And the Winner Is: Pat Hoyt!

by Paul Peterzell, District 84 Reporter's Chair

Pat Hoyt

If you had attended the August 2011 Humorous Speech Competition at Southside Toastmasters Club in Jacksonville, Florida, you would have cheered as Patricia Hoyt won first place. You may have cheered just a little louder had you known Pat's journey to success.

When she was very young, Pat suffered a serious fall that fractured her skull and damaged the speech center in her brain, causing her to stutter. While others may have been discouraged by the trials she faced, Pat was undeterred. Growing up in Long Island, she refused to let her speech impediment hold her back.

Now she lives and works in Florida in the information technology field, where she still faces challenges.

When asked about her greatest challenge today, Pat's answer is straightforward.

“Having to compete on a daily basis in a high-stress, male dominated environment,” she says, adding, “I work in the field of information technology, and have worked up the ranks to mid-manager and senior-manager levels. It's been tough as I stutter; it's hard in meetings to make myself be heard.”

Still, Pat wants to be heard. She has always wanted to make something of her life, seeking to develop communication and leadership skills to further her career. She found what she was searching for when she joined Toastmasters International.

She has been attending Southside Toastmasters in Jacksonville for 19 months, and says that her experience with Toastmasters has been transformational.

When asked why she joined Toastmasters, Pat remarked “I've always been terrified of public speaking. I have been brave in other areas of my life, but not in public speaking. My fear of public speaking has held me back in life. I don't fear it as much anymore. I practice all the time. I've devised a way to write out a speech and memorize it—where to pause and where to breathe. I'm a lot more fluent and can give an entire speech and not stutter.”

Pat's Toastmasters experience has also benefited other areas of her life. For example, she is an accomplished writer and has been published several times.

“I love to write, and my first novel was published in May, 2011,” Pat said.

Captured Souls is a science fiction novel about a teenage girl abducted by aliens, published under the pen name ‘Ann Castle'.