In this conversational interview, host Haritosh Srivastav speaks with Maureen Zappala (also known as Maureen Burns Japala), a former NASA propulsion engineer, four‑time author, Toastmasters World Championship finalist, and professional speaker. Maureen recounts her early fascination with engineering, her 14‑year NASA career leading the Propulsion Systems Laboratory, and her transition into speaking, writing, presentation coaching, and interior design. She defines imposter syndrome as the irrational belief that one’s success is accidental and outlines five strategies to combat it, beginning with learning about the phenomenon. Maureen challenges the misconception that only ultra‑high‑achievers can author books, emphasizing that personal stories, experiences, and perspective are valuable. She shares her unique experience competing in both live and virtual Toastmasters World Championships in 2020, noting the emotional differences of a virtual setting. For young professionals, she advises prioritizing character qualities—resilience, curiosity, optimism—over technical skills, while still maintaining competence. Finally, she provides contact information (maureenzi.com, email, social media) and promotes her presentation‑skill coaching through Stage Time University.
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Good morning, afternoon, evening, people who's watching this interview. I am so excited to have my next guest in the show Inspirational Interview with Haritosh Srivastav. I have someone who's a former NASA propulsion engineer, who's someone who's 2 times world championship finalist, who's a keynote speaker, who's author of 4 books, and if I keep on doing that, it will go on for next 5 minutes. So cutting the crap, let's move on. Help me welcome Maureen Burns Japala. Maureen, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here.
Haritosh Srivastav, thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it. I'm honored.
Thank you. I remember, uh, I attended one of your sessions in 2017 when you came to Toastmasters District 11 and you talked about imposter syndrome, and that was such an amazing session. And then I became part of SageTime University. So last year I attended the book writing course, and I also got your book. That's an amazing book. I want you to talk a little bit about your journey in your words.
So sure, thanks, Haritosh Srivastav. My, my journey, you know what, everybody has a story. Everybody's story needs to be told, and I'm privileged that I get to tell my story frequently, actually. My background actually is engineering. I was raised in New York City, and my dad was not, not a degreed engineer, but worked in the technical fields. And he worked for the Port Authority. Port Authority is the organization that built the World Trade Center. They also ran all the bridges and tunnels around New York City, and I was fascinated with structures. Big buildings, bridges, tunnels, and I knew at an early age that I wanted to be an engineer. And it was, it was with his encouragement that I did that. Graduated college, decided to move into aeronautics engineering and aerospace engineering, worked for NASA for almost 14 years and became the director of the Propulsion Systems Laboratory, which is a jet engine test facility. So while I worked for NASA, I didn't work in the space program. I worked in the aeronautics program and loved it, loved every, every minute of it, right up until I didn't. I mean, it wasn't anything bad. It was just like, hmm, what else can I do with my life? So I decided to leave NASA and then launched into many other different adventures. So where now I am in here in 2021, a combination of things. I'm a professional speaker, I am a writer and author, a presentation skills coach, and an interior designer for a large retail furniture store. So I'm kind of expanded in all different, in all different areas.
Wow, that's such an amazing, amazing journey.
Isn't that crazy? I use that left brain logical side of my head, the structure organized thing, as well as this colorful, creative, emotional side to help people design their beautiful spaces.
Awesome, awesome. I believe you'll have a lot of structure and symmetry in those designs as well. I like— so, uh, one of the things I ask in these interviews is generally about failures, and I know since you are an expert on imposter syndrome, I'm gonna tweak the question in a bit. You talk, uh, you had multiple experiences of imposter syndrome, uh, so can you tell a little bit about it, uh, and also what could be some of the strategies that we can use to come out of it?
Yeah, sure. My, uh, when I became, when I first started as a speaker, I was speaking on leadership topics. Having been an engineer at NASA, I saw some really great leaders, so I taught lessons that I learned from them. But I soon realized that leadership speakers are literally around every corner, and I needed something to set me apart. I stumbled on this topic of imposter syndrome by reading a book, and it transformed my thinking, my speaking, and I decided to dedicate myself to researching it, speaking about it, writing about it, and learning about it. So let's see, that was probably back in— I don't even remember what year it was, probably 7, 8, 9 years now that I've been speaking on imposter syndrome. The reason it spoke to me, literally it sang to my soul, was when I was at NASA. And I was— I'm smart, you know, I'm educated, I have a degree, I'm accomplished, but I didn't believe it. I really thought that it was an accident that NASA hired me or that— at very best, they hired me because they needed more women. I mean, I really believe that. And imposter syndrome is this irrational thought that you cannot internalize your own greatness and you attribute success to outside circumstances. And then you think that if success is that random to get, it's going to be that random to evaporate. So you live in this constant fear of, oh my gosh, is today the day they're going to figure out I'm really not who I think I am, or they think I am, uh, and it's irrational. So I've developed strategies. In fact, that's the book that you held up, which I have a copy of it too, uh, is my set of strategies to help people overcome that irrational thought pattern. First and foremost of— and there are 5 strategies— first strategy is to just learn about what imposter syndrome is. You know, recognize the symptoms, know where it came from, know who it affects, and know how it affects people. You know, it holds people back. It clouds them with this constant looking over their shoulder. Am I good enough? Am I performing enough? Am I simply enough? So I teach people to overcome that. First and foremost though is to, is to learn about it.
Thank you so much, Maureen. That's powerful. Now, another thing that I did was part of the book writing program. And when you talk about book writing, one of the misconceptions is that you have to be an ultra achiever, you have to be a high-profile person, or you have to be really, really expert on multiple fields to write a book. And I know you are not in favor of that. So what are your views about who should write a book?
Yeah, this goes back to the whole idea of imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome person thinks they do need to be not just good at something, they need to be the expert. They need to be not just the expert at something, but the expert at everything. And it's completely irrational. Nobody can be. There's no way you can know everything. But what you do know. Not just what you do know, but your experiences, your background, your education, your pains and struggles, your perspective, your character qualities. Those are valuable and valid to pass on to somebody else, and somebody else needs to hear about your perspective, your twist on things, your, uh, take on things. So to say that you need to be you have to be the expert on a topic to write a book. It's not true. You just have to be an expert. And you just have to be good, better than somebody else at something. So, and like I said before, everybody's got a story. We need to hear everybody's stories. So, yeah, don't shrink back from the challenge of writing a book. I've written 4 books. I never— and I'm actually in the middle of a fifth one. I never would have thought I could write. I'm an engineer. We're not known for our verbal skills. So what do I do? I get help.
Awesome. Awesome. So that really reminds me of the Mark Brown quote that your life is a story and there's someone out there who needs to listen to that. Thank you so much. Now another aspect that you are probably the only Toastmaster contestant who has been a finalist on, on stage as well as on a virtual World Championship stage. So how was your journey in 2020 Championship and how was it different from an on-stage journey?
Yeah, this, this 2020 year, well, you know, It's one for the record books on all fronts, let alone just the Toastmasters contest. And actually, I think there were 3 of us in the finals that had previously been in final, live final, live in-person finals. Uh, Quang was one, and, um, uh, Sherwood was the other one. How does it— how is it different? Oh my gosh, where do I begin? Uh, prior to the finals The DIS— was it— I think it was the division contest was the first contest that went all virtual, and that was probably back in, uh, I don't remember, June, May, I don't even remember, April, I don't remember when. The thing that struck me most was after I won, there was nobody to hug. I didn't hear applause. I couldn't fist bump and make eye contact. It was— I was in my kitchen all by myself. They held up a picture of a trophy and I was like, thank you, is that it? I mean, I was excited because I put the same amount of work in preparing as I would have for a live contest, but it just felt completely different. And then in the finals, there was still a level of intensity and gravity. I mean, Toastmasters International, they raised the bar in terms of preparation and austere feeling. They tried to maintain a definite sense of, um, uh, rarefied air. That's a good way, but just like, wow, do you know how few people get to this position? So in that sense, it was fun, but still it was just a weird The only ones at the contest were the, uh, what, 6 contestants and the contest chair. We couldn't even see the judges. Uh, we— there— it was just different. And I'm a very social person, so that's the aspect of it that really, uh, impacted me.
All right. Uh, I think, yeah, that must have been— I know I participated until Divijay Nanya, and when I came up as runner-up, they say, yeah, you are runner-up. That's it. Okay, you go. I'm like, okay. Uh, yeah, they were kind enough to send me some trophy through courier, but that came after 3 weeks after, so that was a long wait. But thank you so much for that. So, uh, my next question would be about, uh, your tips to any young professional, any young, uh, people who are graduating and, and getting into jobs. I know there are some technical skills we all need to learn, but there are some more skills that is very critical. So what do you think are those top 2, 3 skills?
Yeah, the, uh, there's— you're right, technical skills. You're fresh out of college, you're brand new on a new job, you got to give yourself a break. You don't know even what you don't know, and you don't know what you will know in, in 10 years. So cut yourself a break, give yourself some grace, let yourself off the hook a little bit. However, Don't discount the value of your character qualities that got you where you are. Are you resilient, resourceful, optimistic, kind, generous, creative? Excuse me. Curious. Those qualities that got you to where you are, they're going to get you to where you need to be. Technical skills will follow, the figuring out the how-to of a new organization or maneuvering through the HR process or even your time card, you know, checking in and out. Those things will come. But your character qualities, oh man, that took you a lifetime to build and that will speak louder as you go through those tough changes. You see, the imposter syndrome screams the loudest in times of change and transition, because you don't believe that what got you here will get you to the next step. But that's not true. It will. Your character qualities speak louder in a lot of, in a lot of ways than your skills. Now, am I saying that just because you're kind and resourceful that you should be hired by anybody? No, you do have to have some level of technical excellence. You do have to have shown a credibility in that area, but one is not higher than— one is not higher or more valuable than the other. So cut yourself some slack on the technical side and fall back on your character qualities.
Thank you so much. Those are really, really valuable advices. So, uh, Maureen, who can connect? I know you are already involved into so many things, but if anyone wants to connect, so who can connect with you and how can they connect with you.
My website is simple, it's maureenzi.com. So it's my first name, last initial, maureenzi.com. You can contact me, uh, through my website. My email address is maureen@maureenzi.com. I am probably the easiest person to reach, as is evidenced by the constant flood of spam phone calls, ad phone calls, texts, email. I mean, people find me. I'm really— I'm on Facebook, I'm on LinkedIn, Instagram, so I'm pretty easy to reach. Yeah.
And, and who can reach out to you? Is like anything particular that any particular kind of people you want to reach out, like people who are looking for some coaching, or—
Yeah, you know, I, I am a speaker, so, you know, I'm always looking to connect with people who are interested in bringing my message of imposter syndrome to their organization. Uh, people that are looking to improve their communication skills, because I do do one-on-one presentation skill coaching. And actually, I do that coaching through Stage Time University. Darren Lacroix's stagetimeuniversity.com. There it's a— well, as you know, Haritosh Srivastav, it's a phenomenal world filled with a treasure trove of opportunities, education, camaraderie, coaching. It's fabulous. stagetimeuniversity.com.
Thank you so much. Yeah. And Darren Lacroix knows we are not paid, but yeah, we are a big time fan of Stage Time University. And yeah, the moment the contest season come, it gets flooded. Thank you so much, Maureen. It was really an honor and pleasure to have you and really looking forward to connect with you again in future.
Yeah, thanks, Haritosh Srivastav. I hope you, uh, hope you have a great day. You too.
