DOWNEY — As a Bell Gardens employee for almost 15 years and with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley in his pocket, Marco Barcena felt very confident about his communication and leadership skills.

However, when he joined Toastmasters Club 587 in 2014, he realized there was plenty of room for improvement.

Since the beginning, Barcena started to work on his speeches, taking several roles during meetings and worked his way up to become president of the club in 2017.

"Toastmasters instantly gave me the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone by challenging me to work with a diverse group of leaders," said Barcena.

"I had to hit the ground running as a VP of Public Relations and work with a president that had a very different way of getting things done. This allowed me to grow as a leader almost instantly," said Barcena. "Similarly, receiving feedback via constructive evaluations allowed me to confirm areas in need of improvement in my communication as well as identify many new ones."

The recently elected to lead the Bell Gardens community as a councilman considers that the lessons learned in Toastmasters were fundamental to get the confidence to run for office. Now Barcena is certain he knows how to better deliver his message to his constituents that come to him for help.

"Often it takes many small wins to be able to reach those big milestones," he emphasized.

Toastmasters allowed him to see and understand the importance to listen to the people's varying points of view, said Barcena. Now he takes on the audience's perspective and simplifies his message to make it digestible for the public.

"Distilling my message along with applying feedback from fellow Toastmasters is what gave me the confidence to drive my message across in a memorable way," added the councilmember.

Currently, Barcena is the Area Director for Toastmasters and states very clearly that he would recommend Toastmasters to the people, "but only if they really want to grow."

NEW BOARD: Last month Dynamic Forcemasters Club 587 picked the new board that will serve from January to June of the present year. Adela Cervantes, President; Rene Estrada VP of Education; Veronica Sandoval, Secretary; Ralph Diaz, VP of Membership; Fabiola Barcena, VP of Public Relations; Emanuel Aparicio, Treasure; and Agustin Duran, Sergeant of Arms.

The Downey Toastmasters club meets Tuesdays from 6-7:30 p.m. at Downey First Baptist Church in room 116, across from the library. They can also be found on Facebook (@DowneyTM).