At the heart of my coaching style is positive, forward momentum. As a former Marketing Executive in the music industry, I would boost and launch the careers of rock stars, now I make rock stars out of executives and aspiring professionals.
As a Certified Executive Leadership & Career Coach and Founder of Smile Across The Finish Coaching, LLC, I specialize in coaching business executives, creative professionals & artists in areas of Leadership, Career & Professional Development. I work with private clients and organizations from industries including Music, Entertainment, Media, Finance, Technology, Small Businesses, Higher Education. My clients range from aspiring professionals to C-suite level executives; all with a common ground of being high-potentials, motivated to reach their next level of success.
In the field of Higher Education, I am a seasoned career educator as a professor and coach. I manage Career Services at Wagner College where I coach students on career exploration, leadership, professional development. At Montclair State University’s Feliciano School of Business I am an Adjunct Professor and Executive Coach to MBA/EMBA students. I also instruct and train aspiring career coaches through the Get Five Certification program and lead workshops, webinars and group coaching sessions to GetFive clients.
Whether coaching individuals or groups, facilitating workshops or leading webinars, my philosophy is to elicit a positive change through goal-oriented coaching methods.
For over 20 years I worked as a Marketing Executive at major music labels (Universal Music: Capitol Music Group/ Virgin Records/ Blue Note Records; Sony Music; Mercury Records), boosting and launching the careers of many rock stars. My career portfolio of artist marketing campaigns include Bob Seger, Bon Jovi, Celtic Woman, Ricky Martin, Anita Baker, Ringo Starr, Van Morrison, Sarah Brightman, Michael Franti & Spearhead and the extraordinary artists signed to the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records.
More recently I decided to follow my passion for helping other’s with their goals and life purpose and transferred my expert skills as a product manager and marketing strategist into the field of positive psychology and the practice of coaching and leadership development. As a result, I founded Smile Across The Finish Coaching with a focus towards eliciting positive change through goal-oriented coaching methods.
I hold two certifications – in Executive & Personal Development Coaching from New York University and in Career Coaching from GetFive (formerly known as the Five O’Clock Club), a premiere outplacement company renown for their highly-successful, research-proven methodology.
I offer my clients well-rounded techniques of both transactional coaching (use of counseling to work through tactical steps) and transformational coaching (applying coaching skills to move the client forward). I am trained according to International Coaching Federation (ICF) competencies and code of ethics and allow the client to determine the agenda. I facilitate the conversation through powerful questions (not telling). I coach using the GROW model; a performance-based, goal-oriented method.
I believe that establishing trust in the coaching space is essential to having an impactful coaching relationship. After years of working with executives, artists and clients of diverse statures and creative personalities, I am capable of swiftly establishing rapport. After experiencing innumerable organization restructuring in the paradigm-shifting music industry, I have a heightened sense of awareness towards effectively working through change and a keen understanding of leveraging an individual’s skills to transfer into other professions.
I hold great value in balancing family, kindness and honesty with ambition, determination and hard-work. As a wife and mother of twin daughters, living in suburban New York, an avid marathon & ultra runner and lifetime member of Weight Watchers, I know first-hand the challenges of defining boundaries around work and personal life. My coaching philosophy stems from my personal and professional experiences.
WHY DID I BECOME A COACH?
As someone who feels like I’ve always been a coach in training, the question for me was how could I not become a coach? With a passion for listening and a desire to inspire and guide others to achieve their goals, coaching is a way for me to use my gifts as a service to others. I have been fine-tuning my ears to actively listen from a very early age. When I was a young professional jazz saxophonist I learned the importance of listening for the notes that are not being played as attentively to what is being played. And throughout my 20-year career as a marketing executive in the music business, I have been trained not only to hear notes, but to hear people in order to positively facilitate successful communication between artists and colleagues. As an avid marathoner, I listen to the rhythm of breath, the pitter-patter of sneakers and the messages from the brain to the legs. It is this penchant for listening – to the stated and unstated – that helps me facilitate impactful discussions to clear the path towards a client’s goals.
EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS
- The 5 Cohesive Behaviors of a Team (Wiley Distributor) – Certified Facilitator
- Everything DiSC Workplace (Wiley Distributor) – Certified Facilitator
- Strong Interests Inventory Certified – from The Myers-Briggs Company
- ATD (Association for Talent Development) – Train the Trainer Certification
- GetFive (formerly known as The Five O’Clock Club), Certified Career Coach
- New York University, Certificate in Executive & Personal Development Coaching
- New York University, MA Entertainment Business
- Sarah Lawrence College, BA Jazz Studies / Italian language
CURIOUS? LEARN MORE ABOUT MY COACHING SERVICES.
