In 2010, I had finally saved up enough money to pursue my educational dream. From 2010-2011, I attended the University of San Francisco and earned a degree in Counseling Psychology, with the goal to be a marriage and family therapist. I started working toward 3,000 internship hours, but quickly realized that with the no pay to low pay that came with them, I wasn’t going to be able to survive in the San Francisco Bay Area. So, with much sadness, I closed the book on that goal, and pivoted back to my previous life in digital marketing, then to operations, and then people operations. And, I kept going up that ladder, not really taking a minute to glance back and what I’d left behind.. And, then, little by little, I started looking back.

Except for a brief year in the counseling psychology program, I’d been working non-stop since I graduated college, climbing the ladder to get to what I thought was the definition of success: a six-figure salary and a director-level title. Along the way, I got married, and had two children and I started to wonder if that definition of success that I had in my mind still worked for me. Don’t get me wrong, those internal voices about “making sure you have enough money,” will probably always be in the back of my mind, I didn’t want to listen to those voices anymore.

In my roles I’d always turned toward helping people at work - creating training programs, running live trainings, doing personality assessments with my team, making sure to discuss career paths with my team, and advocating for them when performance review time came around. I liked it, but I still wasn’t happy with my work. I spent a lot of time making sure clients were happy and offering them more; it was a lot of hours and I always felt like I was putting my family second. I’d also invested a lot in therapy and then later going to a life/career coach. I felt like I needed to do something else. 

Then, as the country came out of the pandemic and as I finished up the last session with my career coach, it clicked that what I really want to do is work with people and help them through the difficult times of change that come up, whether the change happens to them or is created by them. I want to give back all that I have learned in my professional and personal life. As much as I am an introvert, I thrive on making a connection with others and seeing them learn and grow. I want to be a part of that. Coaching will offer me the opportunity to help others in those specific areas where I think I can lend the most support - professionally and personally, while continuing to give back what I have learned to the employees that I oversee.

In June 2023, I completed the UC Davis Professional Coaching for Life and Work Certification program and became an ICF Certified Coach. I’ve been where you are and I can help you to see what you really want and partner with you on the steps that it will take to get there. It’s time to reconnect with yourself. It’s time to own your life again. Let’s take the first step together.