About Us

Paul Barton works with business professionals who are going places and don’t want public speaking to hold them back in their careers. Paul helps you gain the confidence to speak up and the skills to stand out so that you can mesmerize an audience. Paul also is a sought-after speaker and a top-rated college instructor. He has helped hundreds of people achieve their public speaking goals.

With a long history in the corporate world, Paul knows what it takes to make a great business presentation. Before launching his own company, Paul had a successful 20-year career leading communication teams at six fast-growing Fortune 500 corporations including APS, Phelps Dodge Mining Company, America West Airlines, PetSmart, Hawaiian Airlines, and Avnet. Those experiences led him to write the No. 1 book on internal communication on Amazon.

Paul is accredited by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), a professional member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), and an eSpeakers Certified Virtual Presenter. Paul has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Iowa State University and a Master’s degree in Communication from Hawaii Pacific University.

Michele Trent is a speaking coach and entrepreneur who realizes first-hand how effective communication can grow your business and your credibility. Whether you’re making an internal corporate presentation or looking to generate sales for your own company, effective speaking is your key to getting noticed – in a good way!

As a communication and marketing professional for over 25 years, Michele has observed the ins and outs of mid-size companies to large Fortune 500 organizations. She also has experience in both non-profit and for-profit entities with a special emphasis on branding and brand training. Regardless of the size or structure, all organizations value strong communication skills.

In addition to speaking skills coaching, Michele is a certified life and mindset coach. She is able to help clients who are anxious about presenting understand their thought patterns and how to change them. She’s also a certified practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). NLP is a collection of techniques and strategies that use language to help people change their thoughts and behaviors. Michele recently completed a DISC behavioral assessment tool training and has added that to her bag of coaching tools as well.

Michele is extremely interested in storytelling and preserving stories. She is the author of “Wisdom is a Gift. A Guide to Preserving Family Stories.” Michele firmly believes everyone has a unique story, and she helps her clients use theirs to engage audiences and build meaningful relationships.

Maribel Barton keeps the place running by handling much of our administrative work. She also brings several unique perspectives to our offerings. Maribel has extensive retail experience, having worked for such big-name brands as Macy’s Saks Fifth Avenue, and Fry’s (the Kroger Company), and she provides a unique frontline employee perspective.

Having been born and raised in Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines, Maribel also provides some unique cultural perspectives to our content and delivery.

Although English is not her native language, Maribel is a top-notch proofreader. If you find a mistake in our blog, you can bet she didn’t read it.

Maribel is fluent in English and Tagalog (Filipino) and her native language is the Waray-Waray dialect. She earned a Bachelor of Secondary Education degree from Leyte Normal University.