The Power of the Ask

Finding Your Voice & Asking for What You Deserve: The Precious Williams Story

• Lisa Zeiderman, Savvy Ladies Board Chair, Managing Partner at Miller Zeiderman LLP, and Precious Williams, Savvy Ladies Board of Directors, CEO/Founder of Perfect Pitch Group • Season 1 • Episode 17

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Are you ready for a dose of real talk and raw inspiration? Join Lisa Zeiderman and Precious Williams, co-hosts of the Power of the Ask Podcast, for a unique episode where they turn the tables and interview each other!

In this episode, Precious takes center stage. She doesn’t hold back as she shares her incredible journey from a challenging childhood in St. Louis to a nationally recognized speaker and sales trainer. Hear how she overcame adversity, including homelessness and personal loss, to build a thriving business and become a voice for the voiceless. Discover the turning point when Precious realized that “asking was breaking the cycle of silence, guilt, and shame” that held her back for years.

This discussion will inspire you to:

  • Embrace Resilience: Learn how Precious bounced back from rock bottom, again and again.
  • Find Your Voice: Discover the power of communication and authentic self-expression.
  • Build a Support Network: Hear why having a trusted circle is crucial for success.
  • Transform Pain Into Purpose: Be inspired by Precious’s commitment to helping others.

Stay tuned for the next episode where Lisa Zeiderman shares her powerful story!

About Precious:
Precious Williams is a  nationally recognized pitchmaster. As the founder of Perfect Pitches By Precious LLC, Precious teaches women how to communicate better by crafting messages that radiate authority and trust, so that clients and customers become fans for life. Whether she’s helping small business owners work out elevator pitches to potential investors for a new product or training speakers for a pitching competition, Precious combines her communications and storytelling savvy with masterful marketing know-how to generate stellar results.

Precious Williams has written three #1 bestselling books on pitching, “Bad Bitches and Power Pitches:  For Women Entrepreneurs A and Speakers Only!” and the “Bad Bitches and Power Pitches: The Workbook” and  “Pitching for Profit:  The Bad Bitches Playbook to Convert Conversations Into Currency.” 


Important Links:
Savvy Ladies
Precious Williams' LinkedIn
Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn

Lisa Zeiderman (00:06.291)

Hey everyone, welcome to the power of the Ask podcast, which helps you get what you need financially and personally. We are so glad that you're here today. My name is Lisa Ziderman. am managing partner at Miller Ziderman and I am one of the co-hosts with my dear friend, Precious Williams, the killer pitch master and CEO of the Perfect Pitch Group.


Precious L. Williams (00:29.723)

I love it, Lisa. Thank you so much. I'm so glad that we're co-hosts together. Yes, I'm Precious Williams, founder and CEO of The Perfect Pitch Group. So welcome back again. This week, we're excited to dive a little deeper into our stories on The Power of the Ask. Now with The Power of the Ask, we have spoken to so many amazing women who are doing it big in entrepreneurship, financial services, and they've been teaching us a lot. We thought that it would be great if you all hear our story.

Hear from us in our backstories, what led us here and what lessons we can impart to you so that you really understand that the power of the ask truly changes everything. Are you ready, Queen Lisa?


Lisa Zeiderman (01:13.093)

Ready, precious. I am ready all the time. So let's do it. So this is so exciting for me to actually learn more about you precious, although I think I know a lot about you. But for our audience to learn more about you, I think it's just such an incredible moment here. And I'd love to hear about your story about how you got to where you are now, which is to have this incredible business, this branding business.


Precious L. Williams (01:14.539)

Let's go.


Lisa Zeiderman (01:41.683)

Where you were speaking across the country and people, and in fact, it happened this week, people are asking you to come and speak for them and they're requesting you and you have branded yourself in such an incredible way that, and you're all over social media, we see you everywhere. So tell us how you got here.


Precious L. Williams (02:02.977)

I am, as you were saying that I was thinking we're two attorneys talking to each other who are real people. So my story begins in St. Louis, Missouri. I am from the Midwest. I'm from the show me state. So if you think you're bad, you gonna have to show me. I've been speaking professionally since I was 16 years old. My grandmother is the first person to ever say to me that when I speak, people listen and imagine being in the inner city.

Where you're constantly told you'll never make it or you'll live in a four-family flat with multiple baby daddies. When I was 12 years old, I realized I did not want kids. And not because I don't like kids, but because I had such a traumatic childhood with my mother who nearly beat me to death when I was 12 years old and a father who has been a drug addict since he was 18 years old. So I didn't see a lot of positive.

Role models in my life. But if it wasn't for my teachers, my grandparents, I wouldn't be where I am today. At 15 years old, I went to live with my grandparents, my beloved grandmother, precious Delores Williams, who is on the wall right here, as she always was in my life, and my grandfather, Raymond Woodrow Williams. And in living with them, I never had to worry about where my next meal was coming from. I never had to worry about love.

That I was driven to school in the hood, which you know is a big deal. At 16 years old, the principal of my high school asked me to speak at an event. We didn't know it was before the mayor of the city of St. Louis, Freeman Basler Jr. And my English teachers wrote my speech. And this is back in the day when you came up with your folder and those printed out words on paper. I remember I opened it. I opened up the folder and I just knew what to do.

And as I was speaking, never saw the paper before, never looked at it before, but just understood the assignment. And so as I was speaking, my grandmother just beaming right over there, just beaming and I'm killing it and getting standing ovations. And even at the time, I don't think I understood what I had really done. My next speaking engagement before the governor of Missouri. So I started off speaking to political, you know, VIPs and people like that about the state of the St. Louis public schools and being one of the only students that was constantly in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who was able to transcend poverty to be able to speak at a certain level where politicians would say, she's really good. My grandparents knew I wanted to go to college and they would prefer for me to go to school in St. Louis, but I knew that my fame and fortune lied outside of it. So I applied to Spelman College.

Received a full scholarship, which is a whole story in and of itself. And they told me I would never make it. I would never compete against the girls who came from money and great families. But there was something in me that said, I beat poverty, if I beat my mother trying to kill me, if I beat my father trying to sell me, if I made it to be able to speak to political figures with confidence and grace, I'm coming. And so going to Spelman was one of the best decisions of my life. I finished in four years, was the first recipient of the Bill of Melinda Gates Scholarship. a full scholarship to Georgetown University Law Center. True that. Had difficulties. I started in 2001, was the same, I moved in the same day Aliyah died, August 25th, 2001. September 11th, I was there.


Lisa Zeiderman (05:25.415)

Wow.


Precious L. Williams (05:43.227)

And in 2002, I was kicked out of Georgetown University Law Center. I had left on my birthday, January 22nd, and didn't come back to March 15th. So I understand now. But I was going through a lot of issues that I had never dealt with. Anyway, got a, my mentor from Sullivan and Cromwell, Bill Schroeder, told me to go over to Rutgers Law, meet with the deans, which you could never do at Georgetown at the time, and met with the dean.

Was offered a full scholarship because I got into a lot of amazing schools and started at Rutgers in 2003. Finished as the number one student attorney in my class in 2006. Won all of my cases in special remand court against those seasoned prosecutors. And then I passed the New York State Bar on my first try February 2007, because I finished December 2006. February 2007, passed New York May 4th, failed New Jersey May 7th.

And then I knew I graduated May 25th, 2007, already knowing I'm going to New York. Sullivan and Cromwell, clerk for federal judge in the Southern District, worked in medical malpractice, products liability, toxic torts, Hydel, Patoni, Murky, and Bob. Had my own firm doing landlord, tenant, and mortgage foreclosure defense before deciding to become an entrepreneur. I started Curvy Girls Lounge Ray when I was 327 pounds, just left my ex-fiancee seven years.

Didn't understand that what led me to where I am was the art of communication, all written, being able to connect at different levels. And my first pitch in that landed me on national television. My second pitch on Your Business with JJ Ramberg, I walked away with half a million dollars in 54 seconds. Imagine everybody telling me no, but I've been told that all my life, such a threat that's gone through my life, you can't do it. And I did.


Then was on Shark Tank Season 8 in 2016. Love of my life died who inspired the company. Had a very severe reaction, grief. Tried to take my life on my 38th birthday, but I am here at 45 years old. I've restarted my company out of homelessness, perfect features by precious. And I was determined that the two years that I was homeless, there was a deep work that had to be done in me.


Precious L. Williams (08:06.555)

And to heal old wounds. And I did that and I came back with a vengeance. yeah, so that's how I, that's how I got here. Restarting my company, working with the very companies that blessed me, bottomless closet, savvy ladies. So yes, I went through savvy ladies before becoming a board member, winning the inspiration award in 2020. Now being a board member, my company has been rebranded from Perfect Pictures by Precious.


To the Perfect Pitch group, we provide sales training, presentations, keynote, all those sort of things for companies, corporations, foundations, and nonprofits. And I've been the rock bottom many times in my life. And I have always come back harder because of the art and the science of communicating and understanding that people need compassion. They also need their issues to truly be addressed and to not be the social media version of anything. I'm truly enamored with what able to do with my clients, with my customers, or with individuals who feel like they've lost everything because I've lost it and came back. So that's my story.


Lisa Zeiderman (09:12.531)

came back. It's amazing, Precious. You know, I've heard your story many times, okay, parts of it, never the entire story from start to finish. So this was really great. I love getting to know you more and more. And every time I'm with you, I learn a little bit more about you. yep, and it's always very interesting. And I think it's your resilience. That is so incredible for you and that really makes you who you are. It's all about resilience for you really. And you're right, you come back stronger and you are one of the strongest women that I know. So I really, I have to say, I totally appreciate you. I really do. And I'm so.


Precious L. Williams (09:44.985)

Yes.


Precious L. Williams (09:49.637)

Yes.


Precious L. Williams (10:02.117)

Queen, you know the feeling is so mutual.


Lisa Zeiderman (10:04.677)

I do, I do, I do. All right, so here's the question, right? Here's one question. Was there a time when you asked for something that really led to a change or a significant turning point in your life or your career? And if so, what was it that you asked for? And how did you go about asking for it?


Precious L. Williams (10:34.075)

When I tell you there are so many, so many scenarios that came through my mind, I'll start with this. Late last year, I had two multi-six figure contracts. On the line. And I'm so excited. We had just gotten a small team together for Perfect Pitch Group. We knew we were rebranding. And I'm waiting just for the signing.


Precious L. Williams (11:05.583)

Those contracts were never signed.


Precious L. Williams (11:10.041)

This is a hard time of year for me, you know, in terms of family and things like that. And I didn't know what to do and I didn't know how to talk about it because I felt like such a failure. Like how in the world is this possible? I didn't work so hard. I called one of our board members because I was deeply ashamed. Like what am I doing? And I wasn't asking her for money. I just didn't know what to do and I was ashamed and like.

I did everything right, why are they not being signed? And Ruchi sat with me and she said, they're not supposed to be signed.

What? Jigga who? Jigga what? She said, no, that's to tell you what's coming. And you need to know that. I said, I can't pay for everything. I just moved. I did all these sort of things. And she said,

Where's coming Queen? So January, 2024, I'm getting ready to turn 45. I had met with my business advisor and he said to me, this is your starting rate for big companies. This is like, you've never asked for this before, but that's what we're going to do. So I went to Houston to speak at a Queens event, VIP day. And I was treated like such a VIP on top of VIP. Before

I spoke, I got two phone calls, one from a speaking bureau that was deciding between three speakers and they didn't represent me, but my name was said by the company. And then a major insurance company contacted me saying, we've been watching you for three years. We have a full day training. We love for you to do what the rates looking like. So I said it, not thinking they were going to go with it.


Precious L. Williams (13:11.214)

Yes, yes?


And then I...


Precious L. Williams (13:18.479)

And I introduced the rain making, speaking, and branding accelerator to two women who I greatly respected. They said, yes, yes, no payment plan paid.

And I went back to Ruchi and she said, greater is coming. She said, you have to see yourself the way we all see you part of business. And you might've forgotten to see is everything isn't going to be a yes. And it's stretching you and pushing you. so asking at that rate and standing in it was a game changer. then presenting that to women I greatly admired. There was no question. It was like,

I said, payment, no, full, we've been watching you for years. So standing in it and saying yes, and then watching the entire year as Verizon and other companies and private associations were booking me and hiring me. That is what was the game changer for me. But it started with being vulnerable enough to say something to a board member that I knew before she was a board member and her reminding me that, you ain't seen nothing yet.


Lisa Zeiderman (14:31.901)

So, know, Precious, I think it's interesting about that. I think it's the ability to lean in to other women and to have other women part of your sort of your board of directors, right? Who can help you. But it's also this ability to really, to deal with the adversity and then to still move on to that next event, right? And to...


Precious L. Williams (14:38.64)

Yes.


Precious L. Williams (14:45.763)

Yes.


Lisa Zeiderman (15:00.317)

Put the adversity to the side and still actually go out and continue building. Because I think that that's part of the key. That I think is one of the biggest difficulties for people is that when they face adversity, then they get down in terms of adversity as opposed to feeling like, okay, I gotta put the adversity to the side and now I gotta just keep going and keep pushing through. And that's what you did, which is how you made yourself such a success. Great for Ruchi. We give a shout out to Ruchi.


Precious L. Williams (15:30.905)

Not at Ruchi! Watch her prosper.


Lisa Zeiderman (15:33.723)

Right, exactly, and obviously unbelievable for you. And I'm sure that there is times that you feel uncertain about making some big request, some big deal that you wanna make, and you've gotta make that big ask, right? The power of the ask. So how do you deal with making that big ask and understanding that you may get turned down?

And you may have to do it again in a different time or whatever it is, how do you actually make that big ask and deal with that uncertainty that comes with possibly being denied?


Precious L. Williams (16:13.419)

Right. So I've been denied a lot in life and I want to take a page from what you just said. Being a professional means I have to compartmentalize. So even if things, I remember I spoke at Microsoft and I had just learned my cousin had died of an opioid overdose. And then this year I, my cousin was murdered in St. Louis. So having to just be like, I am, I have to understand my assignment no matter what.

I'm going to show up professional grade because I have 30 years in this. This isn't my first rodeo. And it's something that great women have, have said to me, being able to compartmentalize and do your job and still have a support network who will love on you. After you come off that stage, I've made a lot of big requests in my life, but I would just say in the last two years,

I have made a big request and especially you can see what's happening in the economy. Let's be very clear. So today I got rejected from something that seemed like a sure thing. And I think this is probably, I don't know, the seventh rejection this year. And what kept me going is that people watched me for three years, four years before hiring me because we have a lot of flash in a pan people, a lot of flashy people. And so, for that insurance company to come three years later or for this other company to come, you know, two years after watching to see if I am who I say I am, making sure that no matter what, how do you keep your funnel full? How do you keep letting your VIP network know this is where I'm going, asking for opportunities, but also showing the track record of success, getting them to hear when they hear opportunities, that's for precious. So that is what is I'm being a resource to.

Others who are growing their businesses. I'm being a resource to women. You asked me to do something. And if it's within my power, I'm going to do it because you've shown me your track record of saying our names, saying our that, and just remembering part of being a winner is accepting losses too. You cannot win every time. And so that's it, Queen.


Lisa Zeiderman (18:27.013)

Exactly. You know, I think that's so true. And I try to teach the lawyers who I mentor that same thing that some days you may not win every case, but you've got to be able to pick yourself up and make the best of it and figure out with your client how to deal with that and go on, right? You have to go on. And I think that it is about putting yourself out there.

And asking for the help and asking for the opportunities. And I know you do this, you put yourself right on out there and you are good about asking for help. I I think that this is actually a positive quality that you have and looking for opportunities. what have you learned about yourself in terms of being able to do this? What makes you...


Precious L. Williams (19:04.046)

HAHAHAHA


Lisa Zeiderman (19:21.507)

Able to do this on an ongoing day in, day out basis. Go out there, look for these opportunities, put yourself out there, ask and ask.


Precious L. Williams (19:31.621)

You know what, Queen, I thank you for asking me this because even I sometimes get so scared, right? If you've ever been in business or relationships or if you've ever had a career.

I am used to asking for certain things and certain things still kind of catch me up. I have to push myself out there. And I know that by me doing that, my story doesn't belong to me. It belongs to who's coming next. And instead of looking on social media where everybody's living this perfect life, I want to share that in business, you're not going to win them all. In the courtroom, you're not going to win them all. But what you must do is take the lessons.


Lisa Zeiderman (20:11.763)

Exactly.


Precious L. Williams (20:17.229)

I also keep trusted wise counsel around me like you and other of our board members. I ask because you all will provide, but I can't lie and say there aren't times I wish I would have asked. I wish I would have said something because even in business, this time of year gets really sketchy when you're waiting for your corporate clients to pay you on time and they don't.

But you have your team and all these sort of things and knowing it's going to be paid. That's one thing I can honestly say it will be paid, but it does put you behind. What do you do? And you also want to show others that,

We got to ask, but be careful who you're asking and at what time. So knowing that too, and I think in 45 years I have seen the game and I got a phone call from, you know, a great friend and they're struggling and I had offered back then and they said no, but they asked me today and I said, Hey, I'm waiting on payments. I said, but when I have it, I'll make sure that I take care of you.

Do you know how hard it, that would have been hard years ago to have that conversation, but to be direct and say, I got you. Let me take care of everything else. But I got you. Cause I've seen your track record. So I'm still a work in progress. I still get ver clemp clutch, my imaginary pearls, but there are people behind us who need to see that it can be done. So that's why I do


Lisa Zeiderman (21:51.389)

Great. It's great. So, you know, we've heard about some of your upbringing and obviously it has shaped your life, your upbringing. How do you think specifically your upbringing shaped your ability to ask for what you need, particularly given the fact that, you know, there was violence, you know, you couldn't really probably speak up that much as a child because you, I'm sure there was a lot of fear.

It was violent. So how do you, how does your upbringing actually help you and shape your ability to ask for what you need?


Precious L. Williams (22:42.701)

I was an unwanted child.


Precious L. Williams (22:47.863)

I craved love that I couldn't get. I didn't know how to ask for it, but I knew at school that I was gonna be the best at everything because at school I got attention. had teachers who understood that I had a genius in me, put me in genius and talented classes. They didn't let my skin color or anything dictate what they saw was genius.

It wasn't math genius, wasn't science genius, it was communication genius.


Precious L. Williams (23:24.185)

And so I grew to crave that and being the best. But I can tell you this, awards you can't take to bed with you at night. You can't wrap your arms around those things.

So as great as I was internally, I was stunted emotionally.

So when I was in law school, that was one of the reasons why I couldn't deal with certain things. When I was in law school, everybody's father and mother was a diplomat, an ambassador, a lawyer. I couldn't say that. And I felt ashamed of where I came from. And I carried that shame for years. The reason why I have no shame today is because I opened up to the right people.

Who saw there was a stunting? I can be the greatest on stage. But I thought that everything around me had to be about stats and awards and achievements, and that stunted me. I needed to know I was loved. So when I went through my homeless journey at the Bowie Mission Women's Center, that was the first time none of my awards and achievements I would let anybody speak about. Because I'm precious, and I need to understand why God made me.

What gifts did he have in me other than the ability to speak? How could I become a better advocate when I have no money? How could I speak for my sisters who were in the struggle with me? How could I do it? And I learned it there. And by studying the Bible, by going to discipleship classes, by volunteering, there was a different precious that emerged. And so I never was this emotional before. I was stone cold, thugged out. So for me,


Precious L. Williams (25:12.377)

The asking was breaking the cycle. Asking was breaking the cycle of silence. It was breaking the cycle of guilt and shame that kept me from saying how I was feeling. And it made such a difference and it made me more compassionate. So my upbringing made me hard.

The longer I've been in my forties has been a blessing to be a blessing to others because I ask, because I say people's names, because I push them forward. And I'm no longer ashamed of where I came from because that was no bearing on where I went.


Lisa Zeiderman (25:54.333)

You know, it's interesting, Precious, I think that your upbringing made you more compassionate too. Right? I think that your upbringing made you more open to help others. I think that your upbringing certainly gave you the ability to go out there and push. but it also made you a very strong advocate for yourself. And I think that, I mean, that's the power of the ask, right?


Precious L. Williams (26:23.962)

Guess.


Lisa Zeiderman (26:24.031)

is being an advocate for yourself. And I think it was your upbringing, certainly part of the reason that you have a very strong and tenacious ability to ask for what you need or what you want or what is going to move you to the next spot. But it's your compassion that also gets you there.

because so many people and including our board, we adore you as you know, and it's certainly part and parcel of your compassion. And so I think it's all of you put together and all of your experiences, including your upbringing, including how you pushed through school, including how you became a success, including how you hit rock bottom and including how you came back.

From rock bottom, that makes you the perfect person to answer this next question, which is that if someone feels stuck or hesitant to make that request, what is the very first step that you suggest that they take?


Precious L. Williams (27:40.953)

The very first step I suggest that they take is talk to wise counsel. The very first step, because in your own mind, you get stuck in this loop. But talking to others that may show you a better way to ask, they may just wrap you in love and tell you a closed mouth don't get fed. And that what you think you need to have, you don't.

Because people are going to hear you with love, not statistics. The second thing that I would do is take action. Take action. Because a lot of us hear people who talk all day long, especially like I'm a former attorney. People talk a good game all day long. I'm like, I'm from the show me state. So you got to show me. Don't talk about it. Be about it. So that's, that's the first step is seeking wise counsel.

And my wise counsel was outside of my family. It was people that I trusted who wouldn't give me fluff. And that is true. And Queen, yes, my background taught me about resilience and determination, but I feel like that's the cliche answer. There were other things I wanted to pull out so that people can honestly hear that I don't want my study to be the story of struggle. I want it to be a story of triumph and power.

And that these are the things that you will encounter. You may not go through the trauma that I went through, but you are going to go through some things that are going to change you. And in that, asking for help for the right people, but also cultivating relationships so that when you do ask, people with open arms open up to you. Thank you, Kui. Thank you. These are great questions.


Lisa Zeiderman (29:30.195)

Thank you, precious.