094: Speaking and Showing Up Powerfully as Women with Molly Baker McPherson

When my guest Molly McPherson introduced herself in the Speaking Your Brand Facebook group and said one of her topics is helping women speak powerfully, I knew I had to have her on the podcast.

Molly McPherson is a PR professional and speaker, with a focus on communicating in the digital age and crisis communication, helping her clients protect their reputations with proactive plans and messaging.

In this episode, Molly and I talk about specific strategies we can use as women to come across more powerfully, whether it’s in person or in how we write.

We also talk about the Kavanaugh hearings and the contrast between how Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh showed up and what that indicates about the emotional range women in public are expected and permitted to have vs. what men can do and what that means going forward.

About My Guest: Molly Baker McPherson is an accredited PR professional with 20 years of experience in corporate and cooperative crisis communications and social media. She served as Director of Communications for the Cruise Line International Association, helped launch FEMA’s first social media program and worked in post-Hurricane Katrina’s FEMA Office of External Affairs. Molly speaks regularly about best practices for communicating in the digital age and crisis communication, helping clients protect their reputations with proactive plans and messaging.

The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals create their signature talks and gain more visibility to achieve their goals. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power: on stages, in businesses, on boards, in the media, in politics, and in our communities. Check out our coaching programs and workshops at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/94

Connect with Molly on her website at https://mollymcpherson.com/.

Check out Molly’s free PDF at https://www.mollymcpherson.com/speakingyourbrand.

Listen to Molly’s new podcast “Communicate with Confidence”.

Book recommendation: “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger” by Rebecca Traister

Emma Gonzalez speech at March for Our Lives rally

Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/ or text the word SPEAKING to 444-999.

Sign up for a Strategy Session at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/strategy.

Ready to create your signature talk and framework? Email me at carol@speakingyourbrand.com or click here to schedule a call.

Say hi to me on Instagram and Twitter: @CarolMorganCox.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts and leave a review!

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 20: Perfectionism, the Good Girl, and the Gremlins that Hold Us Back with Regena Garrepy
• Episode 40: Why Women Need to Speak Up and Roar with Sophia Eng
• Episode 46: We All Need a Wingwoman with Mia Scharphie
• Episode 92: Deconstructing My TEDx Talk - Why We’re Uncomfortable with Women in Power

Become Bookable Live Online Workshop - April 15, 2026
If you want to speak more but you’re not sure where to start or your efforts haven’t produced the results you want, I’m hosting a live online workshop called “Become Bookable: How to Get Speaking Invitations” on Wednesday, April 15th.

A lot of brilliant women assume they just need to pitch themselves more. But the real reason speakers get invited isn’t because they pitch harder — it’s because they’re positioned as bookable.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop live on Zoom, I’ll show you how speakers actually get invited — and help you clarify the positioning that makes event organizers say yes.

As a podcast listener, use the coupon code “Podcast100” to save $100 on your registration.

Learn more and register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/bookable