CLIENT EXPERIENCES
“When I came across Courtney, I was looking for an executive mentor. Someone who understood what I was going through, specifically within an organization or large company. When I went back to work after the birth of my first child, not only was I a working mom now but I was immediately promoted to a huge global role. While I was grateful, I was also overwhelmed and intimidated by the huge responsibility, both personally and professionally.
And then I met Courtney and she just gets it. She's been there, she's done it, and she's quick to call me out and say, “You know, you're overwhelmed and I get it, but we need to get to the root of the why. And I need you to know it's going to be okay.” It was the first time that I felt fully seen in this new season of my life.
In the financial industry, you have to come to work with sort of this persona, like you’ve got it all together, especially when you have, male counterparts for instance. At this point in my career, the individual that I was reporting to was a single, unmarried, with no children. I’m sure he had great intentions but he had no way of understanding really what was going on outside of our work together. It can be hard for us to get that advocacy and support with all these other aspects of our lives. The work needs to get done and I can keep up, but it didn’t feel like I was able to speak up for myself and say “Look, I can't go to happy hour tomorrow. I need to go home and be with my daughter,” or be able to say “I need to step out,” or “I need to miss that meeting because you’ve got me on back to back calls, but I need to go pump.”
Even more so as a black woman, I sometimes feel like there's just more pressure for me to do things and not to be authentically myself. With Courtney, I'm able to be my authentic self. I just felt like she understood and I could be open with her. It's who I am. I could tell her where I'm from and there's a no-judgment zone there. It was an amazing relationship for us to begin and start on this journey together.
There is often a “building something from nothing” type of mentality, “roll up my sleeves, get it done” mindset in this work. For a solid period of time, I wouldn't even go to the doctor because it meant more time away from work. But it does weigh on you after a while, you're in that mode and you just can't be yourself. It causes you to sacrifice a lot of things. Health-wise, I wasn't working out. I have a huge home gym, but couldn't touch it. Everything's collecting dust. It finally hit me that I would wake up and I would just feel like crap because I wasn’t making time for myself. When I was at my old job I’d be so apologetic as soon as I got on camera for how I looked because I didn’t make time to take care of myself physically. I was really attached to my daughter as well and I had this fear of not being a good mom. I wouldn't go anywhere without her. It wasn’t until I went to CVS one day and started going nuts all because I was away for 20 minutes that I realized how bad it had gotten.
Coming back from maternity leave made me question if now was the right time to reintroduce myself to the workforce because there was a perception of the way I worked when I originally joined the organization.
From working with Courtney I realized that there was so much more potential than my previous organization saw within me that I can now carry with me and choose to present myself fully. I want to present myself as this professional working mom while also not sacrificing these very important aspects of my life and knowing that I can balance it all– and I can make time for self-care too. I feel more relaxed. I'm not afraid to ask for some of those resources that are needed. Courtney reminded me that I don't need to do everything right and to let go of that need to please everyone around me. I’ve struggled with codependency in the past but by working with Courtney I am starting to care more for how I am creating boundaries and treating myself both at home and at work.”
Tiffany J.
Courtney knows how to position you to succeed.
When I came into Courtney’s program, I had a yearning to step into something new and shed my old skin of doubt and feeling like an imposter. I am the family breadwinner and I knew it was time to establish my executive presence, and be more bankable and marketable. I wanted to actually have a nice life without being stressed out all the time but I was letting life live me until Courtney gave me the tangible tools to reorient my thinking– not only on a macro level but also when it came to my day-to-day activities.
The experience Courtney brings to the table is unparalleled – whether she's helping you to become a better human or a better executive, it's because she's done that work herself.
She has all the brass tacks knowledge and tactics to get you where you want to be such as: how to write a killer resume, how to command premium compensation and actually ask for it, and how to interview; but she also knows how to connect you to your inner value and wouldn't let me off the hook around that. Through our work together, I have experienced a true sea change in the way I operate at work. I was a little stress ball for my entire career. And while I'm sure that stress ball is still there, I don't allow myself to get into a state of overwhelm anymore.
In this line of work, there are very few role models that come to the table as an executive mentors and show you that it is possible to have a great life and not let your work eat you up; but that is exactly what Courtney did for me.
Elizabeth F.
“When I started working with Courtney, the stress of my job was heavily weighing me down and affecting all areas of my life. While I’m up for the challenge of my work, the constant lack of acknowledgment for the changes and challenges I’ve navigated in this position made it all just that much harder to cope with.
One of my favorite things about working with Courtney during this season of my life is that when you fall back into your old routine, which will always happen at one point or another, she is right there to keep me accountable. She checks in and asks things like, “How are you doing with time management?” because that was one of my goals. Even when I feel like I have failed myself because I told everyone I'm leaving at 5:45 and it's 7:45 and I'm still here, Courtney reminds me that “unless you change, it's not going to change.”
There are many times when I feel like I'm failing at everything, including failing at trying to get myself to a better spot, but Courtney is there with a firm yet understanding nudge back in the right direction.
My children have even noticed the shift in me since I started working with Courtney. One night at dinner they looked at me and said “that is the most calm I've ever seen you react to this situation.” After working with Courtney, I learned to stop and ask myself, “Okay, how am I gonna react? Is this the person I want to be? Is this the person I want people to see?” instead of reacting and spiraling down.
I've been very cognizant of thinking about the person that I want to be and showing up as that person I was. I can't say it's fully gone, but I would start a conversation with “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Did I misunderstand? I extracted that from…” Now, I only apologize when I really did screw up!
Stepping into this calm and confident new version of myself is what led me to ask for one day a week and my boss said “no problem.” No arguing or justifying, just accepted. Prior to working with Courtney I didn’t think I had the courage to ask and it seemed like a silly fantasy.
Some of the battle is the emotional hurdle of navigating who you thought you were going to be and how you saw your life going. It's a big hurdle to say “It's not what I want” and do something about it, but that is exactly what Courtney brings out of you in her program. Now I am thinking about what kind of leap I can make, perhaps in another industry or as a CFO and I never thought that was possible until this work with Courtney.
Before working with Courtney, I had also gotten to a point of desperation. I wish there was another 10 weeks in the program because I feel like there's so much to work through. I wish it was longer, because it helps maintain momentum. I do fear that when it ends I'll circle back and I'll just be working 24/7. And this will all be a faded memory. But I know if I continue to revisit everything I’ve learned from Courtney it would be impossible to go back to the “me” that first started this program."
Cassandra B.
"Courtney has been at the executive level, so she knows how to advance and accelerate her career and knows what it’s like to play at the highest levels. She’s a genuinely caring person. She knows how to pull out the best in you and advocates for your highest potential. She makes sure you are always in touch with what you want and why. She helps you navigate your next steps with ease and confidence. What I’ve learned from Courtney has stayed with me in my new position and continues to support my growth. I highly recommend her as an executive mentor."
Bri D.
"The program came at the perfect time for me: I was really feeling like I had reached a plateau, I was unhappy with where I was at in my career, and it was a very vulnerable time because I was a young single parent who was terrified at the idea of potentially losing my job.
I finally sat down and asked myself “What's up? Why am I not moving? What do I need to do to stop living in a place of survival and fear of job loss? How could I go from surviving to thriving?”
I felt like I had just reached a real ceiling where I was, so I looked for opportunities and landed a role that offered more money, but it was a lateral move, even though I have a wealth of experience and I could probably be my boss's boss based on that experience alone. I’m trying to inch closer and closer to a role where I feel like I'm using my education, skills, and experience to its full potential. The title isn’t the only thing that I'm after, but I feel as though my career has gone in a straight flat line, rather than moving upward.
Once I started working with Courtney, I connected to my value. Courtney helped me acknowledge and celebrate what I’ve really accomplished in my life and helped me to recognize the link between feeling undervalued and overlooked at work and how I was viewing myself. She has helped me to build my confidence in every session and shown me how to leverage my contributions to the company, investment in my own personal development, as well as all I’ve accomplished as a single mom, to tell a different story about what makes me ideal for the position I envision for myself.
Courtney has really helped me to take stock of all the things that I want for myself that I've just put on the shelf and I am now ready, energized, and inspired to move forward."
Letisha G.
