Diversity in The Coaching Industry: Identity, Representation and Community
In this episode, Lumia’s BIPOC Affinity Group leader Pam Covarrubias discusses how to find role models, support and community within the coaching industry.
The Everything Life Coaching Podcast, featuring Lumia Coaching founders John Kim and Noelle Cordeaux, is a deep dive into the experience and business of being a life coach. Subscribe to get new episodes weekly!
A conversation with Lumia BIPOC Affinity Group facilitator, Pam Covarrubias
Pam Covarrubias is dynamically skilled as an Intuitive Business Coach, EFT Practitioner, Podcaster, and Recovering Procrastinator. She primarily spends her time elevating women and small businesses by helping them grow their revenues, dismantle limiting beliefs, and develop their brand in intuitive ways, while staying true to their unique story. She utilizes her natural skills, as a highly intuitive and strategic coach to develop systems that help individuals accomplish their goals. She effortlessly blends creativity and practicality to help her clients achieve success on their terms.
Pam is also host of the weekly podcast, Cafe con Pam, which features fearless Latine/x and People of The Global Majority that break barriers, change lives and make the world a better place. To learn more about Pam’s work, you can find her on Instagram @cafeconpampodcast or visit her website www.spreadideasmovepeople.com.
Diversity in The Coaching Industry: Identity, Representation and Community
When you look around the world of coaching, do you see yourself reflected there? At this time, the wellness industry remains predominantly white, although many of the practices and modalities used within it are drawn from indegenous wisdom traditions. In this episode, Pam and Noelle discuss identity, voice, community, and the importance of representation in the coaching industry.
Together they explore:
- What Pam looked for in a coach training program, and why she chose Lumia
- How Pam has co-created space for conversation and connection through Lumia’s BIPOC Affinity Group, providing things she wishes she’d had when she first started coaching
- The importance of seeing yourself represented in the coaching industry, and finding role models and peers with backgrounds, experiences, and identities that you can relate to
- How she’s grappled with “calladita culture,” and the social conditioning that encourages Latina women to be quiet, submissive and follow the rules.
- Claiming your voice and story, and how that relates to your work as a coach
- Overcoming self doubt, and the belief that you’re “not enough” so that you can claim your magic.
- Coaching as a tool for dissecting where you are, and determining how to move forward strategically
Quick tips from Pam
What advice would you give to aspiring BIPOC coaches?
Get your own coach! When it’s time to start or grow your business, working with a coach will help you develop your strategy. You don’t need to walk alone.
Make friends and build community. Reach beyond your coach training cohort to build relationships with others in the coaching field who resonate for you.
What tips do you have for white colleagues who want to be better allies?
Question, and be curious. Examine your current biases and experiences - we all have them! (For more on how to do this with self-compassion, check out our resource: Unconscious Bias: What Coaches Need to Know.)
Demonstrate your commitment to diversity. If you’re putting together an event or hiring other coaches and facilitators, consider who comes to mind. We tend to hire the people we know, - people who more often than not look and think a lot like us. The invitation here is to step further out, and ask for recommendations if needed. Enhance your offerings by collaborating with diverse voices and perspectives!
Want to Become a Coach?
One of our values at Lumia is that we dare to be different. Our coaches like Pam ignore the expectations society tries to impose on them, and seek to live from their own truth instead. If you are ready to step into your power as a coach, come check out Lumia Life Coach Training. Grounded in science, our ICF accredited program features authentic instructors, a robust curriculum, and business instruction to prepare you for liftoff.
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