What if some of the most important leadership in your life happened before you ever realized you were leading?

In this episode of Jam Sessions With Tina Eliana, Tina sits down with educator, editor, writing coach, and podcast host Holly Totten for a conversation about influence, storytelling, and the voices we leave behind.

Holly spent years in the classroom before bringing those lessons into her work with writers. Along the way, she discovered something that reaches far beyond teaching or editing: people are paying attention to how we show up, even when we cannot yet see the impact.

Tina and Holly explore the connection between leadership and everyday influence, why strong leaders sometimes need to step back instead of taking center stage, and what can happen when someone finally recognizes leadership qualities in themselves that others have seen all along.

Their conversation also moves into storytelling and the delicate balance between improving someone's words and editing away the very voice that makes the story theirs. For Holly, helping people preserve that voice is central to writing, legacy, and meaningful connection.

From former students who still remember lessons decades later to writers wondering whether their experiences are worth sharing, Editification is a conversation about what remains after the moment has passed.

Because influence does not require a title, and your story cannot make an impact if your voice disappears from it.

ABOUT HOLLY TOTTEN

Holly Totten is an educator, nonfiction editor, writing coach, and host of The Edit podcast. After a career spent teaching English and writing, she carried what she learned in the classroom into her work with authors, helping writers strengthen their stories without losing the voice that makes those stories uniquely theirs.

Through editing and writing coaching, Holly works with people who are ready to tell their stories, whether they need help getting started, finishing what they have begun, or shaping their words into a finished piece that still sounds like them.

For more information about Holly and her work, visit:

https://www.writelynotable.com

To learn more about Holly and this episode, visit:

jamsessionswithtinaeliana.com/holly-totten

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To access prior episodes, listen to the Jam Sessions Jukebox, and learn more about each guest, visit:

jamsessionswithtinaeliana.com

ABOUT TINA ELIANA

Tina Eliana is a Leadership and Learning Systems Expert, author, speaker, podcast host, and community builder who helps individuals recognize the leader within themselves and helps organizations build learning and development systems that strengthen leadership across teams.

A four-time WGU graduate and WGU Alumni Ambassador, Tina is also a patient advocate for Visual Snow Syndrome, using education, storytelling, and advocacy to increase awareness and understanding.

Across her work is a simple belief:

Leadership isn’t reserved for people with titles. It lives in the influence of our everyday choices.