Our main objective here at the National Coach Academy is to enable aspiring coaches to reach their full professional potential. One of the most effective ways to educate students about the world of coaching is by offering them a window into the world of real, practicing coaches and showing them all the different ways coaches make a difference in the lives of their clients.
We hope today’s interview adds another insightful glimpse into the dynamic world of coaching.
Today we are interviewing Danna Lewis. Danna is a Life, Love, and Career Coach based in San Francisco, California. She is the author of The Indisputable Gift of Men, a collection of intimate stories that invites you to unlock caustic, emasculating, judgmental conversations around dating and relationships.
NCA: Can you describe your coaching practice and the kinds of clients you typically work with?
Danna: My coaching practice is geared towards women. I work with men and, as a woman, I just have that affinity to gear my work towards women, especially with the topics of my book: The Indisputable Gift of Men. It’s a personal leadership book for women to empower themselves in all of the areas of their life, but in particular, in love, because that takes up so much of our heart and our brain and our daily life. If we feel empowered in that area, everything else comes together.
I tend to work with people who are highly sensitive and empathic., I am highly sensitive, empathic, and intuitive. I’ve also gone through burnout and navigated myself to much healthier whole-life wellbeing. I have so many tools and so much information for people that struggle with awareness overload or have been through burnout. I help them navigate the day-to-day and create with more ease when it comes to being so aware, especially energetically. So women, empathic, highly sensitive.
This may sound funny, but I feel like I tend to work with women who are really kind — like courageously kind. They think “How do I navigate life and all of this stuff?” because they’ve gotten themselves into some sticky situations and may feel like kindness doesn’t win. I show them that you could be kind and be a leader, too. Putting that together with them is incredibly rewarding.
Because of my 25-year business career, I provide career coaching as well. It’s really fun and I have an accelerator that helps people regroup and do some really tactical things to move them along in their career transitions..incorporating whole-life wellbeing and conscious leadership tools for a really dynamic experience.
I’ve honed in on where I want to put most of my attention on. I want to focus on. I have two signature programs. There’s a signature coaching program for my book, The Indisputable Gift of Men. It helps women to let go of resentment, move past heartbreak, and bitterness and the things that hold us up and limit us in loveIt’s such an honor to walk people through that and be present for them. Again, so many tools.
If they’re local and we can add energy healing work, it’s really powerful. Usually, I work with people through video sessions, It’s the next best thing to being there with them in person. But if someone is local and they want to add in the energy healing work, it amps everything up and moves things along faster.
Then there’s my Luscious Living coaching program, which encompasses whole-life wellbeing in every important (to them) area of life. First session, we are going through every area of their life and getting present, taking inventory, and then moving from there. Those two signature programs are each three-months long.
NCA: In working with your clients, what would you say is the most rewarding part of that process and on the flip side of that, what is the most challenging aspect of the work that you do?
Danna: The most rewarding part is watching them take ownership. It’s leadership. Even though we’re talking about your love life, for me, it’s all leadership. To watch them really take ownership and go, “Okay, I get where I created this. I can learn new tools and I can change things and I can let go of things and create something greater.” Seeing them build the confidence in taking responsibility and accountability of their life, whether it’s healing or learning new tools, and then seeing it come together and come to fruition, like when I get these texts or when we’re on our call and we do celebrations every week. To hear that stuff and to be able to experience that with them is amazing. It’s incredible.
The most rewarding part is watching them take ownership. It’s leadership. Even though we’re talking about your love life, for me, it’s all leadership. […] To be able to experience that with them is amazing. It’s incredible.
The most challenging is having so much awareness of someone and all of the possibilities and meeting people where they are and not jumping the gun and letting them have their space. That’s the most challenging thing because of course, we want the best and the juiciest and the fastest and you’re like, “Nope, they’re in their process and they’re going to get it when they get it.” I’ve learned this the hard way through my own personal experiences. I have a good handle on it in coaching, but it’s just so interesting where you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I just want them to see this thing,” and you have to try a few things and then you have to be wherever they are.
NCA: Can you think of a mentor or a coach in your own career who was the most vital to your success and in what ways did this mentor help you thrive in your career?
Danna: I first hired a coach when I lived in Florida, so that was probably 13 or 14 years ago. That first coach was a huge inspiration and mentor to me. I talked about her in my book and we’re still on each other’s social media. I think she’s in her 70s now. She’s amazing.
She’s so proud of me for publishing this book and doing what I’m doing. She taught me, to this day, probably the most valuable thing, which is that there’s a gift in every situation. I don’t think I’d ever heard that before. I was like, “What are you talking about?” That sticks with me today and that’s something that I bring to the table with my clients all the time. Diane is still an inspiration and a mentor and now she’s a fan How does it get any better than that?
There’s been other coaches and modalities. I have taken lots of classes with Access Consciousness, as well. They have two founders, Dr. Dain Heer and Gary Douglas. They’re the ones that taught me, “You empower people to know what they know.” I didn’t get that until I worked with them and they’re very empowering. “You know you should always ask questions. You should always tap into your own truth and awareness and knowing.” They taught me that.
They showed me that the energy of gratitude is one of the most expansive, powerful forces that anyone can create from. And that when there’s judgment, you get stuck. Everything gets locked down when you’re in judgment. Gratitude is the energy that can change anything. I bring that to the table a lot and that’s a huge foundation of my book.
NCA: One of the most common challenges new coaches face is self-doubt. Some coaches call it Imposter Syndrome, where early on they feel somehow inadequate to take on the role of coach. What is one piece of advice that you would give to somebody who is in the beginning stage of their coaching career and dealing with these doubts in their mind?
Danna: Doubt is a distraction. It creates distraction in your world from what is really important to you and what you value. So knowing that and going, “Oh my gosh. Am I going to allow this to distract me?” That’s a great question.
Do it anyway. I got a text last night from a client. She got another job interview and then she thanked me. I ask the universe, too. That’s another thing. Ask the universe, “Show me the contribution I’m being.” Because I think when you’re willing to ask for that and be vulnerable enough to receive it, to me, it’s not even a function of imposter syndrome. It’s more of, “How much more can I receive from myself and the world?” Because when you can receive more, you will get that you’re a contribution. It’s when you ask the universe, “Show me the contribution” and be willing to expand your receiving to what shows up that will take you out of doubt. It gives me more fuel to keep going and to learn and grow.
Every time I do that, something shows up — I get the email or the text or someone tells me something. It literally shows itself to me where I’m like, “Yeah, I am contributing to people and that’s all I need to know. I’m a contribution to them.”
