The 30-Second Trick That Gets You Out of Fight-or-Flight: Confidence, Nerves & Speaking Up feat. Savanna Madden
In this episode, Amy is joined by Savanna Madden, confidence and speaking coach for female founders, founder of the award-winning Madden Theatre Arts, and host of the Reclaim Your Voice podcast, for a conversation about the thing that's slowing down so many brilliant women: the confidence to be seen and heard at the next level.
Savanna spent years as a professional performer; acting, presenting, singing. Then, ten years ago, she lost her voice. Completely.
Vocal nodules meant her vocal folds physically couldn't work, and she spent months unable to speak at all. But the real twist came in the therapy room, when a medical professional told her the damage wasn't just physical. It was a trauma response, the result of a marriage where she'd been silenced, dismissed, and made to feel her voice didn't matter.
What she rebuilt from that rock bottom experience was a performing arts business with a team of 10, a coaching practice, and a mission to make sure no woman with expertise to share ever feels she can't.
Together, they get into why confidence isn't something you find; it's something you build, and what to do when nerves are slowing you down on the stages, podcasts and collaborations you know your business needs next.
Savanna shares:
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What losing her voice taught her about who had been taking it from her all along
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The question to ask when fear shows up: is this the negative voice, or is it actually true? (You need four pieces of evidence before you get to call it real)
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The breathing technique she uses before every stage: in for 4, hold for 2, out for 6
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The 30-second peripheral vision trick that takes you out of fight-or-flight, and nobody in the room will know you're doing it
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Why "picture the audience naked" is nonsense, and what actually works instead
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Why nerves never fully go away, even for the pros, and why that's proof you care, not proof you're not ready
If you're already showing up but you know podcasts, stages and scarier rooms are the next step, and something keeps slowing you down, this episode hands you the exact tools to do it anyway.
Connect with Savanna:
Instagram: @‌iamsavannamadden
Free resource:
Grab Savanna's free audio and video series, she walks you through the breathing and peripheral vision exercises in real time, plus more tools for managing your nerves before, during and after you speak:
