Yi-Ning Huang
February 1st, 2022
Why I Built MicMentor
Have you ever had a game-changing idea that you just had to share in a meeting?
Have you ever hesitated to share that idea or just speak up in general because you feared your native-speaking co-workers would make fun of your accent or grammar?
I’ve been there.
But over the last decade, I have learned to:
Never give up communicating.
Never stop voicing my concerns.
Never stop fighting for what I believe in.
And most of all, never let my language limitations stop me from being heard.
The truth is…
People will value an idea simply because it is a good idea.
That’s why I created MicMentor.
I know that many people fail to share their most innovative ideas because of the same fears that I experienced myself.
My goal is to help non-native speaking professionals become more confident, speak up, and use their voices to make an impact in the workplace.
“Mirroring” is one of the most effective techniques I have used to practice speaking confidently and effectively.
What is mirroring?
You follow along, listening to a speaker, and then imitate how they speak. You mirror their words, cadence, intonation.
Sounds easy enough, right?
It’s a simple practice, but it’s not all that easy.
First, you have to dig through an endless supply of YouTube videos to find a good, confident speaker you feel is worth mirroring. But…
You have to remember where you started and finished the next time you pick it back up.
You could waste 5 minutes just trying to find the spot where you left off.
You can’t use your 5 minutes of downtime between meetings to practice part of the speech if the video is more than 10 minutes long and you have to spend the whole time searching for your starting point.
At one point, I got frustrated and I gave up practicing.
I built MicMentor to eliminate the guesswork and frustration, and to help you remember where you started and stopped mirroring with ease.
I added a history feature to help you build a library of mirroring lessons.
I created a weekly goals feature to keep you motivated to keep practicing.
I am thrilled to share MicMentor with you.
Take your first steps towards a more confident version of yourself who doesn’t hesitate to speak up in the workplace.
At MicMentor, we are always striving to meet the needs of the non-native speaking professional community. That’s why I’d love to hear your story personally.
Please feel free to send me a short message to share your solutions and ideas with me!