Introducing Division I Director, Begonia Reyes, CC, CL

Toastmaster Begonia Reyes is a member of Impact 21 in Rahway, New Jersey and What Exit? In Edison, New Jersey. She has been a member since November 2014 and proudly represents Division I as their Division Director for the 2018-2019 Toastmasters year. Begonia has earned her Competent Communicator and Competent Leader awards.

Su Brooks, D83 Social Media Strategist and Training Coordinator, conducted an interview with Begonia. Read on to find out who inspires her and advice she has to inspire new speakers!

What is your vision for your Division?

To reach distinguished and ensuring that our club members are getting value out of this experience and reaching their highest potential.

Who is your inspiration when it comes to leadership and why?

Mario Lewis is a fantastic speaker and leader. He is a wonderful mentor always helping people in the club and providing positive feedback and recommendations that can be easily implemented.

What is your advice for new members?

My advice to new members is to look for a mentor, face their fears and challenge themselves to get better.

Give a tip to be an effective speaker.

Practice, practice, and practice be sure you know your speech before you give it.

 

About Toastmasters District 83:

District 83 includes 155 clubs, with close to 4,000 members, in Metropolitan New Jersey, Staten Island, and Rockland County, New York. For more information, please visit the District 83 website, http://www.tm83.org.

About Toastmasters International:

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Founded in October 1924, the organization currently has more than 300,000 members in 16,500 clubs in 141 countries. Each week, Toastmasters helps more than a quarter million people of every ethnicity, education and profession build their competence in communication so they can gain the confidence to lead others. For information about local Toastmasters clubs, please visit http://www.toastmasters.org.

For more information about Impact 21, visit: https://impact21.toastmastersclubs.org/.

For more information about What Exit? visit: https://whatexit.toastmastersclubs.org/.

Why I am a Toastmaster

Five years ago this week, after a lot of research and with a heap of trepidation, I visited Old Bridge Toastmasters for the first time. I felt a little awkward going to something where I didn’t know anyone, but the people were friendly enough.

They had this interesting program where you could earn awards for completing different sets of tasks. It appealed to me as a nerd, but there was no way I would ever be able to summon the courage to do all of this. 40 speeches? I couldn’t possibly have that much to say. Be a club officer? Maybe one day, I could build up the courage to run for Sergeant at Arms. Serve as a district officer? Terrifying! Mentor someone? I have nothing to offer anyone, I thought.

And yet, when we had an open house two months later, I offered to be the guinea pig and give my first speech. When it came time to elect officers, I took a deep breath and ran for Vice President of Education. As my confidence grew, I took on more. Metaphorically speaking, a crawl became a walk became a run.

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Meet the Division Directors: Rachel Nuber

Name: Rachel Nuber, DTM

Position: Division I Director

Club(s): Germinators Toastmasters in Area 93

Other positions: Various club officer roles and former Area Director

How long have you been in Toastmasters? 10 years

What are your plans for the district/area/division?

As Division Director, I plan to support the District, Division I, and its Areas in their goal of achieving distinguished status. And support the members of Division I to achieve their fullest potential.

Continue reading “Meet the Division Directors: Rachel Nuber”