Jessica, Chief Accounting Officer, SVP Finance
“ Leadership coaching with Christine didn’t polish me into a sharper version of the same executive mold; it helped me grow into a truer, more impactful leader.
I show up calmer, clearer, and the organization rewarded that shift with a promotion into a role that checks every box we mapped together. ”
From VP of Accounting & Treasury → To SVP, Chief Accounting Officer
Retail Fashion Industry
WHY COACHING:
High-performing and valued VP whose role and level of responsibility within the organization was immense. While she and her team were succeeding at getting the work done, the pressures were negatively influencing her overly direct approach and attitude, causing challenges with peers and her team. Strategies and tactics to manage it all, influence decisions and work cross functionally were creating frustration, burnout and the opposite of who she wanted to be as a leader. Needed new tools, insight, and ways to channel intensity and brilliance in ways that stakeholders, peers and team could receive.
WORKING WITH CHRISTINE:
Working with Christine gave me permission to amplify my uniqueness, drop the “cookie-cutter finance persona,” understand my super powers, and turn authenticity into a strategic edge.
When I started coaching with Christine, my world felt like a pressure cooker. I was shepherding a confidential, high-stakes merger, couldn’t share with my team, and carried every “urgent” request myself. This was on top of doing my regular job, managing a large team, and keeping the day-to-day running of the business financials on track.
Our sessions gave me space to breathe—literally—and to separate true urgency from the noise.
Individually, she’s helped me see my own operating system. Through the Enneagram I recognized my superpower of quickly spotting patterns—and the downside of explaining things in a way only I can follow. Now I re-phrase, ask more questions, and speak up in executive meetings with solutions instead of silent frustration.
Leadership now actually listens to what I have to say; several company-wide decisions trace back to ideas I dared to voice because Christine reframed my perspective from “they’ve already rejected this” to “maybe they haven’t seen it yet.”
Christine’s magic is the blend of corporate savvy and unapologetic quirk. She has a stack of practices and approaches that are definitely outside the box, but she’s also an MBA who has sat in the same finance boardrooms I inhabit, so I trusted the process.
What surprises me most is how she makes you proud of your own uniqueness and super powers. Christine owns her humor, her wisdom, her whole self—and invites you to do the same. This let me lean into my unique value, and navigate post-merger integration with openness instead of territorial defensiveness.
With my team, she facilitated “Power Pause” sessions, turning my skeptical accounting team into an actual team. By cataloging everything we’d survived and achieved, people dropped their defenses, saw each other’s load and we began working as one instead of a herd of exhausted individuals.
THE PROCESS:
What Shifted
▶ FROM
Doing all the work, being a
bottleneck, busy, overwhelmed,
multi-tasking, not present
▶ TO
Centered, focused, paced,
present, structures & rhythm
holding me and my team
HOW IT SHOWED UP
Realized self-part in creating unsustainable reality + realized what was system-org-created unnecessary pressure, empowered me to strategically make changes.
Shifted mindset from ‘so busy’ ‘no time’ ‘i have to say Yes’ → taking pauses, analyzing priorities, asking for support, putting in structures + boundaries in place to support wellbeing & sustainable workflow for self & team
CHRISTINE’S ROLE
▶ Gave language & insight into roots of over-controlling & responsibility
▶ Illuminated self & system created ‘Interference Constellation” making it hard to change
▶ Honed in on points of power to do things differently, & over time guided to shift completely
What Shifted
▶ FROM
Frustrated, defensive, impatient
with people, process and pace
▶ TO
Calm, clear, direct with
respect; grounded, rationale
presence people listen to.
HOW IT SHOWED UP
Transformed internal reactions and instincts to push to drive to decision & move on → to creating space to educate, share POV and engage in conversation.
Brought forth caring, relaxed problem-seer, strategic thinker and collaborative partner essences. Prioritized relationships as important as progress.
CHRISTINE’S ROLE
▶ Gave language to my super powers & how they both served & sabotaged
▶ Used Enneagram to get to deeper motivations under reactions, increasing self and other understanding
▶ Provided frameworks & practices for turning frustration into “purposeful patience” & effective influence.
What Shifted
▶ FROM
Defending & protecting team,
sheltering team from stressors,
team feeling disempowered &
under-appreciated
▶ TO
Upleveled directors, created
strong first team of direct
reports, cultivated culture of
appreciation, connection,
collaboration & growth
HOW IT SHOWED UP
Realized how high pressure merger work & desire to shield people had negatively impacted team, made choices to reset this.
Redesigned relationship to time & urgency to be present in meetings & with team.
Stopped being the one solely responsible for data accuracy & excellence. Mentored team & created visibility opportunities for team members to build trust with business partners & execs.
CHRISTINE’S ROLE
▶ Illuminated hard truths of how people on team were feeling, helped articulate my desired team culture & create path to get there
▶ Facilitated team Power Pause sessions for Directors and full team, increasing morale & sense of mattering
▶ Guided me to let go of need to touch & approve everything to creating a team with capable people that stakeholders trusted.
What Shifted
HOW IT SHOWED UP
CHRISTINE’S ROLE
▶ FROM
Doing all the work, being a
bottleneck, busy, overwhelmed,
multi-tasking, not present
▶ TO
Centered, focused, paced,
present, structures & rhythm
holding me and my team
Realized self-part in creating unsustainable reality + realized what was system-org-created unnecessary pressure, empowered me to strategically make changes.
Shifted mindset from ‘so busy’ ‘no time’ ‘i have to say Yes’ → taking pauses, analyzing priorities, asking for support, putting in structures + boundaries in place to support wellbeing & sustainable workflow for self & team
▶ Gave language & insight into roots of over-controlling & responsibility
▶ Illuminated self & system created ‘Interference Constellation” making it hard to change
▶ Honed in on points of power to do things differently, & over time guided to shift completely
▶ FROM
Frustrated, defensive, impatient
with people, process and pace
▶ TO
Calm, clear, direct with
respect; grounded, rationale
presence people listen to.
Transformed internal reactions and instincts to push to drive to decision & move on → to creating space to educate, share POV and engage in conversation.
Brought forth caring, relaxed problem-seer, strategic thinker and collaborative partner essences. Prioritized relationships as important as progress.
▶ Gave language to my super powers & how they both served & sabotaged
▶ Used Enneagram to get to deeper motivations under reactions, increasing self and other understanding
▶ Provided frameworks & practices for turning frustration into “purposeful patience” & effective influence.
▶ FROM
Defending & protecting team,
sheltering team from stressors,
team feeling disempowered &
under-appreciated
▶ TO
Upleveled directors, created
strong first team of direct
reports, cultivated culture of
appreciation, connection,
collaboration & growth
Realized how high pressure merger work & desire to shield people had negatively impacted team, made choices to reset this.
Redesigned relationship to time & urgency to be present in meetings & with team.
Stopped being the one solely responsible for data accuracy & excellence. Mentored team & created visibility opportunities for team members to build trust with business partners & execs.
▶ Illuminated hard truths of how people on team were feeling, helped articulate my desired team culture & create path to get there
▶ Facilitated team Power Pause sessions for Directors and full team, increasing morale & sense of mattering
▶ Guided me to let go of need to touch & approve everything to creating a team with capable people that stakeholders trusted.