Meet Cathey
Hi, I’m Cathey with an ‘e’.
I’m a speaker, storyteller, and coach. I help people find the idea they’re trying to say, build a story around it, and say it in a way that sounds like them.
Sometimes the idea is buried under too many words. Sometimes the story is great but the point is missing. And sometimes it all falls apart the second someone steps onstage and starts sounding like a presentation instead of a person.
I work with speakers, leaders, and organizations to cut what doesn’t matter, shape what does, and deliver it with the personality intact. The goal isn’t to sound like a speaker. It’s to sound like you, with something worth saying.
I began in marketing and co-wrote The Unbreakable Rules of Marketing with Jeff Berry. Since then, I’ve coached TED and TEDx speakers, CEOs, and executives, and led storytelling training for organizations around the world.
I’m also CEO and co-founder of Speaker Skills Academy, where members drill their way to better speaking in live, interactive Skills Drills™.
And when story work needs to leave the conference room, I lead the Storytelling Adventure Experience™, taking teams outside to find and tell their stories. I’m based in Portland, Oregon.
How I got here
It started with a question from a client.
Before I coached talks, I worked in marketing. I helped organizations make their ideas clear enough that someone would actually care. I wrote The Unbreakable Rules of Marketing with Jeff Berry, spoke about it around the world, and learned that the hard part was rarely having more information. It was finding the part people could feel and remember.
Then a client asked me to help with a TED Talk. I was hooked. I went on to coach TED and TEDx speakers, volunteer behind the scenes at TEDxPortland, and give my own TEDx talk, “Share Your Life.” I know what it takes to build a talk and what it feels like to stand on a stage with one.
Today I work with speakers, leaders, and teams. Sometimes we’re untangling one high-stakes talk. Sometimes a whole group needs a better way to tell its stories. The work always starts with an honest question: What are you really trying to say?
A gallery of Cathey
Onstage, offstage, and in between.
Cathey’s business cards
Yes, these are my business cards!
I wanted my business cards to carry the same spirit as my work, a simple reminder to share things in a unique way.
The coaching
The talk the speaker wants to give.
I’ve coached people preparing for TED and TEDx stages and leaders preparing for moments that matter just as much to their own audiences. We find the central idea, cut what hides it, and practice until the talk feels like theirs.
“I don’t help you create your message. I help you remove everything that’s hiding it.”
Outside the room
I take people on adventures.
I love a good stage. I also love what happens when people walk, look around, and start talking without a slide deck between them. That’s part of why I created the Storytelling Adventure Experience™. We take the work into the world and bring a clearer story back.
Speaker Skills Academy
It started on a pickleball court.
On a pickleball court, I was reminded how much better we get when we practice one specific skill at a time. I called my friend and fellow speaker coach Marc Williams. That conversation became Speaker Skills Academy.
We built a community where people practice speaking and storytelling in live Skills Drills™. We’re doing, not telling.
Explore Speaker Skills Academy
