The Recipe For Goal Commitment And Inspiration With Andre Rush And How To Be An Effective Voice Communicator With Dr. Miluna Fausch

There’s a saying that trying times create strong people, and certainly, this pandemic, along with social and political issues all around the world, qualify as trying times. People look for inspiration and goal to focus their commitment on. Chef Andre Rush joins Dr. Diane Hamilton to share how each individual can both inspire and commit to improve society. Believing that everything should start with your own mentality, Chef Andre talks about the different fronts he’s targeting in order to develop society and build a path for the future of children.

Everybody can communicate, but not everyone can be heard. Using your voice as a medium to become an effective communicator takes practice and dedication. Dr. Miluna Fausch, the President of Pitch Perfect Executive Communication, joins Dr. Diane Hamilton to talk about her experience as a singer and how it helped her realize the importance of understanding your voice. She discusses the wide variety of ways you can make use of your voice to portray a desired emotion and get the reaction you want. Learn the key aspects of what makes a great communicator and the steps you can take to be one.

I’m so glad you joined us because we have Chef Andre Rush and Dr. Miluna Fausch. Chef Andre is a celebrity chef. He’s the White House chef. He is known for having the ability to do 2,222 pushups every day, plus so much more. This guy is so fun and interesting. Dr. Miluna is the president of Pitch Perfect Executive Communications and she does a lot of work with people to help them with their voice to become a better speaker, to see if you can change your voice, and use it as your personal brand. We’ve got a fun show and I’m excited to have both Miluna and Andre on.

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The Recipe For Goal Commitment And Inspiration With Andre Rush

I am here with Andre Rush, who served 24 years as Chef, Adviser, and Protection in the US army working for and side-by-side the world’s top leaders. He said that gave him a unique insight into seeing past both good and bad. Leadership, integrity and core values allowed him to see the business world in new ways as he developed his style of mentorship and development that is taught and trained thousands of people based on what he’s learned. Being a chef has also taught him that following the recipe as written is not always the best option for a great meal. It’s exciting to have you on the show, Chef Andre.

It is my pleasure. Thank you for making the time for me.

You’re welcome. I was excited to have you. You’re the second White House chef I’ve had on the show. Marti Mongiello was wonderful as I’m sure you know him. You guys worked at the same time at the White House or at different times?

Different spectrums but in and out. We intertwined. Now we’re great friends and we have an ongoing rapport.

He’s somebody I talked to quite a bit and he had great things to say about you. I know you’re sitting outside your gym and I want to bring up the gym because if anybody is reading this and you’re not looking at my website, you got to look up this guy. How tall are you and how much do you weigh?

I’m only 270 pounds. I’ve lost about 25 to 30 pounds. I try to keep it in the range of 275 pounds or so. I’m right under six feet. I don’t look my weight size.

That sounds a lot of weight but you’re all muscle. Your arms are twice the size of my thighs. I’m thinking, what does it take to get into that kind of shape?

Dedication, focus endurance, training, and resiliency. All those things start out with your mental aspect like everything in life. If your mental is not together in kids, relationships, spouses, business, endeavors then you lose it. I have to have the same concentration in the gym as I would do anything in life. Also, the knowledge base.

How can you be a chef and not wanting to eat everything that you’re not supposed to eat? That’s my biggest question.

I eat a lot. I’m not going to lie to you. I eat the whole chicken out and I do 24 eggs a day. I boil the eggs up. I have a voracious appetite but the greatest about me being a chef is that I am a chef and I like food that has flavor profiles. Everybody goes to that part about, “I got to eat this bland food all the time.” They’re forgetting that the earth itself offers so many different arrays of aromatic, holistic, and so many flavor profiles that tantalize everything and makes it so much better. It doesn’t have to be sodium-base of all these different types of products that you need to make those flavors that people like. It needs to be this natural. I love food and I love the flavors that come from them but I also know how to make the food that we love a lot healthier.

I’m curious how many calories you have to eat too. You’re known as having viral biceps. I read you’re bench pressing 750 pounds, was that a typo?

It’s not a typo. That was recreational. I do owe about 10,000 calories a day at rest because I’m an endurance trainer. I’ll burn about 3,000 calories at rest. My body burns all the time. I train it that way because I readied for it to burn then hold onto that fat resource.

It’s an interesting combination to me. I don’t meet a lot of chefs that are in the greatest shape, when you combine two things that usually don’t go together. What got you interested in getting into such great shape? I saw the picture of you on LinkedIn with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Is it an interest in somebody like that?

With Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was my childhood hero. I’m very fortunate, blessed, and honored to be able to represent him to be one of his best supporters. It was After-School All-Stars, where I talked about 10,000-plus kids a year. When I was younger, my brother was in the military, the Navy and he was thirteen years my senior. He brought back my first weightlifting book, which was Arnold’s The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. At that time, I’m in a small town in Mississippi, which we didn’t have gyms. We didn’t have all those things. Bodybuilding and weightlifting wasn’t a big thing back then besides playing football, which I did.

Cooking is artistic. It can be used as a coping tool by many veterans, and you can use it yourself. Click To Tweet

I didn’t read the book, I looked at the pictures and then, later on, I read the book and that was where I started my foundation of working out. When I started reading the book, Encyclopedia, I understood a lot more. I connected with my body at a very young age. When I tell people, I said, “You need to have that body-body connection instead of going in and buying a million supplements and thinking that you’re connected with your body and that your body’s growing on its own, when you’re using things that are unnatural to help you alone which is fine, but you still have to know the principles behind them.”

I know Arnold did a lot with the White House with the health in the past. Is he taller or shorter than you are?

He’s a little bit taller. He’s 6’0 or 6’1, something like that.

Does he do 2,222 pushups a day?

I don’t know a lot of people does 2,222 pushups a day. I do 2,222 pushups a day for mental health and awareness. Twenty-two veterans commit suicide a day. I carry out with a 2,222 to be that more impactful because one of the platforms is a Suicide Awareness Prevention, anti-bullying, which I’ve talked to the kids, military homelessness, and MST which is Military Sexual Trauma or sexual trauma in itself for women. I divide those pushups not only for the military but I do it universally. With that 2,222, I’ve been featured in 50 different countries about the same principle. It started with the biceps, and then it goes to the principle of why.

I don’t think I can’t do one push up. How long does it take you to do 2,222 pushups?

It takes me an hour and 15 minutes. I get up in the morning at 3:00 and I meditate. Meditation is my key and I do 125 at a time. I’ll rest for about 60 seconds and my body resets. I do them until completion.

You’ve got to deal with the lower body. How many hours a day are you exercising?

That’s not my exercise. I don’t even consider that exercise. No, that’s my cause. That’s my why. I stopped associating a pushup with exercise a long time ago even though it is beneficial, it is my exercise. If I think of it that way mentally, it separates me into a category because sometimes in exercise, you can get monotonous, you can get bored of it, or you want to go do something different. For me to say is for the wounded, the fallen, the ones that need help, and one of them needs support, it keeps me driven, but my exercise in a gym is a totally different story. It makes my 2,200 pushups look two pushups.

I love exercise. I exercise every day but I’m much more of a cardio kind of person but I know how hard what I do. I can’t imagine having that dedication. It’s interesting that you do so many things for so many people for good. Those are unbelievable reasons. When the COVID crisis, I’m sure you’re getting called on quite a bit because I imagine the message you have is an important one and the suicide prevention. Is this going to be something we’re going to hear a lot more about during these times?

You will most definitely. Unfortunately, it’s more prevalent now even with the 22 a day that the number has risen. We’ve lost four different influencers in that situation with the military and also in the health and fitness. I use the word job is to combat that because sometimes when me being out there and being vulnerable and saying, “It’s okay to get help people. Come and get help.” If we lose someone, people also would say, “It’s okay to do it. I want to do what he or she did so I can do it also.” It’s like a double edge. Nowadays, a society with younger kids were bullying and anti-bullying, and then with the COVID people being locked in, with the situation with so many things arising is a spiral. It’s something that we all need to address on an everyday basis because we never know what someone is going through.

It’s such a hard situation. There’s so much going on. Are you still working at the White House as a chef or is that in the past?

I go by. I’m doing a lot more. I live in DC and I also live and have a place here in LA, which I am. In LA, I reach a lot more people. I have so much support with the governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and then a lot of other celebrities that are trainer, people that make things so much more impactful instead of reaching in a White House, working so many hours and reaching 100. Coming outside of that, I can reach hundreds of thousands, if not millions by doing the FC that we’re doing.

The work I do is with curiosity and that’s so important for people to learn about what people need. A lot of people are held back from exploring the options in life and that can lead to some of the things you’re talking about with depression. A lot of companies don’t focus enough on what holds people back from exploring these different things. I love that you’re working so much on developing people and that’s so critical. The chef aspect of what you do fascinates me. When I was talking to Marti, I asked him a lot about different recipes that presidents liked. I have to ask you because I’m curious, what kinds of things have you made that you didn’t expect to make the people liked? Was it glamorous things or were they wanting a grilled cheese?

TTL 728 | Effective Voice Communicator — Effective Voice Communicator: No matter what facts and rules of life you tell kids, it’s the parents and adults who drive them.

It’s funny because you’re right on both accords. Some people would think that they’re bougie and eat so many different things and I have to break it down. In layman’s terms, if you’re the president of United States and you go all over the country, all over the world, and you’re having all these different types of food, a lot of them being not the nicest and friendliest to your digestion, your body, fats, butters, and all these different spices. Sometimes you want to eat something that’s simple like a peanut butter sandwich. Even a banana and peanut butter sandwich, or even a burger. It is good. It’s one of my favorites.

I like the simple stuff.

I’m simple. My palette is very simplified.

How hard is that to go around and eat all those foods? I’m not a strange food eater. I’m not very adventurous when it comes to trying new things. Did any of the presidents say they have to worry about insulting people? Do you ever get insulted if other people come from other countries and they say, “I’m not eating that?”

No one would say that to me.

Is it too good to resist or they’re just polite?

There’s a viral meme of me. It came out on Reddit where they have me cooking and they have some wordings on it like someone asked me for something and they see the chef and they’re like, “Okay, Chef. No problem.” It’s a couple hundred of them, different kinds.

Nobody’s going to say no to those biceps. You have this passion for the food that comes through. A lot of people imagine it’s glamorous to work in the White House but it’s got to be hard, isn’t it?

It’s hard work. Everybody has to work as a team, as a unit like anything else in life. In the White House, you can’t make mistakes. Mistakes are not allowed. When I say that, you have to be on your P’s and Q’s to understand why you’re there and what you’re doing. You are a representation of that entity. You have to perform at the highest level all the time.

Who’s the most interesting person you’ve met? The presidents, obviously. How many presidents have you worked with?

Four.

Which ones?

Trump and then three back. Clinton, Bush, and Obama.

Who is the pickiest eater of the four?

The fact is that we all have to get along 100%, regardless of our current situation on an individual basis. Click To Tweet

I would think it would be Trump. His palate is very simplified. Nothing that you would think it would be.

What does he like?

Simple stuff, even a simple burger, is satisfying like a piece of fish. He’s a comfort food guy.

What about Obama? Do you have anything specific he liked?

His palate was open. With the gardening and everything that was going on, they were open to eating anything healthy. You can explore your creative or artistic ways with him.

Is there a particular dessert that the White House likes to serve or do you change it up a lot? How does it matter?

We have pastry chefs that take care of that area. It’s divided. You’ve got the chef then you got the pastry chef which is a whole different entity, which is she’s been there for a while.

What do you like to make? What’s your favorite thing to cook?

I don’t have a favorite. I do everything. I like challenges. I’m a chocolatier, pastry chef, and a master ice carver. I’m a lot of guy. I do a lot of things. Cooking to me is so artistic. I’ve used cooking as a coping tool for myself and so many other veterans, spouses, kids, and show them a whole different way to look at cooking instead of looking at it as nutrition, food, medication, being creative, and show them how you can make it look cool. How you can insert into their job profiles and into their life. There are so many different facets.

How did you get interested in being a chef?

Chef picked me, I didn’t pick it. Honestly, I was a worker when I was a kid with my dad. As soon as I can walk he put me to work. In Mississippi, those days the boys go to work and the girls go to school. I had scholarships for track football, art, and my dad never knew how to cook. He found out a couple of years ago that I was a chef because he was a tough man. My mom was secretly let me cook with her. She was the best cook in the world being Southern hospitality and that Southern food. I would cook with her. When my brothers and sisters got together, it was a whole different world. I could talk to them, we ate, and we laughed. After it was over with, we went back fighting. I went to hold on to that feeling. That’s why I became a chef.

I heard you say you use cooking as a coping skill. What do you mean by that?

In the military, you have things that bother you, they didn’t have hobbies. I use working out, you can do art, writing, or all these things. Cooking to me, I use this as therapy. I call it cooking to cope where I got guys with PTSD, trauma issues, or disassociation issues and we all get together. I will give them a bunch of ingredients with our recipes and I say, “Make something.” These are the guys who’ve never cooked before. I understood. I’ve also got guys who’ve done it, appreciate their spouses or their loved ones more so because they didn’t understand the principle behind it and what it goes to cook especially when it comes to cleaning part. They love it. I got them together and we would cook things. It turned out in the first fifteen minutes, it was confusion. The next fifteen minutes, it was an observation. After that, everybody was, “What are you doing?” It was laughter. At the end, we had some great and funny stuff and I made everybody eat everyone’s food. To that, I had a 100% success rate. I brought their families in, wives, spouses in, and also their kids.

I’m curious, are you more competitive with somebody like Chef Ramsey or Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Competitive in what way? What form?

Being the best chef or the biggest bodybuilder. Are you competitive at all?

Am I competitive?

Yes, because you’re at a gym. You said there’s a lot of Hollywood celebrities. Do you look across the room and say, “Arnold is doing that much weight, I got to be able to beat that.”

Everybody looks at me and goes off of me. They said it to me, I don’t say it to them. Someone asked me, one of my fans says, “How does it feel when you see someone that’s bigger than you or whatever.” I’m like, “What do you mean? What are you talking about?” He’s like, “If you’ve got a guy that’s bigger.” I said, “There isn’t anyone bigger than me. Do you not see me? I don’t care if they’re seven feet tall, they’re still looking up to me.”

My brother is 6’8, almost 300 pounds. He’s a big guy. When I would run into him by accident, it’s like hitting a wall. I imagine it’s the same thing with you. You’re solid. I’m looking at these pictures of you in your chef outfit. There’s nothing that comes in that arm size. Would you have these specially built? How do you do this?

I do. I cut the sleeves under the arms. That’s how I do that. I had some that’s Velcro, but I cut the sleeves when I started off by getting a new one, and then I’ll roll it up. It’s over half the size of what it is.

You have to get a size it’s way too big for you to vet the arm and then take it in on the waist or what?

I do that anyway, but even when they go bigger in the waist, the arms go a little bit bigger. They go an inch or so. It doesn’t go a lot more, but the waist goes like 8 inches or 12 inches, which makes no sense.

You need a person to walk around and make you your special outfits because I can’t imagine that you could find anything in your size. It’s fun to look at all the pictures of all the things you’ve done online. I’ve seen you with Gordon Ramsay and Arnold in different situations and you’ve become this very celebrity chef. What do you do most of your time? You go by the White House, you do certain things like that but what’s the majority of your day or after you do the 2,222 pushups several hours at the gym?

Once I’ve meditated into the pushups, I’m working. I have a lot of international affairs from Portugal to Belgium. I received a Peace Medal from the King of Belgium. I have a rapport with the diplomat. I’m doing the things which is behind the scenes. I don’t talk about it a lot which is PPP procurement for the government, for schools, for different countries, from Africa to Puerto Rico to the yard to have a harder time getting those items. I do it with my military counterparts in helping them and helping us do it the right way. With the 3M, all this stuff that happened with the COVID, there came a lot of scams. I was one of the guys in the front line that was vetting.

Dozens and dozens of the people who were trying to steal money from the government, steal money from these small businesses and price gouging so that was a whole part of it. At the same time, I also helped to concentrate on my book and the TV shows that I’m doing. I answered each and every message and email myself or DM that someone may have a problem. If I get 1,000 messages in one day, I will get them quickly and see who is having a problem, who is wanting to talk about PTSD, suicide awareness, or even kids. I have a huge platform with a lot of kids. Snapchat did a story on me. I got 8,000 kids, which I was so humbled by. They came over to my Instagram and shot me up and said, “Thank you.” From the ages of 10 all the way up to 17 to 18 years old. It was very humbling.

There’s so much I get inspired by people who help kids. There’s a lot of confusion for kids with the COVID, race relations, and a lot of things. I’m sure that you’re getting contacted about a lot of these things since you work in this area. What are you telling kids about this division and what’s going on with everybody not getting along?

I focused on the parents and then I tell the parents that I’m talking to their kids. I’m vicariously talking to them to talk to their kids because no matter what I could tell them, how much I preach to them, tell them the facts and the rules of life, the parent as adults, or the ones that see then is driving them. There should be any kids out beside you doing riding and alluding. If you want to teach them the correct way without anger, violence, and understanding then that’s a whole another situation because the fact is that we all have to get along, 100% regardless of the situation that’s on an individual basis. I understand that. I’m 100% aware of that.

Don’t get complacent. When you get complacent, you start to just go through the motions. Click To Tweet

I used the word, I had the pleasure to understand what that felt in Mississippi by hearing my mother called names, my father being called names, and myself being called names. The differences between then and now is a totally big difference, not even a comparison. I say it and I look at that, I have to reflect and think on that. I think about what the kids are going through and how they’re going through with the definition of social media. If it used for good or evil and people want to be famous, a star and, want to bully people. Not only the kids but the parents as well. I get trolls all the time who have no name who wants to talk to in light a fire that isn’t there. It’s hard.

It’s a strange time. It’s so hard to imagine that people want to do that. It’s so different, but then, when I grew up, there was no social media. Do you think it’s going to get better? What’s it going to take?

It is going to get better. I believe that. This was a big turning point. It’s a pivotal point. Unfortunately, this had to happen and I say, had to happen and someone lost their lives with the COVID, understanding, and how it all is a mixing pot of things. If you notice all 50 States or all these different countries, everybody came together as one. You’re going to get advice and you’re going to get how and why, and so forth and so on. Everybody is going to have their own different opinion. Here’s the fact of the matter is that’s what this country has made off of. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion. If you believe or you don’t believe it, and we can do everything together.

Is there a divide? There is. Is there still going to be a divide? I hope not, but you know what will be. I hope that does not happen is that we become more complacent myself included. I become complacent. Sometimes you go through the motions. I use 9/11. I was there when the plane hit the Pentagon. I got blown up, I’ve done this, and I’ve done that. I don’t talk about it a lot because it’s not my platform. I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me. I don’t want anybody to know what happened to me but if there’s a time and a place to do that, I will talk about it. With 9/11, the entire world came together to fight a fight against terrorism.

If someone uses 9/11 and this situation is 9/11, it’s not even a comparison. Terrorism is something totally different than racism. You can’t compare apples to oranges. At the same time, I say with 9/11, once a year, we acknowledge it. At the same time, we should remember each and every day. We shouldn’t have to have something happen that’s detrimental to us as society as a whole, to all of a sudden do it. Everybody needs to play their part. Every color, every situation, everybody needs to be proven to attack and tackle that situation. Don’t let up on the gas pedal. You should always be full speed ahead and doing your part. You can yell and scream, all you want to on a computer and type away. If that’s all that you’re doing, that’s all that you’re doing. You got to be part of the situation, the solution, not the problem.

It’s going to be a very tough year in so many different respects for the COVID situation. The other situation is something that’s been so long. This has been a pivotal moment and everybody is coming together. I am glad to see that support. What you said is so critical. I know you need to get and do your day. We talk for a certain amount of time, and I don’t want to keep you, but I do want to have people be able to know what you’re working on? How can they find you? Is there anything you’d like to share? A website or how to follow you on social media?

I’m on LinkedIn at Chef Andre Rush. I’m more in my IG, which is @RealChefRush. Facebook is Andre Rush. I have my website where I do all my appearances is ChefRush.com. The only last words is thank you for having me here. It’s a pleasure. It only seemed like it was five minutes. It was fast. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it. The only remedy to that is if you invite me again. I’ll make sure you give as much time as you possibly can handle and like. Thank you, audience. I say, be nice and be well. Be kind to each other.

That’s a great way to end and thank you so much, Andre.

How To Be An Effective Voice Communicator With Dr. Miluna Fausch

I am here with Dr. Miluna Fausch, who is the President of Pitch Perfect Executive Communication. She is an intuitive and scientific problem solver. She has years of multifaceted experience in the corporate arena as a business owner and an onstage performer. She sold everything from Steinway grand pianos to magazine advertising. She’s got a book tentatively titled Up-level Your Communication. It’s so nice to have you here, Dr. Miluna.

It is my pleasure. Thank you.

I was looking forward to this. I know you have a PhD in holistic psychology, which is fascinating. I’m also interested in the fact that you do this voice and acting and all this. I had Roger Love on my show and he did a lot of voice training for a lot of actors and I’ve seen him speak. Anytime you’d have that ability to do this voice and acting, you’re such a much better speaker and performer. I want to get a little backstory on you.

Showbiz training is the best training in the world. As a singer, actor, character voice, you learn how to tell a story. You learn how to overcome your stage fright. You learn how to be big for the stage. Back in my undergrad days, I sang opera and my coach said, “You need to take up more space.” Because I went by and I was hiding and that never works especially in opera. You learn camera techniques and sound bites for radio. I think it’s the best training ground in the world to be a great speaker and communicator.

Your voice is unique, which is interesting. Whenever I talked to my sister on the phone, I hear my own voice a little bit in her voice. I’ve had people tell me, I sound like other people but you have this personal brand of your voice that no one else can imitate, naturally at least. It’s something that a lot of people can work on. I know a lot of us can be nasally or we do certain things that we don’t even recognize how we hold our throat. I’ve gone through some of these voice activities and some of these meetings I’ve attended. Is that the kind of thing you help people do? I’m curious about how you help people.

That is 40% of what I help CEOs do. People come to me specifically for that. Some of the men I’ve had want more gravitas. They want a more resonant voice because here in the Western culture, we’re in love with a deep, rich especially a male voice. Women need to be aware of this as well. When I have a 50-year-old executive woman coming to me, speaking in a high pitch, this will never work. This is a people-pleasing, Daddy loves me voice I call it. Until we can move beyond that emotional trauma, which I find out a lot of times it is, the voice got stuck at a specific age because of trauma or some other lies as such. Once we learned to own it and as you beautifully said, it is our branding. It’s unique and the 7.8 billion and growing people on the planet. It’s key. How do we stand? Are we breathing? Is this voice a pleasing voice that someone wants to listen to for a long period of time?

That brings up a conversation I’ve had with my mom a lot of times. She’ll say you speak fast but I understand you because you enunciate. A lot of people lack that ability to enunciate. You hear it a lot in singers and in songs, you’re like, “What?” It’s hard to sing along because you can’t understand it. Do you find that a lot of people struggle with that?

I do. I’m old school. I want you to hear every word I say and every word I sing. Back in the day, some of us have been a little longer on the planet with some wisdom. Walter Cronkite and the early broadcasters. I’m thinking that still part of their training but it doesn’t seem to be to the degree that it used to be. Where the point in your voice, the way you speak. If you watch, I love IDTV with Paula Zahn, crime rep. She has the most beautiful way of speaking, enunciating, pausing, and compassion for the people in front of her. We can speak a little faster and some, “I have to slow myself down.” My natural voice is very fast. One of the things I asked my friends to be mindful of in the global marketplace with people from other countries, other cultures, nuances in our communication, and perhaps English is not their first or second language. We need to slow down as we want them to go slower so that we’re all understood.

That’s important. As you were mentioning, Paula Zahn, I was thinking of Frank Sinatra singing. He hit every single syllable so you knew exactly what he was saying. It’s interesting to follow people in Hollywood. I also had a thought of Lara Flynn Boyle was on The Practice which is a very long-running television show. I listened to this show and I noticed when she would speak when she wasn’t upset or anything on the show, and she had this very deep and almost sexy tone. When she got mad, she got this high voice. I couldn’t believe those two came out of the same person. Do we have a different tone based on our anger? Is this something we should be working on it when we’re calm and upset all the time?

Yes. Some of us have a range because I did study opera and jazz I have quite a vocal range. I don’t sing like I used to. When I’m ready to do another one-woman cabaret show, I’ll need to get my singing voice chops back up to where they need to be. When you’re trained, that’s one of the advantages. You learn that you have this amazing range. I can be softer, I can be louder, I can go lower and go higher in pitch. I can put all these emotions, amazing qualities, and colors in my voice. You made a great point. When we’re upset especially for women because we’re more in touch with our emotions, what you don’t want to do is what you said. If I stop breathing and start to leave my body I call it. I’m high pitch and I’m going faster. Guess what? I now cannot be heard especially if we’re in the room. Yes, we should work on it when we’re calm and yes, we should work on it practicing, feeling anger, emotion, and get that cleared out so that it’s not a surprise what comes out of our mouth and out of our communication.

As you’re talking, it reminds me a little bit of having Mikki Williams on the show who’s a Hall of Fame speaker and there’s not a lot of women hall of fame speakers out there. She was interesting to me to talk to. I watched one of her TED Talks. I believe where she did this crescendo where you should build-up to this story and then drops her tone when she talks about her husband dying. All of a sudden, you’ve got this level buildup and it’s almost like a musical masterpiece. How do you teach people that?

Believe it or not, it’s mindset first because they have a belief. Some people think you can’t change your voice. Of course, you can’t. It’s building a muscle like a bicep or anything else we get in touch with. My goal is not to dramatically change a voice. That’s not terribly healthy, but can you build dynamics, range, volume, richness, and learn how to use it well? Yes. First of all, I give them permission. In fact, my own upbringing was sit still, be quiet, nobody wants to hear from you. You can imagine my life’s work has been, “I can be loud.” It can be my own work because nobody wanted to hear from me. I was expected to be a quiet, good little girl. What happens when I need to get on stage as an opera singer, as a speaker, as a jazz singer? You can’t hide. You can’t turn down your volume. You’ve got to share.

When speaking to a global marketplace, speak slower to make sure that you’re well understood. Click To Tweet

First, I give them permission. We talk about culture background. We find out the stop points. Did somebody tell you to be quiet? Were you silenced? In my case, it was my parents, but I also got it at church and at home. Was it the teacher who said, “We don’t want to hear from you?” Most of it is the physical part. Breathing, getting loud, and getting soft, I set timers and teach people to tell a story within two minutes and then within five minutes. When we set a brain pattern and the limit that’s safe, we’re more creative and more willing to go there. If I say, “Go in a room for 30 minutes and create something.” Most people do that. We’ve created a safe vessel, a parameter, and an assignment. I teach them to think about their voice differently and then physically, we get busy on it because you’ve got to practice physically doing the thing you want to master.

My daughter bought me up to a singing class one time because it’s fun. My singing would peel off the walls. It’s so bad. I appreciate the operatic voices and all the beautiful voices out there like Kristin Chenoweth, who have these unbelievable sounds come out of them. How much of that is inherited or how much of it can you take somebody who can’t sing at all and make them sing or people don’t leave screaming?

I don’t know the actual numbers and I may have to do a scientific study about that. Here’s the fact. A lot of it is natural. For example, I could always sing on pitch. I will say I was born with that talent. Fantastic singers like Barbra Streisand and Kristin Chenoweth, Celine Dion, Peabo Bryson, and Whitney Houston. These people were born with incredible talent, except for Barbara Streisand who’s highly trained from a young age. Whitney in the church with her mother. You can also teach people to hear, listen, and respond on pitch. I believe back when I was coaching singers and actors, there was only one person that I could not get to match a pitch with me but you can always improve. Would I ever want to pay them to sing or pay to hear them sing? No, I would not. This is a healthy thing to sing that if you sing in the shower, it’s so good and a healthy expression. Even for the people who are not going to be out in public, sing in the shower, it’s so good for your voice and self-expression.

I agree with you. I sing a lot. My husband is probably not thrilled with it but I’m interested with the Barbara Streisand comment. She didn’t have formal training.

No. If this story is true and I think it is. I’ve done a lot of research on her that she went to the lesson and they told her to hold her mouth in a certain way. A round opera or classic lips and could not understand and said, “That’s artificial and I would never do that.” I’m going to say her amazing ear, ability to hear her voice hours, hours of practice, and her dedication to being a stunning vocalist.

She has a voice. Funny Girl was a great movie. It is one of my favorites. I love musicals at that in Camelot when I was growing up. We saw him every year. It was all they had. They kept playing the same movies all the time because there weren’t very many, but I remember she had such a range. You’re helping people with their voices and you’ve got a book coming up that is tentatively titled Up-level Your Communication. Tell me more about your book.

For years, I threatened to write a book. I do not believe there’s a book in everyone. I hear that. Not everybody’s purpose is to write a book. The first chapter is going to begin with communicating with compassion. I’m going to tell my story of having a tumor in my head, losing the hearing in my right ear and my face was literally paralyzed. I’m in trouble. This was living in Los Angeles at that time. Could I still be a musician? Could I still act, speak, and consult if my face didn’t return? I was in big trouble. What I learned during that time is that we have no language in this particular culture, especially for how to speak with people who are facing trauma or death.

Dr. Diane, the things people said to me shocked me, hurt me, and wounded me. I thought, “How positively ignorant.” There’s such a better way to talk to people. For example, people would say to me, “I understand.” I thought, “No, you don’t.” How dare you say you understand even if you have a tumor in your head like me, your experience will be different? Please, don’t ever say you understand. That is the ultimate mint diminishment of that person, their feelings, their emotions, and what they’re going through.

What’s the right thing to say then?

What can I do? I have no idea what to say. What can I say? Could I listen? Can I listen with you? Can I hug you? Depending on the person. Be there for them. Listen and say, “I don’t know what to say.” What can I do for you? Saying that makes me emotional because we’re showing up for that person we care about.

Everybody’s got their unique stories. It’s hard to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes if singing is everything and you lose your hearing. If you’re a photographer and you lose your sight. It’s a unique perspective. Your book will tell your story. Is it mostly about your story or is it helping people communicate better?

The first chapter will be the story, communicating with passion and lots of tips about what we talked about. How do you speak with people, into a lot of other chapters for executive and professional communication? One will be command to stage. I don’t think we’re going to have as many in-person conferences and panels, but there’s nothing like being on a live stage with your audience. One chapter will be energy. How do you bring energy? One chapter will be for women only. The feminine voice and what it means. One chapter will be how to introduce others. Even when I give a person a very specific introduction ahead of time and ask them to use it word-for-word, they don’t do it. You want to honor and respect people in how to introduce them and how to lead meetings.

The most powerful thing you could do when speaking is to pause and slow down. Click To Tweet

I’ve also invited some surprise guest authors that I find giants in their field and they’re going to address communication in their arenas. It’s a handbook from my point of view, what I’ve learned about communication, ways to do it better, ways to think about it. It’s proving to be healing for me as well which is why I insisted. Forbes Advantage Books approached me, I love their platform and I love what they stand for. I’m writing it with them. I supposed not to write with a ghostwriter for the following reason. Number one, it has to be my own voice and words because I’m in the voice business. I’m also healing deeper as I’m writing. I am right in the middle of chapter one, tears and angst. How much of this story to tell and how much to leave out. You can imagine, the story could go on for chapter after chapter. It only needs to be told as far as it needs to be told.

There’s a lot of people who need help with a lot of the things that you talk about. Having attended an event where they did a little bit of this voice coaching. I found it interesting how many things that people sounded fine to me and when they would stand up and the voice coach would say, “You could change this and that.” Things I hadn’t even heard. As you’re listening to me, you won’t hurt my feelings. What kinds of things would you be telling me to work on?

That’s a great point because I always hear things others don’t. I have a powerful hearing. I like your voice. I would encourage you to do one thing. Simply slow down a bit. Give yourself a little more permission. Sometimes faster or a little slower so that you’re playing with that full range. The most powerful thing I could do is to pause and slow down.

That’s a hard one for a lot of people. Another one that I noticed, I don’t struggle with as much, but I noticed a lot of people have a problem with enthusiasm. They don’t have a lot of range that they have that monotone flat thing. How do you notice that?

They do. The best way is to record ourselves. They’ll record, we’ll play it back and then I’ll start to point out the differences. Demonstrating the difference because the last thing we need is somebody down in their throat on a monitor and be technical. Who needs to hear that? We’ve all sat through presentations that were horrible and boring. The question is, why did that person not take it more seriously? Why did they not prepare? Why do they not trust the information that they could change other’s lives? We need to up-level our knowledge about this. I have people say to me, “Dr. Miluna, I present all the time.” I don’t care because I’ve heard them. It’s bad.

The real question is, how do you present all the time? In fact, people who do present all the time may be in such a habit. A way of doing things after ten years that five years ago, they lost their effectiveness but their denial or they’re unwilling to listen. We want to not underestimate our ability and we also don’t want to overestimate but to truly understand the level we’re communicating at, am I still effective? Is it time to polish, fine-tune, and go to that next level? I’m a world leader. I’m starting a company. I’m launching my book. I need to be on book tours, reading from my book and all of these are specific arenas for us to serve our greatest purpose. How can we do that if our message cannot be heard and we are not effective?

I imagine people hire you to help them become more effective. In addition to writing your book, as I mentioned, you’re the President of Pitch Perfect Executive Communication. If somebody is reading this and they want to hire you, how can they find you? How can they get more information?

My website is my name, MilunaFausch.com.

You said you renamed yourself. That’s not your given name?

That is not my birth name. During this all surgery in head come to Jesus, wake up, the tumor needs to come out, I changed my name as well because I knew in order to survive and be reborn after that first surgery, I needed to lighten up everything in my life including my name.

Is it an Italian name? It sounds very Italian. I’m Italian. I’m reading into it.

It started with Luna, who is the Roman Goddess of the Moon. As you expertly heard, it has rhythm, music, spiritual and sacred energy to it. It became a Miluna.

I love the way you say it. That’s how it should be said. For people who are interested in finding out more, I hope they check out your site. I wish you luck on the success of your book. I’m sure it’ll do great. What you’re doing is important. There are so many people who could use a lot of help with how they speak. Thank you so much for being on the show, Dr. Miluna.

It has been an honor. Thank you so much.

You’re welcome.

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I’d like to thank both Andre and Miluna for being my guests. We get so many great guests on this show. If you’ve missed any past episodes, I hope you take some time to go to DrDianeHamilton.com. There are tweetable moments. I hope you tweet some of them. We’ve had so many great guests and I know it’s hard to keep up with all of them. We are also on iTunes, iHeart, and everywhere else, all the AM/FM stations we’re on, you can catch us there. I hope you join us for the next episode.

About Chef Andre Rush

Andre Rush served 24 years as a Chef, Advisor, and Protection in the US Army working for and side by side the world’s top leaders. He said that gave him a unique insight into seeing paths both good and bad. Leadership, Integrity, Core Values allowed him to see the business world in new ways, as he developed his own style of mentorship and development that he has taught and trained to the thousands. Being a chef has taught him that following the recipe as written is not always the best option for a great meal.

About Dr. Miluna Fausch

Dr. Miluna Fausch is the President of Pitch Perfect Executive Communication. She has an intuitive and scientific problem-solving perspective coming from years of multi-faceted experience in the corporate arena, as a business owner, and on stage as a performer. She has sold everything from Steinway grand pianos to magazine advertising.

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