Speaker: Victoria de Onis
What were you struggling with before you found Lauri?
Victoria de Onis: Before I started working with Lauri, I really struggled with smiling all the time. Um It was just something that I picked up from a really early age that seemed to get me good results in life and it became something that was just kind of plastered on my face whether I wanted it to be or not. Um Where that really started not resonating for me both as a leader and as a coach was when I was sharing something that wasn't uh appropriate to smile for and yet I still had the smile plastered on my face. Um So that was why I came to Lauri in the first place.
How did Lauri help you?
Victoria de Onis: Lauri really helped me with slowing down my pace so that I could have the impact that I was wanting to have both as a leader with my team and also as an executive coach. Um she really helped me with slowing down through the use of my breath also just giving myself time and space and realizing that I was so much more impactful when I did slow down. Uh Lauri also really helped me with my facial expressions, uh specifically, uh being more genuine and um being able to express what was on the inside up here. Um So that meant a lot less smiling and slowing down so that my soma my body could actually keep up with the words that I was saying.
How would you describe Lauri's work in three words?
Victoria de Onis: Lauri's work and my experience of Lauri's work is that it's incredibly simple. It's actually really straightforward and easy to remember. So that in the moment you can bring it out into the work that you're doing in the world. Um It's also very grounding, even her approach uh to speaking, has a grounding effect both for the individual and um for others. So it has a centering effect where we can all kind of just drop in together on a different level. And I would also say Lauri's work is transformational in the sense that to some extent, it's kind of a one and done in the sense that whatever changes happen when you work with Lauri, they're integrated. They stay with you. You don't have to go back and relearn. Of course, there's more to learn over time. Um But the work itself is transformative in the sense that you as a practitioner are transformed.
What about working with Lauri surprised you the most?
Victoria de Onis: Working with Lauri had so many great aspects and one that uh in particular really worked for me was there was integration every session that we had. So we learned a new skill, we implemented it in a team or a group setting. Uh We got some feedback, she timed us and then we went and did a second round. So, you know, it was really impactful in the sense that it wasn't like learn something and then go do it out there. It was learn something, do it here and now, do it here and now again, and then go out there and shimmy and shine because you've already got the skill set. So I was really pleased that the learning happened in the session and the practice happened in the session. And for me that built a lot of confidence and um was encouraging so that I knew I could really go do these things when it counted the most.
What makes Lauri's work unique?
Victoria de Onis: There's a few things that make the experience of working with Lauri really unique. I've actually hired quite a few really outstanding coaches from a leadership development standpoint and also from a presence and voice standpoint, gotten lots of great feedback, but nothing ever really moved the needle for me in the way that Lauri was able to help and support me. Um in particular, I struggled a lot with smiling all the time, whether I wanted to and whether it matched the words that I was speaking or not and working with Lauri, I was actually able to shift that quite a bit. Um Some of that still here, but definitely quite a transformation from when I started. Um also just Lauri's presence and her way of speaking, her way of being in the world is contagious. You can't, you know, go through a whole program or a coaching engagement with her and not pick up some of her approach. Um For me, that was kind of like a hidden, hidden surprise, hidden gift um that I got working from her and it's just become my own way of speaking and being and um it's really lasting. It's enduring in its effect. So, working with Lauri has many, many gifts and, um, I'm certainly grateful for having said yes to working with her um, It changed my life and I hope that others say yes to themselves so that they can also have, um, better results and more impact in the world in the ways that we're all seeking to have.
