My path to becoming a professional coach has been rather indirect. My first steps on this journey started when I was 19 and I moved to New York City to dance professionally. The early 1980’s were an exciting time to be an artist in NY and after attending NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the Ailey School as a scholarship student, I landed jobs with several small contemporary dance companies. It was during this time that I was also exposed to many new body therapies such as Alexander Technique, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Laban Movement Analysis, and Pilates. Being a dancer in NYC also meant that I waited tables and bar tended for many years.
Looking for a more sustainable way to earn a living beyond bartending brought me to the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences were I studied to become a NY licensed massage therapist. Upon graduation I began working in a large dance and sports medicine clinic and started my own practice as a massage therapist, movement therapist, and personal trainer.
It was my experience working with chronic pain patients that first got me interested in mind-body medicine. It was clear to me that there was something more than physical going on with these clients although I had no language to understand what I was seeing and experiencing. Determined to understand, I enrolled in CUNY-Hunter College and completed an undergraduate degree in psychology and biology. To put myself through school, I began teaching anatomy and physiology to working adults. It is still one of my favorite jobs.
My undergraduate studies whet my appetite for more so I applied and was accepted into University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology in the Biological and Health Psychology Program. I was also lucky enough to secure a research position in the Psychoneuroimmunology in Cancer lab at the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. I began my own research into how stressful experience impacts cancer and published several papers before continuing on to complete post-doctoral training in Cancer Control Education Program at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Gillings School of Global Public Health. From UNC I secured my first faculty position as a founding member of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Personal issues brought me back to Pittsburgh where I landed a role with the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative. It was here that I began to learn about healthcare economics, healthcare quality, and process improvement.
From there I eventually stepped into an Assistant Dean position in the School of Leadership and Professional Advancement at Duquesne University. It was at Duquesne where I began to gain practical, real-world experience managing and leading a highly complex and dynamic organization. It was also there that I initiated, founded, and taught in the Professional Coach Certification Program (PCCP), an International Coach Federation Accredited Coach Training Program, also serving as its Executive Director. Additionally, I designed and delivered leadership courses as a part of the University graduate leadership faculty.
After six years at Duquesne I realized that coaching was my passion and I left to begin another career as a leadership coach and consultant. I became an associate with Lapin International, a values-based, purpose-driven firm that has enabled me to work both nationally and Internationally with both executive and emerging leaders across a wide variety of corporate and economic sectors including academic medicine and healthcare, higher education, mental health care, financial services, insurance, legal services, law enforcement, government, biotechnology, engineering, hospitality, and food service. With Lapin International I currently co-lead cohort-based programs on leadership development, team alignment, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. I am grateful for all of the leaders I have worked with over the years that showed me the challenges of dealing with the stress of leadership.
In addition to my coaching and consulting work, I currently teach Executive and Leader Coaching through the PCCP at Duquesne University and Foundations of Career Planning and Development through the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Through both my clients and my students, I continue to learn what helps them grow and develop; I am excited to begin working with you.
