Several years ago the comfortable, safe life I thought I’d built over many years fell away layer by layer. When the dust settled, I set off on a period of deep introspection and personal change. Among other things, this meant taking a “sabbatical” to pursue a long deferred dream of exploring the American West on a months long road trip. That decision changed the course of my life in many unforeseen ways. Since setting off, I’ve now visited nearly every one of America’s 63 National Parks.

On the road few things brought me more joy than meeting strangers. In these conversations, after someone learned about my journey they’d often ask for my perspective about some issue in their life. I quickly discovered that while I had lots of ideas, I was most helpful when I listened deeply and asked good questions. I also discovered that these kinds of conversations gave me a lot of energy, and seemed to be helpful to others too.

These experiences inspired me to seek out additional formal training in coaching, including in a modality known as Internal Family Systems. To compliment this, I’ve also become a certified Baptiste Yoga teacher. I was drawn to Baptiste because it is a method of yoga as interested in the shape of the postures as the way the practice changes your life. These two sets of trainings have empowered me to engage with others in more skillful and powerful ways, including by teaching yoga and meditation classes, forming an online mindfulness community, organizing and leading several day-long retreats, and creating this coaching practice in 2020.

Together, these choices have moved my life far from my old career on Wall Street. While at times I’ve wanted to dismiss this earlier chapter of my life, through coaching I’ve found that my prior business experience is actually often quite valuable to my clients. This has been especially true when I’m able to pair learnings from it with the psychological tools and mindfulness practices I’ve learned in the last few years. The specific business experiences that I draw upon include: earning my MBA from MIT Sloan, working as an investment banker at JPMorgan, working as a private equity investor into both start-ups and middle market businesses, and serving as a board director at several nonprofits, including the Minnesota Orchestra.

Want to get more familiar with my work and who I am? Here more about me on my podcast interviews:

A Multi-Year Pilgrimage Across America's National Parks and Beyond

Selling a 7-Figure Business: Commentary on Business Partnerships, Money & Successful Exits