Hi, it’s Amy, the “senior” partner & daughter half of Legacies Life Coaching & Consulting, a mother-daughter business. My path to this career is a lot like those old Family Circus cartoons where the route a child takes from point A to point B is traced and it’s a super windy, inefficient route. I think that’s really worked out for the best though, because I’m not sure I’d be much good at this job without an exceptional amount of life experience for someone my age.

As a teen I had my focus locked in on a culinary career. I wanted a bakery, I wanted to decorate cakes, and I wanted to make people happy. I attended culinary school immediately after high school, and encountered the wild and artistic culture of chefs for the first time. My passion for the art of food grew immensely, but I could already tell that my personality might not be a perfect fit for the industry. When I finished culinary school, I worked at a resort, a few bakeries, and eventually the Four Seasons over the course of the 6 years that followed.

Meanwhile, I enrolled in classes at community college and eventually Texas Woman’s University because I “wasn’t ready to stop learning” but I didn’t have any intent to finish an actual degree for the longest time. All the while my mom laughed and said “we’ll see about that.”

Ultimately a time came when it became clear that an emerging repetitive-use injury to my shoulder signaled a looming premature end to my culinary aspirations. Moreover, I felt disconnected from those I was serving, and I had become aware of the tremendous need in the world for people in the mental health field. I discovered a new passion.

I had quite a bit of school left before I could really make much of myself in the mental health field, so I took on whatever work I could get to pay the bills. While in school I worked for a book publishing company, was heavily trained in sales and marketing, worked for a marketing agency in several capacities, then became a social media marketing specialist for a nonprofit during graduate school. I also worked independently as a maid, personal shopper, lawn care worker, personal chef, and nanny. I began my first position as a coach for several people with massive organizational projects, commonly known as hoarders.

I loved the work as a coach, and found I was very effective. As I worked toward my Masters in Biblical Counseling at Dallas Theological Seminary, I had the opportunity to do hundreds of hours of counseling practicum at Dallas Life Homeless Shelter. I remember being unbelievably nervous before my first day of practicum, because so much time and effort had led to that moment- what if I hated it? What if I was bad at it?

That night I got home and told my husband I had never felt more perfectly in my element in my entire life, even in the kitchen. I LOVE working with people to help them set and achieve their goals, to identify and overcome obstacles, especially those in their own heads. I LOVE counseling, but I discovered over the course of my studies that I have a particular knack for those nuanced techniques and approaches that are actually distinctly Coaching rather than counseling.

After graduating with my Masters degree, I enrolled in Coach Academy International, a program accredited by ICF, to complete my formal education specific to coaching, though I had been practicing more informally with my organizational coaching for several years already. I have not let go of counseling completely, however, and am currently studying for eventual Licensure in Chemical Dependency Counseling to open up opportunities to someday counsel and coach those overcoming addiction.

I published my first book, Love & The Art of Saying No, and established Legacies Life Coaching and Consulting with Lindy, my mother, both in January 2019. I chose my mom as a partner in this business because I have watched her apply practical wisdom and patient guidance for not only myself and my siblings, but many of her friends, students, and our friends throughout my entire life. She is a natural, and taught me all the most useful things I know. She also has a wealth of knowledge from living through so many life phases and transitions I have not yet, so she brings a necessary element of practical experience to the table that is more valuable than any classroom education.

A career launch wrapped in an entrepreneurial endeavor has already proved a wild ride, but we are so blessed and excited to help people in the best possible way we are able, through Life Coaching. We chose to coach people in transitions because between us, we have lived so many of them ourselves, & walked with loved ones through the rest.