Speaking is the skill everything else depends on.
Your ideas are only as powerful as your ability to express them.
Communication coaching cross-cultural leaders in finance.
Mary Falkenstern, MS, CCC-SLP
I'm a licensed speech-language pathologist with specialized training in the professional speaking voice from the MGH Voice Center, a Harvard and MIT affiliate. For the past 15 years, I've worked globally with leaders across industries on executive presence, communication style, and high-pressure promotion transitions. I also have a background in classical theater and professional on-camera and voice-over work — training that shapes how I coach clients to adapt their delivery across formats, from the boardroom to keynotes to media spots.
For the past 10 years, I've specialized in supporting cross-cultural speaking demands for emerging and senior leaders in finance.
Clients credit this work with promotions, new mandates, and media appearances that made them the go-to voice in their field.
Key Areas of Specialization
Accent Optimization
Cross-Cultural Communication (language formulation, reading a diverse room, and word choice and syntax)
Vocal Presence (vocal fry and other voice markers that shape professional impressions)
Cluttering (disfluencies resulting from breakdowns in speech and language planning and formulation)
Services
Private Coaching
Immersive Corporate Workshops: Cross-Cultural Communication
"Communication had always been my weakness. After six sessions with Mary, I started noticing real improvement — more engagement with clients, more presence in my presentations. Our work together enabled me to step into the next level of my career. Effective, impactful communication has now become one of my strengths and part of my core brand."
— VP promoted to Managing Director, leading global advisory firmRead the Room
Each episode, I study a voice that shaped a room, an industry, or a moment in history. What made it work. What made it fall apart. And what we can learn from it.