get to know the team
ABOUT US
THERESA MCKENNA
Professional Certified Coach
As a Business and Executive Coach, I love what I do. I didn’t start out in coaching. In fact, I have a broad range of business and entrepreneurial experience. I am also trained as a counselor and worked as a therapist for 15 years. I moved into coaching because I could see for myself that coaching is one of the most powerful tools clients have to move forward and achieve success. Nevertheless, as a Professional Certified Coach, my clients have the benefit of my psychology training. A few have told me that I have deep water sonar that allows me to identify small disconnects and elusive nuances that others do not hear.
My early career in the food industry in Chicago, Boston and New York allowed me to experience the challenges in corporate sales and manufacturing. I cut my teeth negotiating private label contracts and overseeing the creation of product that needed to be produced, delivered and consumed within one week. Lots of stress there!
I spent a decade living and traveling extensively in Asia and Europe. Those years were essential to my understanding of the rich cultural diversity of our small planet alongside the natural ability, dreams and goals we all share. It also gives me an opportunity to be particularly effective in coaching multi-cultural teams.
After returning to the US, I spent several years as a small business owner. Every day brought the challenges of the market as well as the personal responsibility of an employer. I saw those demands often in conflict with the needs of my own family. My best description of the potential conflicts I faced, and I know my clients face, I define as resume values vs. eulogy values. We all struggle with that!
In addition to my Professional Coach Certification and as a Certified Master of Christian Coaching, I have a Masters in Applied Theology and am certified in Core Communication which includes a model for conflict resolution. Many of my hours are also spent volunteering for causes and projects that relate to my core values. Many more are spent with my wonderful family, cooking, gardening and throwing pots on the wheel.
MEREDITH PALM
Business Strategy Consultant
I am a big-picture leader and creative problem-solver committed to sharing teachings on living authentically and making your company grow and thrive. My passion for lifelong learning in the areas of business success and personal wellness combine to make me uniquely suited to working with entrepreneurs who pour their hearts and souls into their businesses.
I am lucky to have traveled broadly around the world (38 countries so far!) and have studied and worked in China, India, Thailand, Mongolia, Mexico and the Czech Republic. I hold a Master’s in Business Administration from Thunderbird, School of Global Management and a Bachelor of Art in International Economics from the University of Washington. I also hold a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
My career trajectory winds through many years of corporate life at organizations including The Boeing Company and Providence St. Joseph Health. In those companies, I leveraged my project management capacities and business acumen to drive innovation and efficiencies in the world of Health Insurance and Wellness Benefits.
In every wellness solution I implemented for these big companies, the answer to life’s problems were always the same: Mindfulness, Resilience, Presence and Living Authentically. It struck me as odd that the companies who purchased these solutions were unwilling to abide by their recommendations. Faced with this value chasm, it was time to move on. I struck out on a personal quest to find my own authentic path forward.
I am delighted to now bring my experience and curiosity to the world of business coaching and consulting at Empowerment Strategies. I believe in the power of the small business to fill local needs, enrich communities, feed families and satisfy souls beyond what a giant company can do. However, it takes courage and tenacity to be an entrepreneur. The challenges of the small business owner call to mind this wonderful quote from former President Teddy Roosevelt: As an entrepreneur, you are daring greatly. We are here to support you in your endeavor.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
