~ Joyce Carol Oates
As your coach, I help you find your way using the varied skills, resources, tools, experiences, and perspectives I’ve gathered over the years.
I graduated from Northwestern University cum laude and from Columbia Law School as a Kent Scholar and Stone Scholar, then joined a corporate law firm in New York City. It all looked good on the outside—professional success with promising future prospects, excellent pay, an apartment I loved (reasonably priced for Manhattan!), dating prospects. And I was miserable. So at age 28, I started to live my life, rather than the life I believed my parents and society wanted for me. But finding my way wasn’t a straight-forward process.
I’d been following the set path for so long, I had no conscious awareness of how I wanted to live or what my life goals were. It took a lot of work to find my path: a lot of stripping away of beliefs, ideas, limitations, and judgments that I had internalized; and a lot of seeking, experimenting, and trying, trying, trying again. But ten years after leaving the law firm—after literal blood, sweat, and tears—I have found my way, great community, and a vocational calling. WHEW!
After leaving the law firm and starting an attorney-training company, I moved into sustainability consulting. I worked with Fortune 500 and other multinational organizations to help them address a range of issues, including environmental challenges, supply chain risks, diversity goals, and employee engagement. At the same time, I became an internal change agent at the consulting firm, earning me the title Director of Insights and Inspiration. I am very proud that my efforts helped the firm win two Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards. I’m even more proud that colleagues told me I’d made the firm a better place to work.
I am most proud that one of the firm partners says she is a better person for knowing me, and that she is one of several individuals who have told me that my influence helps them be a better person—That I inspire them to be kinder, more patient, compassionate, and generous; to make positive changes in their lives; take leaps of faith; and keep growing into their authentic selves. I am deeply touched and humbled every time I hear words like these—and incredibly grateful that I get to coach people as my profession.
Want to know more? My LinkedIn profile
How I developed an expertise in living gracefully through transitions and – eventually – learned to value the unexpected twists, turns, and sidesteps along the way