...Within the first couple of months of JoAnnSpeaksOut I was making a significant amount of progress considering I had to make all new contacts. The timing was right too as April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and I could promote my prior yearly speeches given at the Stockton College event in hopes I would be invited to any Take Back the Night events on local campuses. One of the very first things I did was submit an application to RAINN (Rape Abuse Incest National Network) to be accepted into their Speakers Bureau. They are the gold standard and one of the most respected organizations to offer multiple services for sexual assault of any kind. To my surprise and excitement I received an email within days of my mailing the application welcoming me into their organization as a member of the Speakers Bureau. Steve had to peel me off the ceiling I was that happy. I then immediately called my family to share the good news. In my opinion this set the tone for my entire plan and signaled I was off to a very good start.
The following month contained requests to meetings with two crisis centers both affiliated with very large LA and Orange County Universities. I was invited into their version of speakers bureaus also. Strength United affiliated with CSU Northridge had a victims advocacy retraining meeting coming up a week later and they asked that I speak to them and tell my story. Next, I booked a speaking event at CSU Long Beach for their TBTN and through RAINN I was invited to UCLA's Clothesline Project Speak Out both of which were in April.
In the middle of all this I flew home to NJ because the professor at Penn so kindly flattered me by saying she was having trouble replacing me with another speaker and invited me back for the Spring semester. This was a great opportunity on many levels #1 I could go home and visit my family and friends, #2 I needed to record one of my speeches for the media tab on my website and this would allow me to do that. Their was a small complication with the plan which was I had to ask my mom to attend and work the video recorder. After 5 years of me avoiding having her seeing my speech live I would have to suck it up and accept her presence there. Don't get me wrong she had asked many times it was just something I wasn't ready for but as I've said many times the healing process is a series of endless steps towards being whole again and this was another one of them. When the day came it wasn't as bad as I had built it up to be but let's be honest it never really is now is it?
All in all as many non responses or declines to my speaking services I got the positive feedback and scheduled events were enough to keep me focused and moving forward. I considered myself very lucky and tried to remember that every day when I sat down to my laptop and began working. Very few of those self-employed get off to such a good start and it seems I was laughing in the face of those difficult odds. I was feeling pretty good about myself which I should because it was me that I was selling...
Affiliations and Links
RAINN
Strength United
UC Irvine Counseling Center
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