Career Path of a Health and Wellness Coach at Leading University

Oh my gosh. Well, that was many years ago, about 25 years ago. It all started at Cal Poly, and I was super lucky to have the experience of the "Learn by Doing" philosophy. Right out the gate, I had an internship every single quarter.

These internships were built into the program. I got a Bachelor of Science in Child Development with a minor in Psychology. So I was out in the field in schools and learning settings from the first quarter. Every quarter presented a different internship, a different space, a different philosophy, different age groups, and working with different people. I think that was really paramount to my experience.

I also worked at a motorcycle shop during college. I had a motorcycle, so that was great because I got to meet people far outside the realm of child development. These were more adventuresome, outdoorsy people, which I'm really into. Other jobs were very much unrelated to child development but were forward-facing in interacting with humans, people face-to-face, and working in the service industry.

I was also the president of the Child Development Association. We used to have activities, like an activity space or table set up at the farmer's market each Thursday. It was a space for families to stop by with pre-planned activities for kids. Through those experiences of internships and paid jobs, it incrementally led me towards realizing I love working with humans, and I love working with children.

I also sought my Montessori certification while at Cal Poly. It went hand-in-hand with my undergraduate thesis, or undergraduate paper. When I left, I had my degree and a certification as a Montessori teacher. I was teaching at a school right out of graduation, even beforehand, and doing a lot of private tutoring. Again, this was about working directly with people, supporting children's growth and development.

All right. Well, so I went through a series of different educational jobs. I reentered grad school because I wanted to open up more financial opportunity for myself. At the time, Montessori schools were predominantly lower paid than public school settings. So I got my master's at Dominican University in education, along with my teaching credential.

Over the course of two to three years, I was teaching in a variety of all these different learning settings. In a public setting, I felt so strongly about the philosophy of Montessori that I applied for more jobs, which led me to move from California to Texas. I got two offers in Austin, Texas, and took one. That continued my love of Montessori. I put myself out there as both a teacher and a workshop presenter and trainer, and I just continued to stay as a learner.

That was such a big part of my Cal Poly experience, where I always wanted to keep growing. My teaching went far beyond the classroom. I presented at national and international conferences and went on to work with non-government organizations in China, presenting trainings for teachers in the Tibetan foothills.

I left the classroom almost 10 years ago while doing all of this educational work and consulting. I then started working as the founder of my own business, which was a lot of educational consulting, creating workshops for teachers, schools, and families. There's a big community here in Austin that wants supplemental support for education or support with homeschooling their kids. So I jumped into both of those spaces.

I continued my own education, attending conferences like SXSW EDU, and kept networking with people both within and outside my field. I loved that, really creating my own path forward. I was self-employed for four years and did very well financially. I got sick, so I had to take a hiatus but then reentered the field as a contractor for No Red Ink, an academic support program for improving writing.

I also joined as one of the founding members of an educational startup called Neuron Garage, which is like STEAM for students for summer camp. There was all of this about growth and learning, social-emotional learning, emotional IQ, and supporting adults in service to children. I was never deeply steeped in wanting to be a reading specialist or focusing on a specific curriculum. I was more about the overarching theme of human development, child development, and advancement.

After my time at Neuron Garage, I was recruited by the University of Texas for a grant-funded position that I just wrapped up. It was a three-year grant position at UT in two different districts where I was the extended learning coordinator. My job was to help boost test scores in students due to pandemic learning loss and increase their opportunities for enrichment within and outside the school setting.

This included a charter school on the east side of Austin and 23 other locations across Texas that serve students who have experienced trauma. They might be in partial hospitalization settings or have been sex trafficked. So, it was about giving them more support from an academic and enrichment emotional standpoint.

Through that process, I was becoming a board-certified health and wellness coach. Again, this was about helping people grow and develop, and I knew that was the direction I wanted to go. Even on the side, I've always been interested in health and wellbeing. If I didn't land in child development, I would have landed in nutrition or kinesiology, something like that at Cal Poly.

So here I am now. I'm board-certified as a health and wellness coach. I was able to bring five coaches to work pro bono with our faculty and staff this past year. It had an amazing result in the overall wellbeing of our educators. I'm taking those skills and moving forward fully into wellness and health, hopefully within the education setting, but I'm exploring all options.