Finding Your Voice in a World Full of Noise | July Wrap-Up

July was Voice Month on Dancing in the Discomfort Zone, and what started as four completely different conversations turned out to have one beautiful common thread: Your voice is how people experience you, and especially today...that matters!  

As Anne (https://YourChangeSpeaker.com) celebrates another trip around the sun (Happy Birthday Anne!), she reflects on the lessons shared by John Di Domenico, Joshua Seth, Hilary Blair, and Beth Z and explores why our voices matter now more than ever. In a world filled with AI, deepfakes, curated social media personas, and constant noise, authenticity has become one of our greatest superpowers. 

In This Episode, We Talk About:

•  Why your voice is far more than just the sound coming out of your mouth 
•  How authenticity and human connection are becoming more valuable in the age of AI 
•  The ways your voice builds trust, relationships, and influence 
•  Why intentional communication matters more than being louder 
•  How to think about the "flowers" you're leaving in your footsteps 

Questions to Consider

• How do people experience you?
• Are you using your voice intentionally?
•  What stories are you telling?
•  What truths are you willing to speak?
•  What kind of ripples are you creating?

As Anne enters her 52nd year, she offers a powerful reminder:

Maybe the goal isn't to be louder or more impressive. Maybe it's simply to use the voice we've been given to leave people feeling seen, heard, and a little bit better for having crossed our path.  

Anne Bonney is a keynote speaker and emcee who helps organizations lead through change by building resilience, emotional intelligence, and courageous communication.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Dancing in the Discomfort Zone podcast. We are finishing up July 2026 voice month. We're finishing up July, which is also when my birthday happens to come. So today we're gonna wrap up this amazing month of guests, all related to your voice. So the fun part about the wrap-up is that it's already done because it's all a bunch of voice, but the message that as I was listening to John and uh Joshua and Hillary and Beth all talking about voice from different perspectives, I realized something that we don't think about very often. And John kicked it off, kicked off the monthly flew with this. And he said that, and he reminded us that your voice matters because it's how people experience you. Again, we spend so much time thinking about the visual experience people have. But in this day and age, so much of our voice is also a part of our physical presence, right? It's not just photos. Now people are getting videos. You're on Zoom, you're on the phone. No, nobody's on the phone anymore. Sorry, that was a joke. You're on podcasts, you're talking, you know, but but your voice is playing so much in. And as Beth talked about when she was talking about voice cloning and AI, your authentic vocal footprint is replicable, but your authenticity is not. And using your voice to bring that all together is really important. And to be able to think authentically about that is super important. I mean, your voice is more than just a noise, it's part of you, right? John taught us in the first episode this month that our voice is part of our identity. And then Joshua, as he was talking about voice acting, remind us that that human connection is something AI cannot replace. And the more AI does in the world, the more that personal connection is going to be important. And that voice for us is going to be important. And then, Hillary, in the third episode of this month, talk to us about trust and how before we even start getting into the content of what we have to say, that trust is starting to be built by the way we're using our voice and how we're showing up and how we're being heard. And then again, Beth talking about voice cloning with AI demonstrated the voice can be copied, but your authenticity can't. And how you use your voice in the communication of yourself helps people experience you in a certain way. It creates relationships through what you say, through how you say it. So whether you say it and whether you're willing to take up space, speak up, say what you have to say, include, you know, in um share your perspective, anything like that. Your voice also creates relationship in how you choose not to use it, how much you listen, how much you're willing to allow other people in. And whether you create that connection at all, whether you're willing to be open, whether you're willing to strategically engage in the conversation, or whether you're strategically engaging in what I call intentional omission. Sometimes we leave things out for clarity of message. Sometimes we leave things out because we're trying to mislead. Right? What are you not saying? How are you not using your voice? How are you not allowing that communication and more importantly, that connection to happen? As technology takes over more and more of our lives, that authenticity, that connection is gonna be our superpower. It is our superpower as humans. It's not tidy, it's not a scientific formula that'll make complete sense, but it matters. In the world of filters and deep fakes and AI-generated everything, carefully curated social media personas, right? Authenticity is rarer than ever. And it's even more valuable. And think about John in his interview talking about learning voices, learning how to do impressions and award-winning impressions at that, it all came back to authenticity and who he is, and paying attention to how we're using our voice. John talked a lot about that vocal awareness. Joshua talked about focus, you know, focusing on those connections. Hillary talked about breath and the presence of our voice and the tone we use and what that communicates. And Beth talked about awareness and skepticism in what we hear, but also making that authentic connection with people so that they know when they're dealing with a fake. The common thread of all of this isn't that we need to be louder and we need to say more. It's that we need to be intentional because how we use our voice matters. Now it's funny because as I think about my birthday, I'm 52, July 31st, the day this is coming out, happy birthday to me. I went to an art school. I was a singer my entire childhood, my sophomore through senior year in high school, I spent at a boarding school in northern Michigan, Airlock and Arts Academy, singing opera and classical music for three to four hours every single day. And so the training in my voice, and now I use my voice as my job, right? My training in my voice has been extensive. And so I probably have thought about how I use my voice more than most people do. And through these interviews this month, I've never thought more about how I'm using my voice, how I'm using my voice connect with my audiences, with you on this podcast, with individual clients, but also I'm in a new love relationship. And so how am I using my voice with him? Um, how am I using my voice with my friends? And how am I using it as part of my identity? And on this auspicious occasion of my birth, you know, so often as kids, we spend birthdays thinking, what do I want to be when I grow up? What am I gonna be? I'm one year older, I'm one year closer to that dream. Now, after 52 birthdays, we start asking a different question. And I don't mean like, oh, when am I gonna get my plastic surgery or my new hip? But what I don't know about you, but I spend my birthday saying, okay, cool, who was I this last year? And who do I want to be going forward as I continue to grow and you know, dance in the discomfort zone and continue to try to be the best person I can be and find that fulfilling life for myself and for others? Who do I want to be this year? How do I want people to experience me? How are they experiencing me? And how do I want them to experience me so that they have a good experience? Um, I tell a story, and this is a little bit into my my woo-woo uh uh personality, which I don't share a lot on this podcast. And some of you may be like, yeah, you do, which is fine. You believe what you want to believe. But um when I went to Burning Man in 2013, it was right after an abusive marriage that I just gotten out of, and I was in a very joyful place, but also in a very healing place. And what does my life look like now and what happened and why did that happen, and how do I recover from that and all that stuff? And I remember I was walking by a tent where they had psychics, and I was like, well, that would be fun. And this is how Burning Man works. You know, I was walking down one time and somebody yelled out, hey, do you want to come write postcards with us? We're drinking whiskey and eating bacon. Do you want to come join us? And I was like, Yes, I do. And another time I'm walking down, somebody was doing tie-dye. They're like, You want to do a tie-dye? I got an extra scarf. I'm like, Yes, I do. Or somebody, you want to dance? Yes, I do. Do you want to, you know? So this is kind of how how Burning Man goes. It's it has a reputation of being all party and all music and all dancing and all influencers. But ultimately, there's an incredible community of just what do you want to do? How do you want to play today? And so I went by this tent with the psychics and I thought, that'll be fun. Let's let's get in line. So we did. And the lady did her psychic thing once I got up to up to her, and she kind of was giggling because she was, you know, I was closing my eyes and she was closing her eyes, and she had her hands on my head and whatever. And I'm like, okay, you do you, lady. And and uh and she starts to giggle a little and then she gets back to being serious and so she's sort of telling me what she heard and everything. I said, Why did you giggle? And she said, Because I saw you walking away and there were flowers popping up in your footsteps. And I was like, I literally started bawling. I was like, that is the most terrible thing anybody's ever said to me. But like, as I think about how I use my voice to influence people, to help people be more courageous, to help people be happier, to help people laugh, you know, it reminds me of that moment of thinking about the flowers that I leave in my footsteps. And I don't know whether that actually was real or whether she was like, this lady needs to start leaving flowers in her footsteps. So I'm gonna say this to her and inspire her. Well, whatever the case, it may, it worked. And I like to say that that is my goal in life, to leave flowers in my footsteps. And so this month has been incredible for me to think about how I use my voice to leave flowers in my footsteps, and how in this 52nd year on this planet, I'd love to continue leaving flowers in my footsteps through the stories I tell, the conversations that I'm willing to have, the conversations that I'm thrilled to have, the conversations that I want to avoid, but I'm willing to stay in. The way I encourage people, in the boundaries that I set, in the way I run my business, in the truths that I have the courage and I'm learning the courage to speak, and in the laughter that I share. This world is full of a whole lot of noise, more noise than ever. And your voice is unique and it's very, very powerful if you are willing to use it. Right? So this other birthday has me thinking less about how old I am and more about how I show up. Because maybe the goal isn't to be louder, to say more, to be more impressive. Maybe it's just to use the voice we've been given, our words, our tone, our truth, our humanity, all that stuff, to leave people feeling seen, feeling heard, and feeling like they're a little bit better for having crossed our path. It is about us as individuals and speaking our truth and being courageous enough to set those boundaries and you know tell our stories, but it's also about all of the people we come in contact with professionally, personally, and just incidentally out in the world. The ripples we all make matter. And your voice is a very powerful and under-considered and underutilized tool in making ripples that matter in a really, really good way. So, can we talk about influence? That is true influence. So I want you to dance in that discomfort zone, my friends. Happy birthday to me. Thank for listening to Dancing in the Discomfort Zone podcast. We are zooming in on episode 400. That's in just a couple episodes, and I've got a phenomenal conversation with a PhD in chemistry, who is actually a very successful musician as well. I've got Scott Boom next week, who is hilarious. Dude is so odd and so funny. Just the way his brain works and the book that he's got coming out and how he got Scott Bacchula involved. Remember Scott Bacchula from Quantum Leap back in the day? He was also in one of the Star Trek shows. I just, I mean, guy is a hoot. A hoot. I don't know why I had to say it that way. Anyway, we've got some phenomenal episodes as we trust 400 episodes of Dancing in the Discomfort Zone podcast. I am not going anywhere, folks. I love this show. I love the interviews I get to have. I hope you love it. I hope you subscribe. I hope you share it with your friends. Uh, we don't have a huge listenership, but we got a good, solid group of loyal people who hopefully are willing to dance in the discomfort zone to get a little uncomfortable in order to make this life a little bit more enjoyable for ourselves and for everyone around us. Thanks for listening, everybody, and have a great day.