How I Became A Coach:

I’m committed to helping people live meaningful, inspired lives.

Looking back, I can see that I’ve always approached work and life with a coaching mindset. Whether acting as a counsellor, college professor, dance facilitator, or friend I naturally listened deeply, cultivated curiosity, and encouraged people’s potential.

During my early adulthood, I pursued an uncertain but authentic career trajectory. I struggled to experience a sense of purposeful direction but, as a result of following an organic, emergent path and exploring my genuine interests, I ultimately honed expertise in personal growth, change and transformation.

I achieved an undergraduate degree in Family and Social Relations; studied and taught the therapeutic benefits of expressive dance; worked for nearly twenty years in the non-profit sector (a decade focused on gender-based violence); and gained critical awareness of systemic barriers and oppression.

However, it wasn’t until my early thirties, during my graduate studies in Adult Education at the University of Toronto, when I was raving about a self-help book by Life Coach Martha Beck that one of my colleagues turned to me and said, “Hey, that author sounds like you- I think you’re a Life Coach!”

It was a true aha! moment for me, followed by training at Adler International Learning, providing Academic/Life Coaching at The Michener Institute, and launching my private coaching practice in 2009.

I empathize with clients and know the benefits of coaching from the ‘inside-out.’ Because I know firsthand the journey of transforming self-doubt, despair and feeling stuck into greater self-trust, peace and wellbeing, I am especially passionate about supporting others to find their way towards greater fulfillment.

More recently, true to my ‘late-bloomer’ style, after years of longing for partnership and family life and fearing that these things wouldn’t happen for me, a powerful growing edge has been to commit to an intimate partnership and to become a first-time mother at age 39 - and have a second child at 41. This family path is full of learning, love, joy - and heck, lots of messiness, absurdity, and rich challenge!

I’ve learned how to increasingly embrace imperfection, take risks, and make powerful commitments. My experience deepens my faith in clients’ abilities to practice courage and carve out unique lives that honor their heartfelt aspirations.

At age forty-eight, I’ve developed greater humility and recognition of life moving in spirals and cycles, and how there really never is a final destination. I’m honored to work with people at various life stages as they navigate their current growth edges, dreams, and decisions.

Mentors and Influences:

I’m mentored by an ICF-accredited supervisor, and I constantly seek ongoing training to deepen my coaching wisdom and capacity.

I’m also a Certified Self-Belief Coach, mentored by Sas Petherick, whose expertise lies is in helping people transform self-doubt and access greater self-belief, self-trust, self-worth and self-acceptance.

Buddhism/mindfulness, positive psychology, and coaching fascinate me: the insights that these fields yield on the human capacity for resilience, transformation, and joy continuously inform my life and work.

I’m an avid life-long learner. I have taken many courses and attended events with coach Martha Beck. I have done training in Internal Family Systems (IFS) and attended a conference hosted by couples therapist Esther Perel. Upcoming (spring 2024), I plan to study with Thomas Hübl and learn more about working with trauma in the context of collective polycrisis, so that I can help myself and my clients stay grounded, resilient and agile - and even thrive - in destabilizing times. I’m a mindfulness practitioner and Sangha member in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

One More Thing....

Listen, I want to acknowledge my driving mission. Honestly? I do this work because I love it- and because I believe that each one of us is a cell in the body of this planet we share and call home. I'm not going to sugar coat it: I think we're living in pretty precarious times, with high stakes for this Earth and its future. I want to do my part to nurture peace, joy, awakening, and liberation for all beings. I hope that, as a species, we'll stop being so gripped by our fear and suffering and, instead, direct more energy and focused attention to nourish our highest human values and visions. I believe that the world needs people who are alive and vital, thriving and creative in their lives, families, and communities, and that we need each other to heal, grow, learn, and evolve. I know we're not meant to go it alone, the way our hyper-individualistic, hyper-materialistic culture promotes. I also know that we can literally re-wire our brains, hearts, bodies, and living systems to shift our limiting personal and collective patterns and create new realities - together.