Love's Hidden Treasure

For Elaine Love, it was a huge surprise. She had no idea that deep inside her was an inspiring speaker, able to stand up in front of a room full of people, and deliver a speech that would not only win top honors, but, more importantly, change people’s lives, as well as her own, in very positive and gratifying ways.

“You could say that I experienced a hidden treasure lying dormant, deep inside of me.” says Love. “I was attending a seminar, and found myself becoming very distracted and annoyed by the “umms” and “uh’s” that seemed to perforate nearly every sentence. I decided right then and there that I had things of value to share, public speaking was the medium I wanted to use, and that I would settle for nothing less than being highly successful at it”.

Little did she know that public speaking would come very natural for her. When, at 64 years old, she decided to master public speaking, she had no idea she would unearth a talent that would take her on national speaking tours.

Elaine says “I joined Toastmasters International in November 2008 and by Dec. 11, I delivered my “ice breaker speech”. I mastered a one-year Toastmasters manual in four months, and began delivering speech after speech. Along the way, I decided to enter the organization’s international speech contest. The competition pitted me against speakers who have been on the circuit for as long as a decade. I won at the club level, the area level, the metro division and took 2nd place at the district level, behind the speaker who is now competing Internationally.”

She whispered “In the professional speakers conference, someone said “taking 2nd place to that particular 1st place speaker, is like saying I took second place in a golf tournament where the first place was Tiger Woods”.

Love has set her sights on, and is determined to compete and win Internationally, next year. Mediocrity has never been acceptable to Love. Her reputation rests on being the best. She says, “It really isn’t an ego thing…it truly isn’t. My business is based upon helping others succeed. If I expect and accept less than the best from myself, what kind of mentor would I be to others who have chosen to become a part of my team. I owe it to them and to myself to excel at what I do, and pass that knowledge and ability on to them. This is my passion. It’s simple. I just love what I do! I think you have to if you expect to achieve top level success at anything.”

Love’s latest speech, entitled “My Attitude Counts” won numerous accolades from her Toast Master Colleagues. Including:

“Great job!”

“Great presence! Vocal variety and audience involvement was great. The real life examples were great.”

“Examples – visuals…Great presentation, nice contact with audience.”

“Got me to considering where I can apply a positive attitude to areas in my life.”

“It was all good. Great speaker. Too bad we didn’t have more time!”



“The bottom line is it’s not what happens to us in our life, it’s how we choose to deal with it,” Love said. “Life is an attitude, choose to have a good one.”