87. Claiming your Confidence

In this episode 7 News Presenter Katrina Blowers offers valuable advice for young professional and aspiring journalists - including the importance of voice coaching. Katrina also shares a story about experiencing a panic attack live on air, and the techniques she learned since to reclaim her confidence!

Follow Katrina on Instagram @katrinablowers

Transcript

Hello! Welcome back to That Voice Podcast. Or welcome if you're here for the first time. It is so great to have you here for Episode 87, with the fabulous Katrina Blowers. If you're in Brisbane, Australia, you might recognize Katrina from channel seven news where she's a presenter. And if you're a young journalist or an aspiring one, you'll really want to take notes with this episode. Katrina offers such valuable advice for you, including how to get your foot in the door, how to not freak out during a live cross and what to do and not do as an intern. If you're not a journo, don't worry, there's still so much gold in this episode, Katrina shares a powerful story about experiencing a panic attack while live on air reading the news. Could you imagine? And she outlines how that crushed her confidence and then put her on a path to regain it. And she shares again so many practical strategies to claim your confidence. These tips are honestly so good, and I can't wait to share them with you!

But first, quick question. Are your speaking skills holding you back in your business or career? Or are they sailing you forward? Are you thrown into speaking situations with no idea what the hell to do? Are you struggling to have influence to get your message heard across the meeting table or through the camera lens? If this is you, I would really love to invite you to join my membership community, Members Only. It is packed with practical tips about all aspects of voice and presentation. I hold monthly events, including master classes, hot seat coaching and open mic, which is your chance to practice your upcoming speech or run something by me. We're on our own Mighty Networks app, so you're off the noise of social media and you get an instant fan club, led of course by me. And if you join yearly or lifetime, I also ship out a welcome gift to you. So, stop flying blind and hoping for the best when it comes to your voice and speaking, join us in Members Only. The link is in the show notes or head to sallyprosser.com.au to join us!

Sally:

Okay. Let's dive into today's episode. Katrina Blowers, welcome to That Voice Podcast. So great to have you on the show.

Katrina:

This is so exciting Sal, because like, we've been mates for ages and I've listened to your podcast for a long time. And now I get to be on it. So how fun! Thank you for having me.

Sally:

Oh, my pleasure. So you are a news presenter up at Channel 7. And as you know, I work with a lot of young journalists and the question they always ask me, I'm sure you get it a lot as well is, how did you get to where you are now?

Katrina:

I was a child who just had a single focus. So as soon as I kind of learned that there was a job in the world that had the title of journalist, I knew that was for me. I remember having the conversation with my mom in the car, asking her what that job was, if the lady who is on the news. And, we always had the news on in my house and we always had newspapers delivered. We would have meals together around the table. My family was quite traditional like that. We'd have breakfast as a family around the table dinner as a family around the table. And we would talk about the news issues of the day. So, being informed was like a really big value of my family. And so for me, journalism was just the most exciting career path that I could imagine.

Katrina:

And especially as a woman, you know, I was growing up in the, in the eighties and nineties when people like young event were really blazing a trail. So I would look to them for inspiration. So yeah, went and did work experience from a very young age. I grew up in Canberra, so went to the Press Gallery at Parliament House as a 12-year old, which must have been quite entertaining for all the politicians to see me holding the microphone. And just tons and tons of work experience-- free work at newspapers. Just to get my foot in the door. I was really baby faced when I started out. So even though I desperately wanted to work in television, I just looked ridiculous. So, went into radio for many years, which was the absolute best training that I could have doing live radio forces you to paint a picture for people just using language. Cause obviously people can't see where you are. So you're doing, you know, live reports on the scene and you're having to describe to people what you are seeing and bring them into that moment. So it was incredible experience. And yeah, now after many years of working in Sydney, I'm in Brisbane and yeah, reading the news for Channel 7, which is honestly a dream come true.

Sally:

Yes. I started out in radio as well, 96.5 Wave FM in Wollongong, and then 98 FM. And being able to do the news alive on the hour, it forces you to really concentrate on your voice as well. And hone your skills before moving into television. So would you say that's the best advice you'd give to any young people out there wanting to get into journalism? Would you say, just get your foot in the door with work experience?

Katrina:

Yeah. Because you never know where that's going to lead or where that random connection that you make. For example, I did work experience with a guy called Pete Doherty, who I now work with at channel seven. He's a senior in Brisbane, but years ago when I was 17, I did work experience with him and Jessica Rowe down in Canberra. Jessica Rowe’s now gone on to do many incredible things in her career. And, you know, we're still connected now and she actually helped me get into uni. So you just never know where people are going to be able to help you in the future. And not that you just do it for that reason, but it's about the connections that you make, um, that may one day open some doors for you when you least expect them.

Sally:

Absolutely. It's not just what you know, but the relationships you build and I feel like there can be a bit of a negative connotation to, oh, well, it's not what you know, it's who, you know, but it's not that at all because the ability to make those connections and build the relationships, that's what can really pay off in the end. And that goes for any industry, I'd say.

Katrina:

Definitely, yes, it's all about relationship building. And as you know, being a journalist, you really rely on your contacts and that can make or break your story and elevate your story because commercial media is competitive at the end of the day. So you've really gotta be thinking about what can I bring to the table that a journalist covering that same story at another network may not be able to deliver.

Sally:

Yeah. Great point. And of course, one of those things that you need to bring to the table in broadcast is those voice skills. Did you have any voice coaching through your career?

Katrina:

I did. So, not so much at uni. Although, when I was at school, I loved doing speaking. So I've always been drawn to that. And I was that kid, you know, how you have to read aloud in class? I was literally on the edge of my seat waiting for my turn every single time. It was like my dream. "Oh, can I just read one more page?" I just loved it. So the speaking as in, you know, honing my voice to, I guess, deliver the light and the shade and to sound pleasant for people didn't come really until I worked at the ABC in Sydney and we were fortunate enough to have a voice coach who was from NIDA and she came and trained us. And she really spoke to me about the power of the pause and also your inflections and women, as I'm sure you are very well aware, Sal, and I'm sure you tell people this all the time, women are much more likely to end their sentences on an upward inflection. So now, you know it comes naturally to me now to end on a downward inflection, but it wasn't always the case. And I used to have to really work at that to sound more authoritative and credible.

Sally:

Yeah. Fantastic. So you've had a long career, which is still going full steam you're in your dream job. You're up at the desk, reading the news live. Has anything ever gone wrong?

Katrina:

Yes. All the time. All the time! So, I will tell you in live cross situations, particularly when you are reporting from disaster zones, um, you know, natural disasters, unfortunately, which there are many, many of those in Queensland, and I've been fortunate enough to go overseas as well. You often put into rolling coverage situations where they just come to you randomly and they expect you to just fill the air space. So there've been many times where due to nerves, cause you know, you're going to a national audience, I have frozen and gone blank. And I just talked off the top of my head and not even being able to remember what on earth, did I even say, so there's some strategies that I have put in place to combat that. So I'll just quickly share with you. You should always have three bullet points in your brain of things that you are going to talk about and you should always, always know how you are going to finish.

Katrina:

And that way, if you do go blank, you just switch straight to that. "Okay. How am I going to get out of this? Where am I going?" And usually you finish up on a point that throws the story forward in some way. So that's my little hint so that you don't go blank and have nothing to say. But there was a time only recently, actually it was about four years ago when I was going through a pretty intense personal situation and dealing with a lot of stress in my life. And I actually had a panic attack live on air when I was reading the Sunday night news. And fortunately, the way that, that looked, according to my director was it apparently looked as though the autocue had failed because for me, the way that I experienced that was, you know, the intense feeling in my chest.

Katrina:

I couldn't breathe properly. I felt like I couldn't speak. And, and I just couldn't get the words out. So my director just went straight to the first story in the bulletin and then said to me, "Hey, did the autocue fail?" And I said, "No, I think I'm having a panic attack." So he then kind of talked to me through the rest of the bulletin and I managed to get through the next hour. But then I started to get a lot of anxiety about it potentially happening again. So I had to work really hard over the course of probably more than a year to regain my confidence again, after that experience, because the only other option I had was to walk away and leave my job. And I didn't want to do that as I mentioned, that was my dream job.

Sally:

My goodness. It must've been so terrifying in that moment, but also great that you had a director that was supportive enough to walk you through it. Although I guess there was, you know, with live television, there's not much else you can do.

Katrina:

There was no one else. I think, you know, Shane Webcke, might've had the call up to read the bulletin. I don't think he would have been too happy to have done that.

Sally:

And you shared some fantastic advice about things to do during live crosses. So what were the strategies that you used in that year, following that incident to help you regain your confidence? That it wouldn't happen again?

Katrina:

Oh my gosh, Sal. I tried everything because, you know, being a journalist, my default is research. So I was like, "Okay, there must be some science about confidence. There must be some studies about how to, you know, how to get that feeling back in your body and the mindset tricks for getting confidence as well." So I did a really deep dive, I read every book that I could. But the number one thing that helped me was breathing and actually meditation. And then, you know, that has a spiritual aspect to it. But the thing that drew me to it initially was the evidence that meditation can help you tap into your parasympathetic nervous system, which is, you know, that counterbalances, that fight or flight feeling you get when you start getting that anxiety that precedes a panic attack. So for me, it was about getting that baseline of calm that I could return to, even when I started to feel that anxiety creep up on me in the news chair. Which it did, and sometimes still does. But I know now that I'm in the driver's seat and I can put that in the passenger seat. So I've learned some techniques for how to endure, even when I start feeling a bit wobbly.

Sally:

Oh, I'm so happy that you shared that. And this is why your story is so powerful because so many of the clients I work with have had a bad experience. Public speaking, not so not many reading the news live on air, but in multiple situations and I can even relate as well. You do get kind of like that PTSD of once you're back in that same position, all this could happen again, but as we explained, if you can work through it and you can learn from, it next time you can identify that feeling and do something about it.

Katrina:

Yeah. And I remember one the first little meditation courses that I did was a 30-day challenge. And I think it was on the app Headspace, which is a wonderful app if you're just starting out and you've never meditated before. Cause it's only a couple of minutes a day. And what he said during this course is that the goal is to not get rid of the anxiety because that may never happen. The goal is to be able to co-exist with that anxiety. And I think a lot of people don't do things out of their comfort zone because they just want to avoid that discomfort that comes with the fear of putting yourself out there. But I think if you can just go, "Okay, I see you, I'm going to take the emotion out of it. You're here for the ride, but actually, I'm still going to do this hard thing because it's really important to me." That's how you push ahead and still achieve your goals, even if you're feeling a little bit scared.

Sally:

Yeah. It's such a great way to look at it. It's not about getting rid of the nerves or getting rid of the anxiety, but learning to co-exist with it. Fantastic. And so was this experience, one of the reasons that you started your fabulous podcast called Claiming Your Confidence?

Katrina:

It is, because I started having conversations with all kinds of people because I was on a mission myself and I wanted to know, I thought, surely I'm not the only one, surely other people in high-profile positions, whether they're athletes or business leaders or other entertainers, like surely they get nervous and have wobbly moments as well. So, you know, I'm lucky enough I get to interview lots of high-profile people for my job. And so I'd start having these chats to them off-air. And people just revealed the most extraordinary things to me. And it really, really helped me. And I thought, "God, other people need to know this too. That we're all the same." We all go through the same stuff. It's just the decision that we make to continue to put ourselves out there that differentiates those who can live with that fear as opposed to others who let it hold them back.

Sally:

Yeah, absolutely. I'd highly recommend taking a listen to Katrina's podcast because there are some really high-profile names and I feel like we often make excuses. And so it was all right for them. Cause they don't feel the way I feel they haven't come from that. They don't face the same challenges as me. They're rich and famous, or whatever it is most recently with Michael Clark, it was a fantastic episode to show that it doesn't matter who you are. Everybody faces the same challenges.

Katrina:

I know. And for Michael Clark to say that, you know, some days he still struggles to get out of bed, uh, I think, yeah, we do. We see the highlight reel on Instagram and we make assumptions about people, but yeah, at the end of the day, we're all the same.

Sally:

For sure. So what would be your number one or two or three tips for claiming your confidence?

Katrina:

Okay. So I've got a couple that I'll share with you. And this is the first one really, really helped me when I was still kind of finding my way back out of that dark place in my life. So I had read some research cause everyone says "Fake it till you make it". And I'm like, "Oh, this isn't really working for me." I read there's actually been some studies done as to why that doesn't work. And it's because deep down in your brain, you know that you're faking it. And so do other people because if you approach it with that fake till you, make it, your brain is like, but you're lying. You know, that little inner critic and other people can tell with really subconscious little giveaways that you're not quite being authentic either. So the thing that really flipped the switch for me on that one is instead of faking it till you make it, you act as if now you need to go back before you begin doing this and get your journal out and think to yourself, "Okay, who is the most confident version of me?"

Katrina:

What do they look like? How do they stand? How do they walk? How do they dress? What decisions do they make this most confident version of me that's different to what I'm doing right now. And then, you literally just inhabit that role and start acting like that person. So there was such a moment when I was going through that my boss asked me to come in and have a pretty difficult conversation with him. And I was ready to kind of not stand up for my rights as much. And I was nervous about having this difficult chat. And then I sat there and I thought, "What would the most confident version of Katrina do?" And then I just went in and I acted like that. And I ended up getting a win. So that's a really wonderful strategy that's helped me a lot. The other thing is, start a success journal.

Katrina:

So your brain is hardwired to look for negativity and that's a survival, like an ancient survival mechanism, right? So you're more likely to look at all of the things that are going wrong in your life. And in order to change a habit, your brain looks for evidence that what you're doing is safe and right, and real for you. So if you start a success journal and it can be something really little like asking someone out, or I don't know, wearing a bright color. A lot of women, I work with are really nervous about that. And that takes a lot of confidence for them to wear like a bright pink suit. Start a journal and put down these little wins in your journal when you start doing confident things. And then the next time you feel wobbly, go back to your journal and go, "You know what? I've done hard stuff before. And it worked out really well. And I can do this again." So take that, brain!

Sally:

I love that similar to what I call the brag book. So the brag book, which is any time somebody gives you some good feedback, a nice email, a nice testimonial. You put it in the book or you put it in the box because you know how again, we'll get that one negative review or that one comment, "Oh God, that's it. I'm throwing in the towel. This not for me". But it's always disproportionate to the amount of positive activity we get. And so I've got a little drawer, which is like all the nice cards and things that have been said to me over the years. And I'll go to that if I'm feeling a bit down.

Katrina:

Oh I love that, oh my gosh. I think maybe we need to combine the two. That's a beautiful strategy.

Sally:

Yeah, for sure. Was there any others?

Katrina:

Well breathing is a big one, as you would be well aware. So, you know, I still get nervous all the time, all the time. So I recently had to interview Julia Gillard on stage and I had that Imposter Syndrome voice coming to my brain and start saying to me, "Oh, Katrina, what are you doing here?" Blah, blah, blah. And of course, like I deserve to be there, but you know, in the moment you do get nervous. Cause there was a crowd of about, I don't know, over a thousand people there. And it's the former prime minister for God's sakes. So, you know, that's a sign that I care, I think to being nervous. And I welcome that. So doing things like box breathing, particularly focusing on breathing out. Cause I find that when I get nervous, and everyone's different about where they store anxiety in their body, but for me, I tend to hold onto my breath. So my breathing becomes quite shallow and high. So I started doing box breathing on the side of the stage and really just down regulating my nervous system. You know, SAS soldiers do box breathing as well before they go into combat. So this is a strategy that anyone can do. It's not that obvious. You don't look like a weirdo, but you can do it in the moment and it makes a big difference.

Sally:

Fantastic. So what advice would you give to young journalists or anybody out there wanting to get into journalism? What would be your number one piece of advice?

Katrina:

So I would, first of all, watch the news religiously. It's quite surprising to me, the number of interns that we get, who never watched the news yet. They still want to be a journalist. So, if you are going to intern somewhere or even if you're not, um, make sure that you're familiar with the who's who and the kind of stories that they do. Also come up with some ideas for stories and pitch them. So I really wanted to be a food writer at the Sydney morning Herald. They have an amazing food section. And so I just started pitching stories to the editor, and she probably started getting sick of me pitching them. And I said to her, "I'll write for you for free." And I ended up getting a cover story out of it. So, and then I became a restaurant reviewer. I ended up becoming a restaurant reviewer for the next five years. So you've got to put yourself out there. You've got to show them that you're familiar with what they do and that you can add value.

Sally:

Fantastic advice. And that can also go to anybody, wanting to do anything in any field. If can just put yourself out there, take one step. You never know where it might lead, hey.

Katrina:

Yeah, exactly, exactly. But obviously I'll temper that with don't, don't be too annoying. It's a fine line between putting yourself out there and pestering someone. So, I'm sure that you can be delicate with that.

Sally:

Oh, I'm so glad that you mentioned that because that is the number one thing that my students ask me because I'm always like go for it, bring cake, be likable, you know, talk to people. But at the same time, like don't be interrupting right on conference call, use the voice booth right on deadline, you know, and it's always difficult to find that balance, but it can be achieved.

Katrina:

Bring cake is an excellent tip. Everyone loves cake!

Sally:

Yeah. And it's so easy.

Katrina:

And the other thing I would say is dress the part. So, you know, they always say that you should dress for the job that you want, not the job that you have. You've got to dress as though you could go on air at any moment. So that's another reason for watching the news or getting familiar with how people dress on camera so that you can look that part when you rock up.

Sally:

Yeah, for sure. And again, I know when you're offered at uni, you don't have that kind of wardrobe, but a couple of basic colors and one good jacket.

Katrina:

Yes. It will look at Karl Stefanovic he wore the same thing for what was it? Two years? No one cared. No one noticed.

Sally:

So Katrina, how can people find you?

Katrina:

So I think I tend to put my eggs in one online platform because I am lazy. So follow me on Instagram, hit me up there. I pretty much don't go on Facebook or really very rarely on Twitter. So you can find me on Instagram @katrinablowers. And yeah. I look forward to connecting with any young journos. I love, I love helping the next generation come through because it's really important that we continue this profession and this craft.

Sally:

Oh, totally agree. Katrina, thank you so much for joining That Voice Podcast.

Katrina:

My absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me.