Checkey Beckford Speaking Topics

• How To Tell Your Story So Others Will Listen

  Learn how to gain valuable media coverage without paying crazy PR prices.

  With nearly 20 years in broadcast television telling stories from cornfields to the mean streets of New York, Ive seen just about everything. Some of it I'd rather forget. The one thing that remains constant in practically every story I've told... the characters. There have to be characters. Every story has to have someone (or something) to root for. And, unfortunately, I've encountered way too many PR reps who miss that very point, costing their clients valuable *free media coverage and ultimately sales.

  I have endless examples but I'll give you this one: a school district where the superintendent was previously lambasted for "omitting" she did not have a doctorate degree until after she took the position was starting an innovative aviation program... for high school students!.. using a real simulator... taking real flying lessons... I can go on and on but perhaps the most glaring nugget that makes this story so sellable is the fact that a teen who suffered from scoliosis and underwent surgery to fix his condition was helming the program! The metal placed in his body to fix his condition also meant he could never join the airforce despite the two years he'd spent at an aviation boarding school to pursue his passion. So, the chance to help build out this district's new high school aviation offering gave him a renewed passion.

  I'm already wiping away a tear! Aren't you?? I mean, come on! But the superintendent, who was in desperate need of some good PR, didn't think that was something to alert the media to, nor did her communications officer take the initiative to pitch the story. A golden opportunity missed!

  Tell me about your company and I will teach you:

  • What to pitch: how to mine your business for relatable narratives and content that will connect with audiences. (Hint: it could be where you least expect it! Don’t count out your employees as possible story sources)
  • How to monitor local and national news for tie-ins to your business that you can then pitch to reporters or assignment managers (don't forget them)
  • When to pitch your stories to TV stations (line up your timing with editorial meetings and slow news days. Reporters are always looking for stories)
  • Who to pitch: Don’t blindly send out a press release. No one reads them. Believe me, I’ve got thousands sitting in my inbox.
  • How to think outside the box; TV is great but you can, also -• without too much effort -• create visual content for your social media that’s short but impactful.

• Girl With the Funny Name

  Lean Into Your Truth and Own Your Name

  Alright, let's address the elephant in the room: what's with my name? No one ever gets my name right. Ever. It's always "Jackie" or "Cheeky" or, God forbid, "Chucky Cheese" as I was mercilessly teased when I was a kid. And when I would tell the story of my name's origin it somehow got twisted into my having been named after a cow (I'll explain later). But whether your name is Checkey, or Jenny or Karen.. one thing remains true: it's with us our entire lives. It helps define who we are. It took me a long time to fully accept "me". Dare I say 40 years? I have no doubt my humble beginnings and subsequent climb up the socio-economic ladder play a role in my imposter syndrome; the irrational feeling that I don't belong in spaces where "real" successful people occupy. And once you become a mother and literally share your identity with another human being for 9 months, the water becomes even muddier. And I know from conversations with countless women, I'm not alone.

  • What does your name mean to you?
  • What does it say about your past, present and, more importantly what do you want it to say about your future?
  • What traumas are tied to your name that you have been carrying around and are they holding you back?

Sharing is Caring

It's not just a lesson we teach our kids: I hear it all the time:"People these days post everything!"

And I can’t roll my eyes enough. I have a special disdain for people who stick their noses up at Facebook yet can tell me exactly what I had on my Neapolitan pizza from pics I posted of my Italian vacation. Granted, I’ve never watched an episode of "The Kardashians" or the "Real Housewives of …." in which oversharing is the blueprint for great ratings but, nevertheless, I am very much a fan of sharing.

Recalling Serena Williams’ story about her close call while delivering her daughter probably helped save my life when I began experiencing the worst headache of my life after delivering my son. Similarly, Chrissy Teigen’s sharing her painful but brave struggle with miscarriage helped me get through the loss of two pregnancies when I was feeling like the only person in the world going through it and, furthermore, like I was a failure as a woman. And once I began talking about my own "not-so-instagrammable" moments, I began hearing from SO many other women and MEN (whose partners) had experienced infertility/maternal health issues, too.

Look, I’m not telling you to go out there and tell everyone what color bra you're wearing. But I am saying, if there’s one positive of social media, it’s opened us up to sharing the imperfect parts of ourselves we’d otherwise hide or have been trained to not talk about. It's only after the fact that many of us learn that our mothers before us and their mothers were dealing with some pretty heavy stuff... in silence. Can you imagine how much that sucked??

They likely wouldn't have even felt comfortable seeking professional help because that "just wasn't done". Access to and comfort with mental health services has taken huge leaps and bounds thanks to "sharing".

I hope sharing my story will:

• Encourage you to open up: share parts of you that may feel a bit uncomfortable.
• Help you realize the benefits of better relationships both personally and professionally by sharing the real you.
• Inspire others around you to share more of their authentic selves.

The Little Pink Dress

The unexpected sources of inspiration:

I posted about a pink dress that I had rented (yes, renting clothing is a thing) but never got the chance to wear. It was gorgeous: a perfect deep pink shy of being magenta, fitted silhouette and poofy sleeves. It gave 100% Barbiecore vibes. But I felt it was a bit too "extra" to wear to one event and my daughter's fourth birthday was approaching and there was no way I was wearing this over-the -top number to a kid's birthday party. I did not want to be "that" mom! Sure, there were a lot of "Gorgeous!" and "fire" emojis to the dress but the ones that really stood out were from other women, many of them moms. One wrote, "wear the dress to the supermarket if you have to!" Another, "it's your birthday too! It's the day you were reborn as a mother. Why not dress up for it?" Whoa! (Mind-blown emoji)

I should back up and explain why this meant a lot to me. I cover some really heavy subject matter, daily. From multiple members of one family heading out to get ice cream killed by a driver allegedly high on fentanyl to a 7-year old dead from a 21-story balcony plunge back-to-back. I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing but I'm not THAT good. I am always looking for reminders that the world and the people in it are good. And in a country that seems to become more divisive by the day, that can be hard to accomplish.

So when the dress inspiration and another comment to a post that encouraged me to be gentle with my athletically un-motivated husband rolled in all on the same day, by golly, I felt pretty uplifted.

• What sources are you pulling inspiration from?
• Are you even inspired?
• Have you taken inventory lately to see if you're still plugged into a positive power source?
• How are you inspiring others around you? Are you leaving even a glimmer of sunshine in your wake or is it all darkness and gloom?