My Short-ish Story
I went to pharmacy school for two reasons: I didn’t want to touch people and I wanted to make a decent salary while being a part-time stay at home mom. Then my first kid was colicky and I couldn’t wait to go back to work. So began a decade of climbing the corporate ladder and losing a bit more of my identity outside of work with every rung. I consistently chose the company over home because I felt so much more confident and competent being VP than Mama. Losing two babies between our boys didn’t help.
As an enneagram 3, I had a very long and absurd mental checklist of what made a “good” mom and so many of those boxes were unchecked. So if I wasn’t a great mom, at least I could contribute financially. Yet I still berated myself for every perceived shortcoming, every time I yelled, every time I missed an event because I was traveling. The “good moms should” habit took a lot of work to break.
Working with a life coach, I began to rethink how I wanted my life to look. I grieved the job I no longer loved and the decade I had given it the very best of myself. I made big, scary decisions – like leaving that job in 2018 without a plan and trusting that where God guides, He provides. I started a consulting business with one client and one contract and built it to the point it exceeded my previous corporate income. I made another big, scary decision in 2023 to step back from that role to travel less and – if I’m honest – I’m still figuring out what the next phase looks like.
When my longtime coach, Selena Ulasewich, asked me at the end of 2022 to consider becoming a women’s coach with Impact Coaching & Consulting, I knew immediately that it was a YES. Because I’ve been in a high-stress high-stakes corporate world, in healthcare, fighting the patriarchy, in the scary place of starting and growing a small business, and in all the places in between … I am passionate about encouraging other women along their journey. Because I’ve been the smiling, cheerful mom at the class party who was so secretly guilt-ridden and ashamed she couldn’t look herself in the mirror at home … I can help you stop “shouldering” yourself to death, redefine success and what being a “good” mom looks like for you, and grow into a version of you that you like and respect.
My job as a coach isn’t to tell you what to do, but rather to help you ask the hard questions so you think about your situation differently, see your opportunities through a new lens, navigate the sticky parts with confidence, and little-by-little design a life you love. Because I was helped when I needed it, I am so honored to help others.