“If You’ve Got Something to Say, Just Say It!” – Dedicating Myself to Toastmasters

By Johanna Lezada

Back in October of 2020, I was a foreign university student in Korea recovering from a traumatic incident and barely had the appetite for anything. For all my life until then, I had never considered myself a leader nor a public speaker. All I knew was that I had things to say.

Then one day, my father introduced me to a public speaking club called Toastmasters.

At first, I thought it somehow involved bread, but I found no trace of bread at the scene. I didn’t know at all what it was about, so I kept quiet, observing how the meeting would go. The atmosphere did feel welcoming, and the members would toss casual comments and jabs at one another during the meeting, loosening the tension I felt… until I instinctively raised my hand.

“You have a voice, Jo, use it!”

The Table Topics Master gave out a question I knew I could answer, and all I could think about was what I wanted to say and how this was my one chance to say it! My palms were sweaty, my head light, but the words poured out, and everyone listened regardless of the many uh’s, um’s and stutters that were interjected in between my words.

Since that day, I have realized the value of a Toastmasters club. Much like how the Gwangju News is a magazine that freely gives its pages to aspiring writers and journalists, Toastmasters provides a platform for people who have things to say and shows them the art of how to say them concisely and passionately. It aims to provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop not only communication but leadership skills as well! I wanted to help incoming guests experience the same warmth I did when I first came and joined, so I took on my first officer role in 2022.

“My palms were sweaty, my head light, but the words poured out, and everyone listened…”

Even now as I’m writing this in 2025, that objective has never changed. Remembering the first time I gave a prepared speech, having to stand in front of multiple eyes staring at mine for more than two minutes, I think about everyone who still feels this way about public speaking. I still feel this way sometimes when having to speak in my second and third languages, Tagalog and Korean. I haven’t forgotten that nervousness, that fear of fumbling one’s words and people not understanding what you’re saying. We are all our own worst critics.

However, as the president of Gwangju Toastmasters, I aim for our club to lend aspiring speakers a helping hand in absolving their speaking fears by telling them that it’s okay to be nervous! It’s okay to feel shy, unprepared, and afraid. It’s okay to make mistakes and to slip with our words because it’s our responsibility to encourage everyone with positive, constructive feedback that they can use to improve on what form of communication is best suited to their personal needs. If I – who used to be a nervous, stuttering wreck – can become the professional host that I am now, then surely anyone can achieve full confidence in their public-speaking skills – whether they need it for presentations, job interviews, or event hosting, all at their own pace of comfort. As I’ve told many guests in the past, public speaking isn’t just talking in front of an audience, it’s having a conversation with them, and encouraging communication by welcoming engagement, as well. Because communication is a two-way street, public speaking is also knowing how to speak to those who are listening to you. Therefore, you don’t need to complicate your sentences with fancy words or talk like a politician to get your point across.

In Toastmasters, if you have something to say, just say it! We’re all here to listen.

Photograph by Philippe Coulon.