Coaching as a profession came to my life when I least expected it, but it was right on time to serve as a hurricane and question values, principle, and most of all, beliefs about my life.
From early childhood I have been dreaming about helping others. One way or another. And I always was.
I wanted to become an actress or a lawyer - close enough, right?! I was determined to have a profession. Not a job. A profession. a profession that has a purpose, that brings something good to this world, and is connected to people.
After fulfilling one of my childhood dreams ( guess which one) and finishing law school (did you guess it right?) I found myself sitting in an office, surrounded by files, rules and principles that I could not associate myself with. The illusion of a higher purpose, charitable actions started to fade away, and so was my enthusiasm. My inner Mother Teresa was suffering from seeing the gaps in the system, felt paralysed and simply useless.
I could not see the way, my batteries were running out of energy, as I was craving for inspiration, harmony and - little did I know that back then - I needed purpose, most of all.
To break the circle, I moved abroad. I took part in an international volunteer project and I worked with kids in a youth center, provided workshops of various subjects with fellow volunteers from all over the world.
I felt free, I felt happy, I felt heard, my soul was dancing, for the first time in my life.
After the project I had to take decision about what's next, and by chance, I got a job here in Krakow, Poland, in a multinational company where I was given a chance to learn a new profession, to explore my competencies, to transform into a leader, and I got introduced to the world of coaching and training.
It was love at first sight.
During my first ever coaching session as a coachee, instead of focusing on my own topic, I tried to follow the coach and to map his thinking process, the logic behind the questions and the hidden purpose of the exercises he offered me to do. I was amazed by the variety of creative tools, techniques of asking questions and the supporting presence of my coach. As I still had to work on my own issues and insecurities, I decided to reward the hard work with a coaching training to see, if I really had coaching in my blood.
Apparently, I did!
I became an enthusiastic internal coach, supporting people achieving their goals and objectives. At one point I found myself among the coach supervisors of the company , leading coaching cohorts for people interested in working with people in an efficient, supportive way and I co-founded a local coaching community as well. I have never felt more fulfilled in my life!
Finally I started to have a purpose, I knew that the direction is good as I had lot of energy, I went to sleep calm and happy and I greeted the day with enthusiasm. I still did not have a clear mission, motto but it felt so close!
The more I learnt, the more I practiced I got to conclude that I want to go the extra mile and to invest in myself with a transformational life coach course. Mother Teresa got activated and could not wait to be put herself in action: to spend the rest of her life talking with people, see them grow and bloom. The course was a true bliss, a journey that made me who I am today.
Since I always worked in a team, and I lead teams, I was in need to have knowledge on team dynamics, and how to unlock the potential of a group of people, and how to harmonize the cooperation. I already worked in an Agile environment, where transparency, courage and collaboration were present. I went back to school and walked away with what I call the 'ultimate team coaching toolkit' that I cherish and use almost every day to create safe space at work.
By working with more and more people, seeing more and more lives, troubles and successes, I still wanted to dig deeper in understanding how do we human work, how do we feel and how our upbringing and our the environment plays a role in it, so in 2022 I applied to a post-graduate course in Budapest, to become a mental health consultant, specialised in workplace mental health and well-being on employees. After a very intense year, I got my diploma and certified to work effectively with companies on their wellbeing campaigns, analyse the need of the employees and take steps every day to create a safe and healthy work environment for everybody.
And who am I today?
A life coach who is enthusiastic about hearing out people with their tales, stories, ideas, needs, struggles; a person supporting change, growth, transformation; a leader whose mission is to give purpose to her people; a team coach that builds teams that is based on trust and common goals; a group facilitator guiding people to find common ground and solution to their issues, and a mental health consultant that could empathise with the ones suffering from uncomfortable emotions, crisis, rejection or to whom life just feels heavy at times.
And most of all, a curious soul who is passionate about connecting with others.
