couple of different approaches to acting. There are what I call the outside in approaches, where you use your physicality and you use physical movement and cues outside of yourself to generate the emotional state that you’re going after. Then there are the what I call inside out methods, which is what I learned. You have everything you need inside of you, and you react to cues in your environment based on what’s already in here. Both are valid, both produce good results. It just depends on what resonates with you. I like the inside-out approach because it really emphasizes the things I was talking about earlier. But a combination of those, I believe, is best for people who are applying this to business.

[00:23:17.520] – Speaker 1

You even have an approach, because again, we’ve been talking about somebody that has to be on camera or maybe they are presenting in some way, but you have other options, even if somebody were doing phone types of work, right? Tell us a a little bit about that because that can be some of the scariest part because you’ve got this unknown person on the other end. It just could be totally cold. You got to really work hard to get that authenticity out, right?

[00:23:40.870] – Speaker 2

Yeah. The salesperson that I worked with from that doctor’s office was doing phone sales. We emphasized listening skills above everything else. We did very little of the improv. I think we did a little bit of it just to throw some things in. But with him, I highly emphasized the exercises that build your listening skills, and especially listening to someone’s voice because you don’t have the body language. I adapted the foundational listening exercises to a phone format. It was the first time that I had actually done it that way for that application. I’ve done the listening skills all day long, every day, but I have never applied it to someone whose main work was on the phone. It was a fun challenge. He was very dedicated to learning. They both were. I want to work with people that dedicated to learning because this does take you out of your comfort zone. But that particular sales guy was really good. He absorbed everything I was saying.

`Speaker 1

Oh, wow. There’s so many rabbit holes this could go because there’s so many different things that you encounter every day, and then you go, Oh, that’s a new one. I do think that if you’ve got those improv skills in your back pocket, it makes those so much easier to diffuse because it’s like you’re breaking down those walls and all of that, I guess. I don’t think I asked you, how long have you been doing this as a business?

Speaker 2

As a business, I’ve been doing it since 2022. I incorporated in 2022, but I was doing it before then on a freelance basis for years before then. I created my business as a legal entity in 2022.

Speaker 1

Okay. You are regularly working with whether they’re sales executives or executives themselves or anybody that wants to be on camera and that thing. What is your vision for where this business would go? Tell us a little bit about what you’ve got in mind for growth and that What are the things?

Speaker 2

I’m on two tracks for growth. I’ve introduced two services that I believe will fuel the growth of my company. That is the sales program that I’ve already mentioned for salespeople. I’m actually starting to niche down a little bit from there as well because sales is still very broad. That could really mean any industry at all. I’m starting to tap into the IT industry because I have a corporate background in IT. I did an experimental workshop for IT people last month, and it was very well-attended, lots of signups. It was just a free workshop for me to test some ideas. There was a lot of interest in it, so I’m definitely going to lean into that target market for my sales workshop. The other one that I have set up I haven’t introduced it as a formal program yet, but I have posted about it online, and there’s a place on my website where you can actually sign up early. So I’m gaging interest, and that is for women executives only. I hear so many many times from women, I don’t want to be on camera. I don’t like the way I look. I feel awkward.

Speaker 2

I hear this from a lot of people, men and women, but I seem to hear it more from women. I just want to be like, you’re beautiful, you’re smart, you’ve got a business. I mean, you have so much to offer. Let’s get over that hub. Let’s experiment with getting your face out there. I’m 100% positive you will be pleasantly surprised with the result, but there’s just a lot of inertia. I want to help women, specifically.

Speaker 1

I do think that women have the knack for that creativity and to be able to say, I want to do this podcast, for example, or I want to do this thing on camera or whatever. But I do think that there is that fake it till you make it thing that you have to just embody or embrace. But at the same time, I think we as women want everything to be buttoned up. I’ll do it once everything is perfect. And once everything is perfect, I can assure you that’s like having a kid. Things are never going to be perfect. You just got to have the kid, right? And I think that that is a different mentality for men because maybe it’s a confidence factor. Maybe it’s something else. But everybody needs some coaching. Everybody needs some help. But if you’ve got the confidence, that’s the starting point, I would think. So that’s fantastic. I’m glad that you’re really trying to lift up the female sector and get them out there. I think that’s fabulous.

Speaker 2

When I was learning as an actor, I was in acting class with men and women, and everyone dove into it equally, pretty much, as far as the sexes go, the guys versus the girls. Everyone was pretty bought in, and there wasn’t a lot of inertia, but they were there to learn how to be actors, and they were there for a specific purpose. So part of what I do now is educating people on the value that this brings, Because if you’re not familiar with what I do, or if you are one of those women or one of those people who just feels very shy about being on camera, there is a little bit of an educational component there for me to communicate what this can do for you. But it can be so powerful. And once you’re in and you see, Okay, I can do this. All right, maybe I don’t look as bad on camera as I thought I would, and all those things, then it becomes a joy. But you have to get over that hump first.

Speaker 1

The fear of public speaking is huge, and you just have to wonder if the fear of being on camera is worse. But I just think about it in stages. If I am contacting you and wanting you to help me do a better job of getting my message across and all of that, whether or not there’s a camera in the room, there’s so many fundamentals that truly I can learn from you just to get me through these one-on-one conversations, and then one to a few, and then one to many, and you can take it in baby steps. I guess my point to all this is, don’t be afraid of Pamela. Be in front of a camera to get you to help her. There’s those baby steps that you can do to build that confidence in your presentations and in your speaking. Absolutely.

Speaker 2

If you’ve I noticed there are a few times, Sharon, when I’ve stumbled with you, but I did exactly what I teach for those moments. Step back, put my attention on Sharon and her beautiful hair and her nice presentation. Don’t worry about what’s going on in here. Just concentrate on Sharon, answer her question, and go. It helps. I put into practice what I teach. I want to make another small announcement. I don’t know if I told you about this last time we talked, Sharon, but I have been cast as a small part, small supporting role in a local theater production of Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution. We’re going to be presenting the play in July. I thought to myself, it’s been a while since I’ve been on stage. I teach this to all of my clients. I need to get back on stage myself. My version of getting on stage is doing theater work because I love it. I’m in the third act, so if you come to the play, you’re going to be sitting there for two acts wondering where I am, but I come in in the third act. I thought, great way to Do the thing that I teach to keep my skills sharp and keep myself immersed in that world and still be able to teach intelligently about what I do because I’m refreshing all of that inside of me as well.

Speaker 1

Actually, it’s funny that you beat me to the punch because I was going to ask if you are acting But I had seen your announcement on LinkedIn. You hadn’t told me that, but I saw your announcement on LinkedIn. Okay, no. But it did make me wonder if you just always had a gig going on.

Speaker 2

I did for a while. I had an agent. She was sending me out quite a lot. During COVID, she dropped off the face of the Earth. I mean, like I tell everybody, she’s still alive. She’s still literally around. I don’t know if COVID changed something with her or what, but she pulled back from doing agency work. I didn’t look for another agent at the time. I thought, First of all, the world is uncertain, and there are no acting gigs right now anyway. It was the height of COVID. But even after things started to open up, that’s when I had started to incorporate my business. I was still working in IT, so job, business, trying to have a life. I was like, There’s no way I’m going to be going to a lot of auditions anyway. Now I’m at a point where things are smoothing out a little bit, and I’m still super busy, but I can see a way to make room for that in my life again. It’s important that I do because I don’t want to be one of those people who just teaches, but I lose touch with how to do the thing.

Speaker 2

I want to still be doing the thing as well.

Speaker 1

Would you say that acting is that reprieve for you what you do for fun, or when you do want to just completely decompress, where do you go? What do you do?

Speaker 2

I go to the gym. I walk my dog. She’s sleeping right beside me. She is a beagle, and she needs lots of stimulation. I go out on an hour and a half walks with her. I didn’t think of getting acting gigs as my way of decompressing because it’s work. It’s a lot of work, but it’s enjoyable, too. It’s just a different work. I will say travel is my big thing. Oh, yeah. But that’s different from, Hey, I’m just going to take a half a day and go to the beach. Sure. But yes, I do travel internationally at least once a year. Last year, I went out twice a year, which probably was far too much for me, but traveling would be my thing. Then I do unplug. Everything is off. If somebody, my mom needs to get a hold of me or some emergency happens, then I’m available. But outside of that, I’m not doing anything workwise.

Speaker 1

That is excellent coaching right there. Excellent coaching. Now, if somebody does want to reach out to you and ask some or possibly have you prepped them for a presentation or a gig or a whatever, how it was the best way to reach you?

Speaker 2

I’m on LinkedIn a lot, so you can always find me on LinkedIn. It’s LinkedIn.com/in/pDoritis. My first initial last name, P-D-E-R-I-T-I-S. Or you can email me at hello@connectandcaptivate.com. My website is connectandcaptivate.com. So any of those methods, there’s a contact form on my website, but just email me or hit me up on LinkedIn.

Speaker 1

This has been such a fun conversation. This is just a world I do not know. To feel a little bit more connected to it is really fun, and so I appreciate that. Although I’m going to give you one last exercise to do, totally improv. I’m going to put one of your skills to the test. I want you to say goodbye in a certain emotion. I’m not sure what emotion that I’m going to give you, but I think I’m going to give you anguish.

Speaker 2

Anguish. Okay. This is the go big and go home exercise. There we go. Goodbye. Hold on. I don’t know when I’ll see you again. I can’t stand it, Sharon.

Speaker 1

Oh, please call me. Okay, that is the best ending I have ever seen in my entire life. I should give you a standing ovation. That was fabulous. You’re wonderful. Yes, take your bows. Take your bows. Oh, my gosh. Well, on that note, I think that, again, if anybody were concerned about getting in touch with you, like, okay, I don’t know about this, improv or something like that, it just shows that you can get in the moment like that, and you’re not scary. I mean, you’re just fun to work with, and it’s very real. So kudos to you for bringing this to life and for having fun with it and maybe bringing some of those anxiety factors down. So thank you for today. I really appreciate you coming on.

Speaker 2

You’re welcome. And thank you for having me as a guest. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1

All right. And goodbye.

Speaker 3

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