Meet Cynthia Kaiser | Communications Coach and Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cynthia Kaiser and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cynthia, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I grew up in Beverly Hills in the 1970s but very poor. My mother was a single mom and my schooling was very important to her so she moved us into a small, bug invested apartment on the outskirts of Beverly Hills to get me into the school system. Because we had very little money, I had to pivot and be resilient and bring something that was valuable to my peers at school. I became funny because I could do that well (I learned on television) and that provided me a foothold into making friends and influencing people. My career fostered into a Marketing Director and eventually Chief Marketing Officer for law firms in Southern California for two decades. Being a woman and a professional with a Bachelor’s degree, but not a lawyer, I had to develop very strong interpersonal skills to engage with lawyers. After 20 years of being inhouse with various firms, my position was eliminated at my then current law firm after 8 years, so I once again pivoted and presevered and applied for my Master of Arts degree in Communications. I battled three bouts of tongue cancer during an eight year period between 2012 and 2018, culminating with treatment while in graduate school. I was not able to eat, drink or talk for one month during school. Again, I had to pivot and force resilience to achieve my goals. I ended up graduating on time with a 3.75 from UNLV in 2019. I followed another life long dream and moved to Seattle, Washington, one month after graduation, and 8 months before COVID. Again, I had to pivot and be resilient during a very fearful time in our history. My backgorund and upbringing gave me the self agency to fight for my beliefs, preservere through challenging times and be resilient during change. I learned that from my mother who passed away in 2008 but still fights with me in spirit every step of the way.

What should our readers know about your business?
After 20 years in-house as a Chief Marketing Officer for various AMLaw 200 law firms, I founded Kaiser Advisors LLC to share my passion by helping others to communicate more effectively. It is all about saving time and money for my clients. While I was in graduate school, I learned about Attachment Theory and Attachment Styles and I realized that I had adopted these ideas with my counsel to attorneys, without realizing that I was working with this theory as a lens to coach attorneys to develop and sustain professional relationships. I realized that I could also help people in personal relationships as well. I turned my thesis into a manuscript and published it post graduation. The key to understanding how communication behavior aligns with attachment styles are explored in my manuscript “Understanding Attachment Styles in Communication Behavior”. Click here to review: https://books2read.com/u/mgGnBR.

My first battle with cancer taught me about moderation and letting go of things and people that were not good for me and bringing me down. I also learned that it’s better and sometimes safer to be by oneself and to be comfortable in one’s own skin rather than being with a mate that disrupts that sense of self and balance. I learned about being in tune with my personality and the pros and the cons that come with me. It showed me in detail that there were people and things that I couldn’t control and that I just needed to be the best possible person I could under any circumstance. I was told I had cancer for the second time during that period. Once I moved to Las Vegas for graduate school and I got cancer for a third time, I realized that God and the universe were really trying to teach me something that I had not yet learned. I thought I had learned about perseverance and resilience and targeting the achievements I wanted to obtain in my life but I didn’t know how I was going to go about doing that. It also was not clear how to navigate all of that through the kind of person I would need to be in order to be introspective and to see the things that I needed to change about myself. I’ve done that to a large degree. It has become a daily requirement to check in with myself. I learn something new every day—it can be small or it can be big, but I learn something new every day even if it’s something like using the hair dryer to get candle wax off a piece of furniture. I like learning new things about myself that enhance my abilities as a communications coach and business development consultant. For example, I have learned to listen more than to speak. Listening is definitely a lot harder and it’s a skill that not many people have but the ones that do have that skill are revered for it. I’ve learned that it’s most important to be a good person to yourself and to others like Maya Angelou says. I thought I was a good person then I thought I was a better person. Life is a process. Life is all what you do with it and how you command respect from yourself and from others. I have learned that it is not always all about me. When people or organizations do not respond or act like I would like them to, nine times out of ten, it is not me that they are dismissing, it is something beyond me. That was a hard lesson to learn. I have also learned to see what part I play in whatever situation I am in that is unsettling or displeasing. I am never 100% without fault. No one ever is. That is also a hard lesson to learn.

The final lesson I have learned I will share with you now. It is impossible to be great at everything. People like myself need to be humble in their skills and tools. It is okay for me to understand that I am really good at some things, and not so good at other things. It is humbling to recognize that but powerful at the same time.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Seattle is the best city in the world in my opinion. It is where nature is at its best. It is where the ocean meets the forest and all good things come together. I would eat fresh fish and drink fine local ale. I would take day trips to my favorite islands, like Vashon and Bainbridge Island where there is the most beautiful nature preserve I have ever seen. Seattle is also known for its amazing consignment shopping from eclectic and non-traditional stores, like country inns etc. Seattle is also known for its melting pot of people. There are always new and exciting people to meet and places to explore as I nestle my way around the Southern tip of Washington. I also really enjoying nature trails and soft hiking, like Discovery Park and Kubota Gardens as well as Lundsburg Park and Cedar Creek Trail.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I was very taken with an author, Penache Desai – Discovering Your Soul Signature. I read it after my friend saw how out of sorts I was after my first bout of tongue cancer and my fear around that and my career. His gentle take on life and really finding out who I was and where I needed to go was very powerful to me. It was through his teaching in this book that guided me to “sniff” my way to Seattle, where I really needed to be. I have read his book over 5 times cover to cover to make sure that I received all of the value that his message conveyed.

Website: https://kaiseradvisors.com/

Instagram: @cynthiacommunicates

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthiakaiser/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cynthiacommunicates

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvsePALnnQ4EiSpIkSHOYA