Coaching to help free you from the stories, systems, and expectations keeping you stuck
WHAT
I offer coaching for individuals to help untangle "the stuckness" in your life or work and gently identify potential steps towards a path that feels more like you.
WHY
Because we are naturally going to build a better world when we get unstuck.
In my experience, brilliant, high-achieving, ambitious, generous, well-intentioned people can get especially stuck in the stories and inherited paradigms of what our lives are "supposed" to look like. My mission is centered around wanting to know what will happen when we collectively get free from these stories/"shoulds". When we allow our individual freedom, desires, dreams, and values to define how we move through our lives, what will the world we build look like? My working hypothesis is that this is how we start to dissolve some of the hierarchical structures in the world and create something better for all of us.
If you'd like help getting unstuck in some area of your life, let's start a conversation using the inquiry form below.
Hi, I'm Shirley. Let's get UnParadigmed, together.
Services
Coaching
I delight in helping people gently investigate their own (often unspoken) stories around what their lives "should" look like and whether these stories feel like their own truth and freedom. I'm especially interested in noticing whether our cultural norms and expectations make sense in the context of individual values, goals, desires, and meaning-making, and I find joy in helping clients identify for themselves the small shifts that can lead to a greater sense of freedom and autonomy in their lives.
Consulting
I also love to help people who are trying to build something, whether that's a solopreneur business, a career, a community initiative, etc. that's going to help create the world they want to live in. I'm especially good at generating hypotheses and making sense of complexity, and in my consulting work, I love to help untangle a path forward in a way that feels accessible and meaningful. [the former scientist in me comes alive in this kind of work!]
The first step is to submit an inquiry, using the form below.
(No commitment, no pressure associated with submitting this short form. I value your autonomy and time, and would never pressure you into making a commitment before you're ready. This form is just a starting point for a conversation between us to learn more. If you're curious about what coaching or consulting with me might look like, start here!)
Who I Am
I'm Shirley Markant, a coach, consultant, former scientist, freelance small business owner, writer, and mom.
My coaching credentials include Martha Beck Wayfinder certification and an ACC credential from the International Coaching Federation.
I also hold a PhD in Molecular Cancer Biology from Duke University, where I studied pediatric brain tumors, and a BA from Cornell University, with professional experience at Harvard Medical School, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and several pharmaceutical companies. After many years as a scientist, I also ran my own business as a freelance medical writer for 8+ years, and know the challenges of being a solopreneur and mom with young kids.
In my work, I bring a blend of calm, kindness, curiosity, perceptiveness, and depth, with an ability to create an open, non-judgmental conversational space where we can explore what's happening from a place of curiosity, not pressure.
If you'd like to learn more about me or what coaching or consulting with me might look like, submit an inquiry below.