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PERMISSION TO SPEAK

Samara Bay

How to Change what Power Sounds Like, Starting With You

An exploration of how we speak and why, as well as a guide to help those who have been historically silenced - think women and people of color - own their voices, from a high profile speech and dialect coach and podcast host.
Many of us - women, people of color, immigrants, outsiders - have internalized the same messages since birth: that because of the pitch of our voice, the accent we possess, or the slang we use, we will not be taken seriously. Power, we're told, sounds like the mostly white, straight, wealthy men who wield it.

Samara Bay - one of the most in-demand speech and dialect coaches in Hollywood - presents a fun and practical road map for making big cultural change while embracing our natural strengths. Drawing on her experience and the latest research in public speaking, linguistics, and social science, she identifies tools for unlocking the potential in each of our voices - whether you're an entrepreneur, a new political candidate, a creative type, or a mom going back to work.

In Permission to Speak, you'll learn how to:
- Practice enough that you're prepared but think on your feet so you can pivot in the moment
- Use breath to alter habits like vocal fry and upspeak
- Seem confident enough to be credible yet human enough to be believed
- Have fun but speak with the gravitas your subject requires
- Find your natural register and stay in it, even when the stakes are high


Samara Bay is Content developer & Hollywood communication coach who helps creatives, businesspeople, scientists, and brands tell their story. She's a moderator at Silicon Beach tech conferences, a member of the leadership council for the UN's first ever summit on the role of the media in promoting social causes, a workshop teacher with the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, and a dialect/speech coach to actors in Hollywood. Recent projects include: David O. Russell's Joy, the Coen Brothers' Hail Caesar!, and X-Men: Days of Future Past.
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Book

Published 2023-02-07 by Crown

Comments

A totally beguiling and richly informative primer for anyone who struggles to say what they think out loud.

Permission to Speak is bursting with charm and originality, clear-eyed critiques, and gentle nudges, like the greatest business bestie in your ear, whispering the courage you need to speak up and take over.

Samara Bay's brilliant expertise helps us understand that when we find our permission to speak, we are able to step into our full power as women. She encourages us to abandon our formed habits, which are almost always serving someone else, and shows us what it means to use our narratives to be heroes who change the way we are heard in the world.

An encouraging, practical guide to public speaking... A generous companion for building confidence.

No one knows more about voice than Samara Bay. This is a brilliant, user-friendly guide to speaking up. I love it.

Women, people of color, and other historically excluded folks are taught not to be too big, too loud, too demanding, or too ambitious. This book gives them permission to speak up -and command the room.

I love this book - funny, surprising, stirring, and so important! What a beautiful accomplishment and gift to put into the world.

UK/BCOM: Penguin Books ; Chinese (compl.): Happy Read Publications ; Portuguese/Brazil: Editora Schwarcz

Bay's tone is spirited and encouraging, and there's no shortage of takeaways for curious readers. Anyone looking to sharpen their speaking skills will want to give this a go.