who am i?
Hi! I’m Mischaela (mih-SHAY-lah).
I am an ICF-Certified Personal Growth and Self-Love coach. I work with ambitious/growth-minded empaths to help them go from self-criticism to self-compassion so they can access the clarity, confidence and courage to go for a life that TRULY lights them up!
Let me tell you a bit about myself and what has called me to this work. That’s right, it’s a Calling, and it’s been an unconventional path that’s led me here!
It all started behind the chair…
I was a successful hairstylist in high-end salons for 15 years; I’ve done hair for red carpets, fashion shows, film sets, commercials and TV shows. I was a contestant on a nationally broadcast hairstyling reality show and came 5th place out of 20, three years into my career.
In my early twenties, I moved myself halfway across the country to the big city (on my own) to pursue my big dreams of doing hair within the entertainment world. Within about 3 years, I had achieved all of the above.
After experiencing the long hours on set the dreams moved from the entertainment world to the hair industry with visions of being a platform hair artist, travelling the world educating on the latest trends and techniques to those with the same passion for hair that I felt.
I was working for a successful rockstar hairstylist who did just that, and the opportunity was mine if I wanted it, but I had a moment of awakening in my mid-20s, where I realized that somewhere along the way my goals and values had shifted.
I still loved connecting with my clients and helping them look and feel their best, but my passion for the hair industry was waning, in its place, something new was forming, and it was terrifying!
For years I’ve been consumed with learning to appreciate who I truly am. Everything has been about moving towards alignment with my most genuine self, knowing that only then will I achieve true fulfillment.
I was unsure of my next steps. For the last 7 years, my entire identity was built around being a hairstylist. I moved my whole life to a new city to pursue my dreams of working in the entertainment industry, going to the fancy parties, rubbing shoulders with celebrities and doing their hair. This was my definition of ‘success’.
I wanted to feel experienced, talented, respected and known. All of my energy had been focused for years on achieving these goals, I figured out the steps to get myself there and I went for it.
My moment of awakening came when I was attending some gala event full of fancy people and I realized I didn’t give a SHIT about any of this.
What I THOUGHT it would feel like to reach these goals was not how it actually felt. I was experienced, talented and felt respected and known, and yet it wasn’t the cure-all I thought it would be.
My self-doubt and social anxiety was still there, I had some confidence but it felt inconsistent and unreliable. I didn’t feel completely fulfilled or like I had ‘arrived’ at some meaningful destination. And I was starting to have the sneaking suspicion that this was all superficial ego-driven bullshit.
This was a revelation. Changing my external circumstances did not make my problems go away. Nor did it complete my journey to fulfillment, so it was time to examine my inner circumstances.
Thus began the real work.
At the time I was dealing with paralyzing self-judgement and self-doubt, anger, substance abuse and some major daddy issues.
I started to see that my behaviours and actions weren’t stemming from my true SELF. I was trying to be someone people would like, maintaining a facade of confidence while internally pleading for acceptance from the world.
Meanwhile I was distracting myself from the pain and exhaustion that came from this performance, self-medicating with food and substances, and constantly altering my appearance as if those changes would somehow seep into the core of my being.
I recognized that all of these behaviours were band-aids, short-term solutions that would ultimately leave me feeling worse than before. I started seeking a more sustainable solution to this self-doubt and discontent.
The next 5 years were a wild ride that included therapy, yoga, meditation, dietary changes, journaling, Reiki, endless self-help books, workshops, Ayahuasca and other plant medicines, float tanks, festivals, retreats and talks with THOUSANDS of people from all walks of life on the topics of life and personal growth.
I took my first step towards career transition by moving back home and enrolling in a Holistic Nutrition course. Changing my diet had profoundly changed my life, and I was hoping the answers to more purposeful and fulfilling work lay there. That got me closer but was still circling that THING I was looking for. I took my Reiki levels I and II, having experienced the importance of addressing my energetic frequencies and blocks. Still it didn’t quite feel like IT.
Then I found Coaching.
I was helping host a wellness retreat in Costa Rica and one of our guests introduced me to the world of coaching. Somehow she sensed that I’d been feeling lost, and despite my protestations (she was OUR guest, we were supposed be offering HER services), she sat me down and did a coaching session with me. It was magical. I was SO excited, it was the answer to everything I had been seeking! Over the years I’d considered speaking with someone, yet therapy didn’t feel like the answer. Now suddenly the answer was presented to me. I needed to speak with a Coach! Someone who could help guide the conversation by asking the questions that could bring me the clarity and direction I’d been longing for.
Prior to that I had no idea this industry even existed and now I’d also found the answer to my career path. Within coaching was a language for all the knowledge I had absorbed over the years, and the tools to help bring that knowledge to the lives of others. I was elated, immediately started researching coach training programs, and signed up with the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI).
In conclusion
One of the biggest takeaways from my hairstyling career is that people are LONGING to feel good about themselves. They want to leave my chair full of the confidence to take on whatever is next in their day or week or month. I came to realize that it’s not just about a new hairstyle, but the way they FEEL when they leave my chair. It was always my goal to see and celebrate the person they TRULY are, and send them off with that belief in themselves and the confidence to express it.
As it turns out, this is also the very thing I’D been longing for!
I’ve spent YEARS learning how to appreciate and celebrate who I truly am. Everything has been about bringing my thoughts, words, and actions into alignment, so I can express myself in a genuine way, without self-doubt, without self-judgement, just a pure, confident expression of ME, knowing that only then will I achieve true peace and fulfilment.
Now it’s my mission to bring that same sense of confidence and expression to my clients. I help my clients manage their mindset, overcome overwhelm and self-doubt and find clarity on their pathway forward, so they can let their light fully shine and maximize their potential both in their life and their business.
My CTI training has given me the words and the skills to bring this learning to YOU.
My Mission
My longing is for all people to truly LOVE themselves and fully express their authenticity with confidence and courage!
True self-love gives us the self-trust and courage to speak up for ourselves, set boundaries, try new things, and believe in the power we have to create the life of our dreams.
My mission is to create a ripple effect of people showing up in their life authentically and unapologetically, that expands from my network, to yours and beyond until the WHOLE WORLD knows the power of full-expression and self-trust!
Are you ready to join my mission?!
