Sharlene Hawkes
From the only foreign-born Miss America, to award-winning ESPN broadcaster, Sharlene Hawkes has reached the top of two starkly different worlds.
Born in Asuncion, Paraguay the 5th of 7 children, Sharlene (Wells) Hawkes spent 12 years of her youth in South America, including most of her high school years in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 1984, Sharlene played the Paraguayan harp and sang in Spanish for her talent presentation at the Miss America pageant in front of a record television audience of over 100 million. Traveling nearly 250,000 miles that year, she often relied on her fluent Spanish as Miss America 1985.
Following that year, Sharlene returned to her studies at Brigham Young University where she not only graduated magna cum laude, but received the Earl J. Glade award as the Outstanding Senior in Broadcasting, and the Silver Microphone Award for having the top cumulative GPA in the Communications Department.
In 1987, Sharlene became one of the first women to work on-air for ESPN, covering such world-class events as World Cup Soccer, World Cup Skiing, the Kentucky Derby, America's Cup, World Alpine Championships, the French Open and College Football. Her work at ESPN has earned her national recognition including an Emmy nomination and the Women's Sports Journalism award.
Sharlene is currently Chief Operating Officer for StoryRock, Inc., the market leader in digital yearbooks. However, she continues to speak professionally throughout the world to a wide variety of audiences, from corporate to non-profit. Sharlene serves on the Best of State Advisory Board, the BYU Women's Athletic Advisory Board, the University of Utah Music Circle Board, "Children First Utah" Scholarship Program Board, and the Incredible Journey Arts Foundation. Sharlene also recently completed a Master's degree in Integrated Marketing Communication at the University of Utah, and is President of Hawkes Communications.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
Getting Comfortable Outside Your Comfort Zone
In this popular presentation filled with humor, personal stories, and music, Sharlene moves her audience to challenge their fears of the unknown space outside their comfort zones. "A comfort zone is dynamic! All you need is one drop of courage to make one tiny step outside of your comfort zone, and when you do, something magical happens! It GROWS! The more you step out of your comfort zone, the bigger it becomes. And by the same principle, the more you stay within it, the smaller it gets!"
One of the most captivating and moving aspects of Sharlene's presentation is her finale, when she sits down at the piano and sings an inspired song from her heart that emphasizes her message. Her music is "strong, persuasive, and memorable". In fact, her theme song makes a wonderful meeting/convention theme in and of itself--"If There's a Chance "--a song about taking every chance for success even with failure staring us straight in the face.
Sharlene's love of laughter is another reason she communicates directly to the heart and soul of anyone listening. Her humorous personal anecdotes tie Sharlene's high-value messages together in an entertaining way while planting the seeds of hope, belief and encouragement. Sharlene lightheartedly draws from her own experiences when failure taught her more about herself than success did, and how becoming Miss America or landing a network job with ESPN had everything to do with leaving her "comfort zone". She found that the more she was willing to fail, the more she succeeded. Sharlene encourages her audience to strengthen their courage by consistently leaving their comfort zones and defining their "absolutes". ACTivating and enlightening, funny and instantly likeable, Sharlene breathes life into stagnant hopes and dreams with her contagious belief that everyone has adventure and fortune outside their comfort zones!
Defeat the Defeat!
Believe it or not, defeat is usually the very thing that drives true champions onward. Based on her own personal defeats, and the many defeats she witnessed in the athletic world as a reporter with ESPN, Sharlene tells the stories that move her audiences to take a close look at their own failures and rather than fear them, learn from them. "We all fail, so what is the difference between us? It lies in what we learn. A positive perspective and reaction are the two key elements that all champions have in common. They don't fear failure! They embrace it, incorporate it, and use it as a stepping stone to take them higher." With audience participation, video illustrations, and vocal/piano performance, Sharlene inspires the audience to believe in their own ability to "Defeat the Defeat!"
Seminars, Workshops and "Partner" Presentations:
Following her keynote address, Sharlene is available for other presentations. Topics include: -- Projecting a Professional Image . . . it does affect your bottom line -- From Stage Fright to Stage Presence: 10 Quick and Simple Ways to Own the Stage -- The 10 Do's and Don'ts of Talking to a Reporter -- I Never Saw the Miss America Pageant Until I Was In It! (A lighter inside look at the Miss America fairytale from the outsider who made it in!) -- Have you struck the mother load?
From the only foreign-born Miss America, to award-winning ESPN broadcaster, Sharlene Hawkes has reached the top of two starkly different worlds.
Born in Asuncion, Paraguay the 5th of 7 children, Sharlene (Wells) Hawkes spent 12 years of her youth in South America, including most of her high school years in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 1984, Sharlene played the Paraguayan harp and sang in Spanish for her talent presentation at the Miss America pageant in front of a record television audience of over 100 million. Traveling nearly 250,000 miles that year, she often relied on her fluent Spanish as Miss America 1985.
Following that year, Sharlene returned to her studies at Brigham Young University where she not only graduated magna cum laude, but received the Earl J. Glade award as the Outstanding Senior in Broadcasting, and the Silver Microphone Award for having the top cumulative GPA in the Communications Department.
In 1987, Sharlene became one of the first women to work on-air for ESPN, covering such world-class events as World Cup Soccer, World Cup Skiing, the Kentucky Derby, America's Cup, World Alpine Championships, the French Open and College Football. Her work at ESPN has earned her national recognition including an Emmy nomination and the Women's Sports Journalism award.
Sharlene is currently Chief Operating Officer for StoryRock, Inc., the market leader in digital yearbooks. However, she continues to speak professionally throughout the world to a wide variety of audiences, from corporate to non-profit. Sharlene serves on the Best of State Advisory Board, the BYU Women's Athletic Advisory Board, the University of Utah Music Circle Board, "Children First Utah" Scholarship Program Board, and the Incredible Journey Arts Foundation. Sharlene also recently completed a Master's degree in Integrated Marketing Communication at the University of Utah, and is President of Hawkes Communications.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
Getting Comfortable Outside Your Comfort Zone
In this popular presentation filled with humor, personal stories, and music, Sharlene moves her audience to challenge their fears of the unknown space outside their comfort zones. "A comfort zone is dynamic! All you need is one drop of courage to make one tiny step outside of your comfort zone, and when you do, something magical happens! It GROWS! The more you step out of your comfort zone, the bigger it becomes. And by the same principle, the more you stay within it, the smaller it gets!"
One of the most captivating and moving aspects of Sharlene's presentation is her finale, when she sits down at the piano and sings an inspired song from her heart that emphasizes her message. Her music is "strong, persuasive, and memorable". In fact, her theme song makes a wonderful meeting/convention theme in and of itself--"If There's a Chance "--a song about taking every chance for success even with failure staring us straight in the face.
Sharlene's love of laughter is another reason she communicates directly to the heart and soul of anyone listening. Her humorous personal anecdotes tie Sharlene's high-value messages together in an entertaining way while planting the seeds of hope, belief and encouragement. Sharlene lightheartedly draws from her own experiences when failure taught her more about herself than success did, and how becoming Miss America or landing a network job with ESPN had everything to do with leaving her "comfort zone". She found that the more she was willing to fail, the more she succeeded. Sharlene encourages her audience to strengthen their courage by consistently leaving their comfort zones and defining their "absolutes". ACTivating and enlightening, funny and instantly likeable, Sharlene breathes life into stagnant hopes and dreams with her contagious belief that everyone has adventure and fortune outside their comfort zones!
Defeat the Defeat!
Believe it or not, defeat is usually the very thing that drives true champions onward. Based on her own personal defeats, and the many defeats she witnessed in the athletic world as a reporter with ESPN, Sharlene tells the stories that move her audiences to take a close look at their own failures and rather than fear them, learn from them. "We all fail, so what is the difference between us? It lies in what we learn. A positive perspective and reaction are the two key elements that all champions have in common. They don't fear failure! They embrace it, incorporate it, and use it as a stepping stone to take them higher." With audience participation, video illustrations, and vocal/piano performance, Sharlene inspires the audience to believe in their own ability to "Defeat the Defeat!"
Seminars, Workshops and "Partner" Presentations:
Following her keynote address, Sharlene is available for other presentations. Topics include: -- Projecting a Professional Image . . . it does affect your bottom line -- From Stage Fright to Stage Presence: 10 Quick and Simple Ways to Own the Stage -- The 10 Do's and Don'ts of Talking to a Reporter -- I Never Saw the Miss America Pageant Until I Was In It! (A lighter inside look at the Miss America fairytale from the outsider who made it in!) -- Have you struck the mother load?
