Client Success Stories

This wealth advisor has advice for you if you’re considering working with us.

What could you accomplish if you felt more confident when speaking in meetings or on the stage?

“We recently engaged Marianna Swallow as a guest speaker for one of our monthly public speaking forum sessions, aimed at helping our employees level-up their public speaking skills. Her collaborative approach in developing a plan that met our needs was exceptional.

Marianna's presentation was captivating, enriched with real-life examples, and filled with practical tactics and tips that resonated with our audience. She facilitated engaging discussions and provided thoughtful answers to our questions.

We are eager to have her back for future sessions, confident that her expertise will continue to elevate the quality of our forum and inspire our participants.” –

 Zoe Blackwell, VP Transformation & Chief of Staff at tms

“The way you kicked it off was very engaging and got people focused right away. Everyone loved the worksheets to connect the concepts. You shared information in an approachable way.”

Carole Hodorowicz, Morningstar

“Going into my keynote, I felt more prepared than ever, and I felt confident. This was a valuable experience!”

Jon Theophilus | Vice President of Operations, Eight Eleven Group

“My remarks went over very well and I felt confident and prepared delivering my comments. I am extremely grateful for all of your help with preparing for this event, it made a huge difference!”

Rebecca Silton, Associate Professor & Wellbeing Scientist

“I presented to our national client yesterday with two team members – we went in with how we thought the flow was going to go. The client’s team changed things a tad in the beginning. Now normally, I would have panicked—instead, what came to mind was “What 3 things do I want them know?” and “How do I adjust my message to get the same original intention across?” I just went with it and felt confident – boom it was done. I credit this to our time together earlier this year and THANK YOU!”

Kaitlyn Hough | National Account Manager

“Coming out of the pandemic, I lost my confidence in delivering live presentations and was looking to bring back my skills and excitement about sharing my expertise in health and wellness with groups again.

After the second and third sessions, I began to get my groove back, and it took off from there.

I improved my ability to create meaningful presentations and accompanying slides for the groups that I was presenting in front of. I learned that less was more, and I have gotten nothing but 5-star feedback.

I could not have gotten myself out there again without Mare's help. She is an absolute rock star coach.”

Jill Foos, NBCHWC | Jill Foos Wellness

“Marianna was suggested by a colleague who knew her work and had previous experience with her. I was surprised by how liberated I felt as I gained more confidence. Working through various exercises with Marianna and the different tips she suggested were really helpful. Marianna was super flexible in scheduling, location, and hybrid options. The accommodations were great; I felt comfortable and well received.”

Lucia Flores, Director, Community Engagement

“Marianna is an absolute joy to work with. I have never, ever considered myself to be a good speaker, but I absolutely wanted to remove that as one of my fears or detriments to me succeeding as a professional. She listened and helped me find my story, in my own voice, and made me comfortable making that story the common theme to the endeavors and conversations that I have going forward. Thanks again, Mare.”

 Zach Anderson | CEO| Zaddy Solutions

"I consult with a variety of nonprofit organizations, mostly helping with grants and fundraising projects. Recently, I collaborated with one client's executive director as she prepared a presentation about the organization for a competitive grant, but I noticed she was struggling while pulling thoughts and data together for what needed to be a compelling 7-minute talk. Marianna was able to meet with her, put her at ease, and, mostly, help her identify key stories that would illustrate her organization's impact. One session was enough to organize her thoughts, regain her confidence, and be ready to deliver a presentation that took top honors. Mountains of gratitude to Marianna for her ability to zero in on what was critical and helpful for my client's talk."

Barry A. Benson | Principal, Greater Reach Consulting, Inc. 

“Hi Marianna – I spoke on a panel last month. Big crowd. I was really happy with how it went, thanks to you. Wanted to share.”

Lane N.

“If you run a business of any kind, presenting and public speaking are just about the most important skills you can develop. Marianna helped me learn how to build a structured talk, and more importantly, helped me ‘get out of my head’ so that my focus was on my audience, and not on me. As a result I’m more confident in my speaking—and thus more willing to go out and speak. If you’re looking to grow your business or lead your team to the next level, I highly recommend Marianna’s coaching.”

Lou Kotsinis | Co-Founder and CEO BCS Interactive

“We were looking for a seasoned public speaking trainer to coach our executives for an internal leadership summit. After interviewing Marianna, it was clear that she had the expertise and approach that was right for our team.

I was impressed by Marianna's approach and her demeanor during our training sessions. She immediately puts you at ease and starts the process by digging in to learn about you.”

  • She is very collaborative and quickly identifies areas of opportunity to sharpen your story and delivery. She provides sound counsel on how to overcome challenges and shares that feedback in a way that is productive and respectful.

    I needed to deliver my first "Ted Talk" style presentation, which requires a much different approach to public speaking. After working with Marianna, I was able to to tell my story in a more engaging way and deliver it confidently.”

Jennifer Davis | Head of Communications, PR & Consumer Affairs, Glanbia

“My time spent with Marianna was invaluable. Fun, fierce, and awesome—she distilled the typical three day speaking seminar into several relevant, actionable recommendations that I could immediately use.

Thanks to Marianna, I have become a more focused, engaging presenter both in-person and online.”

Maggie Kuhlmann | Regional Sales Director, Canada and U.S. Midwest

“I came to Marianna as I was having confidence issues, I was unable to be an engaging storyteller and I wanted to become an overall better communicator. The thing that soared throughout my coaching with Marianna was my confidence level. Working with her helped me understand what I was capable of and helped me break take inventory of my life accomplishments. I found the exercises I did with Marianna super helpful and easy to replicate on my own. I use them before a presentation or before I speak to a group of people.

  • I cannot begin to express how life-changing this was because as my confidence grew, so did my story-telling (owning my story) and I became an overall better communicator. I found myself no longer nervous to present in front of a room of people or in front of customers. The tools Marianna equipped me with will stay with me forever. I love this newfound confidence in me and my ability to project that upon my work and everyday life has been very rewarding.

    The whole experience was magnificent, I learned so much, I am so thankful for this coaching. I would love to attend an in-person bootcamp in the future to freshen up the skills I learned.

    Thank you for helping me uncover my confidence and understanding the power of my accomplishments! I will continue to harness these skills and practice them as often as I can.”


    Tania followed up with this note:

    “All in all, I cannot thank you enough! I still have moments of doubt here and there and hear your voice in my head double-checking the negativity. I have also gotten the opportunity to present in front of peers, clients and large groups and I do SO much better, I can control my nervousness and sound very confident! I was told the other day that I command the room and sound like a leader. Thank you again, could not have done it without you!”

Tania T | Account Executive

“I interviewed several candidates and Marianna impressed me on two fronts. First, I felt like we connected quickly and she was extremely easy to engage with. If you are hiring someone to give a training on communication styles they better be a great communicator and Marianna was a step above her competition. Second, I felt like she was really listening to what my needs and goals were and trying to come up with a presentation that matched instead of trying to fit my objectives into the presentation that she gives over and over again.

  • We hired Marianna to give a workshop to around ten small business owners. I was most delighted by Marianna's ability to read the room and make adjustments on the fly. She could really tell what parts of the workshop were hitting home for the participants and which were not and as a result she was able to seamlessly spend more time in the areas of interest.”

Paul Cavalieri | Associate Director

Entrepreneurship through Acquisition
Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship

“Marianna led an excellent workshop on public speaking and communication styles for a professional group that I'm part of. She is a great facilitator, connecting easily with the group and ran a productive session. I like her balance of presenting useful concepts and running activities that allowed us to engage, discuss, and practice them. I'd recommend Marianna for any audience looking to learn and improve their presentation skills.”

Shaun Slattery
Director of Customer Success, LumApps Software

“When I found Marianna's website, I was looking for specific help overcoming my discomfort speaking to the media. During my first meeting with Marianna, she instantly tuned into my trepidations and called them out. Within our first few coaching sessions I began to gain confidence, better understand the source of my discomfort, and was able to address them. It was amazing!

  • What surprised me most about working with Marianna was that my greatest concern with media interviews wasn't exactly what I assumed it was. I dreaded media interviews but it was actually the time I spent fretting about the interview in my head that threw me off. When I saw my videos from the coaching sessions and reflected on media interviews since working with Marianna, I realized that what I thought was happening wasn't actually happening. Marianna and her team helped me unpack my fears and gain new presentation skills which were instrumental in empowering me to overcome the dread of media interviews.

    Since working with Marianna, I have become more aware of my reactions during interviews and presentations. I now feel in control of my message because I have learned to relax and recognize that we are all doing the work of our passion. I learned that telling the story was the point.

    Marianna and her team are superb. They helped me so much. For this, I am greatly appreciative.

    If you are looking for incredible presentation experts that can help you get results quickly, you should get in touch with Marianna.”

Brenda Battle | Coaching Client

SVP Community Health Transformation and Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer,
UChicago Medicine

“I just completed a 6-week public speaking coaching engagement with Marianna, and I couldn't be a happier customer.

The experience was enjoyable, personalized and effective. Mare's energy is contagious.

She's also incredibly committed and organized.

  • Here are a few of the areas we worked on where I saw significant improvement:

    1) I previously struggled with preparation, not knowing the right approach and wavering between trying to memorize versus talking organically.

    I now feel very confident in my approach, which is to write out what I want to say, distill it into a tight outline, practice, refine, and practice again.

    Marianna helped me figure out what worked for me, not prescribing an approach, simply offering best practices and guiding me through the process.

    2) She helped me become more confident with my physical presence and eye contact when speaking to a group.

    3) Mare helped me bring better energy, emotion, and variability into my delivery.

    4) She helped me better appreciate the power of storytelling and taught me how to develop a structured story.

    In short, I'd highly recommend Mare to anyone who is trying to improve their public speaking skills. You won't regret it.”

Andrew Geant | Coaching Client
Co-Founder & CEO, Wyzant, Inc.

“I am someone who has always been apprehensive of public speaking but found myself in the leadership position that requires me to do it regularly. Fear of being tongue-tied or overwhelmed by nerves was becoming a stumbling block to me. Engaging Mare Swallow was the right solution for me.

  • The most helpful part of the coaching was the one-one-one professional engagement. I had gotten myself to the point where asking a friend or colleague to help me practice wasn't enough and sometimes counterproductive. Mare was able to provide me with the two things I needed most: practice and advice. 

    Mare provided me with some valuable advice about technical ways to improve my speaking engagement. Some of these tips have become part of my preparation routine and others are in my back pocket for when I need to speak under pressure.

    The practice and having an accountability partner were invaluable. I didn't have to share with anyone in my professional life that this was something that I was nervous about and working on. I was able to have honest conversations about what was challenging and received feedback on what I could improve.

    I appreciated working with Randy Ford on developing some policy speaking points; it was helpful to have them ready when I need them. Randy had a great way of finding my speaking voice and providing advice on making persuasive arguments. Mare and Randy make a great team and really helped me polish my public remarks.

    I would wholeheartedly recommend working with Mare Swallow and Randy Ford. I live in a rural area and don't have great access to public speaking coaches, classes, or opportunities. The fact that we were able to work using video conferencing gave me access to something that I would have had to travel to access. I feel like I am able to do my work better now that I have had the coaching.

    And more importantly, I have the resource that I can turn to again if I need help with an upcoming speaking engagement.”

Kyle Waterman | Coaching Client
Kalispell City Council Member

“You were very professional and approachable. I found your presentation informative (I picked up a bunch of tips), and I like how you made it relevant to what is happening now, by talking about ways to keep audiences engaged while online. You provided easy-to-implement tips. Woo hoo! Nicely done, Mare.”

Alyssa Burns | Workshop Client
President, Alyssa Burns Communications

“You were very professional and approachable. I found your presentation informative (I picked up a bunch of tips), and I like how you made it relevant to what is happening now, by talking about ways to keep audiences engaged wh“Thank you -- glad we were able to work with you -- I found it beneficial, and our webinar presentations will undoubtedly be improved as a result.”

Tim Binder | Workshop Client
Executive Editor, Path to Purchase Institute

“I just have to tell you how a communication strategy I learned from you worked. This morning I was training a not-so-enticing-topic, and I could tell I hadn’t pulled in my audience. So I told a story. I made the analogy that this work is a lot like the summer job I once had at a canning company—my job was to pick bad peas from a conveyor belt full of peas, and I excelled at that work, and picking bad peas is so much like editing proposals (i.e., quality control work). The audience perked up, and it turns out that one of them also worked at that same canning company. My presentation was on way better footing after that. Thank you!”

Wendy Jackson | Workshop Client

Administrative Services Manager, Legislative Reference Bureau, Wisconsin Legislature

“My colleagues and I have worked with Marianna several times over the past few years for both in-person and online sessions on communications and storytelling. She knows our audience and can speak to both new and experienced legislative staff. While the topics may be similar from year to year, Marianna's trainings and presentations are always fresh and engaging. I look forward to working with (and learning from) her again because I learn something new each time! Marianna — thanks for being so flexible and such a pro!”

Holly South, Program Manager, NCSL, National Conference For State Legislatures

Hear how Q Carlson, Chicago Design Executive, learned to rock his presentations:

“I was surprised at how quickly I found success!”

“It was a combination of the wide range of group presentation skill offerings, Marianna's experience, and proximity to the company, that led us to choose her for our team's workshop.

The team noticed changes in their audience participation after going through the workshop, and feedback in surveys from their customers indicated that they appreciated the methods of teaching and presenting, which were a direct result of Marianna’s workshop.

Her attention to learning about the specifics of our industry, along with the time she spent researching the tasks our trainers would encounter, allowed her to tailor her lessons to maximize the impact for our team.”

Nikolas Klakow, Sr. Audiology and Education Manager | Phonak