Since moving to the DMV (DC/MD/VA) area in 2020 I have been the after-school nanny for a 9-year-old boy at Takoma Park Elementary School, teach yoga at Rock Creek Sports Club, have appeared in three SAG-AFTRA projects, and started a coaching business, Mind over Matter with Kathy. I have been a guest facilitator since 2004 for the New York State Mediation Training award-winning Center for Mediation and Divorce, performing two original monologues which present the stories of domestic violence survivors so that Steve Abel, esq. my employer, can show lawyers, family court judges, police officers, social workers, etc. how to screen couples before taking them on as clients.  He won Best Mediator Trainer of the year in New York State. 

After moving to New York with a degree in acting from Catholic University, I had success on the off-Broadway stage and in regional theaters, then got married, had two children and worked steady jobs ( for the benefits) at Citibank N.A., Marble Collegiate Church, Nyack High School, Purdue-Frederick, U.S Census Bureau and Bethel Woods, and civil service positions for the County of Sullivan. I am a firm believer in unions. 

My bachelors’ degree in Political Science with a minor in Philosophy lead to becoming the Brooklyn Group Leader for RESULTS (Responsibility to End Starvation Using Legislation, Trim tabbing, and Support) for 15 years. Our letters to the editor and sit-downs with op-ed writers generated public awareness for how to solve this global problem and gave me the opportunity to testify before the House-Select Committee on Hunger.  I was a hospice volunteer in both counties from 1995-2013. My #1 Clifton Strength is Empathy.*  

I worked in the New York State Retirement system in Rockland and Sullivan counties as a teaching assistant at Nyack high school in the Special Ed department and for mental health and social services agencies in the county of Sullivan and Sullivan County Community College over a period of 20 years thus qualifying for a pension.  I owe that discovery to the friendly financial support team I’ve had since 2004. I was also a hospice volunteer in both counties from 1995-2013.  I formally retired in 2018 and my kind boss sent me off with a beautiful party. It’s a small miracle I endured. Having ADHD can be a challenge! (Focus is my #29 strength). 

I had the benefit of a friend who coached me in how to survive the work environment and a union president who believed in me. I was protected by the Whistleblower Act and the investigative findings sent my supervisor to jail. (Belief is my #10) and I kept my job. 

I have taught yoga privately and for staff at over 20 venues and to over 6,000 students, at last count. During the pandemic I taught on Zoom (Connectedness is my #5 Clifton Strength). Learning what I excel in and what comes naturally to me has changed my life and it explains a lot!  It is my fervent desire the same experience is had by all my clients. 

The life coach training certification from the LifeMastery Institute ( September 2020) and the subsequent Eddie P Villa 34 Clifton Strengths Expert certification (February 2021) when I took the Clifton Strengths Assessment Test (www.gallup.com) form the foundation for the work I do with clients. The programs have magnificent content and last 10-12 weeks on average, one hour a week by Zoom or in person.  Five-six people per group. I have found it speeds individual results in a group setting and helps with accountability. It makes all the difference having real-time experience of how unique each of us is and how that works in creating the life you want in the four areas of health, relationships, income, and time-money freedom. 

*I have interspersed this brief biography citing a few of my own top 10 Strengths as well as my “bottoms.” (Otherwise known as “weaknesses.”). We will go into depth about how they work together during your sessions. 

Lastly, having a life coach does not mean you won’t still make mistakes. It is how we learn to deal with our experiences where the gold nuggets live. The Strengths are hard at work in our lives and being aware of them only makes us more happy and more effective. If you take away one gold nugget from reading my bio, it is: staying in our top ten strengths is where we connect with the right people, get everything done in the right way, move people and projects forward and think, create and grow. The “bottom” five strengths are where we lose time and energy and turn people off.  ou don’t need ‘em!  You can do everything with your top ten or thirteen strengths and the bottoms are best left alone.