An Accent Can Get You in Trouble Sometimes...

Once I said the the wrong thing in France.

In 1995, I made a speech to 5,000 people in Nice, France (In French). I mispronounced one word...

When I meant to say,
"I came to Monaco to get my Masters Degree," with my poor American accent in French, I said,
"I came to Monaco to get my UTERUS."

The audience was sweet and charming and forgave me. I just heard a murmur run through the crowd. But after the speech when a friend told me what I had actually said, I melted like a stick of butter. It took months to recover. Maybe years.

I am one of the few, if not the ONLY accent reduction coaches in America who has actually gone through it herself in another language. I worked in a PR firm in Paris and Monaco and was TERRIFIED to talk on the phone, but I had to. I know your fear, personally.

I have unique insights into what you are facing with your accent reduction challenges, and know how to help you. You can find accent reduction coaches all over America. Most of them are speech trainers, some might be college speech teachers, but not all of them. None of them has been in your shoes: lived and worked and tried to succeed in a foreign country in another language.

I know what it means to improve an accent:
- I had to make speeches in France to thousands of people in French
- I am a University Speech and Communication Professor
- I am a former TV and radio broadcaster
- I am a motivational speaker
- I am a business woman
- I am the famous Valentina's mommy