Coaching for Multihyphenates, Startups and Media Leaders
multihyphenate | ˌmʌl.tiˈhaɪ.fə.nət | noun
a creative individual pursuing many professional passions and interests
I’m here to help you grow your business, nonprofit or personal project into a sustainable and fulfilling livelihood for yourself and your teams.
In this time of tremendous change, we’re all asking how to align ourselves and our careers with our values. I offer coaching as a tool for creative career discovery and finding ikigai, or meaning, in our paths toward sustainable livelihoods and wellness.
I’ve supported hundreds of smart professionals through coaching, workshops and training programs. My clients include independent creatives, Fortune 500 managers and nonprofit executives alike. What unites them is a sense of mission in their work, openness to left and right brain thinking, and an eagerness to grow.
Ikigai to Action
You’re trying to figure out what’s next and how to make the leap into a new direction.
Ikigai (生き甲斐, lit. 'a reason for being') is a Japanese concept referring to something that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living.
This is a values-oriented program designed to help you define your ikigai and craft an action plan for moving forward. It can be done in 4-8 sessions — the greatest value comes through in 8 sessions over 2 months, reflecting a long-term investment in yourself and your career. Through the sessions, I often add additional exercises or reflections as I understand the client's needs more.
The four core outputs of the program include drafts of the following:
An aspirational bio for you and your work
A set of core values
An articulation of your ikigai
A vision board
All of this helps establish a north star to help guide and anchor your future journey regardless of the natural bumps, detours and new directions that are natural in any career evolution.
Packages start at $1200.
From Purpose to Platform
You’re clear on what you want to do, and you want to yourself up for success.
A platform is your reach as a professional. Platform matters for any public work, whether you’re a creative, organizational leader or entrepreneur.
This is a values-oriented program designed to help you define and strategize on your platform to grow your ability to sell your products, books, ideas or services. This package is typically done best when you’re very clear on your public purpose and need support growing your presence in your field.
The four core outputs of the program include drafts of the following:
A set of brand values
A mood board of web sites and bios to help you approach designers and photographers
A short, medium and long bio using the 5 W’s
An action plan for your online and offline presence
All of this helps establish an adaptable toolkit for your growth in your field that can be applied for a variety of cases, from public speaking to social media presence to networking at conferences.
Packages start at $1500.
Leading from the Ground Up
You’ve got the idea and the vision, and now you need help going from 0 to 1.
You’re starting something new — a new project, a new position, a new organization — but you don’t have to start fresh. Creative leadership thrives with good structures and frameworks , like scaffolding that guides you from the ground up.
In this pathway, we’ll talk about the nuts and bolts of strategic planning, executive leadership skills and execution to help you develop a plan of action. We’ll be focused on practical ways forward — and how to navigate the uncertainty of a new role.
We’ll work up a custom plan based on your needs. The core outputs of the program include any of the following:
Lean Business Canvas
Mission, Vision and Core Values
Leadership User Manual
Quarterly and Annual Goals
Risk Register (tool for managing and mitigating risk)
All of this helps establish a flexible plan that brings you closer to your business dreams and goals.
Packages start at $1500.
Multihyphenate coaching means holistic coaching
We live in a deeply complex and interconnected world. Multihyphenate coaching means drawing unexpected connections — whether that’s your people operations strategy or latest op-ed idea, I help you think across disciplines and industries to maximize your impact. Sometimes you’ll need a specialist, and I’ll always encourage you to find someone with deep expertise in topics where you need special effort to grow.
As a generalist, I can support you in your many career journeys and your full portfolio, seeing you for the rich, complex and varied individual you are.
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"Coaching with AX provided me with a deep sense of how I relate to people and what I want to do in the world. Her questions, prompts, and guidance during each of our sessions helped me craft and write important presentations and talks as well as evaluate my professional and academic goals."
Dorothy Santos
(Former) Executive Director, Processing Foundation -
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"AX provided crucial guidance to Project Optimist and its founder (me!) in our first two years as a startup. I really appreciate the care and groundedness that AX manages to bring along with technical expertise. AX helped us find and clarify our organizational values, draft very practical hiring documents and policies, and support me through some growing pains on my founder journey. I'm so grateful."
Nora Hertel
Founder, Project Optimist -
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"AX helped me analyse, understand and prioritise a busy life, creating space and frameworks for me to try to become the best father, professional, writer and person I can be."
Adam Thomas
Strategic coach, fiction writer, ambient musician, aspiring marathon runner, tired-but-happy parent
Special Services
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You have great thoughts to share — how do you communicate them crisply and precisely for public consumption? Think of thought leadership as a layer that supercharges your communications efforts. We’ll develop a custom strategy for getting the word out there about your work and your best ideas.
Coachees have gone on to write and publish award-winning books and groundbreaking op-eds in places like the Atlantic, the Nation, and Prism, and they’ve spoken in venues like TED, re:publica and others. -
I’m passionate about the future of local news, and I offer special discounts for local news leaders with operating budgets under $500,000.
I’m here to help you lead your local news team, from leadership and management skills to strategy and operations. I’ve coached and trained in programs with LION, The OpEd Project and American Press Institute. I serve as part-time Program Director at The Self-Investigation, which supports mental health and well-being in the media, and as a founding executive board member of the News Product Alliance.
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We’ll work together with fellow coach Anika to throw all the rules out the window. We want you to look and feel your best in every room you’re in - that’s it. There’s no right or wrong way to look - great style is inclusive and expressive. We’ll create moodboards, share memories, and focus on things like.
I can personally attest to Anika’s skills: she helped me get ready for the Oscars red carpet, and I felt amazing. -
Tarot can unlock creative thinking in new and surprising ways. I biring elements of meditative practice to my sessions, including sound, energy work and mindfulness. It’s a blend of left-brain and right-brain thinking.
As one CEO of a mental health startup said, “AX is a fantastically warm, grounding, and insightful guide. I'd highly recommend for anyone interested in a new tool for personal growth and reflection. She uses the tarot cards as a conduit for channeling really impactful, science-based coaching methodologies to unblock life and career challenges. “
Ad Hoc Rates
Not ready to commit to a full program? We can do a lot in just two sessions.
One of my core values as a coach is making my work accessible to all. For ad hoc sessions, I offer sliding scale rates of $125 - 250 / session, no questions asked, with discounts for package purchases.
Please consider paying at the highest rate within your means. Sliding scale allows me to offer these services flexibly and equitably while ensuring a sustainable living for myself and my loved ones.
Referral Program
Word-of-mouth is one of the most important ways to grow a coaching practice, and some of my best clients come from my existing clients.
I’m pleased to offer one free strategy session to anyone who purchases a coaching package thanks to a referral, and one free strategy session to the referrer.
Strategy sessions are 50-minute, focused conversations that help you advance on a project. I serve as a thought partner and ideation coach, and we focus on action — aka, getting shit done.
When signing up for a discovery session, be sure to mention who referred you.