In continuing with the theme of renewal that I started last week, I’d like to feature a couple of my life-coaching colleagues who I got to know over the last eight months.
Judi Warren Isaacson and Liz McDonough have followed up our graduation from the Todd Durkin IMPACT Life Coaching Program with the creation of a program of their own called “Growing Boldly.” While Isaacson lives in Florida and McDonough makes her home in Rhode Island, they bonded over Zoom calls and then felt an instant connection when they met at graduation in San Diego in February.
Isaacson, 57, is a former aerobics instructor and bodybuilder who has been working as a personal trainer, health coach and life coach for more than 30 years and describes herself as a “little girl inside a woman’s body.” She loves playing outdoors on her bike, travelling with her husband to interesting locations and is passionate about food, plants and animals. She is a mother of a 26-year-old daughter and earned a degree in kinesiology at the University of Michigan.
McDonough, 48, is a ceramic engineer who studied at Alfred and Northeastern Universities while secretly longing to be in the fitness industry. She is also a mountain bike and ski enthusiast who, over the years, has “collected” multiple fitness certifications (personal trainer, health coach and life coach) while working in sales and raising her two sons, now 15 and 18. She even tried launching a fitness career while working full-time and going through a divorce.
To say that these two women are passionate about health and fitness and about helping others would be an understatement. Their enthusiasm and positive energy are what drew them together and what has also attracted the many women that they work with who look to them for inspiration and direction.
When I asked about Growing Boldly, their signature program, they described it as an opportunity for them to serve a community who desperately needs help finding their way. Many women spend the majority of their lives doing “everything for everyone else” only to find themselves “stuck” when the time comes for them to enjoy rich, rewarding lives of their own.
Isaacson likened their program to going back to school and learning about yourself. The women that she and McDonough help to find more fulfilment often start by describing feeling lost with no idea of how to find their way. Because of this, both Isaacson and McDonough spoke to me about the importance of meeting every woman at the place where they are, before choosing where they would like to end up. As coaches then, their work is to help each woman bridge the gap from where they are to where they want to go. They do this with many of the same tools that they use in individual, one on one, life coaching sessions, at a fraction of the cost because of the group setting.
Interestingly, McDonough explained to me that a significant part of the journey for many women at this transitional point in their life is to simply find a destination to aspire to. For many women this could be when their children reach adulthood and move on, when a marriage ends, or when retirement nears.
After spending a lifetime caring for others at the expense of themselves, many women have trouble even expressing what makes them happy or what they would like to do with their new-found freedom.
Growing Boldly is an eight-week program for women who feel like it is time for them to “replant” themselves in a new environment, to get out of the mundane and to uncover their own divine uniqueness and grow spiritually, physically and emotionally. The inaugural program kicks off on April 16 and includes one 60-minute group session per week along with two individual coaching sessions during the length of the program. Each meeting consists of coaching, sharing and workbook assignments that are provided.
The first phase of the program is called “Discover and Sprout” where each participant will “plant the seeds” that will be nurtured toward their own greatness over the eight weeks. One of the tools that will be made available to participants in this phase is called The 10 Commitments, which includes goal setting and accountability from the coaches.
Owing to the fitness and sport background of both Isaacson and McDonough, a significant component of the program includes fitness training suggestions, workouts, outlines and nutritional guidance with a strong emphasis on being outdoors and eating local, fresh and healthy food.
While Growing Boldly originates in the U.S., it is available to Canadians who might be interested in meeting virtually with the group for the eight-week program. For specific program information, contact Isaacson at judiwpfl@me.com or McDonough at emcdonough75@gmail.com with any questions that you might have.
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