Rachel Barbaro - Listening to Your Inner Voice

From the outside, our guest was living the life. A beautiful family, a career as an executive in the public sector with upward momentum. She had the kind of résumé that screamed success, prestige, power.

But something was off. A persistent, uncomfortable feeling that the life she had built wasn't quite the life she was meant to live.

So she did something that took equal parts clarity and conviction. She stepped away, taking an unpaid sabbatical for a full year, to finally get quiet enough to listen.

And what she heard changed everything.

This is a conversation about the gap between a successful life and a fulfilling one. 

#pivotalmoment #innervoice #passion 

Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, leadership strategist, and storyteller who believes growth happens in the everyday moments that define who we become. Drawing on years of experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams, Lesley brings authenticity, curiousity, and heart to the conversation, as each interaction is an opportunity to define what truly matters.

One question. One turning point. One powerful story. 

To learn more about Lesley: www.lesleyhawkins.ca / www.marsley.ca

@the_lesley_hawkins_podcast

The Lesley Hawkins Podcast is a Marsley Canada production.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Welcome to the Leslie Hawkins Podcast. Each week, my guest and I discuss one pivotal moment in their life, what they learned from it, and their words of wisdom. From the outside, our guest was living the life. A beautiful family, a career as an executive in the public sector with upward momentum. She had the kind of resume that screams success, prestige, power. But something was off. A persistent, uncomfortable feeling that the life she had built wasn't quite the life she was meant to live. So she did something that took equal parts clarity and conviction. She stepped away, taking an unpaid sabbatical for a full year to finally get quiet enough to listen. What she heard changed everything. This is a conversation about the gap between a successful life and a fulfilling life. Welcome to the Leslie Hawkins Podcast. I am so grateful that you are here joining us for another episode. Please join me in welcoming today's guest, Rachel Barbero. So Rachel is an executive leadership coach. She is an organizational consultant, a workshop facilitator, and keynote speaker. There's not much that this woman doesn't do. So welcome. So glad you are here with us today. Now you and I met through Be Uninterrupted through Women's Network. And you're one of those people that I like instantly clicked with. And so I'm really happy that you are joining us today. This is going to be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

It's a lot of fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Definitely. I felt the same way about you, Leslie. I was like, I have to got to know this woman. She's extraordinary.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

There's an energy between us. How about that?

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

This podcast is all based on one question, which is what is one pivotal moment in your life? And the reason that that is the question is because first of all, it's universal. Like everybody has pivots. Some good, some bad, some that they've chosen and some that have been chosen for them or imposed on them. And there is definite peaks and valleys through all of these pivots. And so I wanted to create this platform for people to hear about some incredible stories of the human spirit, the resilience, the agility, and learn from amazing people like yourself on how have they managed through whatever pivot that they've gone through. So let me ask you, let's kick it right off with what would be one pivotal moment in your life.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Thank you, Leslie, for that question. What a powerful question. I think back to the big pivotal moment for me was a number of years ago. I was in my late 30s and I was in a senior leadership role in the public sector. I was leading a big team. And I remember it was a spring day, and it was a Friday afternoon about 4:30, the end of the day. And I was sitting there in my office, and I'm walking people watching people leave for the for the weekend and saying goodbye. And I'm about to sit down and do my approvals for the week. And there's, you know, media materials and public disclosure documents and all these things I need to get through. And I closed my office door and I looked out the window and I took a deep breath before I opened up the package and got into all the emails. And in that moment, in that little pause that I gave myself, I had the awareness, the life that I'm living, I don't really like my life. Oh, I don't really like this. Ouch. Yeah. Yeah. It was big. It was really big.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

Very big. Okay. So can you tell us a little bit about the kind of role that you were doing before? What did that like? What was your life like before that one moment?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah. So I mean, it was pretty good. Yeah. By by like, I think a lot of uh external eyes, everything looked really good. I had a 20-year career in the public sector in Ontario and in BC. Um, I was in a senior leadership role. I was married with two young boys, um, had had a really successful career, got into leadership in my in my late 20s. Like I was very young. I was tapped very young, had some extraordinary mentors mentoring me. Um, but I got this sense that the life that I was living, even though externally, you know, it looked, it looked really good. Corner office, I had an EA, a big team leading a branch. Um I didn't, it didn't fit anymore. And I realized that it was, you know, perhaps I'd created this life and this career that was deemed successful by external factors, not really what I really wanted.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Right. Yeah. And so what would those external factors have been? Like, was it money, prestige, those things that you were by which you were, I guess, deeming that it was successful?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah. I think money, prestige, you know, reaching to a certain level, a certain amount of salary, a certain amount of power and impact and influence, which felt really good for a really long time. I I leadership is a privilege. And it was an absolute privilege to be in leadership, you know, at such a young age and build my leadership career for over a decade. And I adored it. But there came a point where I realized um I had made choices and I had sort of developed this path based on, I think, fear and creating a career that would give me external validation. Yes. And make me feel like I was good enough. And I had an element of control and I had an element of power. And there was something else sort of percolating and and birthing within me that um was was ready to emerge. And I'm so glad in that moment, I'm in my mid-40s now, my late 30s back then, I listened to that little awareness that came in. Like, I don't really like this. Like, wait a second. I'm kind of in a movie and like, I don't really want this. And although, you know, the people that were five or 10 or 15 years ahead of me in their roles in the organization, and I have a lot of respect for them. I'm friends with many of them still today. Um, I didn't want to do what they were doing. Right. It wasn't for me anymore. And I think we sort of develop, we whether it's a relationship or a marriage or a career or a job, we we make these decisions at a younger age. And a lot of time we're unconsciously influenced by fear and wanting to be safe. Totally. And and that's okay. We're doing the best we can. But then as we get to learn new skills and become more aware of our patterns and some of our conditioning, well-meaning, you know, family or influencers or mentors, people influence us, we get to become aware of, okay, was that me? Is that what I want? Or is that what I thought success was?

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

By someone else's measure.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Totally, totally. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

Okay. So you're sitting in your office Friday at a 4 30. By the way, you weren't leaving the office like everyone. I wasn't. No. So that probably screams a little bit of also the situation you were in, right? Yeah. Long hours, long days, tons of pressure. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like incredible pressure. And so what did you then do? What was your next step? Once you have that realization, is it like, actually, I'm gonna just close this up, piece out, I'm out?

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Or yeah, what did you do? I think, um, I think I enjoyed. I'll speak to something you said. If I could circle back to me, you said, I know you were in leadership for a long time. Yes. So you know everybody sort of pieces out for the weekend, and then you're like, okay, everybody's done. Start my day.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Now I exactly.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Now I have to start my day and start the review and start the approvals and think about what's coming up. And there was just all these little moments for me where, you know, I would be at the ROM with my kids and my, gosh, back in the day it was my Blackberry, like I'm dating myself, or like my iPhone would be lighting up with stuff. And I was like, no amount of money is is going to satiate me in terms of what I'm giving up right now. I want to be with my kids right now. There, I want to have chunks of my day and my week where I'm not available for work. And in the role that I was in at the time, I didn't have that. Um, and and that was a sacrifice I was willing to make for a number of years. But I think once I realized, once I had begun to do a little bit of work on myself, whether it was my with my own executive leadership coach, whether it was via therapy, just reading, listening to podcasts, I was like, oh, I I can actually have boundaries. Like I don't have to be working all the time. So that was a real distinction for me. And I also, a lot of my leadership career, I was the only woman on an all-male leadership team. Yes. And that was tough. Very. That was really tough. And I had a mentor tell me once I had to let somebody go. I had to fire somebody. And I, you know, I was struggling with it. And I went to my mentor's office and she dismissed her assistant and she made me a cup of tea herself. I'm sitting there drinking a cup of tea with her. And she's like, I was really broken up about having to fire this individual. And she was like, Rachel, do it your way. Yes. Fire them your way. Tell them it's going to be the hardest conversation that you're going to have that month. Right. Like, allow it to be you. Lead in a way that's authentic to you. And I realized, you know, almost via osmosis, I was beginning to take on these traits as a youngish female leader that were more like the men that I was working with, as opposed to what felt authentic to me.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Totally.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

Yeah. Yeah. And that happens so easily. Oh yeah. And not necessarily consciously. It's right. Yeah, absolutely. Where you all of a sudden you find yourself fitting in, fitting into a mold, becoming something in someone else that you don't at some point you just stop recognizing.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Absolutely. And in that moment, that pause on that Friday afternoon at 4 30, I was like, I this is a really good life, but I don't really want it anymore. No, it doesn't fit me.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

And so was there a thought at that point of here's the life I do want? Or was it just a pure rejection of, okay, this isn't speaking to me anymore?

SPEAKER_00 10:20

I didn't quite know what I wanted. Okay. I knew what I wanted and what it felt like in my body. Okay. And at that point, I had done some work on myself. I had, you know, I've I'm today, 2026, I have an incredible business. Like I love what I do. Yes. Um, but I didn't necessarily know, okay, I'm gonna build this thing over the next five to seven years. I just knew the feeling I felt in my body. And at that point, I had done some executive leadership coaching. I had also done some somatic coaching. Okay. And I was aware that at that point in my life, I'd been living so much from the neck up. I'd been living so much in my brain. Yes. And there was so much intuition and wisdom in my body. And so that was a real unlearning for me and a tapping into where my intuition lives, where my power lives, the ability to learn how to regulate my nervous system and just know that, okay, I know there's something else I'm meant to be doing, and this ain't it. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

And then at some point you close a folder, you head home. And do you say to your husband, okay? So guess what? Da-da-da-da.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Remember that mortgage we had? Remember those two kids? Remember this new house we just bought a few years ago? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Hey, how's how about that, honey? Right. So what do you use? How was that?

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Oh, he thought it was a terrible idea. He said, Why don't you wait until you're 50?

SPEAKER_00 11:42

He goes, Why don't you just wait a few more years so we pay off more of the mortgage? And I looked at him and I was like, babe, I love you, but I can't. Yeah. I can't. I gotta go. I got, I gotta do something else. There's something else I meant to be doing. Okay. And he was well-meaning and he really supported.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

But at that point, he was like, Oh, this is not a good idea.

SPEAKER_03 12:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Like, honey, here's a glass of wine. Yeah. Please, can we reconsider?

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yeah. I mean, I don't drink in that moment.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

I wish I did.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

But yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Um, that's a lot. That was a lot. Um, and then there were all these other external factors happening with one of my children.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

And I'll touch on that briefly. So at that point, too, you know, I think life gets loud sometimes. Very life shakes you a little bit when you're meant to make a change. And then if you don't listen, life gets even louder. And whether it's with your body, whether it's with your health or inflammation or your friends or your family, these signs start to like come up for you. And that year, my eldest son, I have two boys. My eldest son was diagnosed with a really rare um low vision condition called ocular cutaneous albinism.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

Oh my.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Low vision.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Wears glasses, needed, needed some vision therapy, needed, needed some support. And he was also struggling struggling at school. And so we did a psychometric assessment, psychoeducational assessment, and he was diagnosed with very pronounced dyslexia.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

And um, you know, me working from HL6 every day and him being in aftercare, if if he if he was gonna learn how to read, that wasn't gonna work anymore. No, yeah, he needed a lot of support until that happened that same year.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

So it was that also was uh, I think a glimmer, like a bit of a a light, a tea light on the trail saying, okay, there's something else that needs you. And I I know anyone who's listening, and I, you as a mom, when your kids need you, like you will move a friggin' mountain. Absolutely. Like I will do anything for my kids. And in that moment, it awakened in me this need of like, you need to show up in a different way for your son to be successful, for him to learn how to read, for him to get the support that he needs. And the life I was living was not gonna allow me to do that for him.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

That was a huge factor, too.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

Yeah. So the universe is talking to you. Oh, big time. Big time.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

Okay. So then did you like that was a Friday. So on Saturday, did you write your letter of resignation? Or like, was this a bit of a pronounced process that took some extended time?

SPEAKER_00 14:15

I had a number of conversations with my husband. I had a number of conversations of my with my boss at the time, who was still a friend and a mentor to me. And that individual said, Well, you know, can we try to make it work? Could you, could you not work between like two and four, but then work from six to nine every night? And I well, well meeting. I was like, Yeah, no, I don't think that's gonna that's gonna work. And I really reflected and I really realized that I needed to step away. I needed to take a pause. And after 19 years of working consistently, um, I needed to step away. So I took a sabbatical, I took an unpaid leave, completely stepped away, made the decision at the time. Um, I had been doing a lot of mentoring and a lot of coaching, and coaching and mentoring are two different modalities.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

But I made the decision that I wanted to get my coaching accreditation.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

I wanted to be an accredited leadership coach. Um, I loved leading, but I loved coaching more.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

There's an element of leading where you're telling somebody what to do, you're giving them a direction. Coaching at its essence is seeing the person in front of you as entirely resourced.

SPEAKER_03 15:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

And you're just asking with presence, with self-awareness, questions to help them discover all the wisdom they have in them.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

And that I loved. That I could feel again somatically in my body. Okay, that was lighting me up. And I, you know, I've had the privilege in my career to be a media spokesperson, to have briefed many cabinet ministers, premiers, to work, you know, had a great career in the public sector. And that for a time lit me up.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

But there was an awareness for me that happened where that was ego. That was the ego sensor being lit up. And then when I was coaching or when I was mentoring or when I was speaking, facilitating and helping my son, there was a different sensor in me that was getting lit up. And I feel like that was my, you know, that was my true self. That was what I was meant to be doing.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

So that was incredible information. And I so good. I'm glad I listened to it.

unknown 16:14

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

So are we. Yeah. Okay. So how long were you on a sabbatical then?

SPEAKER_00 16:22

It was for a year. I took a one-year sabbatical. So good. And I never came back.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

And you never came back. Yeah. I'm gonna guess your boss probably knew at that point. I think so. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

That's amazing though, honestly, that you had that you worked with an organization, granted it's it's public circ sector, that would allow you to do that. I get it was it was unpaid, but you know, there's there's something to be said for the organization that they allowed that as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Absolute privilege. And throughout that year, I was, you know, having information interviews and having conversations within folks in the organization because it was my intent at that time to go back in and lead or to coach. But as the year went on and and as time went on, um I I almost as a as a mistake, as a happy accident, I built a business. I built this plane, like I, you know, with like a glue gun and like some popsicle sticks. Like I built this plane, I built this business because I had to have so many paid coaching hours to get my accreditation. I had to have a hundred paid hours. And then, oh my God, Leslie, the plane started flying. Yeah. And I was like, damn, this plane is flying. I'm gonna learn how to pilot. And that was an incredible experience. But even I loved being a public servant. Like I truly loved it. Even the night before I gave my resignation, I still did a best possible outcomes, worst possible outcomes list. Like I sat with it. It was a it was a huge decision for me to make.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Yeah, that is because you had invested a lot of time in it as well. Absolutely. And the organization had given me so much. Yes, yeah, that's amazing. Okay, so you've taken your sabbatical, yeah, you then resign.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

But with the resignation, was there a part of you that you knew that you were going into the right direction? But there's also a stability with what you were previously doing. Oh, yeah, 100%. So then you take the leap of faith.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

And you're like, I'm all in.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

I'm all in.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

Okay. So explain to us what are you doing now then?

SPEAKER_00 18:31

So right now, I after being all in for a number of years and building, um, it's a privilege to lead the business that I lead now. I absolutely love what I do. I really have two arms of my business.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

One arm is I partner with corporations.

SPEAKER_03 18:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

And I help them unleash the power of their leadership team. I help leaders create really high-performing teams. Nice. A number of different tools that I use: leadership circle 360s, facilitated workshops, speaking, one-on-one coaching, and I work across different um sectors. So tech, law, hospitals, finance, energy, work with clients, a couple in Europe, mainly in North America. And then the other arm of my business is the Empowerment Club. So that's a group leadership program for women, female leaders, female entrepreneurs. I've been running that program for three years. And it's a six-month coaching journey, small cohort and a community of women. And it's a privilege. That work is like from my heart, from my soul. It's a privilege to have coached and worked with close to a hundred women now. And um, I teach in that program honestly a lot of the tools that changed my life. Okay. A lot of the tools that took me from that moment thinking, oh my God, this life, I don't really like it, to, you know, having the really successful business that I have today.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Okay.

unknown 19:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

That's amazing. Where did the Empowerment Club come from?

SPEAKER_00 19:53

It came from a meditation. I was meditating one morning and it kind of just like, for anybody who meditates, I think you'll understand you get sometimes messages or intuitive hits. And I had noticed on my journey of, you know, integrating and expanding myself and becoming a better leader and becoming a coach, my preference initially was always to do one-on-one work with somebody. Yes. To work one-on-one. Yes. But what I noticed is as humans, humans are relational beings. And what was interesting is humans, particularly women, when you're in group, when you're in a group dynamic, whether it's coaching or therapy or something else or learning, all your stuff comes up. Yes. Because we're relational beings. Even if it's unconscious, oh, why is she wearing that? Or why did he look at me that way? Or I don't want to say that. What will they think of me? And you actually move a lot faster in group. People can move a lot faster, and they also have the support and the momentum of a community. So I had this idea one day. I've had a meditation practice for over a decade, and I was meditating and I was like, why don't I build a group? Why don't I in that group teach and coach and facilitate on the tools that changed my life the most? And I thought, I'll do it for everybody. And then I was like, no, I was intuitively called to do it for women. Okay. Women who are in leadership or women who are in entrepreneurship. Because I think, I mean, there's a special breed. Like you're intuitively, if you're a female leader and you're a female entrepreneur, you're a change maker.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

And I was like, that's who I want to work with.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. And I love the word club because it's like, okay, we're in the club. Right. And then all my alumni, all my all my cohorts, they call it the e-club. They're like, we're in the e club. And like, it's amazing. It's amazing. And there's and then like the connections that have been formed are like, it's absolutely incredible. It's such a gift.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Okay. And how and so you've been doing that for three years.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

For three years, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

And you've been running your business for how many years?

SPEAKER_00 21:51

I've been running my business for five years. Five years.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

Okay.

unknown 21:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

And so going from public Sector to entrepreneurship. What have you learned? For those of us who are newbies in the entrepreneurial space.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Well, girl, you don't look like a newbie. You're making it look pretty good from where I'm sitting right now. Um oh my gosh. You gotta be a little crazy to be an entrepreneur. I think so. It's gotta be just like a like the sea salt on the chocolate. You gotta be a little sprinkle of crazy and not in a bad way.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

But there's gotta be a part of you that's unique and different than everybody else. And to be an entrepreneur, from from my perspective and my experience and what I see in Empowerment Club and other entrepreneurs that I work with, you have to always wanna be in a state of creating and creation.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Because I think an employee mindset, you're often reactive. Yes. So you are reacting to direction from the board or the politician or the president or what have you. But to be an entrepreneur, you always have to be in a state of creation and creating. Because if you just keep reacting, um, you're not gonna build anything. Right. That was a huge, huge learning for me. Um, getting over myself. Like entrepreneurship brings up all your stuff. Like I remember leading my first workshop or doing my first Instagram story.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

I was like, what if these people see it? What if they don't like me?

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Like I had so much fear.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

I had so much fear, but I so real. You had that too. You experienced that too.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Absolutely. Imposter syndrome, like times 10. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:33

So interesting.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

But there was this like intuitive feeling inside of me that I'm meant to be doing this and like just keep going.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

And and you know, I believe in that saying of kind of like do it scared. If you're scared, do it anyways. But I also think that, you know, triggers or when we feel activated or when we feel scared. That's just unintegrated and unhealed parts of us that need to come in. And I think what makes me really unique and how I approach my work in Empowerment Club and with my clients and my corporate clients is um I can be ferociously corporate and strategic. I know how to navigate a lot of complex dynamics for my corporate clients, but I'm also a deeply spiritual person.

SPEAKER_03 24:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

I am deeply spiritual. And I believe that most people have an opportunity, I think, to be more fulfilled and have greater joy and greater impact the more they connect to who they are intuitively and their higher self. And I think we all are able to access that. No matter who you are, where you are, you all have the ability to access it. And it doesn't need to be, you know, um with an app, or it just needs to be, you know, the ability to to question your thoughts and really think about is that mine? Is that what I want? Or is that something I've been conditioned or I've been told? And then paying attention to your body, what intuitively and somatically in your body feels like you and what it feels like clenching or resistance. There's so much intelligence in our bodies.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

Yes, it's the challenge though, of knowing what your body is trying to tell you.

unknown 25:01

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

And that's a talent.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 25:05

Yeah. What is one of the things you said earlier was in your practice, you focus on somatic somatic? Somatic, yeah. What's that?

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Yeah. So somatic coaching is something that really came about in the 1970s. And there was a number of um folks in the psychotherapy space who noticed that if an individual in therapy pays attention to the sensations in their body, they make more advancement and they make more improvement than just traditional talk therapy. So I am not a therapist, but I am trained in somatic coaching. Um, and it's really, you know, it's from the Greek word soma, and it's about bringing the body into wholeness and even just paying attention in the present moment to your body and the sensations that you're having in your body on purpose. And I would encourage anybody, you know, there's different resources that you can do. You can find different podcasts or access things on YouTube. But I think working with somebody who's trained, whether a somatic coach or a somatic therapist, it can be really, really insightful and really interesting to start to map that sensation of anxiety or burnout, maybe that you're feeling in your chest or your gut or a tightness in your throat or your shoulders. You know, where is that coming from? And having somebody ask you and guide you with some thoughtful questions, because I'll I'll tell you, when I was coached, I worked with an executive leadership coach who, by a fluke, happened to be somatically trained.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

And on my own journey many, many years ago, I I uncovered so much about myself that I I didn't even know existed.

SPEAKER_03 26:42

So interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

It's not for everybody, but I think if you if you feel called, if you feel interested in it, um, it's definitely worth exploring.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

Yes. Okay. So in your programs and in the work that you do, it's more traditional leadership coaching as well as Oh, definitely. Okay. So it's a bit of both.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Yeah. I don't, I don't like, you know, bring out a crystal and do somatic coaching and drop somebody into their body in the very first coaching session. I mean, that's accessible, but um, I also I have a deep love and appreciation for the essence of executive leadership coaching. Yes. And like I love that. Like my favorite, favorite clients that I get to work with in that space are, you know, CEOs, chief administrative officers, SVPs, because we get to move so fast.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

And it's such a gift to hold space for those individuals or even a team of them and really bring awareness to those well-grooved patterns that maybe they have in their brain with themselves, with their work, with their home life, or in terms of them in relationship to the rest of the leaders on their leadership team. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I absolutely love that work because I think there's um often people operate and interact in a way that's well meeting, but the way that you were operating from two years ago or three years ago, or maybe when you had that toxic boss, we can pick up these sort of traits and ways of interacting. And often they're keeping us small and they're holding us back. And then we're modeling that for everybody around us. There's an element of facilitation and coaching that I deeply love where you're you're so objective and you're seeing what perhaps the client or the corporation or the team in front of you that they themselves can't see. There's truly an art and a magic and a science to coaching.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:27

That's amazing.

unknown 28:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

Is there, I mean, the corporate world is a little bit different now than I would say five, 10, 15 years ago. Um it's a little less personal, I found. A little bit more focused on investors, uh, value about the numbers. And maybe it's more my experience, but it interestingly enough, I found coming out of the pandemic, it became less and less about the people. Although I would say that the pandemic should have been a reason where we actually focused more on the people.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

It's what people needed.

SPEAKER_03 29:11

It's what they totally had, right? Yeah. And yet we came out of the pandemic and everyone went back to actually being more distant than together.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

And so in your coaching, have you found patterns of what that looks like? Have you found that there's ongoing similarities in some of the challenges that you're your the people you're working with are managing?

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Yeah, absolutely. I think ongoing challenges that I see in different teams, you know, whether they're in the US or whether they're in Canada or whatever sector is, there can be an element of people pleasing, well-meaning people pleasing, where I don't want to rock the boat. And and that really holds a leadership team back from unleashing their full potential. You need to be able to have courageous authenticity and disagree with each other. You have to have, I use a term I was teaching um in the energy sector a couple of weeks ago, and I used a term called, you know, you have to have the psychological safety and the connective tissue to disagree with each other. You have to be able to disagree with each other in order to, you know, create the best process or the best mandate, the best product, or whatever it is you're working on. You have to have that connective tissue. And I think to your point, Leslie, we we missed a little bit of that coming back from the pandemic because it was like, okay, heads down, get back in the office and get back to work.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

Yeah. And what people really needed and what they still need is they need human connection.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

What I also adore about coaching is that you bring your full self to coaching. I might be coaching a COOO, a CAO, you know, an SVP, a leadership team. And if something's happening that morning or the previous day, perhaps with their mother or in-laws or their kids, you know, it's not off limits in coaching.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

No.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Just because it's it's it's leadership coaching, let's bring it in.

unknown 30:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

Because there's patterns in how we operate at home and how we operate at work. And um, you know, for me also, I noticed I had kind of compartmentalized myself. I was a certain way at work, and then I sort of was a certain way at home. And one of the things I deeply love about entrepreneurship, and I'd love to know if it resonates for you, you just kind of get to be you all the time.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

Yes, you do.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:16

Yes. It's kind of nice. It is.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

It is really nice.

SPEAKER_03 31:21

There isn't a certain sp face or approach that you need to take when you leave the house and step into the office.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Yeah. And the thing I notice also about entrepreneurship when I'm when I'm working with somebody who's a founder or an entrepreneur is um your worth sometimes. You need to allow, even though the business came from you, came from your idea or your genius or your product or your service, the success of your business and your worth as a human are two distinct things.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

You are worthy and you are extraordinary as a human. Even if you did not meet your KPIs or your quarterly target.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Yeah. And that's a really important delineation for founders or entrepreneurs.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Yes. And it's and it's so interesting because it's so intertwined. Right? I did or did not hit my numbers this month. So I am therefore good, not good, doing well, not. Yeah. It's it can be uh super overwhelming.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Definitely. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:23

Wow. So given the journey that you've been on, how dialed in have you now become to yourself, to not necessarily having to wait till Friday at 4 30 in the afternoon to know where you're right or wrong and whether it's approaching a client or a program or whatever it may be.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

I'm pretty dialed in.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

You're pretty dialed in. I bet.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

I'm pretty dialed in. And um one of the greatest gifts of that has been how I get to lead at home as a wife and as a mother because I'm really dialed into okay, like what is my business need?

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

What is Rachel need? And then what is our home life lead need?

SPEAKER_03 33:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

So I'm very, I can be really dialed in, but I think it takes consistent practice and it takes a general sense of awareness and curiosity about yourself. And in any given week or month, I might meet with my therapist. I might, I might get a coaching session, but it's it's also the acceptance that I'm never done evolving. No, like I'm never done. I'm never like, okay, that's been healed, that's been integrated. Okay, I'm good. I've accomplished that. You know, that launch went really well. Or I made, you know, XXX amount last year. You're never done. You're always evolving. And for me, that doesn't, that gives me a sense of lightness.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

We're never done. Oh, like an exhale. Right. Like we're never done. We just, you know, I often I use a metaphor of like, I feel like I have this like bedazzled like toolkit with like all these like, you know, purple and pink, fabulous rhinestones, like a dazzled, bedazzle kit that they had in like the 80s. I was a kid in the 80s.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

Oh good.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

And in that beautiful toolkit, I have all these different tools.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

And I just get to pull them out. And so much of us, we weren't nobody was, I mean, kids now I think are, if they have conscious parents. We weren't raised with all this. And we get to have all these different tools that what I needed in my 20s, damn, like I need very different things now in my 40s.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Very.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

And the we get to continually, you know, evolve our tools and and bring on more and kind of leave things that aren't helping us anymore. And then we can share our tools with people around us as well.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:36

I I can absolutely see that bedazzled to make that.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Maybe I will. Maybe I will. There you go. Like a really fabulous like fanny pack or something. Why not? I love a little bit of sparkle.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

There you go. Next time I see you, I'm looking for the fanny pack sparkle. Amazing. Amazing. That's awesome. All right. My last question for you is this What would be your words of wisdom for the audience?

SPEAKER_00 35:03

Oh my gosh, my words of wisdom that life is for you. Absolutely, life is for you, even the most challenging or tough situations. And I have been through really challenging stuff in my life, very challenging stuff. Um, it's all for you. It's for your evolution and it doesn't define you. And I think when you accept that, you can move through life with a little bit more lightness and with a growth mindset and with an open heart. I think if you pay attention to the things in your life that close your heart, that collapse you, that make you feel feel fearful or in judgment of yourself or judgment of others, you will embody your life and inhabit your life with a closed heart. But if you have a commitment to growth and working on yourself with a practitioner or with somebody else, getting coaching or therapy or or support, um, and you know, the curiosity to really think about what am I here on this planet for? Like what am I here to do? What is the impact I want to have? What is the joy that I want to create for myself and then others? And then, okay, how can I make income doing it?

SPEAKER_03 36:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

And if you if you have the the curiosity, follow the glimmers, follow the tea lights, follow the threads, and and approach life with an open heart and with that element of curiosity, and like, my God, life will show you.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

Life will show you, and it will, it will absolutely blow you away. I had a beautiful moment. If I could share the story really briefly, I was a couple years into building my business. And as you, as I shared that moment where I, you know, what was happening with my son and everything happening with my myself in that moment of I don't like my life. And a few years into building my business, I was in the kitchen and I was like prepping dinner, and my kids come in and I'm like, unpack your lunches and refill your water bottles and like do all the things. And my oldest son had just got uh a laptop at the school and I had advocated Tiger Mom. I got him an accessible laptop, right? A brand new accessible laptop that the TDSB paid for. Yes. Yay! And he came in the room and he gave me a hug and he said, Mom, I Googled you today. He goes, You help so many people with what you do.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

And I was like, Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

And that moment for me, where so many years earlier, his diagnosis, his two diagnoses were what led me down that path. That was just a beautiful moment for me of like, okay, yeah, you're you're where you're supposed to be. This is what you're meant to be doing.

SPEAKER_03 37:35

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Yeah. So life will give you those signs.

SPEAKER_03 37:38

Yes. You just have to be willing to listen. Yeah, absolutely. That's fantastic. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing your story. And uh to all of the people that you have helped and the people that you will continue to help, uh, forever grateful for you because you are really making a difference. You're making a difference in so many people's lives. And I'm glad that Friday at 4 30 happened. And I can imagine it was a tough road. Yeah. But you are uh you are where you need to be. And you're a shining light. Your energy is so great. I'm so so grateful that you're here with us today. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

Thank you. Such a privilege to be here and have this conversation with you and be in community with you and and support you and be your friend, Leslie. So thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

Awesome. Thank you for joining me today. I really enjoyed my conversation with Rachel, she is so passionate about her work, her clients, about the privilege of helping others discover the power within themselves. Her energy is infectious, and I can see why she is so successful. If this story resonated with you, please share it with someone you care about. And be sure to subscribe so you can continue to hear more pivotal stories involving one question, one turning point, one powerful story. I'll see you next week with another guest on the Leslie Hawkins Podcast.