Episode 7: Pathways to Living an Epic Life 

Host:

Kasie Whitener, Clinical Assistant Professor

Guest:

Elena Arecco Bridgmon, co-founder of LUMO and “MIBS” alum

This episode’s guest is an accomplished alum of the Darla Moore School of Business Masters in International Business or “MIBS” program. Elena Arecco Bridgmon had a distinguished career with Bank of America before setting out on her entrepreneurial journey with LUMO. In this episode, we discuss how the Moore School influenced Elena’s career, how it set her up for success, why she decided to strike out on her own, and what she hopes to do through LUMO.

Elena said you need three things to get into graduate school: 1) to have done well in undergrad, 2) GMAT scores are high, and 3) you need business experience. Her graduate school experience propelled her into a career in coaching that has flourished with LUMO. Real-life practical experience gives students the ability to contribute in a real meaningful way and Elena’s MIBS classmates also had real world experience, some of them from other countries meaning individuals could speak to the impact of business on the culture and economy.

Conversation topics:

• The richness of the MIBS experience (3:30)
• Coaching is a legitimate field and occupation (15:00)
• Coach Training & Certification - learned about it 2013, enrolled in 2017 (18:59)
• Started training in 2017, didn’t leave full time employment until 2021 (20:46)
• Named the company Epic Life Coaching inspired by a University of South Carolina Law School alum and SC Court of Appeals judge, the late Tanya Gee (24:59)
• Capacity is constrained; coaching + business development = too much time, needed to leave BofA to focus on Epic Life (26:02)
• Luscious Mother - bestie Sarah Olin had been doing her own thing and Elena worked with Sarah on Luscious Mother retreats, decide to collaborate and forma deeper bench of coaches working together
• Pivoted in 2021 to be a B2B organization where companies hire Luscious Mother to coach their employees; Changed to LUMO (32:03)
• Women want to thrive in their life and their career (33:30)
• Manager training program - oftentimes promoted because they were good at what they did, but don’t have the manager skill set (33:35)
• LUMO’s philosophies around coaching, meeting clients where they are and being in conversation with you and very interactive small groups of 25 - cohorts with three coaches
• The myth of the work-life balance (38:00)
• Be in a relationship with your direct reports (41:10)
• Tools that enable organization and structure: EOS

To learn more about LUMO visit LUMOleadership.com

To learn more about the Darla Moore School’s International Business Masters Degree click here

To learn more about the Darla Moore School visit sc.edu/moore

Moore Impact is a product of the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. For episodes, notes, and links visit sc.edu/moore