About Em
World renowned coach,
international speaker
& free spirit.
Hi, I'm Em.
I can help you step into your potential – by working on personal mastery –to thrive across all the different parts of your life.
I can help you awaken to new possibilities – by zooming up and out from your problems - to get a fresh perspective and mindset.
I can help you empower those around you – by increasing your inclusion capabilities – to unleash the potential of others and leave a lasting impact.
I do this through speaking, coaching, running programs and experiences, writing, videos.
I remember the first time a coach of mine introduced the lifeline exercise from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business to me. If you haven’t tried it before, you’re supposed to chart your life against a simple axis of level of fulfilment over time with two lines, one for your personal life and one for your professional life.
I only drew one line. I even forgot I was supposed to draw a second line.
And it’s not because I’m always working or only care about my career.
It’s because I’ve spent an enormous amount of time and energy crafting each and every part of my life to be in alignment. Alignment to what exactly? To be in alignment with my strengths, my values, what I’m curious about, with my personality, with what I like doing, all the way down to my soul’s deepest calling. And aligning all of that with what’s needed, with what’s wanted, and with what’s important as things change.
I’ve spent much of my life exploring this question: how can we create spaces where people thrive as themselves? That question has led me to work with thousands of people across over thirty countries and over two decades.
I grew up in Toronto, Canada, one of the most diverse cities in the world. I studied to be a teacher at Queen’s University where I became more fascinated with inclusion and diversity. I then completed a Masters in Political Science at Ryerson University where I focused on how certain policies affected inclusion in schools. It was during this chapter that I became more curious about international perspectives around inclusion and diversity. China particularly jumped out at me. How could a country with over a billion people not see itself as diverse?
So, I decided to go. On my own. I bought a one-way ticket, took a backpack, and with an open mind, headed to Beijing. Little did I know I’d be stepping into one of the fastest-paced, ever-changing places on the planet! I’ve chosen to stay and build my career based out of turbo-charged Asia for the incredible speed and the agility and open-mindedness that comes with it. Looking back though too, I also see this move for me as an important one on my own journey to step into myself, listen to my inner compass, craft my unconventional life.
Read more about the unconventional truth manifesto here!
How cool in my time in China:
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to be recognized as a pioneer in my work around inclusion and the fun (and meaningful) stuff I was doing with leading global companies; (check out consulting)
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to build a platform of incredible women committed to having impact and leading with love that’s blossomed and grown as we have; (check out programs)
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to meet my husband and build up our family of three kids (which eventually led us to receive perhaps my favorite award of all time, the award for the “best international family” by a women’s federation).
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to jump around to pop music on a stage in Beijing’s famous Tiananmen square to kick off 10000+ runners in the Beijing marathon
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to be named a Woman of Influence in the SHE-ERA alongside celebrities by China’s leading mainstream fashion magazine for their 25th anniversary;
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to speak at prestigious schools and forums on topics like inclusion and women in leadership, leading with love and thriving as yourself (check out speaking).
Find out more about what I’m working on and how we may work together
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I’m now based in Bali, Indonesia. My daughter (who was 4 at the time) and I were on an “off the grid” adventure in the jungles of East Tangara in early 2020 when COVID-19 hit. Sure, it was confusing and challenging as our family got separated from each other. On the other hand, it was a great moment to ask some big questions about what we want and who we are becoming. A long story short, here we are, happily settled in Bali.
I’m living in alignment in how I work and live. Well mostly. I check in with myself multiple times each week so I can continuously be making little tweaks to make sure I’m optimizing for bringing my best and 100% of my presence to whatever fun thing I’m diving into at each given moment.
Here are a few of my beliefs:
What are some of your core beliefs?
Are they serving you?