Dr. Stephanie Duguid

I attribute my success to my ability to truly connect with audiences and make them feel like I'm just like them. When I speak, I don't just tell the audience what I'm talking about - I have a lesson, a challenge, a story, and I engage them emotionally so they're on this roller coaster with me and they lean into me. I really want the audience to know that I'm not this big name on a stage, I'm just like you, and I've had struggles too, and this is how we can grow and learn and develop and remember to find things together. People can see themselves in my stories, whether it's about a good teacher versus a bad teacher, or perspectives on communication. After losing my mom when I was 26, just before 9/11, I chose to see the positive in such a tragic event. I decided that God needed her to be the welcome wagon lady in heaven, and that's how I dealt with her loss - that she needed to be used for a higher power. I could have gone down a rabbit hole of negativity, but I chose to move forward using my Decide, Discover, Defy framework. I decided I was going to move forward, I discovered that I'm stronger than I thought I was, and I defied the odds by supporting her legacy in all that I do today.

The best career advice I ever received came from a Chancellor at one of the Arkansas schools who I interviewed on my podcast. She told me to wear my own shoes. So many times in our careers, we try to copy other people that we see doing things, or we try to emulate somebody that's doing something, whether good, better, or indifferent, because we think that's the type of person we're supposed to be. But we're each our own individual, and we each have our own shoes for a reason. So wear your own shoes, because if you try to wear somebody else's, you're gonna get uncomfortable, you're gonna get blisters, and you're not gonna be your authentic self. It has to blend with who you are and be genuine.

The best thing I can tell young women entering education or speaking is to ask questions, reflect often, and communicate clearly. When people do something great, thank them for it and celebrate it. When you need rest, rest. Listen to who you are and what you're about, and don't lose that side of who you are as you move forward. It goes along with wearing your own shoes and being authentic. You can take little bits from here and there, but it has to blend with who you are and be genuine. Own your greatness with confidence. I really encourage women to write down everything you've done that you are proud of - I don't care if it's you got your kids up every day and they weren't late to school, or you didn't hit the snooze button for a whole week. Write down everything, set it aside for a minute, and then come back and read it as if you're reading about somebody else. At the end of it, you'll go, oh my gosh, I do some awesome things. It's really about building up your confidence and building up the momentum so that you have that belief in yourself, so that you can go for whatever you want to go for.

One of the biggest challenges, especially for women in the field, is imposter syndrome. If you look at education specifically, it's about 90% women and 10% men, but when you look at the leadership positions, it's 90% men and 10% women. Women don't believe that they are capable of going to that next level. They always think they need all the qualifications before stepping to that next level, whereas men will just say, you know what, let's just go for it. I really encourage women to own their greatness and believe in themselves. Women should believe in themselves and go for the jobs that men often go for despite not having all the required skills.

The values most important to me are trust, empathy, and honesty. I just get down to the foundation, and then respect for not only what you do, but what others do as well. I believe that everybody is a leader, and one of the biggest things I say is that you don't have to have a position or title to be a leader, because it's how you influence one another. Everyone leads from a different place.