Celebrating Our Own: EEW Coach Felicia Scott Wins North America's Next Best Speaker Contest
Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 10:34AM 
By Rebecca Johnson/EEW Magazine News Staff
Her written words have inspired thousands as EEW Magazine’s Encouragement Coach. Now, Felicia Scott’s spoken words have earned her the title of e-Women Network’s “North America’s Next Greatest Speaker” and we are all so proud of her.
When Scott’s name was called out as the winner, she looked stunned and was reduced to tears. “I hadn’t prepared an acceptance speech so I really can’t remember what I said,” said Scott in an official press statement. “I just remember crying because I was so incredibly humbled.”
More than a thousand speakers competed in the North America's Next Greatest Speaker contest in Dallas last month, but none of them captured the judges and crowd like Coach Scott. Though she made it look easy, according to her, it wasn’t quite challenging. “If you went even one second over, they killed the mic so there was a lot of pressure to make every word count,” she explained.
Clearly, the gifted orator and motivator thrived under that pressure and emerged as the nation’s top contender.
Her speech was called “Commit to the Chisel,” a popular series Scott shared with EEW Magazine readers through her “Living the Empowered Life” column. In it, she compared a person’s life to a beautiful sculpture that’s always a work in progress, slowly being chiseled away.
As she clutched her trophy, Scott said, “God and God alone knows what this moment means to me, because it’s not about winning. It was about the journey to get here.”
The crowd applauded loudly.
Scott then added that, when she first saw the contest online she nearly talked herself out of it, but pressed ahead anyway.
The great speaker’s advice to others is, “Never count yourself out—never. The only thing that can stop you is you. Don’t get in your own way.”
Scott received $100 thousand in prizes and will be one of the stars of a reality show pilot based on the contest.
Watch her moving acceptance speech below and be inspired to tap into your own greatness.
Congratulations to Coach Scott.
To read her “Live the Empowered Life” column, click here. To learn more about Felicia or connect with her, visit http://www.feliciascott.com or follow her on Twitter at @AskCoachFelicia.
Reader Comments (5)
Congratulations!!! :)
This is just an absolute blessing! Praise God for Coach Felicia. Her articles have inspired me many, many times.
Yay, Coach Felicia. Congratulations! What a wonderful honor and your entering the contest proves that you challenge yourself to live the empowered life.
Well done! To God be the Glory for all the wonderful things He has done. She should be very proud of herself, and I know the staff at EEW are surely excited, what an honor, keep up the good work.
This is absolutely awesome! Congratulations!! I am inspired more than you know. I have counted myself out of a few things. NO MORE!