So excited to be kicking off the fifth season of Living Fabulously Fierce!

I've shared how I'm completing my second coaching certification.  With one final assignment left-a reflection summary, to be completed however creatively I so choose-I've invited some of my peers, a group very special to me, to join in on a group reflection focusing in on our experience.  

Please join me as Becki Barret, Courtney Birch Webster, Elisa Johnson, Beth Simermeyer and Nida Zada as we transparently share our intentions, learnings and commitments moving forward in the coaching space!

Becki Barrett is a leadership development coach interested in helping individuals and teams discover their goals, investigate obstacles, and grow. With humor and insight, she provides an environment for discovery and authentic reflection toward what may need to shift or change to increase well-being and foster development. Becki is a certified CliftonStrengths Coach and is currently seeking certification at The Hudson Institute. www.beckib.com

Courtney Birch Webster is an executive coach with over 14 years of experience helping leaders and organizations create lasting change. She has a results-oriented approach that is driven by a belief that success comes from a bold action plan using measurable goals to generate extraordinary results in lives, careers, and businesses. She delights in working with clients to increase their effectiveness, productivity, engagement, impact, and joy by focusing on and leveraging their unique strengths and genuine brilliance and does so with humor, compassion, and a laser focus on transformation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-birch-webster-cpcc-pcc/

Elisa Johnson believes that diversity and equitable representation of ideas fosters better outcomes. With more than 20 years of global experience in human resources leadership, she has led transformational changes in multiple industries across organizations from start up to Fortune 10. Elisa Johnson is Principal of Inspiring Talent Solutions, providing Executive Coaching and Consulting. She can be reached at [email protected].

Beth Simermeyer focuses on high-potential leaders who would benefit from a partner in making adjustments to realize that potential. Her typical coaching client would be a senior business leader who is highly capable and may be high-performing but needs to make some changes to get to the next level or to maximize their effectiveness in the current role.  Her style is characterized as direct, collaborative, and supportive, passionate about partnering with others to achieve their goals.

Nida Zada has 30 years of experience leading, coaching and mentoring in the tech industry - creating innovation in service of people and society.  Her experience as a Queer Palestinian-American defines her understanding of the importance that culture and community have in a fulfilling, vibrant life. Together she uses her experience to create deeply meaningful coaching partnerships. Reach out to Nida at nidazada.com.

Fabi is a finance leader with 20+ years of progressive leadership experience in global brands and Fortune 500 retail companies, including Nike, Levi Strauss, Nordstrom, and most recently footwear brands Sperry and Keds. Born and raised in Latin America, she is passionate about supporting LatinX causes and mentoring women leaders.

Emma Cortes grew up in the Pacific Northwest and currently lives in Seattle.

Emma’s Edition is here to inform and influence readers to try new fashion trends for their everyday wardrobe and check out the most instagrammable places in their city.  She loves sharing posing ideas for Instagram and connecting with other fellow bloggers. She also loves the thrill of finding hidden gems in each city she visits and sharing them with her community.

Emma also co-hosts the Content Creatives Podcast with her friend Maddy from @madcrayy. Their podcast aims to inspire creatives to discover, grow, and own their brand.

Outside of creating content for Emma’s Edition, she worked in the aerospace industry for six year. In 2020 and in the midst of the pandemic, she was laid off and decided to take her content creation side-hustle full-time.

She also completed her Master’s of Communication in Digital Media in the spring of 2019! The digital space and content creation are huge passions of Emma's!

Outside her career, Emma is married to her loving husband Brandon, is a dog mom to Boone the Norweigian Elkhound, and a foodie at heart. She also loves running and spending time with my husband, friends, and family.

Arlyn Davich is an entrepreneurial executive with a proven track record of building and scaling consumer-tech businesses as a startup Founder/CEO (PayPerks...Allswell...ShopShops) and Fortune 50 Intrapreneur at companies like Walmart. She specializes in direct to consumer strategy, brand building, demand generation and digital acceleration.She currently serves as a Board Director for Caliper Foods and The Pingry School while building her latest venture, Little Fish: a company that deploys top-tier executive talent, on a fractional and interim basis, to growth stage e-commerce businesses.

Candace A. Gray (aka Candy Fox) was born and raised in Memphis and has always lived a double life. She’s a Gemini and she’s always operated well in both left and right brain spaces. Candace’s mother (RIP) always told her to never rely on ONE thing to sustain you...and that concept has remained with her since high school!

Candace is marketing and communications professional by day...and a singer/songwriter by night (hence the stage name Candy Fox). She sings mostly Soul Music, which is native to Memphis. And as the Founder and CEO of CG Comms Group, Candace serves several local clients who make Memphis what it is from cultural, economic and artistic perspectives.

Throughout her communications career, Candace has worked in the private (archer malmo, inc.) and public (FedEx) sector, for-profit and non-profit (Freedom Prep Charter Schools). In true Memphis spirit, she started my own full-service, boutique communications agency, DURING THE PANDEMIC! And she’s seen much success, as a result of a great work ethic and referrals!

Throughout her music career, Candy Fox has sung with some of the best in the business, from R&B and Soul to Blues to Gospel, to Hip Hop, including 8Ball & MJG, Al Kapone, Charrelle & Alexander O’Neal, Howard Hewett and Shalamar, Jennifer Holliday, Richard Smallwood, Kurt Carr, Chico DeBarge, The Legendary Barkays, and the list goes on.

Candy Fox also released her own project, Soul Stir, independently after leaving the Hip Hop collective Free Sol, who won the Mid-South Grammy Showcase in 2004 and released the album 11:11 on Memphis Records. Soul Stir, a true work of art, is available on all electronic platforms.

Somewhere in betwixt all of that, Candace found time to get married to her wonderful partner and bring life into this world, in the form of a son, at the age of 41! She’s also a dog mom, and her little family currently resides in Memphis.

Candace is the epitome of Memphis. She makes things happen, as opposed to waiting for them to happen. And she’s just getting started!

Join me as one of my coaching clients interviews yours truly!

Cara Shortsleeve is the CEO at The Leadership Consortium (TLC), a leadership development platform for high potential leaders with a specific expertise on accelerating women and people of color. Cara joined TLC in 2018 to launch and scale the business. Since that time, TLC has forged a strong partnership with professors at the Harvard Business School, attracted best-in-class clients (including Google, Walmart, IBM, P&G, GE, SAP and dozens more), and enabled 3,000+ executives to lead stronger teams and businesses. Prior to joining TLC, Cara spent 10+ years in various leadership roles at Google and YouTube -- most recently focussing on commercial and product strategy as a Global Director for GTM at YouTube. Previously, she helped launch and scale Google’s east coast, mid-market sales presence and then led the North American mid market sales teams for Financial Services and Healthcare. Before Google, Cara managed the US running apparel business at New Balance, served as a Sales Director for Hind/Saucony, and spent three years with Morgan Stanley's Investment Banking Division. Cara received her BA from Williams College and her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Natalie Barlatier – Marathon Runner, Living with Multiple Sclerosis, Graphic Designer who also loves making creative meals. 

Loves the journey on a good run and improving on ones health on a mentality that you have to start somewhere to get there.

Elisa Johnson grew up in the greater Minneapolis, Minnesota region and now resides in San Francisco where she has been leading the People & Talent organization as CHRO for Brown & Toland Physicians. Her experience spans more than 25 years in human resources in a variety of leadership roles and industries ranging from start ups to Fortune 10 organizations. 

A good portion of her experience includes living abroad where she led teams in multiple countries when based in Singapore, Japan, France and South Korea. While on expatriate assignments, Elisa also experienced multiple “awakenings” both personally and professionally. She has deep roots and beliefs that character, authenticity and leadership transformation grows in crucible experiences and spaces of discomfort.