- So, hi everyone.
Welcome.
Thank you Angelo and Eduardo
for keeping me on track.
Hi everyone.
Thanks for being here today
for our first live event
of "Hope, Heart and the Human Spirit."
I'm so excited for that
you are able to be here
and I'm really grateful
for the enthusiasm.
Hopefully, you'll have a great session
with us this afternoon.
I am delighted to be joined
by two of my dear friends.
They both happen to be gay men.
I promise in future sessions
we'll have other representation
from around the room.
So I wanna just mention Angelo first,
who will be behind the scenes.
You wanna say hi, Angelo?
- Hi, everyone.
Happy to be here.
- Angelo and I used to sing
in the New York City Gay
Men's Chorus together.
And so, he's going to be our
radio podcast, producer host.
So he's going to monitor the chat,
so Eduardo and I can really
focus on the conversation
and he may interrupt us to
share themes that are coming up
in the chat thread or
questions that you have.
So feel free to use the chat
thread as much as you want
and Angelo will be helping to
keep Eduardo and I on track.
So I just wanted to
say just a couple words
about why I started Hummingbird Humanity.
I have spent 20 years in human
resources and in diversity
and inclusion, and I have
this belief that companies
should put their people first
and that putting people first
is really the core of
success for any business.
I also think that to do that,
we have to start with the
stories of those humans
and those people that are part
of those companies and organizations.
So that's what this series is
all about, is the hope, heart
and human spirit of those people that work
in corporate America,
work in the organizations
around the world and to hear their stories
and see how that might influence
how we architect our new
normal and what the workplace
will look like as we
move out of the pandemic.
So, that's why I've invited
my dear friend, Eduardo,
who's been a wonderful champion
for me and an amazing human.
So Eduardo, do you wanna share
a little bit about yourself?
- Yas!
There were so many things to yas about
in your sharing, Brian,
before just acknowledging you
for the courage like I did
offline, but will do so online.
I just love already the
ways in which people
have been responding to
your own humanity. (laughs)
You were just being vulnerable
and it's just being real.
We're just trying to be
people on the planet.
So I can already see that in the people
who've been joining us and
how they are loving you
through this launch and just
the courage to be someone
on the planet with an idea and
giving birth to it right now.
So it's just so powerful.
So thank you for channeling
your own hope, heart
and human spirit in a context
that allows other people
to find their own connection
to that in these times.
- Thanks, Eduardo.
- So my name
is Eduardo Placer.
- I have to say before you go into that.
So the reason today is happening
is because Eduardo and I,
two weeks ago had a conversation.
He's been my mentor as
I've been getting ready
to make this launch and he
said, "Brian, you're ready.
Go, go do it."
So I just wanna say thank you, Eduardo.
- You're welcome.
- So please,
please introduce yourself.
So, my name is Eduardo Placer.
I have the privilege of being the founder
of Fearless Communicators.
We are an inclusive,
diverse, public-speaking
coaching business and we
work with thought leaders
on what they say and how they say it.
And the root of my passion
and commitment to that
is in relationship to my own silencing
and my own relationship with
myself and with my voice.
And that comes from the
trauma of being a gay kid
growing up in Miami, Florida.
And I grew up, I was born in
1977, grew up in the '80s,
went to high school in
the late '80s, early '90s,
and knew inherently from a very early age,
that the only way that I
could survive was about lying
about who I was.
And I didn't really get the
impact of that until recently,
but to reflect on what
does it mean to be a liar
for the first 18 years of my life?
When everything around you,
I went to Jesuit Prep School.
I went to Catholic
education, it's like one
of the 10 Commandments, do not tell a lie.
I feel like every teacher,
be honest, tell the truth,
that when you tell the truth,
it's very powerful to tell the truth.
And yet, there was this inner
knowing survival mechanism
that said your community, your
family, the people around you
can't handle the truth.
The truth would shatter everything.
And I held it.
I held onto that belief
and I came out at 18.
I was in college.
I had the privilege of going
to the University of
Pennsylvania and then started
my journey to kind of realigning
and reassessing, like,
who is this person?
That's always been inside,
but now that I've given voice
to the truth right now,
how do I start learning how
to manage and be with that truth?
And that trauma is still with me.
I am a gay man who's been
out for over 20 years.
And the homophobia of the world around me
is completely internalized.
And there is probably no greater homophobe
to myself than me and that is something
that I am like navigating
and in relationship with,
as I continue to develop in my own life.
And what I discovered,
the statistic is that 75%
of people suffer from speech anxiety.
And I believe that everybody else lies.
And I think there is some
root trauma or some fear
or some shame that we are all navigating.
Some lies, some covering
up that we fear the truth.
An audience sees right
through us and we feel like
we have to perform something
other than who we are
in order to show up.
And that's what I'm out to dispel.
I am committed that
people show up as they are
in whatever body they have, in
whatever voice that they have
to communicate in service of the people
who they're speaking to.
And I feel so much of
public speaking training
is about knowing your thing
and then looking good.
Who the hell cares?
(laughing)
Do you know what I mean?
I just want someone who's
a person who is up there,
committed that I get something out of it.
That's what I want.
And I think that there
are ways in which the ways
we teach performance, the ways
we teach speaking, the way
we teach leadership are inherently
patriarchal and colonial.
And we're taught to perform
professionalism, which
is not necessarily in alignment
with our authentic expression.
And I'm really curious,
and I'm really interested
in how diverse voices and diverse
bodies show up as they are
to speak their truth.
- I have so-
- That was a lot.
- That was a lot and I have so many things
I wanna respond to.
Well, first of all, I know I saw a couple
of the comments pop up on my screen.
And one I read said thank
you for being so vulnerable.
So I would like to say that
and express that as well.
I'm a big believer as I know you are
in that vulnerability, that authenticity,
that honesty and openness is so essential
in the work that we do today.
And there's so much I relate to there.
I went back into the closet when I started
my first job in H.R.,
because I didn't think
I could be successful and be me.
And one of the jobs that
I had, I went every day
and I tried to be the
person they wanted me to be.
And I would go to therapy
every week and I would talk
to my therapist and say,
they want me to assimilate.
I'm not who they want me to be.
And I struggled so much every
day of trying to be the person
and the definition of
what they wanted me to be.
And it was damaging to my spirit
and I wanna live in a place
where we can be ourselves
when we go to work.
And I'm sure that there are
a lot of people in this call
who resonate with that
feeling and that desire.
And I'm curious, as
you've taken your journey
and you've switched careers
and of your life journey
to say, to find your voice and
your way of being of service.
How did that transpire for
you so you can be yourself
and do work you love and make
a difference in the world?
- What's so funny because
of course, for someone who,
for the first 18 years of his
life lied and tried to perform
a version of myself that
was lovable and accepted,
what I aspired to be more
than anything in my life
was an actor, where I would
get paid to put on costumes
and live in a world
where men sing and dance,
which was my aspiration.
And I think that Angelo, you and,
I hear there are gay men's chorus.
People that are probably on
this would probably suffer
from an acute condition
that I call show tinnitus,
which is the, the show tune is strong
in this young pedal one.
I'm an identical twin and
my brother's straight.
And when we were twins playing with toys,
my brother played war with the G.I. Joes,
and I played
♪ Whoa, ♪
the musical and my
characters had monologues.
So as you were talking about
going to see your therapist,
I was thinking on a clear
day, you can sing forever.
Like I was totally in like show tune land.
(Brian laughs)
But to ground you back
into that moment, for me,
the discovery, like I
became an actor because
that's what I wanted to
be more than anything
in my entire life.
That was not something that
my community and the ecosystem
that I was in I felt supported me in.
So went to college, played
by the rules and then
when I finished college, moved to New York
and I said, I played by everybody's rules,
and now I'm gonna do what I wanna do.
I wanna be an actor.
And I think what is inherent
in that has always been
a curiosity in human beings.
And I think because there was
a part of me and I'm gonna
speak from my experience,
and I don't believe,
I'm not gonna say that
this is true, you know,
sitting ex cathedra, as the
Catholic or lapsed Catholic,
and very lapsed is I think
that as a survival mechanism,
I had to look and see and observe to see
if a space or a person was safe.
So there was this an ECU, like a tuning
that I think just always had me vibrate at
in the key of human being.
Right?
So I was constantly assessing, is this or?
So, because of that, I just think I was,
my mom used to call me orejitas, right,
so I'm Cuban American and orejitas
means little ears and that's cause
I would always listen
to all the conversations
that were happening around me.
So my ears were always
attuned to like, if we were
at a restaurant, what
were they talking about
in the table next to us?
What about the people behind us?
And my mother would be like,
"Eduardo, para orejitas."
"Eduardo, stop it!
Little ears, stop eavesdropping
on other people's
conversations, that's rude."
And I just think I just
had an inherent curiosity
in other people and
other people's stories.
I also studied English,
so I was always a student of literature
and because I loved theater
and I loved musical theater,
I just always was interested
in the architecture of stories
and the architecture of storytelling.
Right?
And I think one of the beautiful
things of being an actor
is that an actor is given words
and that we're part of a narrative.
Like we're a tool in the
expression of a story
and understanding what is
my story in relationship
to the greater story
that's being told, right?
And I think I've always
been fascinated in people
and I've always been
fascinated in people's stories.
So as an actor, that was very
present when I went to...
Initially, I was very
interested in politics as a kid.
I grew up in Miami, Florida like I said,
my parents are the too few
Cuban Democrats, thank God.
And in 10th grade, I was holding up signs
that said pro-choice, pro-Clinton,
and I interned on Capitol Hill.
I thought I was gonna go into politics.
And I think there was always a part of me
that was also framed
about being in service.
Ended up on Capitol Hill and I hated it.
I was like, this sucks.
I was like, there's no
way I'm ever coming back,
this is a total joke.
And then when I became an actor,
I had the privilege of attending one
of the top conservatories
in the U.S. in La Jolla.
So I went to U.C. San Diego in La Jolla
and all the actors teach public speaking.
And what was really cool was
understanding and seeing how
we're taught to speak as
an intellectual exercise,
but not taught to speak
as a physical, spiritual
and emotional exercise.
So people are for the most
part, a bunch of talking heads
and completely and totally divorced
from what's happening in their body,
like completely cut off from their body.
And that's not even the people
who have shame about their body,
which is probably, everybody. (laughs)
Most people can look at themselves
in the mirror and be like
I really look like that?
- We could raise hands,
and should all raise our hands.
(Brian laughs)
- Yeah.
Not to mention that I have a
lot of shame around my voice.
The thing about the human
voice is the human voice
is like a fingerprint.
There's no other sound that is
like the sound of your voice.
And as a kid, it was
always a dead giveaway
that there was something about
my voice that was feminine.
There was something about my
voice that was like girlish,
which is the words that they had prior
to fourth grade or fifth
grade, when then it became,
it sounds gay or you're gay.
And then as it got older,
it was faggot, right?
So it's like the ways in which that, that,
and the ways in which I felt
like I had to cover my voice
or mask my voice or deepen my voice.
I was so grateful that puberty
hit right before I went
to an all-male Jesuit prep school.
So there were all these
ways in which there's
all this trauma in the ways that I tried
to kind of cover the mask of this.
Right?
And of course I wanted to be
an actor where I could play
other roles, when in reality,
the biggest fear that I have,
the biggest fear that I
have the most primal fear,
And I'm gonna say
something, Angelo, Brian,
and everybody else was on this.
I'm gonna be responsible for
what I'm gonna say in advance,
but this is what it is.
My biggest fear and this is
my biggest fear for the people
who are out here texting,
who I can't even see
is you're gonna think that I'm a faggot.
And that's what the
bully inside of my brain,
which is the voice of the bully
in the world and my father
and the people around me,
like that bully is alive
and has me feel like I
have to shift who I am
and cover and hide.
And unless, and that's mine.
Everyone has their own
version of that, I believe.
And I think that that's
what stops us from actually
really showing up authentically,
not as a buzzword,
pardon my F bomb, but as the truth.
- You have one of my favorite
phases, "Just be a person."
- Just be a person.
Can we please just be a person?
That's all I want.
- And I resonate with
what you're saying in that,
I was sharing this story
with someone last night
of one of my favorite TED Talks
is called "All the little things."
It's from a drag queen in Ireland
and she tells the story,
but it's really the story
of the gay man who's
behind that character.
And it's about the
choices we make as gay men
who walk into the world and can we hold
the hands of our significant
other and is it safe?
And so rather than that,
being a beautiful moment,
it's a moment of defiance,
it's a moment of courage,
it's a moment of a political statement.
And we always have to
make that conscious choice
as we go along and through the world.
But I remember back when
I first started training,
I remember feeling the same way.
I was afraid people were
gonna figure out that
I was a gay man when I
was in front of the room.
And I learned that I had to
embrace me to be effective.
- And I also wanna add
that because I'm speaking
from my experience as a gay
man and you also identify
as a gay man, Brian,
Angelo, who's on this call,
I assume also identifies as a gay man.
I think that there's
something really interesting
about male homophobia, right,
which is, for me, it is misogyny.
It is the hatred of the feminine.
There is no greater
assault on the masculine
than a feminized man.
Like the biggest insult you
could tell a little boy is that
he's like a girl, "You're so girly."
Like that's so weak.
And one of the things that
I've had to navigate is
I've always had this fear or
this belief that I'm weak,
that I'm not strong because of that.
Right?
And even when I was a kid and kids
would make fun of me and I
would cry and I would get upset,
and I would tell my parents,
my father used to say,
punch the kid in the mouth.
And I never punched him.
I never punched a bully.
I was never violent because
my biggest fear was that
the moment that I would punch them,
it wouldn't hurt them.
Like my biggest fear's
I would go for the reach
and it would hit them
and they would laugh.
So I internalized that.
Right?
And then last year was my
20-year college reunion.
And when I was an undergrad,
I was in a '70s acapella group
called The Pensions.
And it was a '70s like
and we all wore costumes.
And my costume was a two-piece
pink and white leisure suit
with five-inch platform heels.
It wasn't drag.
I was a boy in a, it was
like, it's too "Wong Foo".
I was not a drag queen.
I was a boy in a dress,
do you know what I mean?
But it was like a little pre-postmodern.
It was pre-postmodern, where I was like,
I could have facial hair and
I could still wear the freaky,
it was like gender bending,
whatever in 1997, right?
And I thought, how courageous,
how strong to at 20-years-old
before "Will and Grace", before Ellen,
donned a two-piece pink
and white leisure suit,
do one-handed cartwheels
and sing "Fame" to a
chair dance, you know,
like that's courage.
The courage 18 to stand in front
of my family and my parents
and say, I'm gay.
Like that strength, like to
risk oblivion to risk the loss
of everything that I knew.
That courage is powerful and strong.
And it was like this real
awakening at 43 of like,
that was powerful.
And yas! (shouts)
- Absolutely.
- I have the yas pin on my,
on my thing to remind myself.
- Absolutely.
- Yeah.
- And of course, as
I've gotten to know you,
you have so much love and
support and such amazing people
in the world around you.
And I can only make an assumption cause
it's only been six months, I think,
since we've known each other.
That part about it is because
you're living your authentic self.
One of the things though that I love about
what you've chosen to do is
you've taken that courage
of being your authentic
self and your ability to,
I love this, the key of being human,
tune into the key of being human.
That might be the name
that we put on this as we-
- That's the new one.
That one just dropped out of
my mouth a couple of days ago,
I'm excited, I'm vibrating,
I'm vibrating in the key of human being.
- I love it.
We're gonna use it.
We're going to make you
famous for that quote.
- I love that.
But I love that you have
chosen to be a champion
for women in your work.
And that's one of the stories
when I'm telling other people
about this wonderful man, I met Eduardo,
I talk about you have this amazing,
community, fearless force.
I had a chance to join your,
was it for your anniversary yesterday?
For your anniversary, I'll
let you tell about it,
but I'm in this, I was in
this room with 60 other women
who are telling these
raw, vulnerable stories
and some really amazing poetry and songs.
- Yes, all about the vagina.
- [Brian] Yes.
- Yas!
- Yes.
- Okay, I've never even gone down there,
but we were like yas!
- It was incredible and
I just loved the realness
and I also love that in the
rooms, when I had a chance
to hear some of those
women tell their stories,
how much I resonate with their stories,
but how powerful they are
and all ages and races,
and just it's a beautiful
community and they've embraced me,
which is beautiful.
So tell us about Fearless Force because
you've taken your voice and
your power and your confidence
and helped others to
find that in themselves.
- Yeah, well, I think it's so interesting.
I think what I am a
champion of is the feminine.
And I think that it is an
ongoing relationship that I have
with the way in which I've
been at war with my own.
That feels really raw to say that,
but I just feel like
that's the truth, right?
And for me in this moment
and the ways in which
I can also see that
we're all at war with it
and it's in how we treat women,
it's how men treat the
feminine inside of them,
how they beat it out of little boys,
how they beat it out of little girls,
and I think we create what we need.
I didn't know that I needed that.
I didn't know that was the
medicine that I needed,
but I knew when I trusted
in the moment that I had
an amazing ability to
create safety with women.
And I identify as a Kinsey Six gay man,
I have absolutely zero sexual
interest in women, whatsoever.
I am a gold star gay.
And I think women feel
really safe in my presence
because they're in the presence of a man.
And it's actually really
beautiful because I feel like
I have access to and permission
to be in both spaces,
spaces that are both homo social male
and also homo social female, right?
So it's kind of fascinating
to be able to dance in both
of those spaces and have
beautiful intimate relationships
in spaces that are only with
men, straight men and gay men,
and then also men who identify as men,
however they identify as men
and then same with women.
And knowing that within
that, in the work that I do,
there was a way in which
the women who I worked with
as a public speaking coach
would continue to call me
the secret weapon, that I
could continue to source them
as powerful through their
physical and mental journey,
to show up, to speak the truth
that they had to communicate.
So that was something
that I was just tracking
and just really curious.
And I do work with men.
I worked very well with men
and I also worked with women.
And then I got political, because I am.
It's a privilege of being a
queer Latin men in this country.
- Are we allowed to
talk politics in these-
- I'm not saying I'm not gonna talk about.
I'm not going to give any, but I mean,
you probably know exactly
where you think I would fit
on the political spectrum is where I fit
on the political spectrum.
I've been marching, I've
been doing a lot of marching
and I've been doing a lot of singing
with the marching as well.
Anyway now, but what happened is
I was noticing specifically, and I started
my entrepreneurial journey.
I mean I think being an
actor's being an entrepreneur,
like an actor is someone who
faces up living in all the time
and the vision of a dream
with very little promise
that anything is like, I'm
gonna show up to a city
with a dance belt and a
diet Coke and a dream,
and live my best life as I sing 16 bars
from audition to audition to audition,
♪ To be in a show ♪
You know?
And so the entrepreneurial
journey was not new.
However, when I started
as a business owner
for my public speaking coaching business,
I was tracking that I served
women, I'm working with women
who are founders, women
who were entrepreneurs,
women who are starting businesses.
There's a process that they're
finding really powerful
in relationship to me.
And I was getting notifications
about events and panels
and all this other stuff
and it was all men,
maybe few women.
- Yeah.
- And specifically white
men and white women,
and maybe like two or three
people of color that I could see
in the way that I could
identify diversity.
And as someone who I pass,
I identify as Latin X,
but depending on where I am
and where other people are,
do you know what I mean?
I also don't speak with a defined accent.
So unless I start sharing
or speaking in Spanish
or talking about my upbringing,
people don't necessarily
place me in any space,
which is something that I always do,
which is I assert my identity, who I am,
where I'm from my culture,
my heritage, et cetera.
So what was interesting is I
was not present to diversity
when I was watching that and
I was like, that doesn't work.
So what I thought is what
would happen if I could
consolidate my one-on-one
journey with a private client,
into a group experience just for women?
And that was the experiment.
And that was a first
Fearless Force program,
which we did May 5th, it's finished.
It was May 5th, 2016, and it's six days.
And what happens is
you show up on Saturday
and then you speak on
Thursday, that's what happens.
And what the women are after
over the course of two days
is the creation of some
type of thought leadership.
So a signature speech, like
a TED Talk, 12, 15 minutes,
and then four days later, they delivered
in front of a live audience.
Now what emerged was something
completely different.
What emerged and was created,
I'm gonna acknowledge
Jessica Robinson, one of
our entrepreneurs who talks
about cybersecurity is love.
She talks about creating
containers of safety and love.
What we create as a
container of safety and love,
that can hold the truth
that is looking to emerge.
So this is not brain-centered,
idea-centered speaking.
I don't care about your big idea
if it's about you.
- Right, it's human.
What's your story?
- What is, how does that idea ultimately,
how does that resonate in
the key of human being?
Right, I don't need another
PowerPoint presentation,
I need another slide deck,
I don't need a lecture on chemistry,
I don't need anyone sitting
up on a stage telling me
what to think or how to think, right?
I want a human being up there
to share, not to lecture,
not to dominate, but to just
be a person and communicate.
And there's a very specific
process that we go to
and I call it the story doula process.
That's also something that's been born,
like I'm a story doula.
And the thing about the term
in Spanish to give birth
is to dar a luz, which
means to bring to light,
which is really beautiful.
And then I love languages.
And I love, I'm always very
interested in languages.
And I believe religion, like language
are all multiple prisms
with which to understand
the human experience.
And there are certain ways,
there are certain terms
like birth doesn't sound.
I'm very curious to see
actually what the origin
of the word birth is, I'm
interested in etymology.
But the term dar a luz
to bring to light is
literally what that act is.
And what we do in this
process is we create
the circumstances and the
context and the container
that can hold the truth that
is looking to emerge from you.
There's a great saying,
and we do work in Australia
and it's Aboriginal in origin, which is,
"The story is hunting its storyteller."
- I love that.
- So there are stories like,
there's nothing new, Brian.
It's all like, you know.
(laughs)
I don't think I'm saying anything new.
Like I'm not, this is, you know.
And there's a certain
story that has hunted me
in this moment to be the vessel of.
And because it's vibrating
in my pitch, in my key,
through my body, through
my personal experience,
it can and may occur as new.
And yet I'm not the first
person on the planet
who has come out to his family.
I'm not the first person on this planet
who's had self-loathing,
I'm not the first person on the planet
who has internalized homophobia.
I'm not the first person on the planet
to wanna be of service to other people.
And there is a fundamental
truth that this moment
is looking to allow to come out.
So we create the container for that truth.
So that's why I say
you show up on Saturday
because people come up
thinking that they know
what they wanna talk about.
And there's some other
truth that is there.
And that's what we, and it's
not a force, it's not a push.
Like literally, the women who
show up in there are like,
I'm just gonna surrender.
I have no idea what I'm gonna talk about.
Some women do, someone I
know exactly me to talk
about, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And some do and some are like,
I know exactly what I'm gonna talk about.
And they're like, that's
not what I wanna talk about,
this is what I wanna talk about
I'm like, okay, let's talk about that.
Right?
So we do that.
And that process, the
story to the process.
I say, we begin always grounded
in body, present in mind,
lead from the heart and
speak into the spirit
of our shared humanity.
- Do you wanna say that again?
Cause I'm sure that everyone,
because I know we're all like,
can we, can you repeat those?
- I'm gonna repeat that again.
So we are grounded in
body, present in mind,
lead from the heart and
then speak into the spirit
of our shared humanity.
And what I mean by that is
first thing we have to do
is connect to our body.
There's a great saying
from Papua New Guinea, from
an indigenous tribe in Papua New Guinea,
which is "Knowledge, it's only rumor
until it lives in the muscle."
There is knowledge in your,
every muscle of your body, right?
And we wanna uncover is what is there?
What is the knowledge that is there,
that is not here, but here?
What is that?
The lived experience,
the layers of experience
that you are holding, right?
So we wanna release that, like channel it,
get it moving, right?
Understanding our voice,
how our voice shows up
to the events of speaking, right?
And then identifying what
are the limiting beliefs
that we have about ourselves, right?
That we project into our
creation and into our speaking,
thinking that the audience
for me thinks that I'm gay
or that I'm fat or I'm unattractive,
or I'm not smart enough,
or I'm not an expert,
or they should have hired somebody else,
or why didn't they get that person
who has more Instagram
followers than I do.
Like all the bullshit that
gets in our head that has this
like, ah, like all the nasty, ugly things.
Like let's actually give voice
to that so we can actually
get it out of the way
and not get rid of it
because it's not going to go away.
It's a fallacy to think
that it's gonna disappear
through some magic trick, right?
This isn't Harry Potter,
although I wish I am a Gryffindor.
But I think that it's about
distinguishing that it's there
so you can start building
a relationship with it.
I surrender my fear, every
time I walk on stage,
I'm doing it moment by
moment when I'm on here,
sharing on this thing.
- Yeah, absolutely-
- Well, I just had a call.
I just had a call with a
potential client for a sports team
to work with this organization.
And I said, just to
clarify, I am a gay man
and I'm not gonna hide that.
So if that is an issue, right,
then I just wanna name that
upfront so that we all know
what we're dealing with.
Then there may be somebody else
who you would want in this
place, but I am not gonna hide
who I am for a job, even in a pandemic
and in a recession where
my sales have dropped 96%.
(laughing)
Right?
Like I'm still not willing
to compromise who I am.
Right?
And so anyway, so grounded in body,
present in mind, distilling that so that
we can get out of the way,
get the hell out of the
way so that your heart
can communicate what
there is for your heart
to communicate to people, to other people.
And when you speak from there,
when you lean in from there,
when your storytelling
comes from that space
of true connection, right,
there's nothing like it, specifically
if you're telling the truth,
because when you tell the truth,
what you do is you take
the air out of the room
and then it flushes back
in and that air is deeper
and richer and everyone
is just like leaning in.
I see Angelo breathing in,
I think Angelo's feeling it.
(laughing)
Yas!
There's nothing like it, and
what there is is release.
And it's like there's tension.
And then all of a sudden I was
like, Oh my God, there it is.
And I think that that's what happens.
I think that's why the events are moving.
That's why audience members,
when they're in the audience
have that experience
because what they're
witnessing is the truth
as it emanates from a human being,
who's standing in front
of them, not to show off,
not to seal the deal, not
to nail it, not to crush it,
not to get more Instagram
followers, not to be an expert,
but because they're up
there in service of you,
because ultimately it is through
the sharing of their story,
that there's an opportunity
for you to see what resonates
for you that has you have
an opportunity to connect
and shift and acknowledge and recognize
and breathe and release.
And that space becomes
transformative for the speaker
and for the audience at the same time.
And the last piece of it,
the spirit piece, I mean,
I was raised Catholic, but I don't have
any specific spiritual
practice or religious practice.
And I'm in full belief of everything.
Do you know what I mean?
So by all means, if there
are angels and guides,
then I receive them, I
accept them, I love them.
I don't think too much about them
and receive whatever there is.
There's something going on.
However, the root word of the word spirit,
and I go back to etymology and
words is the same root word
as the word to inspire or
to expire or to aspire.
And it comes from the Latin inspirare
which means to breathe.
Just like in Spanish,
respirar is to breathe.
Inspirar is to inhale.
Espirar is to exhale.
So to inspire is yes, to get
someone to feel and be moved,
but it's also to inhale,
to inhale, to breathe in
just like to expirar, to
expire is to breathe out.
And to aspire (exhales)
with breath, right?
And when we speak, when we expire,
on our breath is our voice.
So when you speak, what
you're sharing is spirit
and what happens is the
receiver, even though
we're in a virtual platform, I'm speaking,
I can see you, Angelo,
I can see you, Brian.
I don't know who else is
listening, I don't see you,
but I'm seeing the names
rolling down the stream.
My commitment is in my
speaking, in my exhale,
in my parents' apartment
in Miami beach, where I've
been quarantining and
socially distancing by myself,
is that something that
I am saying will vibrate
in the key of human being and move you
and have you feel something
and experience something
in the sharing of my spirit with you.
And if something that I said moved you,
and had you feel something,
and you then go off
and share that to someone else,
then my spirit lives on in that.
Whether I'm here tomorrow
or not, that the experience
that we have, what was shared
that had you feel something,
and again Mia Angelou
said, "We don't remember
what people say, we remember
how people make us feel,"
that when you feel something,
that spirit has moved you
and now you are moved by the spirit
and will now communicate,
share, speak, and honor that
and cherish that in whatever way
there is for you to do in the world.
And in this moment, for
that, I'm extremely grateful.
- I love it, I love it.
And I think I've heard you
share that probably four
or five times, and I love
it every single time.
It's so moving.
And I wanna sidebar for a moment.
Angelo, I'm gonna come to you in a second,
just to see if there are any
questions or comments or things
that Eduardo or I should
talk about from the group.
But before that, I wanna make,
some of you were, all of
you may have seen the dog
in my lap a minute ago.
And he's here watching me.
His name is Bosco.
- [Eduardo] We love Bosco.
- Bosco's the best.
I didn't realize when I planned for this,
this is going to be one
of those human moments.
Like the muting earlier when I was talking
and welcoming everyone
on mute or this morning
when I messed up trimming
my beard and it's white,
which is why it's
ridiculously short right now.
So these are very human moments.
I also planned the sessions right
before Bosco's dinner time.
So this is when he likes to
remind me that dinner's coming.
So he will probably
appear on every episode of
"Hope, Heart and Human Spirit."
- I love it.
Bosco's welcome.
Yes.
- And he is the chief happiness officer
of Hummingbird Humanity, so
he's here to bring us joy
and love and light.
So with that, Angelo,
anything from the audience
or just things you wanna share
that you're seeing on chats?
- There's just so much great chat
and kind of happening right now.
And just folks are really just
supportive of all the stuff
that you're saying and just being inspired
and aspiring to do great things.
No questions.
If there are questions, feel
free to submit them here.
I know we have a Q&A button,
but don't look at that Q&A button,
just put it in the chat box.
And then I can let Brian and Eduardo know
that there may be some
questions to answer.
But there's just lots of fun things.
One thing I'll share what somebody said
they added their Gryffindor
to their, she, her,
I don't know if
you all saw that.
- That's cool.
She, her, hers, Gryffindor,
I loved that, Bernadette.
- Oh, I saw that too.
- [Angelo] I love that.
- And we're inclusive of all houses.
So Ravenclaws, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs-
- They are all open.
- All of us.
There's room for all of us.
- And Republicans are
actually welcome as well.
I know that we might lean
Democrat, but everyone's welcome.
One thing I just wanted to say
there is that Eduardo and I
are both here because of
all of you on microphone.
So at the end, I'll also
ask if you have suggestions
for future calls or people
you wanna hear from,
because we're doing this,
I think we're both here
and the reason I'm doing this is to
in service of the community.
So I'm glad you're resonating
and that makes me super happy
'cause that's why we're
here to share these stories,
And Eduardo, one of the
questions I wanted to ask you
and something that I've-
- Before you go ahead, that
Justin, just posted in the chat,
can I go over the four pieces again?
And I'll say it again for you, Justin.
It's grounded in body, present in mind,
lead from the heart and
speak into the spirit
of our shared humanity.
- Awesome, thank you.
- And Serbi just posted something.
- Love you, Serbi.
- We love Serbi.
- [Eduardo] Yeah.
- I love it.
So, Eduardo, I know
you, neither one of us,
we're both New Yorkers.
We're both not in New York.
- Exiled.
- We're exiled, we're sheltering
in place somewhere else.
And you know, so I wanna acknowledge,
and I'm actually kind of
glad that we're not centering
our conversation around the pandemic,
which is the center of every
conversation these days.
But I wanna ask you a question of,
and I've even reflected on,
'cause I've done okay in this pandemic.
And I've been finding my way
and actually in some ways,
I'm thriving and I know a lot of people
who are really significantly impacted
and I feel for those individuals
in those communities.
I'm curious, what in your life journey
has helped you prepare for this
or how has this been unsettling for you
or how are you finding
your way through it?
Because you do this in
other ways in your life.
And I'm just wondering
what you sort of key into,
to connect with to keep you going?
I think it's a beautiful
question and I'll share a story.
So there, I have some dear,
dear friends of mine that I met
when I was an actor in Idaho
at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.
And it is a married couple that
are patrons of the theater.
And they became dear friends
and they suffered a huge loss.
They lost their middle
child in a skiing accident.
And I met them like maybe five
or six years after that loss
and had just been so moved
by how they had channeled,
what they chose to do was
love through the grief
and love each other through the grief.
And a loss like that,
like there's no manual
like people deal with it with
however they deal with that.
Right?
And there was a choice that
they made together like
for their relationship for their family
to love each other through that grief.
And they channeled that
grief into the creation
of a summer camp in memory of their son.
And when they were presented with an award
for that contribution to the community,
he was asked the question, what
do you do when you're faced
with an event or something
that shatters your life,
where everything that you hold
dear is completely shattered
and you wake up and the world
looks completely different
than the way that it did the day before?
And he said that he was
a back country skier.
So he's a back country
skier and has always been
in the back mountains
where he grew up in Idaho.
And there his mountains, and
he was back there with his wife
and they were on a trip
back in the back country.
Not a place where myself would
ever, I'm a sea level person,
I am not a back mountain kind of person.
And they lost their way.
And she got concerned and
turned to him and said,
"Are you lost, are we lost?"
And he said, "I'm not lost.
I just don't know where I am right now."
I'm not lost, I just don't
know where I am right now.
And I feel like that's
my truth in this moment.
Like all of us, I woke up one day
and the world looked completely different
from anything that I had
ever imagined was possible.
I was doing work in San Francisco.
I then ended up in Boulder, Colorado,
and now in Miami Beach.
I've been exiled from my
home for over two months.
And I had no idea what
I'm gonna go home again.
Unbelievable privilege in that my parents
have an apartment in Miami Beach.
It's where they live and they are exiled
from their home in Miami,
in Boston with my sister.
So their apartment was open,
so I had a place to go to.
So I had unbelievable privilege
in that I was able to go somewhere, right?
And found myself on a
Monday where the prospects
of everything that I had
booked and created were gone.
And I had a day with nothing in it.
I'd applied for the loans.
I'd done all the things that
there were for me to do.
I'd been positive and
powerful and grateful
and thinking about my
(speaking in foreign language)
and my namaste and just
staying optimistic and upbeat.
And then that Monday morning, I was like,
what the fuck is happening?
And was faced with the
reality of the new world
that we were in, where
I have to wear a mask
when I leave out my apartment,
where I'm in a line to go
into a grocery store, right,
where I haven't touched anyone in weeks?
You know what I mean?
I don't know when that'll happen again
like all of these realities
that are part of this world
that just haven't kind of settled in.
And in that moment, the words came to me,
"You're not lost, you just don't know
where you are right now."
And I found such comfort in that
because I said, unbelievable privilege.
I have shelter, I have food,
I have not much of a savings,
but I have a little bit of a savings.
Right?
I have an extended
family network like that.
I could go sleep in
someone's house if I had to.
Right?
My Maslow's hierarchy of
needs are taken care of,
and fully acknowledging
that there are ton of people
who are not in that predicament.
Right?
So recognizing, still making
space for my feelings about it.
Right.
And acknowledging that even within, like,
I can still be grateful and
pissed at the same time.
That's the beauty of our
humanity and the beauty
of Stephen Sondheim who teaches us
through musical theater about ambivalence.
But like, I can be excited and scared.
I can be sorry, and I can be grateful.
You know?
I love that all the show
queens are like yas.
- Yas.
(laughing)
- (indistinct) he'll remember this.
And what I do know in this moment,
knowing that I have
shelter and I have food
is that this is not the
first time in my life
that I found myself facing nothing.
That's what you do as an
actor, the contract ends,
and you show up back to
New York City with nothing,
and you start from scratch.
It's not the privilege of
like, oh, I was a manager
and I'm a senior manager and
I'm a senior vice president of managers.
And now, there's not
the acting there's no.
And to be honest, all of that is fake.
The only thing that is
sure is that it's unsure
like certainty is a fallacy.
It is not true.
And I had to mourn like how
killing it, 2020 was gonna be
and all my witchy women were
like, you're a Capricorn,
Jupiter's in Capricorn
and Saturn's in Capricorn.
All your planets are in Capricorn.
It's gonna be a amazing year.
You know, I was like that
looked a certain way.
And then all of a sudden,
the promise of what that year
was gonna be was completely
and totally lost.
Facing nothing.
Acknowledging what I
do have in this moment,
I also know that I have feet
that I can plant on planet earth.
Like I'm still on planet
earth, I'm still here,
I'm waking up, I'm a
person on this planet.
I am here.
I have my wit, my
intelligence, I have my skills,
I have aptitude, I was an entrepreneur.
I started from scratch
before, like, this is not
the first time I've found myself
in a space that is unfamiliar,
trying to chart a path.
And it's not a time for a
sprint for the finish line.
It's a marathon.
And in this moment, I can look around me
and start ascertaining, what is here?
What is emerging?
What is true?
How am I listening?
Hyper sensitively, right?
What's present, what's
emerging, what feels true,
what feels authentic, what feels right?
And starting to shift my
internal compass to allow
what is emerging to emerge, right?
For me, that's been about
community and generosity.
That's what's been resonating for me.
That's where I've focused
all of my energy in my work,
around my business is
around creating a safe space
for people to be in the conversations
that I believe matter at this
moment and doing so generously
and also showcasing all the
brilliant thought leaders
that are in my community.
Right?
I've also channeled my anxiety
into lyrics to show tunes.
I have a song.
♪ When my mask tears ♪
♪ When my gloves rip
and I'm stuck in line ♪
♪ I simply remember the feel of a touch ♪
♪ And crawl back to quarantine ♪
You know or,
♪ Quarantining is the
patriotic thing to do ♪
♪ Without the deep state set ♪
♪ Or trying to get us all
to work and catch the flu ♪
♪ The doctors have told us what to do ♪
♪ To cover your face in case achoo. ♪
♪ And wash your hands, yas ♪
♪ Don't drink chlorine brands, right ♪
♪ They're always saying, don't ♪
So there's this creativity
that's bursting up
that I'm just like allowing to channel
and I'm also creating time too.
I'm singing again, and I've been doing so
from a space of connection to intimacy
and exploration and not
performance although that was.
But like, what is this moment?
What is this moment in
a Shakespearean moment,
in a musical theater moment
where the context is so fucking
out of whack, but it's a moment for poetry
and it's a moment for song?
What is the song that's emanating from me
that's looking to be
expressed in this moment
and just being really curious
to see what's emerging.
Right?
- Wow.
- That's kind of, what's
percolating in this moment, right?
And assessing moment by moment,
what feels true and
authentic in this moment,
in my business, as I'm serving people,
continuing to deliver and
innovate moment by moment.
And three weeks ago, I
was like, I'm not lost,
I don't know where I am right now. (yells)
And I feel like I'm gaining footing.
And three weeks from
that point, I feel like
I'm finding that the path is emerging.
Not with a machete,
dude, I mean, but like,
I'm finding my way through the shrubbery
and through the bush and I feel like
I'm getting closer and closer
to the path that is emerging.
My North star remains the same,
my commitment remains the same,
but I've just been like
helicoptered to another mountain.
Do you know what I mean?
And I'm just like trying
to find my way back.
- Yeah.
Yeah, well, I think we're
all going to be navigating
to whatever this new normal is going to be
and I suspect it's gonna
take time for all of us
and it will be an evolution.
There's not a light switch.
It's just gonna be an evolution so.
- [Eduardo] Yeah.
- So I wanna share just a
quick few words with the group
and then I want you to be
able to share Eduardo as well
as far as what you're doing right now.
So we can share that
with the group in email.
So at the bottom here, you'll
see there's a website there,
HummingbirdHumanity.com/live.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
This is the first time out.
Next time, I'll try not to unmute myself
when I'm doing the opening words,
but Eduardo, and I would certainly love
to hear your comments and I would love
to hear your suggestions
for how we can make sure
that this serves your needs.
And next week, my dear
friend, Lydia Fenet, who is
the author of "The Most Powerful
Woman in the Room Is You"
is going to be joining me.
So I hope you'll come back
and tell someone else,
invite someone, bring
friends, everyone is welcome.
So Eduardo, I know you're
doing some fun things too.
Do you wanna just wrap this
up with your final comments
and share what you're doing
to give back to the world?
- Yeah, absolutely.
So, if you text the following
number, which is 66866
and then text "Fearless
Now", capital F, capital N.
So 66866 and then "Fearless Now", I have
this little pocket guide that I call
"10 Simple Backstage Tips to
Go from a Speaker to a Star".
So I get to be Jiminy
Cricket on your shoulder
♪ When you wish upon a star ♪
That's like your biggest
champion to just be
a fucking person the next
time that you have to speak.
And there's no such thing
as private speaking,
all speaking is public speaking.
If you're speaking, someone can hear you.
So there's that.
So that's my gift for all of you.
And you can find me at
www.fearlesscommunicators.com,
which is the website for my business.
And then we also have,
you can follow me on
Instagram @EduardoPlacer
E-D-U-A-R-D-O-P-L-A-C-E-R
And that way you'll find out
about all of our programs.
We have our "Fearless Chat" series ,
which we're doing every
Tuesday and Thursday,
and we're about to start
a new series, it's called
"Spark, Shift, Shit, Shine."
And it's four parts.
It's four of our fearless
women that are leading this.
The first one is about that spark,
that idea that you've been wrestling with,
it's kind of maybe in the back
of your mind or a new project
or a new pivot or something
that you're thinking about.
It's really aligning with what
the moment is sparking for,
that feels authentic to you.
The shift is then how you pivot.
So that's the next one?
It's like pivoting.
How do you pivot, when do you pivot,
when's the right time to pivot?
Then shit is called, "Get shit done."
And we have an amazing woman
who actually breaks that down.
It's an acronym.
It stands for something
which is really awesome.
And the last piece is how
you bring shine to it.
And those are totally free.
So we would love to have you join.
And by texting me that,
we'll make sure that you can.
The 66866 will make sure
that you will get access
to all of our communications around that.
- Awesome.
And I've had a chance to join
his "Fearless Chat" series,
and they're amazing.
I've benefited from your generosity,
so I wanna say, thank you.
It's 66866, is that what it is, Eduardo?
- 66866, correct.
- And you type "Fearless Now"?
- Fearless Now.
- Important to put the emphasis, emphasis
on this right syllable.
- On the syllable, yas.
- Eduardo, thank you
so much for being here.
Thank you for sharing your stories.
To everyone that's
watching, thank you so much
for joining us as we
kick off this new series.
I'm so grateful.
And Angelo, thank you for
being in the background.
- Thank you, Angelo.
- Anything, any final words?
Any final words from you, Eduardo,
before we say goodbye?
- Wherever you are, may you be healthy,
may your loved ones be healthy
and just be a fucking person.
- Absolutely.
I wish you all positive vibes,
and invite those positive vibes your way.
And I wish you all good
health in this time.
Let's take care of each other.
We'll see you again soon.
Bye-bye.
- Bye.
