Ice Breaker Speech at Toastmasters

Dear Madam Toastmaster and Fellow Members and Guests,

First of all, I take this opportunity to thank God for my parents, my husband, my kid, my education/career and all the unforgettable events of my life. I read in a Toastmasters magazine of an exercise to describe yourself in three words. My three words will be "Expressive, Enthusiastic and Persisting". Out of these three, my biggest strength is "Perseverence". If any of you had added me on IM, you would have noticed the byline which states " In the confrontation between the stream and the rocks, the stream always wins, not through strength but through persistence". I have derived this trait from my parents, especially my father.

After having forgone the opportunity to study at a good school during his crucial years of education, though he was a topper,he wanted to ensure that I study at a very good school. In India, there is a tradition that investing in a girl child's education is not as beneficial as compared to investing in a boy child's eduction. This is because, as the girl grows, she would be married and will move to the in-law's place. The boy would stay with his parents and will support his aged parents during their later years. As a corollary, many of my relatives, tried to persuade my father into putting me in a school that comprised of an old building (which would fall anytime) and a barren ground full of sand. My father turned a deaf ear and put me in one of the best schoolsthough it was almost 4-5 miles from my home and we had to rely only on public transport initially. Also he was particular that, even if he had to to travel owing to his job, I will stay and study in the same school, so that I do not get disturbed by the environment changes. I will surely have a separate tribute speech dedicating to my parents.

My parents' difficulties and endurance bore fruit when I cleared my High sChool education with overall 92% ( 97% in Maths, 97% in Physics and 92% in Chemistry). This helped gain admission in one of the most acclaimed Engineering colleges in my place where I graduated "First Class with Distinction". Even before I came out of my college, I was offered a good job through a campus Interview conducted by a well known IT company and then there was no looking back. My parents were also quick to recognize my other passions such as Classical Dance (Bharatanatyam - a traditional dance form of South India) and Sports - Athletics and Basketball. My passion in Classical dance helped me grow and win lot of accolades through 13 years of regular practice and striking performances. During one such performance, where I was portraying "Lord Shiva" a God of the Hindu religion and known to be a Master of any form of Dance, many from the crowd cheered stating that they actually saw the God in action and gave me presents of all kind for such a wonderful performance. I cherish those moments.

Similarly I went upto District level Selections in Basket ball, which was my other passion. However, when it came to academics/Dance/Basketball as a career, I chose academics as my career since it depends only on my talent to come up in the current field. However the other two involves a lot of other factors which will take a long time to overcome as have seen in many instances. Even in my career, my perseverence has helped me achieve a lot of accolades from my leads/clients. In just 8 months of my IT career, I won the "Shooting Star" - Individual Star Performer award worth of 100$ from my client. Still I feel that I have been a "Jack of All Trades and King of None". The day will come when the following two things happen:
1. The CEO of my company/client company sends a personal email to me stating that I am an Asset to the company

2. My son will state that I am proud to have them as my parents since they have not left me to crave for anything and they are the reason for my success
When this happens, I would have fulfilled God's reason for creating me and my mission on Earth. From my experience, perseverence has helped in a lot in my life and hope this speech helps a couple of you to persist for what you want to achieve in your life.

Thank you.