Turns out that having a panic attack and being wheeled out of a gleaming downtown Manhattan skyscraper on a stretcher, with your best friend and boss by your side, en route to the local ER, is not the beginning of professional demise.

At the time, everything looked perfect on the outside. After graduating from Princeton, I built a full and rewarding professional and personal life. I had amassed a couple decades’ worth of progressive leadership experience within the HR team of an industry-leading, global financial services firm. I had successfully navigated and continued to thrive professionally through several major organizational and leadership changes, including a large-scale merger in which I served as co-lead for the top-of-the-house talent integration of the two firms. I was an experienced and trusted advisor to c-suite leaders and just a step away from the c-suite myself, serving as the Chief of Staff to our Chief HR Officer and charged with driving a significant transformation of our function’s operating model. I was (and still am!) married and raising two incredible children (boy and girl) while living in Manhattan, arguably the greatest city in the world (ok, I’m biased!).

Based on my track record and capacities, no one, including me, would have predicted that I would suddenly feel light-headed with the room closing in on me and fearing at any moment I might throw up all over the beautiful mahogany table set for the executive leadership team all-day strategy session that I had both designed and was participating in. And to my chagrin and surprise it turns out it was not the early winter stomach bug that was going around...but rather a full blown panic attack.

Looking back I remember waves of shame washing over me as the ambulance carried me to the hospital: what would people think of me now? ‘Oh, poor woman’, they’d say in hushed voices, ‘she had so much potential but clearly she is not up for the task, she simply can’t handle the pressure of executive life.’

Of course no one said anything like that. That was just the mean girl in my head…and she and I have since made peace (and she’s now one of my strongest allies!). The experience ended up serving as the pivotal wake-up call I didn’t know I needed. It set the frame for me to get crystal clear about what my value is, what I really wanted in my life, and what I wasn’t going to let get in the way of my greatness. I decided to wean myself off what other people think, developed a steadfast belief in my potential, and learned that the anxiety that in many ways fueled me, did not need to be my constant companion to ensure my ongoing growth and success. And as it turned out, following the epic panic attack my career, impact, influence and income soared to new heights.

Several years of leadership of large global teams and $100K+ invested in elite level masterminds, mentor coaches, and intensive personal development work later, I took my next-level leap into business ownership, designing and delivering high-performance coaching programs to rocket people to their next level — and I am finding so much joy in helping people transform their life trajectory for even better outcomes than they dreamed.

Through my own professional experience and work with C-suite - or steps away - high potential leaders, I identified specific behaviors, qualities and limiting beliefs that lead them to stall out, burn out  and let lurking self-doubt or self-sabotaging patterns rob them from having what they really want – and absolutely can have – in this life.

Since then I’ve helped countless professionals scale in their career, income and life with a sense of purpose and with ample energy and presence to thoroughly enjoy the ride with more ease and grace.

I firmly believe you can ‘have it all,’ and ‘have it your way.” Through our work you will connect to your greatest potential, open new vistas and possibilities, and create and live your glorious, vibrant ‘both/and’ life to your desired specifications.