Candice Kirkbride suffered a brain injury at the age of 15. She was walking with a group of friends when a drunk driver plowed into them, killing her boyfriend, 15-year-old A.J. Chaput.
In the years since this life-changing incident, she's shared her story with many groups, speaking out against the perils of impaired driving.
When she started doing a lot of public speaking, Kirkbride joined Toastmasters as a way to improve her speaking skills and aid in her ongoing brain injury recovery.
The educational organization that operates clubs around the world has the purpose of promoting communication and public-speaking skills.
The 34-year-old said she has been a member of Toastmasters for more than 12 years, since her days as a Cambrian College student.
Given the extensive time she's spent public speaking, Kirkbride said she decided recently she wanted to kick things up a notch.
She floated the idea of doing a TED talk with her Toastmasters coach, but he said he didn't think she was quite ready for that.
But in that conversation, he suggested she do a Momondays talk. Momondays — or motivational Mondays — is a Canadian public speaking series. It uses the slogan “real people, real stories, real motivation.”
Kirkbride applied to speak at a Momondays event in Brampton, and was able to take the stage in the Southern Ontario city in April.
“It wasn't my best performance, but it was a nice little intimate crowd,” she said. “It was just people telling their stories. It wasn't this crazy rehearsed competition in Toastmasters. It was just me telling my story.”
Kirkbride enjoyed the experience so much that when she learned she could acquire the license to bring Momondays to Sudbury, she decided to do just that.
She's putting on her first Momondays event Monday, Sept. 16 at the SRO bar downtown. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and tickets cost $15 in advance, or $30 at the door.
Speakers include local author Kenny Wilson, Sudbury photographer Rob Provencher and local marketing guru Kyle Vine, as well as out-of-town Toastmasters members Neil Dunsmore, Roger Caesar and Alexandre Matte.
Anyone could really take the stage at Momondays, Kirkbride said, as everyone has a story to tell.
“I eat, sleep, breathe, talk Momondays,” she said. “It used to be Toastmasters, but now it's Momondays. I'm so excited.”
Momondays will be held locally on the third Monday of each month. For more information, or to purchase advance tickets, visit momondays.com/sudbury or the Momondays Sudbury Facebook page.
