KIM BODE
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Twenty years of building a Forbes Top 200 firm, and the argument for dropping the word soft.
Stop Calling Soft Skills Soft →
About Kim Bode
Kim Bode has been called too much, an acquired taste, aggressive, abrasive, and every other adjective reserved for loud women. If it is an uncomfortable truth, Bode will say it. Thank her ADHD, because what she really wants is for you to own your weird, use your own voice instead of outsourcing it to AI, step into your Big Deal Energy™, and stop calling soft skills soft.
She founded 8THIRTYFOUR, her communications and learning company, nearly 20 years ago, and she is the creator of Big Deal Energy™, which she describes as personal branding with a shot of tequila.
Twenty years racks up a lot of hardware. 8THIRTYFOUR has been named a Forbes Top 200 PR Firm, one of Michigan's 50 Companies to Watch, and Michigan Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year. Bode has been recognized as a Crain's Top Leader in DEI and PRSA JEDI Communicator of the Year, and the firm has collected more than 100 communication awards along the way.
When Bode speaks, facilitates, or delivers a keynote, it comes from more than 20 years of strategic communications colliding with her ADHD, her love of a well-placed f-bomb, trauma survived, stories lived, the spectacular failures and the lessons she collected from them, and the absolute hijinks of nine rescue dogs and a husband.
She has taken the stage at the Women in Defense National Conference, the Small Business Administration's ChallengeHER, the American Marketing Association, the HubZone National Conference, the Michigan Defense Expo, the Michigan Manufacturing Association, the Michigan Celebrates Small Business Summit, and Failure Lab.
She serves on the board of the Small Business Association of Michigan, including the Leadership Council Advisory Board and the Women's Business Council, and on the Women in Defense National Council. She has held board-level and advisory roles with Women Impacting Public Policy and the American Marketing Association.
Her work has been published in Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, HuffPost, Scary Mommy, and Thrive. She hosts the Happy Hour Hustle podcast and writes at BodeSpeaks.com, both of which she says pair best with Cabernet on ice, and she is fiercely passionate about personal branding, real-world survival skills, and finding comfort in the uncomfortable. She believes in that last one so deeply she has it tattooed on her arm.
She has been described as a force, as straight up weird, and as someone who comes in like a wrecking ball. One guy landed on real, raw, relatable. However you want to describe her, one thing is certain. She is unforgettable.
Watch Kim Bode In Action
Speaking Topics
Personal Branding With a Shot of Tequila
Big Deal Energy™ is the confidence of knowing exactly who you are, owning your quirks, and communicating your authentic self unapologetically.
Your personal brand is already working, whether you are managing it or not. People are forming opinions about you, deciding whether to work with you, and remembering you or forgetting you based on how you show up. Using her proprietary QUIRKS™ framework, Kim helps attendees turn the things they have been told to hide into their greatest professional asset. They leave with a personal brand that gets them sought out, referred, and remembered.
Where Communication Breakdown Actually Comes From
You work in an environment where relationships, trust, and follow-through are everything. You have Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z in the same room with completely different expectations around feedback, communication, and what it even means to be a professional. That friction is not invisible. It shows up in your turnover, in how your teams collaborate, and in whether the people you need actually stick around.
Kim breaks down where these breakdowns really come from and what to do about them, with strategies attendees can use immediately. They leave with a clear read on the real cost of communication breakdown and a practical framework for navigating conflict and building a culture where people do their best work.
What People Say
Kim Bode is a force to ALL — she is Big Deal Energy. She speaks her truth and then reminds others that their work not only matters but is necessary for a world that is kind and committed to the values we hold dear.
Michelle Letcher, Brigadier General (Retired)We were inspired by Kim Bode to fully bring ourselves to all situations, remembering that networking is not about who you know, but about who remembers you.
Mary Beth Wolf, PMP, Executive Communications Administration, Autocam MedicalKim Bode, you were the perfectly timed nudge that I needed to get out of my own way! Thanks for your support.
Fiona McPherson Grant, Principal Owner, FMG Data Works, LLCBest presentation in awhile (possibly ever!). I love female power and embracing the weird! I gut laughed so many times throughout the hour that even my 16 y/o geriatric somewhat blind and deaf dog wondered what was happening.
Sarah Beauregard, Industrial Security Consultant