Meet Amanda Mae
Despite being a spokesmodel, I didn't feel seen.
Not for who I actually was. People saw a face before they saw a person — and I spent years feeling like I had to prove I was more than that, before I ever gave myself permission to pursue what I actually wanted.
Hey there! I’m Amanda Mae Gray.
I can remember being very little at a family gathering where my aunt and uncle would compete to entertain with jokes, tricks, and gags. My grandparents would practice their skits at home before going to bowling night every Wednesday to entertain their friends. My mother was in the choir and was the director of the children’s choir at church. Being on stage and entertaining was just what you did in my family. Not that anyone made money doing it, no! It was just part of life.
I started modeling accidentally when I was 15 at the prom. The photographer said I was photogenic and asked to take photos just of me for his portfolio. Though I had been performing my whole life, this started to open new doors that lead to pageants and then spokesmodeling.
Despite all of this, I still struggled with feeling good enough as I inevitably compared myself to more successful women than I and frequently got bulled and teased growing up. When I dressed up people would call me pretty but not intelligent, so when it came to getting into sales, I struggled with making a great first impression.
Looking back, that's the moment I understood something I now teach on stages across the country: people don't just want to be looked at. They want to be seen — for who they actually are, past the surface. And until someone is seen, they can't be truly heard either; no one listens closely to a person they've already decided they understand. It would take me years to learn how to create that for myself. Now it's what I help organizations create for their people.
I discovered something…
Being a spokesmodel for massive brands like Don Julio, Crown Royal, and Johnnie Walker, I found it easy to walk into any festival, event, bar, or club without any thought. I was simply going to work.
The power and respect those brands had built up was very easy to stand confidently wearing their labels. And yes, it is one of the coolest jobs in the world! But it occurred to me that my whole demeanor was different when I was working vs. when I had to be an individual representing myself.
I felt like I was on top of the world! I stood taller. My posture was on point. I was confident in my words because I was the expert on those brands with years of training.
It got me wondering, “What if I took that same approach when I had to make first impressions for my own personal brand?”
Then I tried it going to a conference that I did NOT have a ticket to… and it worked!
My friend Kathy asked me once inside, “How did you do it? How did you just walk right in?”
“Simple-” I said “I just looked like I was supposed to be here, acted like I was supposed to be here, believed I was supposed to be here, so here I am!”
That’s how the L.A.B. Method was born: Look, Act, Be.
Look, Act, Be is what got me seen — it's the entrance. Everything I've built since has been figuring out the rest of it: how someone goes from being seen, to being heard, to actually belonging somewhere. That's the throughline in every keynote I deliver today.
“People have to be SEEN before they can Show Up, People have to be HEARD before they can Listen”
— Amanda Mae Gray