Interview with Rochelle

I am happy to share an interview that covers a lot about me and my work. I always find that great things happen in a conversation, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to answer these questions.

How long have you been a coach?

After a rich career in design, I launched my “encore career” as a coach in 2013.

Why did you become a coach?

Having owned a design firm for nearly 3 decades, I knew something important was missing in my life. When I decided I needed to move on, I did not set out to be a coach. What I did know is that I wanted to dive deep into the mystery of creativity, because personal creativity had always eluded me — it actually frightened me. I wanted to figure that out, and my 2 years of serious study opened me up to a vast resource in my life that I’d been missing. Reflecting on how powerful it had been to have a coach in my life for the previous 4 years, I decided that I wanted to create a coaching practice of my own. I knew that helping other women to access and accelerate the power of creativity to live their best lives was what I yearned to create.

How did you become an expert coach?

The training I received was amazing. My teacher, an Israeli psychiatrist, has long used creativity in remarkable forms as a way to heal people. I learned to teach his method of Intuitive Painting and I studied his Pyscho-Creative methodology, which helps people to overcome pain and a vast array of challenges that limit them. When I knew that I wanted to fold everything I learned from him into a coaching practice, my own master coach offered to train and mentor me to develop my coaching skills. Everything I studied, and everything I learned from my brilliant mentor, informed the coaching practice I created — that I named Creative Core Coaching. I know that each of us comes into the world with a rich core of creative capacity, and that we can all be artists — in the broadest sense of that word — in our lives. My mission is to help people bring a creative mindset to every aspect of their lives and learn to break through their limitations when they understand that they are creators. They learn to create remarkable lives — to live big.

When — and why — did you write your book?

I started writing my book, Live Big: A Manifesto for a Creative Life, while I was on a sabbatical in 2015. My coach had asked me how, exactly, I lived big. That prompted me to use my Discovery Dozen™ tool (that I share in my book) to generate a long list of ways I live big — and I was inspired to write more about each of them. I included a set of practices and exercises for each of the 20 chapters in the book to make it a book that would really help people. I had the book designed to be a treasure to hold and use, and launched the book in early 2020. I am thrilled by the reception it has received!

Who are your clients?

I work with individual women as well as cohorts of women in organizations.

My clients are accomplished women , 40s to 60s, who, in spite of all they have achieved, find themselves facing limitations and challenges that limit and block them.

My clients are sometimes figuring out what’s next in their lives — following a toxic work experience, or as they contemplate an empty nest, or as they connect to a desire to make a big move in their career.

My clients are sometimes aiming for leadership positions at a higher level.

My clients sometimes seek help to launch a new business, get their business to the next level, or to shift the focus of the business they have now.

My clients are often trying to reconnect to their true passions and desires, having worked in an arena that no longer lights them up.

My clients sometimes struggle to restore diminished confidence, or to turn around a life that’s fraught with overwork and stress.

My clients are often facing a major transition and seek support to help them navigate through it.

Some of my clients know their creative spirit is struggling to be fulfilled, or want a coach to be accountable to as they aim to expand their creative output.

My clients are not content with self-help books, or struggling on their own, or prolonging their frustrations or difficulties. They are ready to have an expert guide who will help them to make important changes that will have a lasting impact on their lives.

How are you different from other coaches?

First, I am not a one-size-fits-all coach. I work with accomplished women who are ready to do deep, courageous, life-changing work. Many individual clients begin their work with me at one of my Signature Retreats, enabling them to to take action and create significant change in their lives.

Second, I teach my clients — individuals and in cohorts inside organizations, to believe in their agency to create their realities. No matter what their challenges may be, I teach them how to stop reacting and start creating in every part of their lives.

Third, when my clients learn to adopt a creative mindset, and have powerful tools to call on, they start to gain keen insights. (One key tool I employ, in addition to those I have developed, is the Enneagram.) My clients experience important shifts that have a huge day-to-day impact. They learn how to build on their progress and continue to grow.

Fourth, even those clients who are sure they are “not creative”are guided through creative processes that amaze and delight them. These experiences inform their outlooks and beliefs in all that they can create in their lives. And, for those who do know they are “creative” when they start to work with me, the work opens wider pathways and brings bigger insights that they are able to apply to their creative work and their lives.

Fifth, I combine my deep work related to mindset, self-care, and creative expansion with real-world strategies related to career and business matters, and professional and personal relationships. My background as a business owner and marketer also informs my guidance for clients, enabling them to work and live smarter.

Sixth, I am always reading, learning and I continue to work with my own coach. I know that there is no limit to personal growth and development, and I am committed to doing that work in my life.

Seventh, I am committed to expanding my own creativity. I am now a painter, and my personal creative practice informs my insights and coaching every day.

Eighth, I am deeply committed to serving my clients. Their successes — the smallest and the biggest — light me up. This is the most important and most meaningful work I have ever done, and I feel privileged to work with my remarkable clients.

What results can women expect?

Naturally, it depends on the effort a clients is willing to put in. I do not make guarantees — each clients has to want to do the work.

Here are some of the results my individual clients have achieved:

• Recovered from the emotional damage of working in a toxic corporate environment and launched a vibrant consulting business.

• Explored and found a new city to move to and happily settled there; set healthier personal boundaries; improved a working relationship with a business partner; leads more effectively; creates in many exciting new ways.

• Went from killer 80-hour work weeks in her business to being able to let go of bad clients, establish criteria for great clients, set more reasonable turn-around expectations with clients, and generated more income — all while enjoying ample quality time for herself.

• Showed up in a bigger and more effective way as an executive working with a difficult and demanding CEO; retooled her resume and made a major career move to CEO.

• Found renewed creative energy for her business; gained greater clarity and developed new courage for ways to expand her business and income.

• Having retired from an executive position at a major corporation, embarked on a new professional endeavor, and created a portfolio of board, volunteer and consulting work that has been exciting and enriching.

• Learned to move through frustrating blocks as a writer; now writes productively and consistently.

• Stopped being a people-pleaser and stopped living with fear as a driver; is living and working more happily every day.

• Got clear about what works and does not work in a current career, and is moving toward a new way of working that calls on aspects of the work that are most satisfying.

• After a layoff, confidently applied for new positions; navigated intense interview processes; showed up prepared and confident; is thriving in a wonderful new job.

Many clients report that they experience changes they did not anticipate. When they have learned to honor themselves they set healthier boundaries, in their work, and with family and friends. They communicate more effectively. They find joy in new ways of creating, that they did not have in mind when they started the coaching. Many say that every relationship in their lives has been positively impacted.

A universal report from clients is having a renewed outlook on life, having attained remarkable levels of confidence, and having a deep belief in their abilities that surpassed what they thought was possible. Add to that, things like reports of better sleep and more overall happiness — qualities that enrich everyday life in wonderful ways.

Achieving sought-after successes and feeling like a true creator in life helps my clients with many things that had been holding them back. They learn how to overcome countless limitations.

Is there a way to sample your work?

Sure. I write weekly newsletter articles. When you sign up to receive my weekly Big Ideas emails (there’s a sign-up field near the bottom of the home page on my site), you will automatically receive a terrific gift, my Creating Space for YOU guide, which is a great first step to begin to live big.

While many speaking engagements are for events that are not open to the public, you can listen to recent podcasts.

And my book, Live Big! A Manifesto for a Creative Life, is helping people far and wide to bring change into their lives.

You can also check out the Roadmap to Clarity, which is a remarkable way to ignite important, focused change in your life.

If readers have questions for you, can they contact you?

Absolutely. They can schedule a complimentary Live Big Breakthrough Call, or a Creative Core Leadership inquiry call.