Toastmasters Icebreaker speech Draft

It's like an introduction. Talk about why I joined Toastmasters and what my speaking goals are.

I am not interested in telling that story, because I already discussed in front of them how I joined, I found the lady on George Pitts LIVE. I slid into her DMs.

I could make a speech on I am here to find out what kind of speaker I am. I am here to figure out how to convey my story. I am here because I have a goal to speak in stages and it's been something inside me that I have desired to do for a long time.

I could do a speech about that. Girl, write out all these speeches. It's like you have all these words inside of you that are waiting to get out. You have been wasting them on Jonathan, Andre, Angel and anyone that wanted to talk while I could not move or do anything. 

But I desired people that had stages to come up to me and ask me. I was lacking the confidence to go after it. Toastmasters in BOA was 2012. Its 2020. Let's do it!

What do I want them to know about me?

My name is Auris.

I am from  an island called Dominican Republic, it's tropical its beautiful and we eat a lot of coconuts and green plantains. My whole family migrated except for like 2-3 uncles. We came here to get educated. So far, only me and my brother graduated college. I have a cousin who is a singer, all he got from college was debt and a cocaine addiction. Don't worry eventually he recovered.

I came to NJ in Nov 25th, 1995 at age 10. I got on a plane on the first time, saw how clouds looked like up close. Got out and saw snow for the first time. I didn't like it. Alas, 22 years later I still didn't like it.

I was taught my whole life that I did not matter. My opinions, decisions, my wants, my needs, they did not matter. It was not directly said, (pause) but it was said. 

In 2017, I was miserable and I made a list of what would make me happy. What does Auris want. I had a kid now and my mom would constantly chastise me saying 'do what's best for Alex!' But what she really meant to say is, Do what I tell you to do and I'll use the tools of guilt and manipulation to force you into doing it.

My childhood friends wanted me to get a man, have more kids, then give my kid to a babysitter so that I could go out and party with them. I was not interested. My mom wanted me to be her slave. My kid wanted a constant supply of milk, hugs, love and toys.

I was depleted from constantly not being what everyone expected me to be.  I started thinking, what do I want? What makes me happy? The last time I was happy was in Dominican republic. I grew up with a beautiful aunt that hugged me everyday and told me she loved  me and my mom loved me. It was her me, my sister and her son that was my cousin. We were 4 and they were my world. We went and did everything together. It was paradise. She walked me to school and she picked me up. I would come home and she would teach me how to read and go over the school work. I was important. Again, not said but it was said. They were the best childhood memories.

I realized my entire life up to that point was decided by other people. My whole family had decided to migrate to a small town of Bayonne, NJ from the beautiful islands in Dominican Republic. They traded palm trees and sunny skies for darkness at 6pm and heavy winter storms that would leave snow that would take ours to dig out of the driveways and cars.

The school system in Bayonne I had already heard how discriminatory it was toward minorities. I was not interested. So I wrote it all down, what does Auris want. I want grass at my feet, and abundance of sun and skies. I want warm weather climate all year round. I was tired of working in NY and commuting 1.5 hours to my home. Only seeing my son at night and weekends. And I was tired of all my money going to a life that I hated. I hated taking 3 different trains, I hate paying rent living with people that I did not want to live with. I was tired of the cold winds that would chase me as I waited for the bus or the trains. 

Slowly but surely things started to change and now I am here! I have everything that I want and that I need and most importantly: now I have peace, and I am able to listen to me. I am so grateful and thankful to have you listen to me today and listen to my story. I hope you too write lists of things that you want and I hope you too have the courage to take action to make them happen. Though the world many pull you and want to take you into different directions, remember for the answers you need, they  are within. 

The end.