Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 12, 1994 TAG: 9404120062
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But this one's not aimed at the opposite sex, ladies. McLamb's firing this shot into the home camp.
Be forewarned. She's aiming right smack at the Center of Guilt. The Circle of Self Doubt. The Arena of Self-Perpetuating Anxiety.
McLamb, who will be tonight's speaker at Community Hospital's 10th annual "Women's Forum," is going to tell you that if you're overworked, overstressed, overburdened and exhausted from trying to be all things to all people . . .
It's your own fault.
Ouch.
"Let me tell you, this is not a male-bashing program," said the newly married Laura McLamb Hamilton, who's changing her name on the grounds that if she's going to make some man's name famous, it might just as well be her new husband's - not her ex-husband's or her father's.
"We've chosen to do what we do," she said she'll tell her audience.
And what's that?
Everything, she said.
A full day's work. The cooking. The cleaning. The child-rearing. Not to mention waiting on everybody hand and foot at the end of the day.
Mix you a drink, honey? A little snack for the kids?
I'll get it.
Forget it. And drop all that woe is me stuff, while you're at it. McLamb doesn't want to hand out any "Supermom" certificates. But don't expect Phyllis Schafly, either.
She's not interested in turning your generational clocks back to the days of June Cleaver.
She just wants you to be happy.
Laugh a little. Take some time for yourself. Learn to say no.
Tell the husband and kids to fix their own snacks.
"They're big enough to find their way to work, they can find their way to the refrigerator," she said.
McLamb, 41, promises to inject a little humor into the program she says is her most popular. It's called, "Woman: Are You Invincible?" She started delivering it six years ago after her friends told her her fast-paced lifestyle and "glamorous" job in communicationsmade it seem like she "had it all."
"I didn't," she said. She realized then that she and other women placed unrealistic expectations upon themselves, and invited others to do the same.
So she developed a talk around the idea that women should sit back, take a deep breath and realize that, "you can't be perfect at every role that's asked of you to play."
McLamb says she gave the talk about 80 times last year, more than any other. And McLamb talks a lot. It's what she does for a living.
Companies pay her between $100 and $2,000 per speech, she said. The Center for Women's Health Education at Community Hospital will pay her close to $1,000 for this one, which she will deliver tonight at 7 p.m. at Mill Mountain Theater. Admission is $10 per person and includes coffee and dessert.
McLamb's program continues a tradition of nationally known motivational speakers sponsored by the women's center, said Kathy Randolph, a women's health representative and registered nurse.
For the past decade, the center has brought in women such as Dr. Joyce Brothers to speak on issues that are useful for women but also "leave them with a good feeling," Randolph said.
McLamb, who lives near Charlotte but travels several times a week, also delivers talks on time management, management skills, customer service, telemarketing and telephone professionalism, she said. She has a bachelor's degree in speech communication from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Randolph said the women's center selected her based upon the recommendation of an employee, who heard McLamb speak at a seminar.
"She's excellent, and she's humorous," Randolph said.
She's also quite serious.
"Women need to hear this," McLamb said. "I feel like it's a mission for me."
by CNB