At age nine, I stood on stage to deliver a speech about Mahatma Gandhi. I was confident, too confident. I hadn’t practised enough. I walked on, looked at the crowd, and froze. A complete blackout. That moment shaped me more than I realised.

I took a silent vow: never again. Never again would I speak on stage.

But life had other plans. Years later, during my university and postgraduate studies in India, presentations were unavoidable. My anxiety hadn’t disappeared, and soon I was labelled “the hip-hop speaker” because I couldn’t stand still during a talk. It became more than stage fright; it became a story I told myself, that I wasn’t a speaker and never would be.

When I moved to Barcelona to start my career as a headhunter, the pressure intensified. Speaking with executives, influencing people, communicating clearly, this wasn’t optional. It was survival. My speech was fast, cluttered with filler words. I couldn’t land a message with impact. One day, my boss gave me advice that would change everything: “Go check out Toastmasters.”

So I did.

Coincidentally, the Toastmaster of the Day was Florian Mueck, singing and dancing on stage. I became a member. Little did I know I would eventually meet my wife, Monika, at a Toastmasters contest. 

Secretly, that may have been the real reason I stayed.

Over the next few years, I didn’t aim to be charismatic. I focused on the basics: speech structure, vocal variety, stage use, storytelling. The results came. I placed first in Spain in the Humorous Speech Contest, then second in Europe. I kept placing, kept winning Speech Evaluation Contests, and kept growing.

My Toastmasters friends pushed me into stand-up comedy. I said yes.

Florian saw the potential in me before I saw it in myself. He urged me to pursue public speaking professionally. But at the time, I had launched my own recruitment company and couldn’t afford to take the risk. I was struggling to pay rent, sleeping on a friend’s balcony for a month, before slowly rebuilding and taking a full-time job in executive search.

That’s when I found my second voice.

Over the last decade, I’ve built a global career in executive search. I’ve led searches for Fortune 500 companies like Nike and IKEA, placing senior executives across 19 countries and multiple industries. I progressed through the ranks to become Principal, managing a team, influencing C-suite decisions, and partnering with global leaders.

I’ve also stepped into my original calling, helping others overcome their fear of public speaking and find their voice. The full-circle moment? I now collaborate with the same person who inspired me on Day 1, Florian Mueck, as a partner.