|
My story starts on New Years Day 1968 when I was born behind the "Iron Curtain" in Russian occupied Eastern Germany. Growing up there was far from being easy. I felt very much like a bird trapped in a cage. The commanding officers dictated our lives. We were told what to do and spied upon, even by our neighbors. Freedom of speech or freedom to do what you wanted, did not exist. Traveling "outside" was not allowed. Life was bleak by shortages, from simple foods to anything you possibly needed or forbit wanted. The communist controlled state also disapproved of religion and further restricted those who would not curse to the god they believed in. For my sister and I it meant to be excluded from school activities, music school and higher education, just to name a few of many more restrictions.
I resented that life was so difficult. Since there was nothing I could do about the depressing outside world I was living in, I decided to change the inside of my world and turn the gray days into colorful, vibrant stories. As often as I could, I escaped to fantasy land and dreamed that one day things could be different and I would be free to fly high in the sky long before I was too old to do it. While others gave up, I held on to my dreams. I believed that someday, somewhere out there are possibilities for me and the door of the cage would open for me to spread my wings and fly. |
If you can dream it, you can do it - Walt Disney
|
Theodore Roosevelt
|
Guess what? It happened. My mother kept rebelling and through a whole bunch of events, she, my sister and I where “released” to Western Germany 5 years prior to the wall coming down. I was 16 years old at the time. As amazing as it was, as challenging it was because we entered a different world in which we were outsiders for a very long time. They called us “Ossis”, a nickname you’ve got branded with coming from East Germany. I struggled my way through High School trying to adopt from a controlled thought system into a free-thinking society. It’s hard to comprehend if you have not experienced it. My classmates laughed at me and belittled me. Their reaction often took the wind out of my sails. “Poor dumb little "Russian" girl, what a pity, we can’t be friends with her”. While life continued to be challenging in this new word, I kept believing this too shall pass and "I CAN AND I WILL make it through this difficult time".
|
Fast forward a couple years, I finished college and got my Diploma in Social Education with a focus on rehabilitation for those with physical and mental disabilities. While my job was physically and mentally demanding, it was very rewarding. I loved it and enjoyed it tremendously.
Flash forward again, at the age of 27 I packed my bags and left Germany for a variety of reasons to move to the beautiful Pacific Northwest, the place I dreamed of as a child. The way to immigration was full of new challenges and required my utmost commitment to stay focused on my goal, which was starting a new life in Canada. Moving to this beautiful part of the world was a bold decision since I spoke very little English at the time. All my friend thought I was nuts, but I believed I could make it happen and I did! As it turns out, this was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m glad I did it, even though it wasn’t easy.
Having a degree in social education I never thought I would venture into real estate, a carrier path I followed for 15 years. I managed to survive the real estate bubble from 2008 through 2012 taking on other jobs to help pay the bills. "Whatever it takes, that's what you'll do" has been one of the main mottos in my life. While I enjoyed helping home buyers find the perfect home and home sellers with a smooth and hassle-free sale, I enjoyed even more helping other agents to become successful and the best they can be, thus my main focus became creating and managing sales teams. I loved it all.
Flash forward again, at the age of 27 I packed my bags and left Germany for a variety of reasons to move to the beautiful Pacific Northwest, the place I dreamed of as a child. The way to immigration was full of new challenges and required my utmost commitment to stay focused on my goal, which was starting a new life in Canada. Moving to this beautiful part of the world was a bold decision since I spoke very little English at the time. All my friend thought I was nuts, but I believed I could make it happen and I did! As it turns out, this was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m glad I did it, even though it wasn’t easy.
Having a degree in social education I never thought I would venture into real estate, a carrier path I followed for 15 years. I managed to survive the real estate bubble from 2008 through 2012 taking on other jobs to help pay the bills. "Whatever it takes, that's what you'll do" has been one of the main mottos in my life. While I enjoyed helping home buyers find the perfect home and home sellers with a smooth and hassle-free sale, I enjoyed even more helping other agents to become successful and the best they can be, thus my main focus became creating and managing sales teams. I loved it all.
Over the last years it became clear to me that my true passion is helping others to overcome challenges and create what they truly desire in their lives and businesses. That is why I decided to educate myself further and entered the professional coaching world. In 2018 I received my CPC and ELI-MP certifications through iPEC, the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching and I am super excited to share my knowledge with those who are ready to take life-changing actions to create whatever they really desire.
|
While I love the live I have, I am still creating the life of my dreams, one day at the time. Lot’s of things have happened since 2018, many that were not on my “vision board”. I won’t get into details here, but I will share with you the path that led me to become an author. Shortly after I started to build my coaching business, my lovely husband threw me a curveball when he decided to quit his job in the Mortgage Industry to follow his dream starting a semi-private charter business in the Pacific Northwest. We had talked about it every so often and I could see myself “being on board”. However, I did not see this coming for a long, long time. I decided to jump on board and put my coaching business on the back burner for a while. After just transitioning from real estate broker and team manager to being a licensed professional coach I was now adding to my list of careers, First Mate and Chef de Cuisine on our own charter yacht. For over one year we worked hard and endlessly to pull it off only to find ourselves being shut down shortly after we opened due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Truly a bummer, as you can imagine. We decided to sell our beautiful homestead, rehomed all our animals, which was a hard pill to swallow for me, and moved onto the boat full-time to help with monthly expenses. I decided to take this time of uncertainty and change as an opportunity to write the book I had wanted to write, previously I had just never found the time to do it. Thus, I added to my “reinvention list,” being an author.
To reach more people with my message "Break Loose and Fly - 10 Practical Tools For Mastering Life's Challenges and Creating A Life You'll Love" I enrolled in the Big Talk Academy Signature Program to learn how to communicate, speak and lead at a world class level to create global impact, thus added Speaker to my "reinventin list" as well.
To reach more people with my message "Break Loose and Fly - 10 Practical Tools For Mastering Life's Challenges and Creating A Life You'll Love" I enrolled in the Big Talk Academy Signature Program to learn how to communicate, speak and lead at a world class level to create global impact, thus added Speaker to my "reinventin list" as well.
My favorite things to do
Spending time with my family and friends
Encouraging others, spreading good vibes
Being on/in the water - boating, fishing, kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming
Cooking, learning new ways of creative cooking & teaching others "how to"
Riding horses and being around them
Traveling the globe
Listening, learning and improving
If we have not had the pleasure to meet... let's fix that.
Let’s connect, I’d love to hear from you!
Let’s connect, I’d love to hear from you!