My Co-Presidency of Ventura Toastmasters.

For years, I have thought about becoming president of Ventura Toastmasters. Then, fairly recently, I decided to officially throw my hat in the ring. To my surprise, my dear friend and fellow Toastmaster Lucas Holifield made a declaration that he too wished to be president. We eventually compromised and decided to become co-presidents of this venerated club. As of the first of January of this year, our tenure has officially begun.

Working with Lucas so far has been a total pride and joy. I strongly feel that we bring a lot of millennial energy to Ventura Toastmasters. He is only one year younger than I. He has been so enthusiastic about working with me to both serve and better this incredibly high-powered and high-performing club. By the summer of this year, it is our goal to become at least Distinguished. This coveted status means that we have trained all our officers, added several new members, and performed well within Pathways, which is the online public speaking curriculum that is offered to all of us. I am very confident that we can reach this goal in time.

Because Toastmasters International only lets clubs list one president at a time, we have decided to put my name on the official roster as president, and then Lucas’ name will appear six months into the future.

One of Lucas’ and my first big tasks as co-presidents involved organizing the club speech contest, which took place on the 2nd of February. As a former Area Director, I am very familiar with how speech contests work, and so is Lucas, because he competed in the contest both last year and this year. I strongly feel that this was a major reason why our club event went so well.

During these past few months, as co-president, I could not help but notice that all the new officers for Club 24 have been bending over backward to help the club in any way they can. They are incredibly enthusiastic, driven, and fun to work with, and as a team so far we have made great strides. Something good can always be made better, and I am so excited to see how we flourish in the remaining months of this Toastmasters year, which ends in the summer.

I am so overjoyed that, when Lucas proposed our co-presidency to me a few months ago, I gleefully accepted. That decision was one of the best choices I have ever made.

Lucas and I at a recent meeting of Ventura Toastmasters.