My Highlights
The opportunity in challenge excites me.
Desire to live a long, healthy, relevant, and vibrant life.
I am blessed with high energy,
intensity,
a quirky sense of humor,
a sense of curiosity,
and a passion for adventure.
Since my twenties:
- I’ve watched people struggle with their purpose and give up when their partner died or they retired;
- I’ve observed my parents living longer than their parents who lived longer than their parents and concluded I’ll live longer too;
- and I’ve seen how a healthy diet, living with purpose, and active lifestyle contributed to vibrancy, without even a hint of feeling old!
I put those elements together and realized I could live well into my 100s. So I set about to find my purpose, learn to make healthy lifestyle decisions, and to expand my horizons through adventure and learning. The summary of my beliefs can be read on my Longevity Manifesto page.
I feel I’m always challenging myself to be and do better, and to find a better way to improve myself. While that’s always a work in progress, I feel I am on my path and well into a vibrant, long life, and into a matching lifespan and healthspan — the definition of a self-actualized life.
I bring the same energy, intensity, challenge, and attention to my business as I do my life.
Life Experiences
Travel is a major passion. Historically, I’ve traveled either with one other person or in a small group. After walking the Camino de Santiago (a life-changing experience), I was inspired to take others on travels so they could also experience the transformations it brings. To date, I have taken a small group to “ScIreland” (you call it Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland), and on the Portuguese Camino. There are more Transformation Travel trips coming in the future. Some of the areas I’m considering walking someday include the French Way of the Camino de Santiago, any number of other Camino routes, the Kumano Kodo in Japan, the Way of St Francis in Italy, from Inverness to Ft William in Scotland, Machu Pichu, South Africa, Greece, the Batan Death March Memorial in New Mexico, and the Empire State Trail. There are many others that have caught my eye, so time will tell. And, I want to visit some, if not all, of the Blue Zone areas like Sardinia, Ikaria, Okinawa, etc.
I’ve traveled by plane, train, riverboat, ocean liner, hydrofoil, flat-bottom boat, bus, car, foot. Who knows what other modes of travel I’ll use in future trips. Join me and anticipate the adventure you can enjoy too!
There is so much to learn about yourself when traveling, especially off the beaten path and with smaller groups. I invite you to join me for a trip sometime, especially one that has a coaching aspect woven in. And for those who can’t take the time or aren’t inclined for walking trips, consider a Coaching Retreat.
Work Experiences
I coach from what I’ve learned through decades of experience as an entrepreneur. I was a bed and breakfast innkeeper for a busy 11-room inn, an 8-room luxury inn, and a 12-room inn with a full bar and 50-seat restaurant. I had to learn to care for myself so I could offer better care to my guests, as well as providing top-notch customer service. I also was a B&B inspector for the state association for five years.
Those combined experiences became the foundation of several businesses. When I moved on to coaching for the B&B industry, I emphasized the value of focus and balance. As a B&B real estate broker, I balanced my successful practice with volunteer work and continuing education in both real estate (GRI, CCIM, and CIPS) and more esoteric topics (Feng Shui, Kriya Yoga, American Sign Language, and Spanish).
Public Speaking: for B&B conferences, Mensa Gatherings, Ignite events, Affiliate Summit, The Montrose “seniors club”.
As a serial entrepreneur, I have launched several online businesses and projects, including:
- Longevity Coach
- WHY.os Coach
- Energize Me! workshop
- Face It To Change It workshop
- Transform Fear Into Action course
- High Performance Coach
- A global directory of green/environmentally-friendly hotels
- An educational website for the hospitality industry with articles on why and how to be green and profitable
- A website that tracked our efforts to green our lives
- Numerous content-rich websites
- B&B Broker
- B&B Educational Courses — in-person and online
- B&B innkeeper
Volunteer work has included:
- Docent at the Paws for Art Gallery as part of the Second Chance Thriftstore
- Ouray County EMT
- Ouray County Deputy Coroner
- Ouray County Emergency Communications
- Red Cross communications and shelter work
- University of Colorado Recycling Initiative
- Boulder’s Environmental Fair
- Boulder’s Walk For Development
All of these pursuits, while also giving back to my community as a volunteer, have helped me hone the insights I bring to coaching and my LIFE programs.
I live in Western Colorado with my writer/publisher husband and enjoy traveling, reading, and the drive-in movie (in the summer) for relaxation. Our home and office views let us soak up breathtaking panoramas of two mountain ranges; I like to say we have 280-degree mountain views.