Michelle Borel: Inspiring others to see the greatness within themselves

By Klysha Best

So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the words of GOD. (Rom 10:17)

These are the words that motivational speaker Michelle Borel holds dear to her heart and tries to live by daily.

Borel is a young mother of four, radio announcer, marketing executive, author and lastly, motivational speaker.

Her spectacular voice can be heard every morning on the network 107.7 Music for Life, where she speaks ever so calmly and always tries to offer wisdom to her listeners – a job she says that is all about emotion. The same emotion that pushed her to step away and author a series of books and broaden her scope and become a motivational speaker.

“Emotion is a big part of media and marketing and I think when it comes to motivational speaking, this has always been something that I have been very much doing….It’s something that we all do, always having to motivate either ourselves and/or others.”

Of course, being a popular voice on her network, she’s been asked to share at various schools, speak at several platforms and in doing so, she formalised the plan about ten years ago to enter motivational speaking.

She enhanced her craft by training with the godfather of greatness himself, the internationally acclaimed Les Brown. Borel has been doing this since and has been invited on several international platforms.

Becoming a motivational speaker

At a very early age, her grandfather made her listen to Les Brown, via a cassette that he would play over and over. “My grandfather was extremely articulate, and he taught sales, public speaking…he too was a motivational speaker. Having the opportunity to witness how an audience would be eating out of his hands and how he would inspire persons to recognise and see the greatness that they had within themselves, that attracted me to it.”

“I’ve seen speakers who have had no training whatsoever and they just develop into these powerhouses. On the other hand, there are some who are just born with it.”

“As Les Brown would say, ‘Some things are taught, and some things are caught.’ But at the end of the day, as long as you dedicate time to something, you would only get better.”

That, Borel has done…gotten better. She said thanks to the world of technology, motivational speaking has taken her everywhere electronically.

“I do hope when things open back, I have the opportunity to do so physically as well. I have also made some amazing friends in the world of motivational speaking, and I hope that will continue to build.”

Borel said each motivational speaker brings a certain magic of their own, but she is just here, embracing what makes her Michelle Borel and offering her trueness.

Trinis are unique people. Some may say motivational speaking is for the rich folks and those that have “issues.” This, she said, is not so.

Borel said we all need that self-talk, but some people do not know how to step in as that friend, or as a motivational speaker who is a friend at a distance, but at the same time a friend.

“We need to watch the words that we speak and watch the words that we allow ourselves to hear, because faith cometh through hearing, but together with that, our thoughts become things and we shape our world through our words.”

So, do we need to have motivational speakers? “What we need to have is more awareness of our words, and motivational speakers have the opportunity to shape their words in such a way that they build instead of bulldoze,” said Borel.

She added: “This is the way I hope to serve the world. This is the way in which I feel very passionate, motivated. It is something that I can do without looking at the clock and day could turn easily into night or vice versa and I would still be doing whatever I am called to do.”

“What I do hope is that everyone understands that there is a light within them, and you have to keep that going. Just like an LED light we have within our homes and businesses, the longer you leave it on, the brighter it is.”

“So how do we stay in that high vibrational energy or joy? How do we stay within the fruits of the Holy Spirit and be able to eat of the fruits of the spirit consistently? That is what I hope the work that I offer is able to bring. To make someone else’s day lighter, brighter and for each person to understand that there is power within you.”

Author and Poet

Speaking of the power within, one of Borel’s books is the Bocas Lit Fest award-winning Soulspection – a Collection of Poetry.

“Soulspection would be my first solo contribution. However, it would be my third book. Together with all of the books I have done so far, I have either authored, or co-authored ten books to date.”

And where does this come from? “Stillness. That’s where the inspiration comes from. When I take a moment to have a mixture of introspection and retrospection which I term ‘soulspection’. When you take the opportunity to look at things, seeing yourself outside of the situation and

being able to view as a spectator and seeing how best you can treat with a situation. What would be the best not only for yourself, but all involved. Having the opportunity to seek the lessons out of everything that happens, because we are spiritual beings having a human experience and it’s so important to be able to take that time to have stillness and allow the quiet voice within to speak.”

“There is a similarity in all of my work, and that is ensuring that we always end on a positive note. In writing, I was doing it subconsciously and when my husband shared with me ‘Michelle, do you realise that what you’ve written, we are living.’ And when that happened, when the subconscious became conscious, then I ensured that I was doing it deliberately and intentionally, because I understood that everything I wrote came to life.”

The follow up to Soulspection is Soulfully Yours and that will be available in April for World Poetry Month. World Poetry Day is March 21 and that is when she will be revealing which picture her friends online helped her choose for the cover of the book.

Three of her books are children’s books and were inspired by her experiences with her own children.

The first book, Magic Words with Max, focuses on the value of good manners, the value of magic words – please and thank you.

The second book Now I’m Two, celebrates the terrific two-year stage while the third book is Responsible Rosanna.

Borel said, “It carries parents and children on this journey with Rosanna throughout her day, in which we explore that big word ‘responsibility’ and see just how important it is and having children be able to embrace and call into being what we wish for them —to be responsible citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.

These books are currently available at Nigel R Khan book sellers nationwide.