Building Leadership Community
Building Leadership Community
Your Growth Doesn't Require You to Become Someone Else
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When we discuss leadership, corporate environments tend to direct our attention entirely toward bottom-line outcomes, execution, and performance matrices. But what happens when the standards for how a professional is "supposed" to look and communicate end up fracturing their identity?
In this encore presentation, Coach Dora Mendez welcomes public speaking coach Sammie Walker Herrera to look closely at the personal transformations underpinning real leadership. Sammie courageously tracks her personal path from managing a punishing state of adult burnout to receiving late-stage diagnoses of ADHD and autism. Together, they share practical frameworks for how managers can create psychologically safe environments for neurodivergent disclosures, how improvisation builds sustainable communication confidence, and why authentic connection can break down the profound isolation of running a business.
This conversation is curated for corporate executives, managers, higher education professionals, entrepreneurs, and any individual trying to confidently claim their voice while prioritizing their emotional well-being and psychological safety.
Key Themes
- Moving away from rigid, "perfect" corporate vocal coaching to confidence rooted in improvisation.
- Recognizing the somatic impacts of autistic burnout and severe decision paralysis.
- Building intentional networks of support with other entrepreneurs and professionals of color.
- Providing clear, objective feedback to team members while welcoming their identity disclosures.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Introduction to Season 3 & Honoring Your Voice
03:18 - Making Leadership & Growth Coaching Accessible
05:48 - Connecting in Community: The Speaking for Profit Cohort
07:59 - Sammie’s Leadership Journey & Unpacking Adult Burnout
09:18 - Stripping Away the Mask of "Perfect Professionalism"
11:14 - Navigating Late Diagnoses of ADHD and Autism
12:39 - Finding Connection as Business Owners of Color
15:28 - Setting Boundaries & Role Modeling without Oversharing
17:47 - Supporting Neurodivergent Team Members: An Essential Guide for HR
21:14 - How Organizations Can Safely Welcome Workplace Disclosures
24:34 - Building Community & Where to Find Sammie's Programs
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Welcome back to the Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Coach Dora Mendez. Today we're bringing you a special encore presentation from our archives, season one that feels relevant now more than ever. You'll also notice the change in the set. When we talk about leadership, we often focus on strategy, performance, and results. But some of the most important leadership work begins with something much more personal: finding the confidence to trust your own voice. Let me tell you about our guest today. A few years ago, I joined a community of entrepreneurs who were learning how to grow their speaking businesses. In that community, I met someone whose energy, authenticity, and commitment to helping others immediately stood out. That person is Sammy Walker Herrera. Sammy is the founder of Speak Y'all and a public speaking coach who helps leaders trust their voice and express their expertise with confidence. What makes her perspective especially powerful is her willingness to share her own journey, including being diagnosed with ADHD and autism as an adult, and how those experiences transform the way she thinks about communication, leadership, and authenticity. This conversation is a reminder that leadership is not about sounding perfect, it's about sounding like yourself. In this episode, Sammy shares what she learned about masking self-advocacy, neurodiversity, and the role community plays in helping us grow. We also explore what it means to lead authentically, how to build confidence as a communicator, and why role modeling doesn't require sharing every detail of your life. Whether you're a people leader, educator, entrepreneur, public speaker, or simply someone learning to trust your own voice, there is wisdom in this conversation. If you're ready to lead with greater authenticity, communicate with more confidence, and create space for others to do the same. You're in the right place. Hit that subscribe button, join our community, and let's visit this powerful conversation with Sammy Walker Herrera. And if you're listening on your favorite audio platform, don't forget to follow us and share this with someone who needs to hear this today. Roll credits. Hello and welcome to Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Dora Mendez. I'm the founder and CEO of Coach Door LLC. Our guests will be entrepreneurs, small business owners, and community leaders that drive social impact. It can be lonely at the top, but it doesn't have to be. Before we dive into the interview, we have some resources to share. Check this out. We have some powerful resources to share with you today to transform your leadership by learning how to coach. Coaching is something that most people think is really exclusive. It's something that's just for executives. But really, we believe that it's something that should be accessible to everyone. So we designed a course. If you've been feeling pressure of expensive leadership programs, courses that can run close to $1,000 per credit, you're not alone. I hear from so many professionals who want to grow, lead with confidence, and make an impact. But the price tag and time commitment make it feel out of reach. We believe that coaching should be accessible. That's exactly why I created Transform Your Leadership, an exclusive growth mindset coaching course, designed to give you true leadership breakthroughs without a hefty price tag. For only $97, you'll get to receive access to a program that delivers real transformation. In as little as five hours, a self-paced video course, you'll get traditional leadership program information, a workbook, and a handy AI prompt sheet. And at the end, you'll get a certificate of completion so you can show off your professional development and your accomplishments. So this normally takes weeks, and we intentionally build a practical, efficient, and deeply impactful course inside the experience. So you'll get these tools and framework in our coaching program that will help you lead with clarity, communicate with confidence, and step into your next level of influence without sacrificing your time or your budget. If you're ready to become the leader, people trust and follow, this is your moment. The link is in the description. You can get it on our website in our courses tab, coachdoraMendez.com. Leadership transformation is right there for you. Today's guest uh is someone who I have become really good friends with. I subscribed to our guest newsletter, Speak Y'all, and that is Sammy Walker Herrera. I met her recently in the summer of 2024 as we were both part of a cohort of entrepreneur leaders who wanted to build our speaking businesses. Shout out to our business coach, Yvonne Benton. Sammy is so delightful. I had to ask her to join the building leadership community because she injects so much enthusiasm while she teaches us about becoming a confident speaker and is inclusive of neurodiversity. I'm humbled by how much I have learned from her and grateful to Sammy. Without further ado, here's our conversation. This week we have an exciting, exciting guest, someone who has really brought so much joy to my life. Um, Sammy Walker Herrera. She is the founder and public speaking co of Speak Y'all, um helping leaders uh trust their voices and express their expertise. Um, and so I met Sammy uh just uh in the spring, right in the spring of 2024. We were both in the speaking for profit cohort, and we met in person after being virtual uh in June and in Atlanta at a conference, and we just hit it off. It was like we're sisters from mother, Misters, I don't know, whatever I don't know how the saying go, but um Sammy just really has such you have just such an amazing story, so what an incredible diverse mix of backgrounds and the fact that you're using your voice to help others use their voice is just really admirable. And so I'd I'm welcome to building leadership community, and I'm gonna pass the mic and ask you to share a little bit about your leadership story.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much. Wish it was a physical mic, but I'm cool with the headphones, I'm cool with the digital here. So a little bit about my leadership story, and thank you for sharing that question just ahead of time. Because I really had to think about it. Because one thing that I want other business owners to know is they have permission to shift their story because you get to really understand your narrative. You are the only person who knows why you did this, why you did this, why your next move was this, even though it may seem counterintuitive to other folks. So I would say in my current communication journey, my story really started with my ADHD diagnosis a few years ago. And the reason it started with that is pre-diagnosis, I had really not put my voice out there. I had given presentations, I felt comfortable guiding students to different parts of campus since I've worked in higher education. But I was really not authentic with other people of who I was because I really thought I was just a terrible person. After work, I was so often burnt out that I would just lie in my bed for three hours just staring at the ceiling because I couldn't make decisions, I had a lot of paralysis. And at the time, too, I didn't realize I also was experiencing autistic burnout. And so after my first diagnosis and then my second diagnosis of autism this past year, what I realized is I had a mask on this entire time of what professional Sammy should look like, how professional Sammy should stand, how professional Sammy should speak. And this voice that I'm putting on right now is often the voice I do put on when I'm giving presentations. And now I have to go back and realize what people really want is more of that authenticity. If someone listened to a TED talk where every single word was measured, perfect, precise, checked on by three different coaches, well, the message is not gonna land because it's gonna sound great, but is this actually applicable to my life? Where is the messiness in that regard? So my leadership journey moved from learning career coaching into public speaking and communication coaching, learning that perfect delivery, that perfect, the perfect words, the perfect sound, the perfect way to hold your body. And now it's a lot more of let's build your confidence through improvisation. Let's focus on what tools and what words, what visuals, what you already have, and let's practice just feeling more comfortable sharing your authentic self. Because it's not about sounding perfect, it's about sounding like you.
SPEAKER_00And and uh that so aligns with what Coach Dore is about being bold, a beacon of bold authenticity. I do have a follow-up question. When how old were you when you were diagnosed?
SPEAKER_01Ooh, dating me. That's okay.
SPEAKER_00Uh I don't mean to do that, but I think it's important for people to know.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's totally fair. And the thing is, for example, the phrase late diagnosed is totally subjective. Late diagnosis usually just means diagnosed after childhood. But I've met people in person at events that I've hosted on LinkedIn who said, I was diagnosed last month in their in their 50s or in their 60s. So for context, I do consider myself late diagnosed. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 26 and autism at 27, uh, 28.
SPEAKER_00So you were already well into your adulthood, you're all out of school. And so that's why I wanted uh to ask you that question, not to date you, but really just to share. Oh, yeah. Just to share that um I've also in my leadership journey in building community, have met people who have been diagnosed when their children got diagnosed. And so I've had parents, uh other people in their 40s and their 50s who are now learning, and because it's hereditary, and have learned that their children, it, you know, in their at the university level and the high school level, um, got their diagnosis. So they said, let me go get mine. And then it was like, wow, that that helped that that explains a lot. Well, anyway, uh, so let's move on. I think thank you so much for sharing that. I think that is your authenticity and how you took what um could be uh construed where there's a lot of stigma and stereotype and construed as something negative and turned it into something positive because now once you know, now you can you help lead others to build their confidence to be their authentic self. So that really is just uh so dynamic. So um that's part of the big reason why I invited you um to come here. And also I'd love for you to share how community has helped. Um, you know, this is building leadership community. So what role you can't go it alone. I mean, it is it can be really isolating and lonely as a business owner, um, as a you know, as an entrepreneur. So can you share how community has how you bring in community or how you build that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. One thing that's been really helpful for me, especially being part of the neurodivergent community, is not always feeling like I have to do everything with fellow neurodivergent folks. And what I mean by that is I find that, for example, Googling how to manage my time with ADHD is a lot more effective for me than just Googling how to manage my time, for example, right? And so I often do lean on other folks with a similar neurotype in that regard, but I also don't let that limit me because I know I can learn from so many people based on their backgrounds, based on the challenges they've had in the past, and based on, for example, where they've where they've gone and how I can support them, how they can mentor me, things like that. And for example, for speaking for profit, one thing that really drew me to that community is just being in a community of business owners of color. That's been so important for me, because especially currently based here in Pittsburgh, I haven't yet found that community in person, but it feels so in person, even when we're on Zoom, even when we're in the school community. And of course, we met Atlanta. It was such a wonderful experience. And so having originally grown up in a predominantly Hispanic area, so I'm from McCallan, Texas. So about 90% of the population is Mexican, including myself and my family. It was huge culture shock moving to Pittsburgh originally for undergrad and it being a predominantly white and even Asian culture as well at Cardiffan. And so what I found is really leaning on my identities, checking out the community, but not always assuming that I have to join it. Because every person who's neurodivergent or person of color is an individual, and sometimes we'll connect off the bat, just like you and I, and sometimes we don't. And I don't have to pressure myself into feeling like, oh, we need to be quick friends.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for sharing that. Um and uh so, yes, for for us, the speaking for profit was great, not only just to be in a community with other people of color, but I also found the uh it's predominantly queer community, which for me is um was is very inclusive. So that also really just helped broaden my perspective as we as well. So I appreciated that. Um, and so I want to here's our last conversation prompt. Although I know I can talk to you, I can talk to you for hours and hours and hours. Um, what advice would you give your earlier self or just the next generation of leaders? Um what piece of advice that really helped you or you think you would love to pass on to others about building their leadership?
SPEAKER_01What I would say if part of your leadership is role modeling, that doesn't need mean you need to tell everyone everything about you. So for example, disclosing having ADHD or disclosing having autism. I mean, technically that's disclosing HIPAA information, right? But I found for me personally, especially with my brand, especially as a public speaking and confidence coach, I feel confident talking about that because I've seen time and time again by disclosing that information to other folks in a way that allows me still my authenticity and without feeling like pressured, it's allowed me to help other people. There's been quite a few friends who they're now on ADHD medications or they're now working with an ADHD coach or recently diagnosed with autism themselves because I shared my experience and they realized, wow, I'm really not alone in this. And so for anyone who their leadership is based in some of that role modeling, don't feel like you need to role model all the time. Your life and leadership isn't being inefficiable. You don't have to disclose everything about yourself. And you can, if you as long as you really build some more of those boundaries, you can make impact based on your identity and your message without depleting your energy.
SPEAKER_00I like that. So the advice would be role modeling is important with boundaries so that you're not um putting too much emotional labor in into it. Um I like that. So role model with barriers. Um I think that's great because um when you talk about disclosure, I will share. I I I just wanted to share this one thing with you was was I went to a conference recently with a bunch of HR people, culture leaders, and it was specifically towards recruiting and retaining neurodivergent um employees and staff. And one of the issues was managers are often uncomfortable with this those disclosures. Um and so how do we support people? Um, managers, um, be more comfortable with the the disclosures. Um, because I think once they learn that someone is neurodivergent, they feel like they have to change the way they behave. Or um that the employee has not put them on the hook, you know, like oh, they revealed too much, and now I have to be careful, I can't communicate with them like I would anyone else. And so that feels legal or something, yes, because you just mentioned HIPAA, and so I I as uh as someone who supports managers and executives and leaders at organizations with diversity, I often tell them there's there's no one best approach. Um, however, um there's one tried and true thing, which is accountability. Keep it about the work, keep it about um being accountable to the work, um, and and that should be for everyone. Um, and so as long as you're keeping it about the work and keeping it about mutual accountability, because you're accountable as their manager, as their supervisor, as their leader, to model and to set expectations and to provide effective feedback, it's mutual accountability. Um, there's there should be you shouldn't feel uncomfortable with any disclosure as long as you keep it about the work and working together. And so I don't know if you had any thoughts about that, um, because I have had that experience where people are like, that's TMI, and I'm like, and I'm like, I was like, how is that any different than when so-and-so told you they broke their leg, you know, and they needed a combination. I was like, how is that any different than when so-and-so told you that they're in IVF treatment? I mean, that's you know, so I mean, you you hear and get disclosures all the time about people's personal medical situation, and but somehow when people learn about neurodivergence divergency, they they it's they don't take it the same way. So I was like, listen, I was like, just keep it about the work, do what you can to be supportive. It doesn't whatever the disclosure is, it should be all about the work. So I didn't know if you had any comment or advice or ways to support folks who who get uncomfortable with the neurodivergent disclosure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'd say I have a comment on both whomever the supervisorslash is, as well as the employee themselves, who's either recently been diagnosed with with a neurodivergent condition or they've known for quite a long time, right? So when I'm thinking on the employer HR side, one mindset shift that can be helpful is assuming that you already have neurodivergent employees. And I think a lot of people come from it from an angle of like, well, just threw something new at me. And I'm like, no, they didn't. Everyone else just didn't tell you. And so you utilizing things like Jan Network to learn about different neurodivergent or even other disabilities is important. But I think the thing that also throws a wrench in for some supervisors and HR is the sense that neurodivergence is a permanent condition. It isn't like breaking a leg and it mending over time. It is something that need these accommodations are things that even though a lot of times these accommodations plans, Update every six months, update every year, they should be in place forever. It's more of like the conversations happen every six months or every year, or things change perhaps with someone's like treatment plan, something like that. But I think that scares people of the sense of like, hey, this is permanently part of this person's experience. How am I going to maintain a really solid way of supporting this person? So it often can come from a really positive sense, but I do think sometimes some folks feel like, oh, like I've never dealt with this before. And it's more of like maybe you haven't supported everyone the way they need to. And that stress can be a lot as well. I would say on the employee side, and when I say employee, I mean the individual. Like I want that person not to think about work in the moment, just think about their own self-advocacy. And that would be how do you create a manual of Sammy or a manual of you? Like, how do you, especially with ADHD, I forget my tools all the time. I forget that I love EFT tapping, for example. I forget that I actually enjoy going on runs. I forget that I can play tennis at 9 p.m., not just 10 a.m. And so having some type of manual of the things that help me manage stress, the times I like to work in the day. So for example, I was telling you this a little bit earlier. For me, I love waking up early. However, a lot of people really disagree with what early means. So for me, that's 7:30 a.m. For other people, that's you're so late into the day. Whatever. That's for me. But I love working early in the morning, but around 2 to 4, 5 p.m., like my energy is really depleted. So it's really important to know that so that I'm scheduling my work where the high energy work or the work that requires more of my cognition is earlier. But then I also am communicating that with other people. Hey, I'm not going to do well with a three-hour meeting at 2 p.m., just saying, right? Or including in my accommodations, hey, if there's 30 people in a Zoom, I have in my accommodations that I can turn off my video just so I can focus a little bit more and that I can protect my energy.
SPEAKER_00That is such great, that's great advice for for um lots of people, just communicating. Um and those are all reasonable things that will keep um you productive. Um and so, Sammy, thank you so much. I kept you a bit longer, a bit over time, because I think what you have to say is so amazing. Um, and uh I just thank you again. And don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to CoachDoraMendez.com. And uh thank you to our listeners and viewers. Sammy, can you tell our listeners and viewers how they can um uh keep in touch with you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, first off, again, give some love to Coach Dora, follow her in all the socials. Her YouTube channel is popping. Love that. Wait, the ways that you can follow up with me, I'm Sammy at speakeall.com. But if you forget that, or you don't you're not sure how to spell Sammy because I spell it different, S-A-M-M-I-E. You can just follow me at or go along to speakyall.com. You'll find my socials there, you'll find ways that you can work with me, especially in my most popular program, 25 days to confident public speaking.
SPEAKER_0025 here, you hear you heard it here. Sammy speak y'all. 25 days of public speaking. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Take care.
SPEAKER_00You've been listening to Building Leadership Community. Watch on YouTube at Coach DoraM. Listen wherever you get your podcast. Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube at Coach DoraM. Visit me on the web at Coachdoramendez.com. Hosted by me, Dora Mendez. Produced by Dora Mendez and Dylan Rogers. Graphics, editing, and sound mixed by Dylan Rogers.