I love exploring the mysteries of life.
When I was 17, I lost my mom to cancer.
A year later, I found out I wasn’t able to have children.
Two things I counted on in my life were gone. It was clear I wasn’t going to have a neat and tidy, fairy-tale kind of life.
All of a sudden I had a Iot to navigate on my own. I started seeking the deeper meaning of it all.
By the time I got to college, I was a meditating-vegetarian-business major. The hippy daughter of a conservative stockbroker, I talked about corporate responsibility, the dangers of materialism and what was happening to the environment—while my classmates shook their heads and asked, “Why are you here?”
I asked myself the same thing. I wasn’t sure. But I knew I loved helping people. So I explored going to school to be a nurse-midwife.
“Why not just become a doctor?” suggested the dean of the medical school, a friend of my dad’s.
Why not? Well, for one, I was way more earthy girl than science nerd. So, I high-tailed it back to business school.
After marriage and several years as a step-mom and housewife, the doctor idea circled back again, the way those big ideas do.
Though I felt a clear intuitive nudge that this was not the right step for me, I plunged ahead.
Fast forward through years of study at Bryn Mawr, University of Vermont and UCLA, and I find myself the medical director of the Pepperdine University Health Center.
I discover two big things about myself:
- I am more drawn to healing the hearts and minds of people than to healing their physical illnesses.
- I love designing and building my big, gracious dream house.
I adore the process. I release a long exiled creative part of me as I choose each detail of the interior—and watch my friends’ delighted reactions as they step inside.
This feels fantastic.
I take a break from medicine.
A friend is starting a new business and asks me to help her with the creative end. We develop a business plan and open up a beautiful bookshop, gathering place and restaurant—transforming the space from funky and rundown into one of the most special spots in Santa Barbara County. People flock to enjoy the healthy, organic food and cool atmosphere.
Within 24 months (unheard of in the restaurant biz), we have our first million-dollar year.
This little fluke turns into a massive and amazing 8-year project, which I sell after my second marriage ends.
I finally have time to step back and assess.
I ask myself what I ask my clients:
What do I most love?
For me, it’s creating a space and an experience for people to step into. Community. Connection. That was my longing when I first started in medicine—to work closely with people and help them find meaning and embrace life.
I wanted to do this as a doctor… but I what I really did was tell them what was wrong with them and how to fix it.
Knowledge alone doesn’t change people.
(How many people know a ton about nutrition but still gobble down the junk food?)
I know that MAGIC happens when people find their own deep knowing. When they discover their own questions, longing, and answers.
So that’s when I decide to become a coach.
I call myself a business and productivity coach, but at my heart I’m still that teacher. Gathering knowledge and wisdom and sharing it.
What I care about most is aliveness and helping people find the true, rich sweetness of their life and business. Their own magic.
I take a stand for my clients to claim their absolute best selves. And they do. What I’ve learned through all this is that our life is calling.
Let’s answer that call, shall we?