Hi, I’m LaDoris!
I’m an American Pronunciation Coach who helps native and non-native English speakers gain more respect and develop deeper relationships in professional settings.
I am the baby in the family which means I didn’t have to do or say much because everyone took care of things for me. This can be a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing since my sisters were always there to stand up and speak for me. On the other hand, as I grew up I never learned the important skills like how to communicate clearly and be heard and respected.
All throughout my middle and high school years, I always carried a camera to school. I took pictures with all my American and non-native speaker friends. I can remember walking through the hallways, watching them struggle to communicate what they wanted to express. I immediately was drawn to them because I felt their frustration.
The frustration of getting weird looks due to not having all the words to express themselves. The looks from not making sense, as if you’re an alien from space. I was drawn to foreign exchange students. This is because I was fighting the same battle they were fighting, even though English is my native language. Now in retrospect, I believe this is when I felt in my soul more at home with foreigners than my own people: Americans.
During my high school years, God blessed me with a plethora of mission trips to travel to Mexico and Honduras with all expenses paid. In this picture, you can see me holding a small yellow book; it’s a Spanish to English dictionary for travelers. I used it several times to spark conversations even though I wasn’t going to understand their response. Whew, it was tough at first. But, I ended up working at an orphanage during the summer translating for church groups from the US. That was quite an experience I’ll never forget because I learned how to communicate and love people who I couldn’t fully express my thoughts to.
Harding University is where I received my Bachelor of Science in Speech Pathology. I struggled comprehending textbooks and following along in class. And yes, English is my native language. Sadly, I don’t believe I read enough as a child and all throughout my 20s which lead to difficulty with vocabulary and speaking English with correct grammar during conversations. I also have a degree in World Languages (focused on Spanish) from University of Little Rock.
It wasn’t until years later during a health crisis that I was determined to use the degrees that I had. I set out to practice Spanish with native speakers. However, I ended up teaching my conversation partners how to pronounce words properly and I encouraged them not to be afraid to use their English in front of natives. This felt so aligned with my purpose that I launched Improve My Pronunciation.
I know I started off speaking about not knowing how to express myself early on in life, but over the years, I realized how essential it is to have exceptional communication skills. I silenced myself due to fear of embarrassing myself in front of intelligent people. After all, this is my own language. My English should sound perfect! Once I gave myself permission to not speak perfectly, I gained more confidence and made progress faster. When I realized I wasn’t going to die from my illness, I made up my mind to attack every fear I was afraid of and public speaking was one of them.
All throughout my life I’ve struggled with expressing myself in an intelligible way. I would physically shake, sweat and make a bunch of mistakes before a minute even passed by. You can decide to start practicing speaking clearly too. The thing is you can’t stay quiet until it’s perfect; it’s going to require you to enjoy the process and study your mistakes. Doing it alone can be frustrating since it’s so much to learn and it’s not a quick task to complete. This is exactly why I’m on a mission to help as many professionals as I can who struggle with their pronunciation and/or accent. Are you ready for a transformation with your English speaking skills?