I’m honored to share this as the first DTM of newly formed District 208 – a milestone that belongs not just to me, but to every member and mentor across our district who is building this new chapter together.

The Boardroom

For years, I sat in corporate boardrooms at JPMorgan Chase, where I eventually reached a VP-level role, and said very little. Not because I had nothing to offer, but because I had not yet learned how to take up space and use my voice to make an impact.

It wasn’t that I wouldn’t talk, or that I always stayed quiet. I started off very quiet when I joined the workforce, and slowly got over it. But I noticed a pattern: sometimes my silence wasn’t because I lacked great ideas. It was because I’d wait a beat longer to frame it, then reframe it, then reframe it again, until I’d finally land the perfect version of what I meant to say, five minutes after the meeting had already moved on. Other times I’d do the opposite. I’d speak too quickly, and the words would come out unstructured. I’d walk away thinking, I wish I’d articulated that better.

I didn’t know it yet, but a decade earlier, someone had already handed me the way out.

The Advice I Almost Forgot

I was the emcee for a weekend retreat. A couple asked me if I was part of Toastmasters. “Toastmasters?” I said. “I’ve never even heard of it.” I promised I’d look into it. Then life got busy. I never once thought about that promise again.

In 2021, I was guaranteed a promotion. It fell through. I had been pouring my heart and soul into my work for years, and I started questioning myself. Why was I so focused on titles? Because in my mind, they symbolized clear growth, and now that it was taken away, I felt the rug had been pulled out from under me. I felt like I was standing on quicksand. I had done everything it took to win that promotion. It came so close, and then it slipped away.

In the wreckage of that, I made two decisions: leave my company, and join Toastmasters. I only acted on one of them right away.

To this day, I have no idea why that decade-old advice surfaced right then. Oddly enough, I never met anyone who was a Toastmaster or heard it mentioned in those ten long years. I had completely forgotten it. When it resurfaced after I was passed over for the promotion, I felt convicted to act on it. So I searched for the club closest to me and walked in.

I wasn’t looking for a DTM. I had one goal: get better at presenting. I walked in looking for a place to practice.

The other decision, leaving my company, took another three and a half years. Not because I changed my mind, but because I didn’t yet have what it would take to actually do it. That confidence built slowly, meeting by meeting, role by role, inside Toastmasters. By the time I finally walked away, it wasn’t a leap. It was a decision I’d been quietly preparing for without realizing it.

No Plan, Just the Next Yes

Here’s what I want you to understand, if you take nothing else from this: I never planned for DTM. I just kept saying yes to the next small thing.

I decided to give every single speech in Pathways, even the electives. My club wasn’t big, so I set a simple goal. One speech every three weeks. I signed up for roles every week, sometimes weeks in advance. That was the entire strategy. Show up. Take the next role. Give the next speech.

My life at work was also super busy, so I wanted to focus and keep the main thing the main thing. Less than a year into joining Toastmasters, I took on the role of secretary for a six-month period. I was very reluctant at that point to take on anything outside my Toastmasters meeting. But since the main responsibility of that role was just taking minutes at the exec meeting, I said yes.

A little over a year in, a few folks from my club approached me about taking on the president role. I wasn’t keen on it. I knew it would come with more responsibility, and I kept reminding myself: the only reason you joined Toastmasters was to improve your public speaking. You already have a leadership role at work. You don’t need this. I tried to push it away. But people kept asking, and they clearly believed I could do it. They made it sound easy, too. So I thought, Why not give it a try?  And in many ways, it was easy, because I had some amazingly strong members who supported me, guided me, and more than anything, believed in me.

The One I Said No To

My club had two members: Bihari Patel and Pushpa Patel, who were DTMs. As I kept hearing “DTM,” I got curious and asked them what it took. When I heard the list of projects and requirements, I quietly decided: this is not for me. I joined Toastmasters to get good at speaking, and I told myself I’d keep my foot pointed in just that direction, the speaking direction, and let everything else fade away. I pushed the idea of DTM away and didn’t revisit it.

Looking back, I think what scared me most was the logistics. Running a speechcraft. Finding people to attend. Showing up week after week. At the time, I was still in my first Pathway, and the fact that I’d need to finish two Pathways, then run a speechcraft or a Youth Leadership Program, and the list went on. It felt like too much. Besides, the whole point of joining Toastmasters was not to chase designations the way I’d chased titles at work. I wanted to give my competitive mind a break, and see this as just a speaking forum, nothing more.

I want to be honest about that moment, because I think a lot of people reading this are standing exactly where I stood. Believe me, the person who eventually earned this designation once looked at it and said, “This is not for me.”

What Changed in Calgary

I loved my Pickering Powerhouse Toastmasters club. Folks were very kind and supportive. I was there for three and a half years, and then had to say goodbye as we moved to Calgary from Pickering, Ontario. Within a few weeks in Calgary, I joined Fluor Communicators. My mentor, Marcy Field, encouraged me to go for DTM within weeks of me joining. I’d finished one Pathway and was partway through another. There was a long list of requirements ahead of me, and when I explained the challenge to Marcy, she assured me: if I said yes, they would assign the club, train me for the role, and set me up for success. She promised her full support, and told me the club members would rally around to help me win. That was a game changer for me.

Then my friend Olga called me out of the blue and asked if I’d be interested in running the Youth Leadership Program at a library, right after another Toastmaster finished running his. Just like that, one door opened. Instead of getting stuck on the rest of the requirements, I said yes to that one thing in front of me.

I still didn’t have a grand plan. I wrote down the requirements, and decided to just say yes to the next thing.

I applied to become an Area Director and a club sponsor and mentor. Just like that, another door opened, so I said yes. As I stayed available, the doors kept opening, one leading to the next.

The People Behind the Trophy

No one earns a DTM alone. Mine was built on the shoulders of mentors who showed me the way, put me in touch with the right people, supported me along the way, and gave me honest feedback when I needed it most. I’m deeply grateful to a District 42 family, now District 208, that showed me what servant leadership looks like in practice.

To my husband, Roland: you have sat through more rehearsals than any person should have to endure, and you have never once asked me to stop. That is love in its most practical form.

To my boys, who jokingly say mom loves Toastmasters more than us — thank you for sharing me with this journey.

What DTM Actually Means

DTM still feels too surreal. I still can’t believe I achieved it. What makes this even sweeter is that my plan had been to stay in Toastmasters just for the speeches. Then I said yes to an open role. Yes to a club officer position. Yes to a mentor who encouraged me toward DTM. Yes to running YLP. And now I’m standing at the moment of receiving this trophy. It’s a testament to focusing on what you set out to do, but also giving ear to what others see in you.

The Yes That Surprised Me Most

Months after I finally left my company, the decision that had taken three and a half years to act on, I stood at another fork. I could go back to corporate. That was the safe, familiar path. Or I could say yes to something else: running my own company.

I had started saying yes to growth long before that fork. I’d taken on a leadership program to become a better leader at work, and by the time I left my career, I realized it was time to bet on myself, to put every chip on what I’d learned, and share it on my own terms.

I said yes to the second path. What I do now would have been unimaginable to the person who once sat silent in boardrooms, or who rambled and wished she’d said it better. I get to spend my days helping others find their voice, the very thing Toastmasters once helped me find.

Toastmasters didn’t just teach me to give a better speech. It quietly built the confidence that, years later, let me bet on myself.

If You’re Still on the Path

If you’re somewhere in the middle of your Toastmasters journey and the finish line feels far away: you don’t need a plan. I didn’t have one. You need the next yes.

Sometimes the delay isn’t fear. It’s protecting your own goals. It’s not knowing where to start. I said “not for me” once, not because I was afraid, but because I was protecting my path. Looking back, that boundary wasn’t in my way. It was part of my way.

If you’re not yet a member, your next small step is to visit a club near you this week.

If you’re a member who hasn’t said yes to a meeting role, your next step is to sign up for one.

If you’re in Level 1, your next step is simply a plan to finish Level 1.

If you’re already saying yes to roles and speeches, your next step is to sign up for the next speech.

If you’ve finished a Pathway or two and haven’t thought about DTM, your next step is simply to ask someone who has one what it actually involves.

One day, you’ll look up, and the road will say DTM.

You just have to keep showing up.

Lovelin Johnson, DTM, PMP, is the founder of Elevate & Inspire, a Calgary-based leadership coaching and speaking practice helping professionals find the confidence to use their voice, because she once had to find her own. She is Maxwell Leadership Certified and DISC-certified, and currently serves as Secretary of Fluor Communicators Toastmasters and a member of MVP Toastmasters.