What is a Coach and how I decided to become one!
People often ask me: “what is a coach actually?”
Like they know what a tennis or sports coach is, so after I tell them that I’m not a sports coach, they look at me with a big question mark on their forehead.
So, I want to take this opportunity of this blog post and tell you what I do for a living and what prompted me to become a coach.
Nowadays, coaching is defined as a conversational process, between a coach and his client, with the purpose that the client can move to a desired situation and outcome. The latter must have an objective that he wants to achieve, something that worries him, something that anguishes him or something that blocks him and so he seeks the help of a coach to accompany him in this process, define new options, transform his state of mind, identify your limiting beliefs and move forward. Coaching is a process of growth, personal and professional development that must be started voluntarily.
The origin of the word coach (car) comes from Hungary, specifically from the city of Kocs, where the word kocsi was formed. Said term kocsi passed to German as Kutsche, to Italian as cocchio and to Spanish as coche. Therefore, the word coach derives from car, which had the function of transporting people from one place to another. Likewise, the word coaching is currently used to refer to the phenomenon of "transporting" people from the place where they are to the place they want to be, through a conversational process and assistance, showing paths and options discovered by the client himself, that offer possibilities that he did not consider before.
When we investigate and understand the history of coaching, we realize that there are many thinkers, philosophers, trainers, neurologists, psychologists and researchers who have contributed to the birth and development of coaching in which numerous theories and practices come together with one common objective: to favor the development of the human being, from a completely new and unprecedented approach and point of view. The accumulation of knowledge related to the human being has given rise to a new methodology with a different approach.
Now, how did I decide to become a coach? Well, I’ve been soul searching and trying to “fit in” all my life. I moved to 5 different countries, speak 5 languages and always felt like a piece was missing. Ever since a teenager I turned to all sorts of tools and approaches in order to discover my true self. My mom was so patient with me. She drove me around and took me to so many different professionals: psychologists, psychiatrists, astrologists, mediums, reiki therapy, even a professional who studied the shape of my face, family constellations and the list goes on. So, it only makes sense that I discovered coaching through needing one myself. It has been such a powerful and transformational journey for me, that I wanted to share my experience with others by becoming a coach myself.
I received my Bachelor’s degree in Law at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and graduated Masters in Economics and Public Policies in Lugano, Switzerland and Milan, Italy. I moved to Panama in 2009 and founded a law firm together with local and international partners. I moved to Venezuela in 2019 and continued my education and became a Certified Professional Coach at the Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador in Caracas, Venezuela.
Being a lawyer and an economist helps me define and determine my clients’ needs and goals in an analytical and pragmatic way, but it is my personal and professional journey that has helped me develop my coaching method today, so I can relate to people’s experiences on many different levels, with an open, non-judgmental mind, based on a trustful relationship between me and my clients.
