Terrie Gifford combines a career in teaching (Bachelor of Science, Western Michigan University) with 15 years’ worth of business and entrepreneurial experience.
She currently owns The Inside Edge: Inside Information for Professional Development which was founded in 2006 and is based in Schaghticoke, NY. Her value-added business services include individual and group speech coaching, on-site teambuilding for corporate and private groups, and improvisational workshops for children and adults.
As an independent contractor, she is the corporate teambuilding facilitator for the New York State “Agritourism Destination” Award-winning Liberty Ridge Farm in Schaghticoke, NY. Her clients include GE Pensions, Sabic Plastics, Berkshire Bank, Pitney Bowes/Map Info, NE Parent and Child, Albany Molecular (AMRI), Air National Guard, Mountain Media (Saratoga Springs), Lisha Kill Middle School, Congregation Beth Emeth Youth Group, and the Albany Medical Center First Year Pediatric Residents.
Utilizing Toastmasters International leadership training and public speaking skills for the past five and a half years has been a passion of Terrie’s. Her official Toastmasters designation is DTM, which means Distinguished Toastmaster, the highest designation Toastmasters International offers. In addition, she holds the completion certificate for her High Performance Leadership Project. In 2009, she completed a successful two-year stint as Club Coach for a local Toastmasters club in danger of failing. With her help, the club rebounded and membership was raised 733%.
For her Saratoga Springs Thorobred Toastmasters club, she has served as Club President (2006–2007) and Vice President of Public Relations (2005–2006). During her term as F-4 Area Governor (2007–2008), she was responsible for four clubs in Saratoga and Washington Counties seeking Distinguished Club status. She accomplished her goal of finishing the year with a Distinguished Area. Terrie is also the co-founder of the Capital Advanced Toastmasters (CAT), a club devoted to developing skills for professional public speakers. She serves as Vice President of Public Relations for CAT.
As an entrepreneur, Terrie has operated her own print brokerage business for 15 years and was publisher of an advertiser-supported community newsletter, The Knox Woods Knews for 10 years. She recently started to manufacture Corn Cozies and sells them at craft shows and online.
To round out her presentation skills, Terrie has been trained in stand-up comedy by Kathryn Mora (Los Angeles) and the late Mike Irwin (Glenville, NY), both professional comics. Her improvisational training occurred with Jed Mills (Los Angeles) at the Saratoga County Arts Council in Saratoga Springs. Mills was a member of the now-disbanded professional improvisational comedy troupe War Babies. Terrie has performed stand-up comedy at numerous venues in the Capital District and also has performed improv from Delmar to Glens Falls with a semi-professional troupe.
As a producer of comedy shows, Terrie has successfully provided audiences with entertaining shows in venues such as the Cambridge Hotel Dinner Theatre, The Great Room Theatre in Gansevoort, the Country Corner Cafe in Saratoga Springs, and The Arts Center on the Hudson in Mechanicville.
Approved for teaching in three school districts, Terrie is a substitute for elementary, middle and high school.
Writing is also an interest of Terrie’s. Her publication credits include features for the Albany Times Union, the Daily Gazette, The Saratogian, the Mechanicville Express, and the Ballston Journal.
She lives in Schaghticoke with her husband of 22 years. Their son, a student at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, studies psychology and has been named to the Dean’s List for the past two fall semesters.
