How my journey began

Hey, I’m Nicki!

• Corporate ladder climber turned Women’s Empowerment Coach

• Mama of two

• Recovering perfectionist

• Personal development junkie

• Lover of sunflowers and collector of hats

• Creator of freedom, & cultivator of self-love and fulfillment

• Passionate about learning to love myself wholly and live my life more fully

• On a mission to help you do the same

  As an achiever and a people pleaser, I spent my whole life focusing on what other people wanted for me and how to make other people happy. It took me nearly 30 years to recognize that I didn’t really know who I was or what I wanted for myself. I spent a lot of my life feeling like I had conflicting desires and sides of me—-it wasn’t until I started doing the work that I realized those warring parts of me were the person I really was and the person I thought I needed to be in order to be loved and valued.

  One thing that was always consistent for me was this desire to help others and somehow make an impact on this world—I had this knowing from such a young age, but I let the world convince me that I was naive and a dreamer. From working with children & volunteering my time for causes I was passionate about, to pursuing a degree in International Development and thinking I would work in the non-profit space, I spent my life trying to find something that fulfilled me. When that dream went sideways I started thinking they were right — the people that shamed me for my ideals—that maybe I should just get a stable 9-5 corporate job and be satisfied climbing the corporate ladder. So I did. The truth was I knew deep down I felt lost, beat down. I started thinking I just needed to settle and try to be happy with that.

  I fell backwards into a job in security software. I worked hard and grew quickly. To be honest, I grew to actually like the job and the industry, and I tried to convince myself that if I climbed the corporate ladder I could be content with that kind of success and a good paycheque, but I repeatedly found myself in search of something more. Every time that voice in the back of my head whispered “This isn’t you. This isn’t enough” I would silence it. By all accounts, I was doing well, and I had a good life — how dare I feel anything but grateful? I didn’t realize that both feelings could co-exist. I could be both grateful for what I had and still want something different, something more. As much as I was on track to build a good and successful career in the tech space, I wasn’t really happy but I just kept chugging along thinking I would just get used to it. I got pregnant, we bought a townhouse in the suburbs and I commuted over an hour downtown to get to work every day, only to come home, rush around to get dinner, get the baby in bed and clean up and fall asleep exhausted, only to wake up and do it all over again. Despite how much money we made we were also in a ton of debt—no matter how much we made, it never seemed to be enough. It felt like groundhog day. I never saw myself here—running through life on autopilot with a to-do list a mile long, rushing from one thing to the next, taking pride in their “busy-ness” and the exhaustion, wearing it like a badge of honour…but everyone else seemed to be doing the same thing. My daughter was not an easy baby and I found myself incapable of the time and patience to handle her. I numbed my feelings by drinking nightly and losing myself in mindless television.

  I was simultaneously overwhelmed and underwhelmed with my life and slowly I became more frustrated, impatient, restless and bitter. I looked at myself in the mirror one day and decided I didn’t like the person I was becoming and the life I was living. I felt I had strayed so far from the starry-eyed twenty-year-old with dreams of an unconventional life and a desire to change the world. I felt I had strayed so far from the person I had always been at my core and I felt like a shell of myself— like a hungry ghost trying to fill the void, thinking if I just made more money I could buy the things that would satisfy me and “make everything better”…all kinds of things, a new car, and most importantly vacations—because I constantly felt like I needed a vacation from life. It never did, it just makes things worse.

  Eventually I decided something needed to change. I started reading self-help materials. I knew one of my biggest pain points was my job. I wanted a meaningful and fulfilling career. I applied for a job with an education software company as an inside sales manager—I went through the whole process and they offered me the job—they were sure I was going to accept and so was I, so to say congratulations they sent me the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck. Ironically, I was still really struggling with my mindset and I was afraid to leave my secure job so I declined. Months later when I finally began to read that book my passion for mindset work was ignited. I could see how my limiting beliefs had developed and how they had shaped my life. That book was the catalyst for my insatiable appetite for personal development and I went on to read and listen to everything I could get my hands on. It was throughout this process I realized I wasn’t living my values and being my authentic self. Eventually, I read an article about life coaching and had a profound realization that it was what I was meant to do. I realized I had two choices: I could dig deep and find the courage to pursue what I’d been searching for—work that filled my life with meaning and purpose—or I’d have to accept that I would always feel like something was missing in my life and be prepared for how that would affect the other areas of my life. So decided to take the leap and get formal training; I pursued a dual certification in Health and Life Coach from the Health Coach Institute.

  I felt things really beginning to shift for me and it continued to. The more committed I was to the work, the more I witnessed how my life began to change. It started to FEEL different even before it looked different. After studying mindset and habits extensively I began to realize that there was still something missing. I knew I had deep core stories and wounding around not feeling good enough, not feeling safe to be seen and heard, and some deep unconscious beliefs around money and worth but I didn’t know how to work with them. That’s when I found the Institute for Coaching Mastery (ICM). I spent a year doing the deep transformational work for myself and learning how to do that same work with clients. I developed the tools to get to the root and clear blocks at the core, helping clients awaken to their inherent worth and wholeness so that I could serve my clients at a deeper level and really transform their life from the inside out. It’s some of the most powerful work I’ve had the privilege of witnessing and I’m honoured to be a part of ICM’s mission to up-level the coaching industry with this work. I’ve seen the way it’s changed my life and the lives of the many women who’ve had the pleasure of experiencing it for themselves, and now it’s your turn.

  For the past two years, I’ve been growing my business to serve women like you all over the world. I’ve worked with clients internationally, spanning from London, England to San Diego, California. Wherever you are in your life or across the globe, i’d love to serve you. If you’re interested in becoming a client, send me an email or visit the “Work With Me” tab to see more options. I can’t wait to help you flourish and create your vision of the good life!