From Corporate Leader to Liberation Coach: Meet Pam Covarrubias, the Business Coach

In our Case Study series, we're diving into the personal journeys, the real-life ups and downs, and the unique paths of Lumia graduates. Discover how real coaches found their way to coaching, built their businesses, and get clients!

Every interview is a window into the life of someone who has embraced coaching as a way to not only change their own lives, but also to impact others. These conversations are about connection, growth, and the diverse ways each coach brings their authentic self to this meaningful and important work. 

From Corporate Leader to Liberation Coach: Meet Pam Covarrubias, the Business Coach

Pam is dynamically skilled as a Liberation Business Coach, EFT Practitioner, Podcaster, and Recovering Procrastinator. She primarily spends her time elevating first-generation business owners by helping them uncover their inner mean voice and creating accountability plans so they can create liberated business practices and mindful productivity.

Pam's goal is to remove the damages Calladita Culture™️ has instilled in first-generation humans in the United States. A topic she explores in her weekly podcast Café con Pam, staying quiet and submissive is not a stance she supports.

Pam is grounded in the teachings of mother earth, her mother and grandmothers' wisdom, as well as technically trained in Clinical EFT. She holds a Life Coaching Certification, Crystal Healing Practitioner Certification. Pam is also rooted in practical knowledge from her BFA, certificate in Women in Entrepreneurship by Cornell University, and additional business training she's attended.

You can connect with her here.

Please introduce yourself and describe your niche as a life coach.

I’m Pamela Covarrubias. I am a business coach and an EFT practitioner.

What’s your professional background?

Before I found coaching, I went through the corporate world with a background in marketing and design. I started in marketing and eventually moved into sales executive roles at the end of my corporate career. After that, I started my own business, ultimately working as a photographer, creative director and brand strategist.

My coach was the one who suggested I become a coach. She pointed out that my work in creative direction and brand strategy was more about coaching clients than actual strategy. She said, "You can call yourself whatever you want, but you're really coaching." I resisted the idea for a long time, but here we are.

In my corporate role, I worked for a boss who believed in investing in yourself. Whenever he missed a coaching session, I would attend in his place. This gave me a taste of what coaching was like, especially business coaching, and I saw the changes that could come from just having a conversation with someone.

What drew you to Lumia?

The branding and diversity of the owners stood out to me. I didn't want another white man teaching me how to live my life, so that was a significant factor. The language used by Lumia also resonated with me.

I had probably three or four calls with the enrollment person because I was hesitant. I didn’t want to be a coach at first. It took me about a year from discovering the school to finally signing up. On the last call, the enrollment person said, "Look, Pam, we've talked many times. If you keep calling me, it’s probably because you actually want to do it." That’s when I finally said yes. Fear was what held me back.

What drew you to coaching as a profession?

As the eldest daughter, I naturally became the caregiver and coach for my family due to expectations. Being Mexican, and part of the Latina culture, is a lot about caregiving. So, coaching felt natural to me. I was always the strong friend, the one people turned to for support.

When I considered coaching, I felt a mix of fear and excitement because it seemed like something I had been doing my whole life. Pursuing certification felt like solidifying that role, making it harder to back out. It was mostly fear and doubt that held me back.

I'm a disruptor by nature, and as a business coach, I've had the opportunity to undergo extensive training. I hold a certification in women's entrepreneurship from Cornell, which allowed me to explore and learn business from old school practices. While learning from both traditional methods and modern online business teachings, I realized a lot of the principles were harmful and manipulative. I was taught to do certain things and I tried them and they felt icky. 

As a designer and someone who wanted to be an architect when I was growing up, I have a passion for deconstructing and reconstructing things. Applying this to business, I now teach my clients to build sustainable and liberated businesses. My goal is to ensure everyone is supported, not just a select few.

Tell me about what your coaching practice looks like, and how it’s evolved?

I started with one-on-one coaching but eventually burnt out. Then I moved into group coaching and burnt out again. Now, I only take on a few one-on-one clients—about three at the moment—and they are very selective. As an empath, I realized that my energy is both giving and absorbing, so I had to set boundaries to ensure I’m fully supported.

I’m focusing more on offering group coaching, online courses, speaking engagements, and facilitation. I enjoy working with larger groups because it's fun and I feel like I make a better impact. I’m also excited to be hosting my first retreat since the pandemic.

When I first became a coach, I had never seen anyone like me in the field. Most coaches, if they were women, were white women. I didn't see myself represented, which was a big thing. Now, there are more coaches from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and languages. The coaching industry is very English-driven, but as a bilingual coach, I offer coaching in Spanish and Spanglish, bringing cultural references that resonate with people who look like me.

I started talking about mental health in 2016 when it was more stigmatized than it is now. Today, people are more open to discussions about mental health, mindset work, inner child work, and shadow work. There’s a growing hunger for self-improvement. When I started, people often asked if I was a sports coach. Explaining that I was a life coach was a challenge, but the perception has definitely shifted over time.

Can you share a client success story that demonstrates your growth as a coach?

I have so many stories about clients, but one of my favorites is about a client who came to me when she was thinking about starting her business. She was very scared about leaving her corporate role because of the uncertainty on the other side. Having lived with fear myself, I could relate to her feelings. We worked together on a plan to help her transition out of her corporate job, with the initial goal of replacing her $75,000-$80,000 annual salary with her new business.

She took the leap, and in her second year, she made almost $1,000,000. It was incredible to witness her success. She started with all the fear and self-doubt, but there was a tiny spark of hope and belief in herself. I believe my contribution was powerful too, believing in her potential and providing accountability.

It was amazing to see her progress. Every time she would share how much she had made, like "$80,000 this month," it was cool to see!

How did you get clients and build your coaching business?

How I built my coaching practice was messy and chaotic. That's why my journey now is to support business owners, ensuring they don't have to go through the same struggles I did. I believe the universe wants me to help others avoid the pitfalls I experienced.

I started my coaching practice while still running a branding agency. My business coach at the time pointed out that I was already coaching, so I decided to create an adjacent product to my branding services and offer coaching to my branding clients. In essence, my branding clients became my first coaching clients, although unofficially. Balancing both businesses was exhausting, and I nearly burnt out trying to ramp up one while relying on the other to pay the bills.

Eventually, I had to make the tough decision to close my branding agency. Interestingly, as soon as I decided to close it, everyone suddenly wanted to work with me. It felt like another test from the universe, urging me to believe in my coaching practice. I took one last branding client and told her she would be my very last. While closing that chapter, I began onboarding new coaching clients.

Starting out, I didn't know much. I began with one-on-one coaching because it was what I knew. I had no idea how much to charge or how long my sessions should be. I remember hearing different coaches talk about their session lengths and feeling unsure. I decided on 60 minutes simply because that's what the calendar suggested.

Pricing was a trial and error process. If people said yes immediately, I knew I was too cheap. If they hesitated but then agreed, I was just right. If they had to talk to their grandmother, I knew I was overpriced. This helped me figure out who my ideal client was.

One piece of advice I give new coaches is to coach everyone at first. This helps you figure out who you don't want to coach. I did this myself, offering coaching to anyone I encountered, even at the coffee shop. I needed to eat, and bills had to be paid. Over time, I built a more sustainable practice.

What are some of the biggest wins you’ve had from coaching?

The wins come when people return, sometimes even a year later. One of the key things I've learned from coaching humans is not to be attached to the outcome. In a very humble way, I believe that’s what makes me a great coach. I've hired coaches who became overly attached to my goals, making it seem like they wanted my success more than I did, which was frustrating.

I've received emails from former clients saying, "Oh my gosh, I finally understand what you told me." Sometimes it takes them a year or two to get there. They might have rolled their eyes at me initially, but eventually, they get it. This realization made me see myself as a shadow worker, someone who explores the depths of people's journeys, helping them uncover their true selves.

It's incredibly rewarding to see the results of my coaching. Having a conversation with someone and then seeing how they show up in the world later on is amazing. It's like seeing a child take their first steps or say their first words. 

How have you grown as a leader as a result of coaching?

One of the biggest qualities I've gained from coaching school is self-awareness. As a leader, this has been invaluable. Coaching has also helped me notice my weak spots, even when I don't realize them at first. Often, as I'm coaching, I find myself coaching myself. It's like a revolving door where I support someone else while also benefiting from the process.

It's a rewarding career because coaches genuinely care about other humans. Once you're in it, you realize that the change is mutual; we're growing together. And I think that's pretty cool.

How has the Lumia community supported your growth and development?

It's fun to build adult friendships that support your growth. Through this process, I've met some great friends. For example, one of my good friends and I still have meetings to hold each other accountable. We call each other out and provide coaching when we're stuck. It's incredibly supportive to have those people in your life. Often, our close ones may not support us in the way we need, so finding other supportive humans has been key.

How has the Lumia program helped you advance in your current career?

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I've become not only a better coach, but also a better podcaster. The training helped me tune into every cue, not just auditory, but also body language, tone, and eye movement.

One of the first things that became real from coach training was that I could build an actual business doing this. Seeing my instructors with full coaching practices and witnessing others doing fun and diverse things with coaching showed me that there isn't a one-size-fits-all – you get to play.

That gave me a lot of groundedness in that truth – that I could choose. How am I going to use this thing? And how am I going to make it mine? 

That emphasis on learning the technique and then making it your own reminded me of design school. Just like Picasso's early technical drawings, understanding the foundations is essential before you can deconstruct and personalize them. That’s the foundation of me being a disruptor.

What’s the biggest outcome of training with Lumia?

Coaching school allowed me to dive deep into the fundamentals, understand how things work, ask better questions, truly listen, and then make it my own. I got to play and coach my peers, which was incredibly fun. 

As someone with ADHD, the live classes were key for me. They provided the structure I needed, ensuring I attended and engaged. Having these sessions on my calendar made them non-negotiable, which was critical for my neurodiverse brain.

Coach Pam was another key support system for me. Navigating the school system had always been challenging, but having someone I could trust to reach out to was invaluable. Shout out to Coach Pam—she’s awesome. Her support was always loving and helpful, even when my homework submissions were unconventional. She was open to learning and adapting, which made a huge difference for me.

Unlike other academic environments where I often felt like just another transaction, Lumia made me feel like an actual student. 

What aspects of the Lumia coaching training program did you find most valuable?

As the eldest, I've always had to take care of everything. Going through coaching training, I wanted to validate my ability to hold space with a solid foundation of knowledge. As I started the classes, I realized that I had been a space holder for others since I could talk, or even before. Learning about psychology principles, neuroscience, trauma, and other important topics solidified and strengthened my foundation to continue holding space for people, something I've done my whole life.

I wanted to ensure that my foundation was strong enough to support others effectively. As a shadow worker and Scorpio Sun, I naturally want to go deep and ask probing questions. Coaching training taught me how to handle this depth responsibly, allowing me to support not just others but also myself. It equipped me with the knowledge to manage and contain both my own shadow work and the deep work I do with clients. This training has helped me sustain and support the intense and transformative journeys I undertake with those I coach.

What coaching skills do you most feel comfortable in as a result of training with Lumia?

One coaching skill I'm solid at is active listening. As a podcaster, it's fun to say that I ask questions for a living. In both my coaching practice and while interviewing people on the show, I'm hyper-tuned into listening and understanding. Coaching training gave me the space to realize the importance of this skill.

Active listening, 100%. My coaching ears are always on now, and I can't show up without being a coach anymore. It's become such a part of me. Another key skill is reframing, which I think I support people with very well. 

How did you discover your coaching niche?

People often ask me how to get started in coaching. My answer is simple: just coach, coach everyone. When I started, I was working at a coffee shop because I needed to decide whether to get another corporate job or take on something flexible. I chose the coffee shop because it allowed me to focus on my coaching practice.

I offered coaching to my coffee shop clients for free to gain experience. One story I often share is about coaching a retired man. After that session, I realized I didn't want to coach retired individuals because their challenges didn't resonate with me. This experience helped me understand who I didn't want to coach, which is crucial when people ask how to find their niche. I believe it's important to let your niche find you.

Through coaching everyone, I discovered my passion for coaching immigrants, particularly Spanish-speaking women from Latin American countries pursuing their dreams. This was my first opportunity to be a business coach without even knowing it. I fell in love with supporting these women because they reminded me of my mom. Although I couldn't go back in time to help my mom with her business, I could support these women in building theirs. That's when I became the coach my mom needed. 

What was the biggest support you needed in coaching and how did Lumia support that?

After getting my certification, my rational mind thought it was all just for show. But my inner child, who had always been excited about academia, accolades, and diplomas, felt a sense of legitimacy. When I got my certification, I thought, "Ooh, I'm legit now." This boosted my confidence and made me feel supported by Lumia and the school. It affirmed that I could do what I said I could do, making me more secure in my skills, offerings, and approach.

Through the community and the connections I made, I gained more confidence by asking questions and learning from others. My income and client base increased, and I haven't stopped coaching since. The diploma felt like an annoying permission slip that solidified my legitimacy in my own brain. It gave me the evidence I needed!

Thinking of Becoming a Coach?

A lot of talented people like you dream of having a coaching career, but aren’t quite sure how to get there. We train and certify adventurous coaches, making sure you’ve got all you need to build a career you love and transform lives, on your terms.

If you're ready to learn more, come check out Lumia Life Coach Training!

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