Permission to Speak

How to Change What Power Sounds Like, Starting with You

By: Samara Bay

Narrated by: Samara Bay

Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Use your voice to lead us to a better future with this game-changing guide to redefining what power and authority sound like—from a speech expert who’s worked with Hollywood’s biggest stars, political powerhouses, and businesspeople shaking up the status quo.

“I love this book—funny, surprising, stirring, and so important! What a beautiful accomplishment and gift to put into the world.”—Rachel McAdams

Getting heard is a tricky business: It’s what you say and how you show up, filtered through your audience’s assumptions and biases—and maybe even your own. For women, people of color, immigrants, and queer folks, there’s often a dissonance between how you speak and how we collectively think powerful people should speak: like the wealthy white men who’ve historically been in charge. But, fortunately, the sound of power is changing.

Permission to Speak is your tool kit for making that change. In this revolutionary take on how to use your voice to get what you want, sought-after speech coach Samara Bay offers a fresh perspective on public speaking and a new definition of what power sounds like: namely, you. Blending anecdotes with eye-opening research in leadership, linguistics, and social science, Permission to Speak shows you how to strike the right balance of strength and warmth to land your message; exactly what to do before a high-stakes scenario so that your voice, your mind, and your spirit are ready; and how to turn habits like vocal fry and upspeak into tools. Most important, you’ll discover your voice story: why you talk the way you do, what’s wonderful about it, and what you’ve outgrown.

Fiery, fun, and truly profound, Permission to Speak is a personal and cultural reckoning with what speaking in public is and what it can be. This book meets the moment and offers this provocation: When we change what power sounds like, we change who has it.

*Includes a downloadable PDF that offers exercises from the book for you to reference later

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Samara Bay (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Samara Bay—the speech coach who’s helped Ruth Negga, Gal Gadot, and others perfect dialects on film—offers an empowering take on public speaking.” —Vanity Fair

“A totally beguiling and richly informative primer for anyone who struggles to say out loud what they think.” —Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her

“Permission to Speak goes beyond the easy ‘use your voice’ platitudes that power hashtag-girlboss memes. . . .The book never shies away from frank talk about the ways systems of oppression have squelched and silenced some voices, and at every turn, [Samara] Bay offers practical and doable exercises. . . . Bay writes with humor and ease, sharing stories from her own experience and those of her clients.” —Mindful

Listened to the audiobook AND got the book

Rarely will I get both an audiobook and a physical copy of a book, and Permission to Speak warrants picking up both. To hear the author, Samara Bay exemplify upspeak, vocal fry or any of the numerous voice exercises throughout the book, truly brought the work alive so I could practice. I picked up a copy of the physical book to highlight the parts that particularly resonated (several throughout the book and basically the entire Heroism chapter). What a thrill to come across a how to book on vocal coaching and public speaking that welcomes the fullness of your unique experiences to change how we hear power as a culture. The patriarchy is crumbling, making way for a more connected, more caring, more authentic power - where there's room for all our voices.

Outstanding

Great read for those who are uncomfortable with their voice and a great coaching through how to get comfortable with it.

love it!

Warm, practical, motivating, and inspiring listen! Samara's narration is just the perfect complement to her stories and advice.

Amazing content

Great listen if you are needing some motivation or encouragement ladies! Let’s build one another up and grow together!

A game changing perspective

This book is so incredibly needed, not just by women who want to speak up, but by any person who has something to say but has that little (LOUD) voice telling you NOT to!

I love the use of theater techniques and practical exercises for the reader/listener to engage in! And the author’s own voice speaking her words into power is so moving!

I knew of Samara Bay prior to reading this book, but I have never nodded and “YES”’d to a book more than this one! Thank you for this book!

Eye Opening for Health care Provider & Speaker

I grabbed this book because I liked the title. I finished it quickly because I needed it and hadn’t know! I’m a new business owner and have my first international speech coming up. Everything Samara speaks to here resonates with how I speak in various settings now and how I want to come across in professional settings. She saw the elements of speech that make me uncomfortable and I want(ed) to change, as well as how telling my story in first person still make amy voice crack. I didn’t know I needed all the wisdom and honesty in this book, and am grateful I found it!

Inspired and inspiring!

I loved listening to this fabulous book! I especially loved the authors vivid descriptions, gentle suggestions and constant encouragement! I will read again and take notes :)

Ironically, I’m at a loss for words.

Outstanding book. I’m so glad I got the audiobook version. Samara is an inspiration. Entertaining, heartfelt, and so very helpful. This book has been my voice and life coach over the last month, after I crumbled … You see, I wanted to start a YouTube channel, but after 87 billion takes, I gave up. I felt inadequate after a lifetime of hiding from cameras. It had been my plan to launch Episode 1 on my birthday. Instead, I took myself on a self-soothing shopping expedition and wound up at Barnes & Noble. This book jumped off of the table, and it’s exactly what I needed. Thank you for seeing me, Samara, before I was willing to be seen. Now, to get back to it.

I gave it several tries, but this was not for me.

I tried several times to pick this back up because I was looking forward to reading it, but it was really hard to do. Each time I listened, the almost incessant adjective storm jammed into every other sentence was nauseating. This, combined with a forced "I'm on your side" voice reminding us at every turn that the author's ideas are to be interpreted as humble, funny, and prolific dogma (instead of simply letting the reader deduce this for themselves with any actually good ideas) is standard operating procedure for neoliberal elitest writers gazing into the navels of the rich and powerful of today's society. There's this unspoken air of "I used to be one of you plebs, too...but now I know better than you because I have worked with famous elites, you puny mortals, so just let me pat you on the head and tell you how to be more like me." I may be exaggerating a little, but so many writers today write from this holier than thou viewpoint and it is exhausting.

There were a couple of solid nuggets of insight sprinkled throughout the book, so I gave it two stars overall.

WAY too hard to listen too

1. Narrated too fast
2. Way too much detail about speech therapy. Not a speech therapist. Not what I was looking for.
3. Too many personal stories about elbow rubbing. Not on point.