Please help me write my Cosmo article!

[Alexandra]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working on an article on "Verbal Mistakes Women Make in the Workplace" for the September issue of Cosmopolitan and I need some quotes.

There are 2 groups of people I need quotes from:

- Women between the ages of 20 - 35 who have made (and conquered) verbal mistakes

- Bosses or coworkers who have/have had employees/coworkers who make/have made these common mistakes.

There are 6 mistakes the article is focusing on:

1. Using pointless fillers (i.e. "like" um" "you know")

2. Upspeak: ending every sentence as if were a question (i.e. "Hi, this is Susan? I'm calling from JP Morgan?")

3. Swearing, slang and informality (i.e. addressing clients as "you guys")

4. Speaking too softly

5. Using qualifiers before ideas (i.e. "I know this is a stupid idea, but...")

6. Phrasing commands as questions (i.e. saying "do you think you could have this report finished by Friday?" instead of "please have this report finished by Friday.")

I would like to have a quote from a woman (age 20 - 35) who has made one of these common mistakes in the past, and a very brief explanation of how she got over it. For example: "I used to say "like" every other word, but now I try to pause for a second or two to make sure I know what I'm saying before I say it." Ideally, I will have 6 different quotes corresponding to each problem. I need a name and an age for these quotes, but YOUR NAME WILL BE CHANGED in the actual article (unless you don't want it to be).

I would also like a quote from a supervisor or coworker of who has/had a female employee (age 20 - 35) who makes/has made one of these 6 common verbal mistakes, and why it is/was distracting or negative. For example: "One of our editorial assistants used to talk so quietly it was almost impossible to hear her, so her ideas never got heard." Ideally, I will have 6 different quotes corresponding to each problem. For this quote, we would like a name, age and name/type of company -- YOUR NAME MAY OR MAY NOT BE CHANGED, so please indicate whether you have a preference.

If you can help me out, I need these quotes no later than May 15.

Please send me a PM if you can help me out.... thanks, everyone!

xoxo

Alexandra