In this interview, Claudia recounts a career marked by four redundancies over 16 years in the UK, which exposed a deep-rooted shyness and fear of public speaking that stalled her professional advancement. She describes how repeatedly declining speaking opportunities led to missed promotions and reinforced her perception of failure. In 2018, after another job loss, she sought help from a life coach who directed her to Toastmasters. Joining a local club in Basingstoke, she faced her fear by participating in table topics, discovering an unexpected enjoyment of speaking, and gradually building confidence. Leveraging this newfound skill, Claudia launched a freelance web‑design business, grew it into a company, and within two years became the CEO and founder of a web‑design firm with international clients and a New York‑based team. She emphasizes that public speaking is essential for selling services, establishing client relationships, and leading a company. The conversation highlights resilience, the transformative impact of Toastmasters, and the link between communication confidence and entrepreneurial success.
Chapters
Enough is enough. I got enough skills. I know how to build websites. I'm going to give it a go. What's the point of being here tonight if I'm not participating? Tania, every time somebody asks me, what's your name in front of a crowd, I would just blush and go like a red pepper. And if I carry on being shy, I'm not going to get anything. Nobody— so I'd rather die. I'm going to be sick that day because I cannot stand space standing in front of everybody.
Now let's talk about one of the things that I really captured in this particular interview is talking about failures. Now we all boast about all our success, we have done this, we have done that. One particular thing from all over the guests that comes to this interview, I ask them is to talk about their failures and also their learning so that others can also learn from that. So any, any failure you want to talk about?
Absolutely. I think it's something that we will end up talking about, public speaking. For me, failure always being the good girl, because, you know, if you speak loud, you get shouted at or you get a slap. So for me, it was like, just keep my head down, be a good girl, do all my homework. Then when I became an employee, so I started working, same, same logic, keep my head down, do all the work, Work long hours, always say yes to the manager because I was always seeing my teacher into every single authority out there. So my manager for me was always resembling the teacher and I was always doing everything I was told. Then when there was the opportunity to shine a little bit, when my manager would say, "Tania, would you just stand up in front of the entire marketing department and tell them the project you're working on?" Well, then no. So I'd rather die than I'm going to be I'm going to be sick that day because I'm not, I cannot stay standing in front of everybody, everybody looking at me and I would just blush and panic and freeze. And I don't want to look stupid. So I always decline every single opportunity where I could actually speak up in front of people and tell, look at me, everybody. I couldn't do that. And because of that happened several times where I was given the opportunity and I declined it. I missed opportunities to get a promotion. So somebody else would say, oh, she doesn't want to do it, I'll do it for her. So these people would get noticed and they would get a promotion. For me, it was a failure. It was like, I'm doing all the work, I'm doing a good job. Just because I'm too scared to speak up and let people know that I exist, I don't get— I don't— I can't— my career is not going anywhere. And for me, it was like a massive failure. I said, I need to do something about it. I can't just carry on just standing. Every time somebody asked me, what's your name in front of a crowd, I would just blush and go like a red pepper. And which was like, oh my God, I can feel I'm really hot. And I would just, it's getting worse and worse. And that's when I tried to fix this thing that for me was a failure. And one back in 2018, after I lost my job because of redundancy. I said, I'm gonna go through a series of interviews now to get a new job, and if I carry on being shy, I'm not gonna get anything. Nobody— they don't want to work with me. I need to do something. So in 2018, I found— I was Googling and said, I need somebody to help me come out of this shyness. And a lady, a life coach lady, she said, I think you need to go to a place called Toastmasters. I said, what is it? I'd never heard of it before. So I Google it and I found there was a club in Basingstoke where I live. And I went to my first Toastmasters meeting. Everybody very welcoming. As soon as I entered the room, that was the good times when we could still go to a physical place. And I remember one of the actual members still active members, they welcomed me and said, oh, hello, welcome in. Everybody's so welcoming. Sit down, ask me personal questions. And then there was an opportunity to stand up and say my name and participate to one of the activities, table topics. That's at Toastmasters. And I took part. I was too scared to go and stand up in front of the other Toastmasters, but so I said to myself, What's the point of being here tonight if I'm not participating? Yeah, I did it. And that very moment when I stood up in front of the other Toastmasters and I was answering a question, I could see everybody like looking at me and they were like nodding and being encouraging. I was like, I actually like to stand in front of people and I had no idea. And that's where my journey started. And since then, I love to speak in front of people. If people say, "Anybody wants to say something?" Yes, me, me, me! And if I could go back in time when I work, I was at work like every employee, I would have become like a CEO by now for everybody look at me. But yeah, that's what happened from going from the failure, recognizing the failure and do something about it. And for me, Toastmasters has been a massive help to help to grow my confidence.
Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And I know for me also Toastmasters has been a transforming journey to say the least. So, yep. And I think my audience by now is fed up of me talking about Toastmasters. So let's not talk too much about Toastmasters, but I think one of the things that you end up saying is that you would have become CEO and that actually will lead me to pivot to my next question that, no, I know you are now an entrepreneur for a couple of years now, at least. So how has that journey of being a woman entrepreneur been and what were your challenges and then some of the wins that you have got? You want to talk about that?
Yes, absolutely. So, you know, the market is unstable. So I, unfortunately I lost my job because of redundancy 4 times in 16 years that I've been in UK. And then my last redundancy was a couple of years ago. And I said to myself, enough is enough. I got enough skills. I know how to build websites. I'm going to give it a go and start doing as a freelancer. So that's what I started doing. And then I built my company and in the matter of less than 2 years, I got a web design. I'm the CEO and founder of my website company. And I got clients worldwide. I'm working with a team based in New York. I love it. I love the fact that now I'm the CEO. I made the decisions, but most of all, I'm the face of the company. So I speak to all potential clients and all my customers. And if I wasn't a confident speaker, people wouldn't buy from me. They wouldn't. They buy because I sell the website, but it's not like an end product that is built, here you go. We need to establish a relationship first because I'm going to build, translate your dreams. Into a reality. You tell me what you want and I will create something from just a dream. And there's a relationship that needs to be built on the base of that. Lots of communications in between from the concept to the launch of the website. But if you come across like you can't, you're not able to talk to people or you're too shy or scared, they think she's not gonna build me a good solid website. And so being able to speak to people and being confident in what you say, that's a big reassurance for a potential client. So I have to say that this is being able to speak in public, it's massive if you want to sell your products, if you just want to build a relationship with anyone. So I think without the confidence that I really got from Toastmasters, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing or be at this level point where I'm running my company at this good level. So yeah, that's what I would say. Become a confident public speaker is my thing. I would just say to everybody, yeah.
