Meet Maia

“In organizations, the real power and energy is generated through relationship. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles and positions.”

Margaret Wheatley
Leadership and the New Science

I’m a relationship person. I’ve spent my entire life investigating relationships in all their forms—the good, the bad, the ugly—and I’ve discovered one important thing: communication is the one factor that will make or break any relationship.

Communication strategies are my science, my religion, and my art. They have been at the heart of my greatest discoveries and my most creative endeavors, since I first learned to speak.

I am …

… a Speaking Coach who has had a 100% success rate for increasing the confidence and speaking skills of thousands of people since 1999.

… a Motivational Keynote Speaker, who has presented to audiences as large as 1800, across a wide range of business, industry and government since 1987; on topics of personal development and creating an enthusiastic life.

… a Master Trainer who has been training adults since 1982 to increase speaking skills, give presentations, train adults (train-the-trainer), build teams, resolve work conflicts, hold successful meetings, and give and receive feedback.

… a Communication and Life Coach, with over 1000 coaching hours—and very enthusiastic clients!

… Also ecstatically married to Chuck Beatty, the love of my life, for over 17 years. This is not my first marriage, but it is my last. We met when he hired me to speak. Two weeks—and three conversations—later, we were planning the rest of our lives together and we have never looked back. I have tested everything I teach about communication skills in our relationship. I have learned more about the power of speaking authentically from being married to Chuck Beatty than from all my other experiences combined.

How do I do it?

Using the strategies I will share with you in my in-person and virtual training programs, with my coaching and in my keynote speeches. Three of the strategies that have served me well in a wide range of situations are:

• Focus Your Attention: When I’m focused on myself, I can’t communicate effectively with anyone else. So it's a great time to create strategies that will help me  do my best work and make my best choices. It’s not the time to have a productive conversation with anyone else. When I’m focused outside of myself, it’s easy to connect with others, to give a great presentation or have an important conversation. It’s not the best time to be wondering how I’m doing. Just this one strategy has saved my clients (and me!) countless headaches.
  
  
• Breathe!: This is the secret to much of my success in interpersonal communication. Breathing keeps you from doing things that you’ll regret later and helps you do things that require courage, or your own vulnerability. The secret to breathing is the out breath—and it is amazing how much better your brain works when you consciously do it. It’s also one of the best-kept secrets of great speaking that every one of my clients knows how to use!
  
  
• Have a conversation. This is another of the secrets to giving great presentations. It’s also the most successful strategy to address communication breakdowns, especially when you use two parts listening to one part speaking. The results you can produce with a conversation can seem astonishing; the art and science of this strategy is at the heart of all my work. My clients have overcome their fear of public speaking, transformed their teams into communities of excellence and salvaged relationships that they thought were lost. Every time I have chosen to have a conversation in my own life, I’ve learned even more about its power as a strategy to heal and transform.

Professional Affiliations

• Founder and Co-Chair of the International Coaching Federation's Special Emphasis Group (SIG) for Coaches Who Speak and Train
• Member of the Steering Committee for the international Coaches Make a Difference Initiative (CMADI)
• BA in Psychology with a focus on Interpersonal Communication, from Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi
• NLP Practitioner
• Graduate of Landmark Education: The Forum, The Advanced Course, The Communication Course, The Advance Communication Course, The Money Course
• Training Diploma as a Master Trainer from Langevin Learning Services
• Graduate of the Coaches Training Institute, with certificates in Coaching (Core Curriculum) and Business Development
• Graduate of the CTI Leadership Program
• Certified Facilitator with Inscape Publishing for DiSC and DiSC Indra
• Certified Facilitator with Development Dimensions International (DDI)
• Veteran of the U.S. Navy