I help my clients put their passion to work by helping them niche down and create 1:1 programs in their zone of genius that totally lights them up and books them out!

There was one aspect of my life that helped me sharpen my skills as a “coach” (although I didn’t know it at the time nor was what I called it “coaching”), but it definitely helped me hone in on my passion of coaching and mentoring women.

From 2011-2018, I served on the board as Vice President for one of the largest women’s non-profit group in the U.S. It was one of those employee resource groups that exist at most Fortune 500 companies to help celebrate diversity and inclusion and employee retention.

I didn’t call what I was doing coaching, but that’s really what my contribution was. The only difference was that it was in a 9-5 setting and it took on the word “mentor.”

I essentially ran corporate mastermind groups and filled them up and kept them going. I did all of the communication and program development and scheduling for the groups — on top of my day job duties as an engineer AND I had a newborn at the time!

This was a completely voluntary role, and I loved it. I logged hundreds of hours each year and helped hundreds of women through my role as VP. My hours of volunteering also led me to receive a special honor, the President’s Volunteer Service Award from the office of Mr. Obama himself!

After several years, though, I got burnt out and I knew that the role needed fresh eyes. So I stepped down to do the scary thing. To invest the time as VP for the ERG… and instead apply it to my own business.

As you can see, I wasn’t a certified coach at the time. I decided to use my life experience, passion, and expertise when I started my business 3 years ago. Certification be damned!

So the moral of the story is to find what lights you up and go for it