Liz Stewart
Liz Stewart, with over 22 years in the field of personal development, finds herself on the search for a new title. She is a qualified PCC coach. That is part of who she is. She also works utilising Emotional Freedom Technique and her Shamanic Practitioner experiences.
She tells us that, “I love working with other coaches having trained to be a Coach Supervisor and ICF Mentor.
I currently do associate work as well as having my own business, Point of Light.”
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before starting your professional journey and what inspired you to choose this career.
I was fortunate to grow up in a happy family dynamic. There was lots of fun and picnics. Over time I have learned there was no room for anger, grief and sadness. I had no guide or role model for the “difficult” or “unwelcome” feelings. This has affected my health over the years.
I was 21 when I graduated to be a Primary Teacher. That’s what I has always wanted to do. I worked voluntarily for a while, waiting for the job I had aspired to. Working with children.
Financial challenges meant getting a job in a retail environment. I stayed there for 13 years. It was here that I had the opportunity to be an Internal Change Coach for an award winning programme.
Later when I would be interviewing coaches from around the world I would ask:_
“Did you find coaching or did coaching find you?”
My answer – coaching found me and I don’t regret that.
Was there any turning point in your life that changed your journey? If so, what was it? Please tell us the backstory behind it.
In a parallel universe I could be a primary teacher.
That was not the path I have found myself on. Due to my degree I was asked to be the Training Manager when the retailer I had been recruited by was bought over. 6 months into the Training Manager role , I was asked if I would like to apply for the Personnel Manager role (again – because I had my degree). I said yes to this opportunity. The interviews flew by and I was recruited to take up that position. I now had a significant pay rise, security and a new job to learn.
7 days later I was standing in the main office. The phone rang. It was the Education Department. They wanted to offer me a temporary teaching role to cover a long term illness. I asked if I could think about it. They said “No, we need an answer today.”
I am not sure how long I paused for. I knew it was a turning point in the moment. I knew that to decline meant my name would be at the bottom of the teaching appointments list.
And…
I chose no.
I would invite you to be flexible and open in your life. Spot the invitations, the opportunities and tests. I hope that they arrive with fairness and time for each of you to make an intuitive, considered choice.
I did the right thing for me that day.
Tell us about your goals, interests, and role models.
My role models are not always known famous people.
I appreciate people who are heart led and wish to make a difference in this world.
My intention is to Lead and Live with Heart.
I appreciate the work of Jeff Foster, a poet and author. The way he expresses what it means to be human , embracing our flaws and being compassionate to ourselves as well as others.
I am grateful to my Shamanic Teacher – Carol Day – I have worked with her for 6 years now and her constant is space for all her learners “To find their own way”. I think this freedom to be me and find my own way has opened up a wider world for me. I don’t have to be like everyone else. This can be hard when we are training as a coach. There will be a method. There will be tools. And I encourage you – to stay true to yourself. Your way. Your voice.
One of my goals during Coach Mentoring and Supervision is continually supporting coaches to find their way. It is the same with my coaching clients. We have each arrived in this world for a reason. Set that part free!
Interests – I love reading and always have a few books on the go at one time. I am currently reading “Images of the Soul” by Daan van Kampenhout as part of my Shamanic Constellation Training. I will finish that in October 2024.
Everyone has their own set of challenges when starting an entrepreneurial journey. Still, the most essential part for others to learn is how you deal with those. Would you like to share with us your challenges and your coping mechanisms?
My biggest coping mechanism is having a support team. People you can talk to when things are not going well. People who will not judge you. Who is in your support team?
My support team includes:-
My husband and children
Counsellor
Supervision 121
Group Supervision
Coach friends
Non Coach Friends
Shamanic Practitioners
Being a coach. I am my business and my business is me. This means, if I find it hard to show up then Point of Light will not be seen. I have gone through various challeneges with this. Some training has really built my confidence. Some training seemed to take that confidence. This in turn impacts “showing up” and “trusting my way”
Knowing what I know now:-
Explore through constellation work the ancestral level of what keeps you hidden and unseen (Life changing for me)
Choose training and facilitators who will allow space for your way.
If you can find an associate coach role this will allow you to develop and build your coaching approach. This can sometimes also be a place of community with other like minded coaches for support.
What impact do you feel you have been able to create with your work so far and how would you want to grow in the next few years?
My gift during a leadership role with a Global Coaching Company was creating community with the coaches. I continue to be known as a provider of safe non judgemental spaces.
In coming years I wish to grow my Supervision Sanctuary – offering coaches a place for self reflection and growth in their personal and professional practice.
I wish to increase awareness of Vertical Development and the Leadership Development Framework (check out Harthill). I believe there is a need in the world for more coaches to be in the post conventional space to support leaders and the future of the Earth in their post conventional ways.
I want to be a Transformational Guide to those willing to work deeply. Enabling the internal work and untangling the ancestral resonances. Allowing me to use everything I have learned and am learning in the last 22 years.
Would you like to share with our young budding women entrepreneurs the change you would like to see in the world if given an opportunity?
- Bring your voices to the world
- Free your insights and your wisdom.
- Silence colludes with stuckness
- The world needs Growth, Love and Understanding
- Bring your Nurture and Bring your Challenge
- “It has always been this way” – is not an answer for the here and now
- It is not an answer for the lost, lonely, oppressed, sad
- It is not the answer for the struggles of Mother Earth
- Trust your ways.
- Trust your intuition
- Trust that the world needs you.
- Change the world.
- One beautiful being at a time.
- Starting with yourself.
Women are a growing force in the workplaces worldwide, standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. There are cracks in glass ceilings everywhere, with many women breaking through to carve out a space right at the top of the pyramid. What are your thoughts about women’s leadership today?
Don’t try and do it the way men do.
Be a woman in the workplace with your creativity and intuition.
Women I work with often share how they feel drawn into certain behaviours and their male counterparts “way”.
Avoid the game of becoming “like” and stand in your own sovereignty.
Masculine and Feminine in perfect balance have so much to offer. The masculine and feminine within each of us and in the systems that we work.
As you climb to the top of the pyramid, build that support mechanism. Then when you look behind you. There are smiling faces cheering you on.
With your grit and determination, you are making a considerable impact, breaking through, and serving as role models for many budding entrepreneurs. What would you want to say to our young women leaders/audience reading this?
Thank you for reading part of my story today.
Your story matters too.
If you saw yourself from the moment of conception to now. How would you write your story? What are the highs and lows? The celebrations. The recurring themes. Our lives contain many insights for us.
There is a gift in slowing down and noticing them.
They can inform you of your steps and navigate your life and business.
Trust who you are and who you have yet to become.