How I started my career as a pronunciation coach

Today I feel inspired to share a story with you. Exactly four years ago, I joined a project called “The July challenge” – a project that would change my life. See, back then I was convinced that the only thing that was preventing me from being a confident speaker in English was my accent. When I first came to the US, I barely spoke any English. But after a few years in an ESL school, a job at the front desk of a Marriott hotel, and a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Minnesota, I knew that I had reached a level where I could consider myself fluent. And yet, I was still dissatisfied with the way I sounded. So I started searching. I didn’t know what exactly I was looking for, but my soul was on a journey to find a solution.

One day, click by click, I found Hadar Shemesh’s YouTube channel where she shared her story about how she had wanted to be an actress and had moved to New York from her native Israel to pursue her dreams. In order to be able to get more versatile roles, she had to work on acquiring an American accent. And, oh boy, she sounded great. As I listened to her I was mesmerized. How can she be a nonnative speaker?!?! Could I sound like that one day? Is this even possible? I felt butterflies in my stomach.

About two months after I started watching her channel, she announced a challenge: join The InFluency Community (The Fluency Challenge back then) and record videos on different topics every day during the month of July.

Needless to say, I immediately jumped into the opportunity and joined the group. Recording videos, however, was a different story. It took me nine days to record my first video. From July 1^st to July 8^th I watched other members discuss the topic of the day – a topic Hadar would email us every day. On July 9^th, sitting in my car in front of the gym, sweaty from the workout that I had just finished, with my hand shaking out of fear and excitement, I held my phone and hit the record button. This was the beginning of what was to become my new life.

Not only did I find amazing friends during that month’s challenge, but I also realized how much I loved expressing different ideas in English. A few months later, I enrolled in Hadar’s Accent Makeover program – the precursor of the mind-changing program now known as New Sound. It was then and there when I began changing. Along with my tongue and mouth muscles, my mindset shifted as well. The confidence that I’d always known I’d had somewhere in me was slowly awakening. I felt as though nothing could stop me now.

My newfound love for sounds also led me to a career change. I went back to school (University of San Francisco) and completed my Master’s to become an ESL teacher. I also joined Hadar’s new English Teachers Academy to learn how to teach pronunciation to other fellow nonnative speakers. When one day Hadar asked me to be one of the New Sound coaches I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. And just like that, I, her former student, her forever admirer, have become a part of her team.

Now, four years later I can honestly say that I feel fulfilled and confident. Fulfilled because I absolutely love what I do; there is no better feeling than helping someone else to become a better and bolder English speaker. And confident because, despite occasional minor mistakes that I still sometimes catch myself making, I know that what I have to say matters.

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Now’s your turn. Tell me how you feel about your English. Have you ever felt self-conscious because you thought your English wasn’t “good enough?”

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