When I Grow Up...

I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. When I was 22 years old, fresh out of college, with a single semester of student teaching under my belt, I entered my first classroom. The principal who hired me placed 24 third graders in my charge for 180 days. Reading, writing, math, science, social studies, recess, lunch -- it was all my responsibility.

Sound familiar?

I spent 3 years in that third grade classroom, teaching and learning, before moving to a new school and a new grade level. Two years later I became a mom, and in a few short years, my oldest child was entering the classroom as a student. As my three children grew up, I left behind my roots in elementary education, teaching first year writing courses on college campuses before becoming an English teacher at a girls’ boarding and day school. Eventually, I moved on to a hybrid role, with both teaching and administrative responsibilities. I loved teaching, loved the students, loved so many parts of what I did.

And, like so many others, I left. 

The reasons probably aren’t a surprise to any educator reading this. I was tired of taking work home with me every night, tired of grading essays at the kitchen table on Sunday afternoons. I struggled to set boundaries, to feel like “good enough” was good enough. I wasn’t exercising as much as I wanted…or eating as well as I wanted…or spending as much time with my family as I wanted. I was tired.

When I left education, I accidentally ended up in the digital health space. The pandemic was in full swing, a friend shared a job posting with me, and a new career was born. On my first day, I was 100% lost. A few weeks in, I had completely fallen in love with coaching.

There's magic in the coaching space, in partnering with others as they work toward their wellness goals, in helping individuals get from where they are to where they want to be. I became a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) in 2022 and started telling everyone that my dream job lived at the intersection of education and wellness, that I wanted to help educators balance the demands of their vocation with the demands of life, ensuring THEY were a priority.

This winter I transitioned from saying what I wanted to do to doing what I wanted to do. And the pieces came together almost immediately. 

Now I'm fully present in this space, supporting the adults in the building who do incredibly meaningful work. Each and every day.

I'm here because when the adults in the building are well, they can be fully present for the students in the building, and I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that educators do what they do for the students in the building.

That magic that I mentioned. It's real. Coaching can have a tremendous impact on individual well-being. So let's get started!