Even though she provided seminars for
organizations such as, (in alphabetical order) the
Association of Genetic Technologists, Association of
Governmental Accountants, Boston University, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Digital
Equipment Corporation, Environmental Protection
Agency, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, HealthPlex
Dental Insurance, Honeywell Bull, Merrill
Lynch, Maine Educational Consortium, Physicians For
Health Care Access, Suffolk University Law School, University
of New Mexico Health Sciences School, and Wellesley
College, Dr.
Signe suffered from social anxiety disorder which
filled her presentations and life with brain-numbing
terror.
As she
recovered, she established Effectiveness-Plus
LLC to help others "transform social anxiety into
social effectiveness" through alleviating
performance- and self-presentation anxiety AND
sharpening interpersonal communication skills, social intelligence, and personal
marketing savvy. She is a certified administrator
and interpreter of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional
Intelligence Test (MSCEIT).
Her
latest book, Diagonally-Parked in a Parallel
Universe: Working Through Social Anxiety (2000 -
and now going into its second edition),
is the social phobic's bible and insider's scoop.
Based upon years of research with sufferers and
consultation with the pre-eminent clinical researchers
in the field, it
provides education, treatment, and life rebuilding
strategies.
Notables, such as
Dr. Albert Ellis, have
praised the book, which has consistently ranked among
the ten best-selling anxiety books on Amazon.com.
Author of four other books: How to Win in a Tough Job Market: Successful Strategies for Getting the Job
You Want; Create Your Own Career Opportunities; Get the Job You Want: Successful Strategies For
Selling Yourself in the Job Market; and Decision Making For Managers, she also contributed to
David Riklan's 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life (Vol. 2) and Steven J.
Bennett's Executive Chess: Creative Problem Solving By 45 of America's Top Business Leaders and
Thinkers.
Her next book is Promote
Myself? I'd Rather Eat Worms!
The Reluctant Person's Guide to Opening Career Doors.
She has done research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Scripps Clinic
and Research Foundation, and Fairview State Hospital and presented the
findings of her own research on social anxiety, interpersonal effectiveness,
and mentoring and
networking nationally.
Because many independent professionals
and entrepreneurs are uneasy with attracting clients - due largely to self-promotion reluctance,
inadequate marketing skills, or ineffective marketing
techniques - Dr. Signe created her soft-sell CONFIDENT SELF-PROMOTION via the "VODKAA
Process."
Her
coaching and teaching show professionals how to reduce their discomfort, eliminate
the need for selling, and multiply clients and
referrals inexpensively and with integrity. Education-based, it uses strategic
relationship tactics to create visibility,
credibility, rapport, trust, liking, solid relationships, and client
loyalty.
A member of International Coach Federation and International Association of
Coaches, she coaches internationally. Dr. Signe
has done marketing consultation and coaching with cosmetic
surgeons, dentists, health consultants, clinical nutritionists,
psychotherapists, coaches, attorneys, management consultants, CEOs, software
developers, and
health care organizations, such as
Health Action New Mexico.
Currently, she is
also doing soft-sell marketing pro bono for the non-profit CARMA (Companion Animal Rescue
& Medical Assistance), an all-volunteer,
no-kill rescue organization in Corrales, New Mexico.
Her objective is
to highlight their
efforts to save and find homes for abandoned pets,
including Katrina-rescued
animals, such as "Phoenix, the Miracle Dog who
Cheated Death 5 Times."
She has
taken courses from Internet Marketing Gurus such as Paul
Hartunian, Alex Mandossian, Armand Morin, Jim
Edwards, Trey Ryder, Dr. Jeff Herring, Drs. Judith Sherven and Jim
Sniechowski, Robert Middleton, and Steve Harrison, and is a member
of numerous marketing-networking groups.
Specializing in
coaching and training with professionals and service
providers, Dr. Signe
has consulted on enhancing physician-patient
communication, created and directed public service
health announcement videos for ACS, promoted the Newton-Wellesley Hospital Oncology Unit, designed
promotions and PR for dentists, provided seminars to genetic
counselors and psychologists, presented to medical
students at University of New Mexico Health Sciences
School, and worked with Dr. Rob Schwartz, Health Law Professor at
the UNM School of Law, on the NM
Genetic Information Privacy Act, for example.
A member of the Albuquerque Bar
Association, she has also worked with Trey Ryder's
Education-Based Marketing for Lawyers and Dr.
Clara Mayo of Boston
University's Jury Project. In
two national surveys she conducted she assessed what
factors lawyers and the public see as contributing to
the increasing negative perception of lawyers by the
public. Analysis is currently under way.
She has over
150 published newspaper, magazine, and Internet articles and has been quoted in
publications including Industry Week, Wall Street
Journal, Boston Business Journal, Success,
Executive Travel, Time Out New York, Shape,
and Cosmopolitan.
Dr.
Signe is also "kitty mom" to 18 rescued cats
(mostly "special needs" cats), and socializes rescued
animals for adoption to loving homes.