Pegine Echevarria is a stand-up comedian and motivational speaker who lives in Ponte Vedra Beach.
HOW DO YOU EDUCATE AND ENTERTAIN?
“I incorporate my business experiences from being a salesperson and senior level manager with my theatrical and comical training. The programs I do make people laugh while incorporating business principals, which enables them to remember the program. People remember more when they laugh.”
HOW DID YOU GET INTO PUBLIC SPEAKING?
“After one of my corporate positions, I ran a program for high-risk teens and incorporated some of my sales and management experience in dealing with them. We had such phenomenal success that Montel Williams heard about it and brought me on his show. When I met Montel, he said I was crazy enough to be a motivational speaker and that I had a message that people wanted to hear.”
HOW MANY TIMES ON THE MONTEL WILLIAMS SHOW?
Thirty-two times. “I’ve been a motivational speaker and comedian for six years full-time, but according to my mother it’s been since I was three.”
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT PUBLIC SPEAKING?
“I like to know that I have taken an active role in helping them choose a better way of doing things. That just gives me such a high. When they add that they haven’t laughed like that in a long time, it is such a gift to know that not only did they learn new skills, but that they enjoyed it.”
BEFORE BECOMING A MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER?
She was president of a direct sales company, a national sales manager for a clothing manufacturer and a salesperson for a boat dealership and clothing manufacturer.
WILD THING?
Her website boasts that she is known as the “Wild Thing” for her behavior during her speeches.
WHAT TYPE OF GROUPS WANT YOUR SERVICES?
She speaks to corporations, business leaders, organizations undergoing change, sales forces and association members. “I do a lot work with banks and insurance companies, including Merrill Lynch, State Farm, Chase Manhattan Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and New York Life. I speak nationally, internationally and locally.”
A WRITER, TOO?
She wrote “For All Our Daughters: How Mentoring Helps Young Women and Girls Master the Art of Growing Up” to help professional women learn to mentor girls to be successful.
HER NEW BOOK?
She is working on “Play Big,” a book about how success begins when people choose to play big. “It’s about choice. We often choose to play small because we are more comfortable with that.”
PLAY SMALL?
“Small is an acronym: ‘S’ means too sensitive, ‘M’ is too me focused, ‘A’ stands for negative attitude, ‘L’ stands for loosen up and stop being so tight and other ‘L’ stands for let it go.”
PLAY BIG?
“ ‘P’ stands for persistence, ‘L’ stands for laugh a lot, ‘A’ stands for attitude of gratitude, ‘Y’ stands for your choice, ‘B’ means to be a mentor and find a mentor, ‘I’ stands for invest in yourself and ‘G’ stands for get a network.”
HOW MANY DAYS A MONTH DO YOU TRAVEL?
About 10 days a month.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE?
“The neatest place I’ve ever been is Madrid, Spain. The most beautiful place has been Sun Valley, Idaho. I do a lot of work out West and at corporate headquarters in New York.”
A COMEDIAN?
She appears regularly at the Comedy Zone in Mandarin.
MOVED TO JACKSONVILLE?
Two years ago. “I love it. We used to come to Florida for vacation and now we live here.”
BIRTHPLACE
New York.
COLLEGE
She has a bachelor’s degree in theater arts from Hunter College and a master’s degree in social work from Adelphi University.
FAMILY
She has been married to Dr. David Herbin, a retired chiropractor who is working with a new company, Paladin, in Yulee, for 18 years. They have two children, Andrea, 14, and Kenneth, 16.
FAVORITES
Her favorite movie is “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” which traces the life of a woman who turns 40 and becomes an adventurer. “It made a big impact on me when I was younger. I wanted to be just like her. I love that movie.” A book that she would recommend is “The Aladdin Factor,” by Jack Canfield. “It’s about learning how to ask for what you want.” Also, “Think and Grow Rich,” by Nepoleon Hill is another book she recommends. When dining out, she enjoys Dwight’s Mediterranean Style Bistro in Jacksonville Beach. Her favorite place for relaxing is the Cabana Club in Ponte Vedra Beach. At home, she enjoys tuning into “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
— by Michele Newbern Gillis