Rebirth
Susan’s Story:
Two years ago, I felt that my life looked pretty much the way I had planned it: I had a family that I adored, my technology startup was gaining traction, and I had a community of friends, colleagues, and funders I respected. Below the surface, however, I was stressed in ways I readily dismissed and even justified. I was in regular conflict with my co-founder to the point where a funder recommended that I hire an executive coach to "survive" the relationship. I resisted the idea at first.
As a bootstrapped startup founder, I felt like executive coaching was an unaffordable luxury. More than that, I'd grown skeptical of coaches and consultants who parachuted in without truly knowing me, my industry, or the intimate dynamics of my work. I thought I was better off staying the course and resolving things on my own. Of course, "on my own" meant staying stuck in my same patterns.
Having been close friends with Angela for 14 years, I started talking to her about my business on a purely social basis. As the warm and wise girlfriend that she is, she would listen patiently to my stories as they became increasingly focused on the conflict I experienced with my co-founder. Then two years ago, Angela told me she started an executive coaching practice. I had the good fortune of knowing Angela personally and witnessing her incredible success in the fertility field. I knew that Angela would re-create that same success in whatever field she focused on next, so I signed up. Two years later, I know it was the best professional decision I made.
Over the past two years, my business went from pre-revenue and fledgling to self-sustaining and thriving—not because I worked harder, but because I worked differently. With Angela’s guidance, I learned to make hard and difficult decisions to get myself to a place of greater strength, agency, and clarity. Over time, entrenched conflicts started to dissipate, and decisions that were previously painful became straightforward. Before working with Angela, I was burning myself out, often expending energy in areas that did not move my business forward to any significant degree. Now my business energizes rather than depletes me, my relationships with colleagues and partners are harmonious, and my work moves forward in ways that are meaningful to me.
Angela once told me that her goal for me was to achieve what I wanted to achieve, expending little to no effort. It is a reality that I never could have imagined possible, and yet, that is the reality I have been able to access and live.
My hope for any reader considering engaging in the work Angela offers is that they make the leap and move forward. Angela is an alchemist. She doesn't fix you; she reveals what was always there, waiting. Her coaching and guidance have made me a stronger, more effective businessperson, colleague, wife, and mother. As Angela says, who we are in our personal lives is who shows up in our professional lives. An unexpected byproduct of our work has been that moving toward strengthening my relationships with colleagues and business partners has strengthened my personal relationships with friends and especially my family. I have told Angela that my partnership with her is a life extension technology, and I am grateful for her every day.
