I’m a strategic life coach based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who welcomes phone-based clients from around the world. I also offer face-to-face local events.

My coaching is influenced by more than eight years of training in general psychology, management, counseling psychology, and coaching/positive psychology. I sometimes draw upon concepts from strategic planning, social networking, and economics.

Education and Training

Board Certified Coach (BCC)

Certified Life Coach (CLC), Institute for Life Coach Training (130+ hours of training, including Wellness Inventory facilitation)

M.A., Community Counseling, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Phi Kappa Phi, Spinelli Memorial Merit Scholarship

M.S., Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University
Highest Distinction, Phi Kappa Phi, Heinz Fellowship

B.A., Psychology, Yale University
Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society

Phillips Andover Academy

Background and Interests

As I often encourage clients to do, I enjoy breaking through stereotypes and labels. I grew up in a financially limited environment, doing custodial, fast-food, and factory assembly line work for my first jobs. I later attended some of the world’s wealthiest schools, and learned that some people with a fantastic abundance in one life area, like money, were still impoverished in other areas. Coaching is sometimes about balancing riches across the areas of one’s life.

Once the last pick for school sports teams, I later bicycled across the continent, ran a marathon, and grew to love outdoor athletic activities. Once frequently taunted about abnormal speech patterns, I later won public speaking competitions. This happened not only because of hard work and determination, but also the support and encouragement of others. Not one of us is entirely “self made.” Whatever sets you apart, despite the opinions of the world, I’d like to help you express it.

Have you ever considered the common threads that link the activities you enjoy? My hobbies fall within three areas:

1) Creating things that energize, inspire, or nourish others: composing music, cooking, gardening, writing

2) Actively exploring and experiencing nature: jogging, hiking, cycling, camping

3) Learning about various personal growth topics, through reading, experience, and others’ teaching and experiences. A big question often on my mind: Which societal “shoulds” and unquestioned social norms box us in, preventing us from being our fullest and truest selves, and limiting our happiness and positive impact? Topics include career development, sexuality/ relationships, and even the physical living environments we design for ourselves.

Coaching is a blast for me because it combines elements of all three areas above: I’m supporting you in creating results in your life (which energizes, inspires, and nourishes you), while exploring, experiencing, and pulling in personal growth concepts.

Media Coverage

My professional work has been covered in several publications including the Mansfield News Journal, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Pennsylvania Sierra Club’s Sylvanian, and the Pittsburgh City Paper.

Additional Training and Workshops

Solution-Focused Approaches, Leadership Behavioral Competency Assessment, Fundamentals of Conflict Resolution, Sexual Attitude Reassessment, Choice Theory, Bowen Family and Organizational Systems

Select Work Experience

Outside of coaching, I’ve served others in a range of settings, providing an appreciation for statements like, “I’m interested in several things, but I’m not sure which way to go.” My people-oriented work is balanced by a technical and analytical side. My experience has a common thread of improving quality of life, catalyzing change, and maximizing potential.

• Designed and taught a self-development class for graduate leadership students.
• With a leadership consulting firm, observed and assessed corporate managers’ behavior, communications, and personality profile data, and crafted developmental feedback messages.
• Counseled formerly incarcerated men using coaching-related approaches.
• Managed a multi-agency initiative on family and community wellness data.
• Conducted research and evaluation on environmental health, youth civic participation, and urban economic development.
• Presented at national and state professional/academic conferences on topics linking leadership, psychology and social responsibility.
• Authored a self-empowerment guide and an award-winning vegan waffle cookbook. (While I still maintain a mostly plant-based lifestyle, I call myself a “conscious consumer” rather than vegan or vegetarian.) In the works is a small dessert cookbook.

Select Activities and Memberships, Past and Present

• International Coach Federation
• Pittsburgh Coaches Association
• North American Vegetarian Society
• Co-op America Green Business Network
• Pittsburgh Green Cohousing Group
• American Mensa
• Cross-Continental Cyclist, Habitat for Humanity Bicycle Challenge
• Diversity Committee member, Carnegie Mellon Heinz School
• Lead organizer, Rainbow Ride public education event on issues facing same-sex families
• Prospective student interviewer and Governing Board member, Yale Club of Pittsburgh
• Student mentor, Carnegie Mellon Heinz School
• Vice-President of Community Service, Yale Club of Maryland
• American Counseling Association and Counselors for Social Justice
• Bike Pittsburgh
• Highmark Subcommittee on Obesity and the Built Environment