My Journey to Coaching
I came to coaching the way many people come to transformation, by trying to outrun what my body was telling me. For years, I ignored the signals: tension, burnout, anxiety that didn’t seem to match my circumstances. Eventually, I couldn’t un-hear what my body was saying, something needed to change. That turning point led me into a journey of deep personal healing through art and embodiment. As a ceramicist, I learned how to listen with my hands and make space for process. This path led me naturally into somatic coaching, where I now help others learn to trust their own inner signals and move through life with more alignment, clarity, and self-leadership.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Sociology from San Diego State University and received my coaching training through Presence-Based Coaching, an ICF-accredited program that blends mindfulness, embodiment, and developmental psychology. Before coaching, I worked closely with college students at the University of Oregon, where I witnessed firsthand how anxiety and pressure can cloud decision-making and self-trust. Through coaching, I support clients in untangling from the expectations of others, reconnecting with their values, and stepping into a life that feels authentic and self-directed. Outside of sessions, you’ll find me traveling the world, sculpting or throwing on the wheel, and dancing like no one’s watching (truly, it’s excellent nervous system regulation).
What I’ve Learned About Healing
Sage Somatics was founded in 2025 as a space where growth can be messy, healing can be creative, and presence is the foundation for transformation. It brings together my experience as a trained personal development coach, my background in community care, and my life as a ceramic artist. Much like clay, we are shaped by our experiences and we are also capable of reshaping ourselves with intention.
I view healing in a similar light to the Japanese art of Kintsugi, repairing broken pottery and highlighting the cracks with gold filling. Kintsugi reminds me that healing doesn’t mean hiding the cracks, it means honoring them. Coaching is a practice of helping others break apart and piece themselves back together in ways that are stronger, highlight their growth, and reflect their alignment with who they truly are.
From Burnout to
Embodiment
I started Sage Somatics because I’ve lived through what many of my clients face: burnout, anxiety, and the feeling of being lost in a life that looks fine from the outside but doesn’t feel like your own.
After graduating in 2020, I moved to a new city during the height of the pandemic to support college students. I poured myself into the work but over time, the weight of caring for others without adequate support left me emotionally and spiritually depleted. I had disconnected from my body and ignored the cues telling me something needed to change.
Everything began to shift when I found somatics. Rebuilding my relationship with my body wasn’t quick or easy. It involved grief, discomfort, deep listening, and moments where I questioned everything. But slowly, through presence and patience, my body began to soften. The walls came down. What once felt numb gave way to a deeper kind of clarity, confidence, and care for myself and for others.
Rooted in Legacy
Sage Somatics is named in honor of my Aunt Suzie, affectionately called Sagebrush by my father in their childhood. Though she passed when I was four, her influence has stayed with me. Suzie was a nurse whose brief life was a testament to compassionate service. Her presence lives on in the values I bring into this work: connection, integrity, and care.
At the same age Suzie was diagnosed with cancer, I found myself standing at a crossroads. I left behind a stable career in nonprofit program management to pursue a life centered on creation, connection, and personal truth. Her legacy inspired me to choose a different path, to live deeply aligned with meaning, and to offer others a space to do the same.
Me, my Aunt Suzie (right), and her partner Liz (left)