The "Coach on the Couch" interview

Since I was a little girl of 6 years old, I always wanted to be an actress. Being on stage is where I belonged, and it took me places. It took me to New York City, where I majored in musical theater at NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. It took me on a cruise ship around North America where I sang my heart out for a year. It took me to Studio 8A in Rockefeller Plaza, where I got to be on "Saturday Night Live". It even took me to The-Closest-Movie- Theater-Is-An-Hour-Away, PA and The-Town-With-A-Gas-Station,-a- Consignment-Shop,-a-Pizzeria,-and-a-Gun-Store, New Hampshire.

And all of a sudden, the life I was pursuing for 20 years wasn't what I wanted anymore. I didn't want to leave my home in New York City, where I built an incredible life for myself. I didn't want to spend my "days off" sitting at auditions to sing 8 bars of a song and wonder where the day went. I didn't want to get a job and have to pick up my life with one day's (or one week's) notice. I didn't want to be a 35 year old waitress/ hostess/ temp/office manager. I wanted my days to mean something, to be valuable, to matter.

So I got a "real job". And another one. And another. I went through seven jobs in four years, constantly trying to find "the perfect fit". I'd get restless easily and fairly despondent, thinking that there was nothing else out there for me that I could devote myself to passionately and enthusiastically. One day I declared, "Enough! I refuse to accept that there is nothing else out there that I'm going to love doing!" I decided to put some chutzpah into my search. I was going to find My Perfect Career.

I enrolled in a Career Change Workshop at NYU, and through a series of personality tests, exercises, and conversations with my classmates, I realized that I wanted to help others find their own path, especially "creative types" that thought they wanted one thing their whole life and now have to rewrite their plans. I wanted to help them figure out what they wanted to be When They Grow Up.

But I didn't want to limit myself to Career Coaching. I wanted to help people along with all their life challenges, but not in a Hippy-Dippy or a Tell-Me-What-Your-Parents-Did-When-You-Were-Five way. I wanted to be their springboard, their partner, their confidante, their cheerleader.

I wanted to be their Life Coach!

My very first client was a very energetic, talented, creative woman who was "stuck" at a restaurant job with an acting career that she didn't even think she wanted to pursue anymore. By the end of our 12th session, she was starting a rock star career as a real estate agent in NYC. Less than a year later, she's one of the top agents in her company & was profiled in New York magazine!

I view a coach as someone who is a catalyst for change. A coach does not "give advice" or "tell you what to do" (to the chagrin of some who schedule a consultation call with me!), but rather they trust that the client is The Expert in their own life. A coach should be seen as a supportive, enthusiastic partner that will brainstorm with you, cheer you on, challenge your viewpoints, ask thought-provoking questions, offer feedback, keep you focused, acknowledge your actions and hard work, hold you accountable for your efforts, and assist you with putting your goals into action.

I want to initially say "Opportunity", but I don't want to negate all of those that have been directly affected by this economic downturn. While this situation can be described as "nightmarish", everyone can choose to take the perspective that they can turn this into an "opportunity" to take a step back, reevaluate their life, and put a new plan into action.

The $1,000,000 question! It's always such a tough one to answer - there are so many paths to choose within 5 years time! - but ideally, I'll be living in a brownstone in Brooklyn with my husband & a rugrat. I'll support myself fully by coaching, and will continue to perform as I wish. My husband will also be in a career that he loves, and we have a big fat dose of life/work balance and flexibility to sculpt our lives into what we wish to. Ultimately, I think it boils down to family, coaching, performing, and love. Hippy dippy, but true.