Outspoken

June 10, 2019
In her delightful debut, Rueckert, voice coach and former host on Wisconsin Public Radio, explores the power and diversity of women’s voices and presents a dynamic how-to guide for making those voices heard. Rueckert begins by explaining how the gender pay gap, higher number of men than women in leadership positions, and women’s propensity to be interrupted in conversations are issues that can be traced back to the perceived value (or lack thereof) of women’s voices in society. In response, Rueckert offers no-frills strategies (doing away with open offices, which she believes cultivates a stultifying “cubicle voice”) and physical exercises (breathing techniques and tools for overcoming stage fright) that will help strengthen women’s speaking voices. Pulling from personal anecdotes and academic studies, she, at times, portrays a hopeless world: talking too much at a board meeting, for instance, can cause a woman to be deemed chatty or inattentive, but talking too little can lead her to be deemed submissive. Yet, Rueckert’s overall tone is optimistic. This helpful guide, filled with Rueckert’s sage advice, will be a great resource for any woman struggling to find or express her voice.

June 15, 2019
A radio personality, communications coach, and trained opera singer convincingly argues that learning to use their voices properly will take women surprisingly far. In her debut book, grounded in her own experience and her work with others, Peabody-winning communications specialist Rueckert makes her case clearly and concisely, drawing on sound research without becoming bogged down in it. The author begins by telling readers how to start from wherever they are with their voice and make it bigger and better. Then she moves on to social and business situations in which that voice might be suppressed. On the physical level, Rueckert goes through the mechanics of the breathing process and advises women not just to learn to breathe more fully (no Spanx), but to take up more space, emulating the "manspreaders" who have taken up their fair share. She considers the pros and cons of the politically fraught question of whether women should modulate their voices to please others, and she suggests ways to raise girls who are comfortable speaking out loud and in public. On the social level, the author covers the many ways in which women are silenced by men interrupting them and by the pressure to be "the good, quiet girl," and she offers techniques on how to avoid being interrupted and how to interrupt a conversation--or monologue--successfully. Most of the chapters culminate with a list of exercises--how to transcend "cubicle voice" by lying on your back with a book the size of a "Nordic cooking compendium" on your belly and project: "Don't push from the throat but from the lower abdomen, the seat of vocal power." Rueckert's own literary voice is encouraging, supportive, and cheerful, and it's hard to imagine anyone who wouldn't benefit from her advice. In a sea of self-help books for women, this one stands out both for its unique perspective and its concrete recommendations. A practical and fascinating guide to liberating the female voice as a key to liberating the self.

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