About

Unfold-Yourself is a personal and professional development company that helps individuals and organizations create stronger connections within and with the people around them by 1) Developing their social emotional and leadership skills through training and development in coach-like practices, and 2) Raising awareness of, developing and harnessing the power of their energy through coaching. We help individuals and organizations gain clarity on how they “show up” so they can better know themselves, acknowledge and move through internal and external barriers to live freely and purposefully, and use their strengths and passions to make positive change and impactful connections with the world around them.

Vision

Bringing flow and peace to the connection we have within ourselves, and with each other.

Mission

Empowering people to create stronger connections within themselves and with the people around them by developing their social emotional and leadership skills through training and development in coach-like practices, and raising awareness of, developing and harnessing the power of their energy through coaching and energy leadership.

Values

Inclusion and belonging…

Coaches can guide and help people transform, but our positioning, if not taken with a recognition of our privilege, can be harmful.

I understand that I can never truly know someone’s lived experiences, but I am always open to listening and learning from them. In coaching, I want to create a safe space and to be aware of my positioning in the coaching session.

I do this by:

Educating myself, taking responsibility for my behaviours and actions, and being open to feedback from others.
Becoming aware of my unconscious and conscious biases and learning how to dismantle them.
Building a relationship based on trust – engaging in deep listening and open communication.
Speaking up to help create braver spaces for people to share and learn.
Supporting the growth of Black, Indigenous, and People of color to become coaches. Please visit Coaching for Everyone if you’d like to help make that change too.

I truly believe in creating a space where a person feels a sense of safety, inclusiveness and belonging. I want others to see the value of this too.

Coaching from the inside out...

Lifelong learning has always been important to me. Until recently, I always felt that the more I could learn from experts, the better I felt about myself, and the more I felt I would be valued by others.

Over the years, I began to recognize that how I felt about myself would never change as long as I focused on what was happening externally. As I focused on the external and what I thought I needed the world to see in me, I was turning a blind eye to what was going on inside me.

Today, lifelong learning is about learning about myself, understanding how I show up, living in alignment with my values, recognizing my strengths and sharing the parts of myself that can help others.

There is true value in exploring what’s happening inside. It’s where your hopes and dreams live. They deserve to be uncovered and explored.

Service to others…

I was a shy child who never asked for help or wanted to draw attention to myself. I kept my opinions and feelings hidden. I was a die-hard rule follower, perfectionist and conflict avoider. From experience, where I fully engaged and most expressed myself was in “safer” spaces – with my family, and good friends, and when I was with other coaches or being coached myself. I needed a place to share my feelings, thoughts, and dreams, with a focus on the future and a way to achieve them.

With my coaches’ help, I saw my potential more clearly and that it could be released by being comfortable with fully expressing myself and enjoying the journey, and learning from the messiness of imperfection. I want those I coach to feel like they can be themselves with me, that they can play in the messiness, and that they can freely explore their needs, values and dreams for the future.

The Value of Connection

One of my favorite quotes is by a Canadian author, inspirational speaker, and entrepreneur, named Danielle LaPorte, who said:

"Do you remember who you were before the world told you who to be?"

Many of us may spend the majority of our lives trying to figure out who we really area – and our “purpose” in life. Often when we read about the last words of people who are dying, they share advice on how life is about building experiences and collecting memories, pursuing our dreams, investing in relationships, and being ourselves.

At the center of this advice is the idea of CONNECTION – with ourselves and those around us. After all, if we want to collect memories, those memories will normally involve other people. If we want to be ourselves, we will want to feel comfortable in our own skin and to feel safe and connected with those who are around us. If we want to pursue our dreams, we need to know what’s important to us.

Our level of connection is tied deeply to shared experiences that are relatable, vulnerable and enable us to freely reveal who we are. The more we can experience these things, the more deeply we are connected. And the more two people can do this together, the more connected they will be.

While connection is considered a basic human need and hard wired in all of us, building true connection becomes harder once the world takes hold of us. Whether it is pursuing an education, working in a particular job, joining a club, or even engaging in a conversation, each of these situations has an intricate system that is at play – processes, structures and norms that sometimes, unknowingly to us, dictate the way we act and respond to the world.

As we do this, over and over again, we move further away from who we really are. We act in ways that are expected of us rather than in ways that are in alignment with our values or bring happiness. Added to this system are beliefs, often passed down to us from others, that create stories around our experiences and can limit us. For example: I’m not smart enough to do that job. I don’t deserve to take time for myself. I could never do “that”.

The more we move away from who we really are and want, the less connected we feel to ourselves, and the less satisfying and less impactful our connections. We are chameleons, changing with our external environment, but never quite feeling like ourselves on the inside. What would it feel like to not change for others or the external environment? Whatever you felt in that moment through that question is what coaching can help you explore.

The connection we have with ourselves impacts the connection we have with others.

But how do we maximize our connection and the “oneness” that comes from relating, vulnerability and being ourselves?

Through coaching, personal development and energy leadership!

"I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship."

- Brené Brown