Chelsea Seid
Chelsea Seid is the Founder and Chief Coach of Talent Praxis where they bridge the gap between theory and action.
She tells us that, “I am also the Chief Strategic Office and co-founder at the Trio Coaching academy where we enable growth and transformation through our high quality education experience. I value having fun, exploring new things, accepting and loving community, getting outside, and focusing on what matters. In work I am dedicated to helping companies, leaders, entrepreneurs, and coaches turn ideas into practices to achieve their goals. I have 15 years of experience managing and leading teams; leading business operations and strategy; and leading HR, talent development, and talent acquisition across a variety of industries. I have five years of experience as a co-founder of a venture-backed startup building scalable coaching processes, platforms, and curriculum for managers. I also pull from my MBA and my ICF PCC executive coaching certification. I have been formally coaching for the past six years, partnering with 30+ companies and coaching 100+ managers, leaders, and executives. Personally I enjoy spending time with my family especially my son and husband, walking our dogs and exploring the Atlanta neighborhoods, traveling whenever I can, and gardening. I have an expansive landscape garden as well as an urban vegetable and cut flower garden.”
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before starting your corporate journey/venture/initiative.
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I grew up in Roswell, Georgia outside of Atlanta. I am the oldest of five kids and and have a twin sister. Growing up my parents inspired me to be involved in a lot of activities and things that sparked my interest such as choir, softball, track and field, cross country, jewelry making, ceramics, and model United Nations. In high school and college I was also very active in local and national politics and campaigns, I love supporting my community. I continued participating and eventually leading model United Nations at non profits through college and got my degree at the University of Georgia majoring in International Affairs and minoring in Arabic. I have always been very driven and motivated graduating undergrad early and moving to Washington DC at 21 working at a restaurant while I took free internships until I got my first fulltime role as the Operations Manager at the Brookings Institution. Here I learned my love for business operations, problem solving, and working with people that inspired my career path. Through all of this I have always made time to travel inside and outside of the US and have fun with friends and families. I love exploring new restaurants, events, comedy, live music, shows etc- anything where I can learn and experience something new especially when it comes with fun times and laughs.
Every industry that is now a large-scale, top-notch business once started as a small idea in the minds of entrepreneurs. What was that idea or motivation that made you start your business /initiative? What motivated you within to say YES, go for it!”
I have always been motivated by helping people achieve their goals. This started in business and people operations but I quickly learned I could have a greater impact with my own business serving more companies and leaders.
Tell us something about your initiative or current role. What is it about, and what impact are you trying to make?
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Currently I am running two businesses: my talent development practice, Talent Praxis, and a coach training academy with two co-founders, Trio Coaching Academy. I also volunteer and mentor fellow founders in various communities. In all of these my goal is to help companies, leaders, coaches and entrepreneurs achieve their goals. In training and education I do this through instruction and facilitation. At Talent Praxis teaching foundational people management skills so managers can develop high performing teams. At Trio I teach business skills to coaches to ensure their leave their credential program aware of the coaching competencies but also with the foundational skills they need to apply their credentials and achieve their goals through coaching. In my coaching practice it is a 1:1 partnership where I create space through creative questions for leaders to consider new perspectives to achieve their goals. In mentoring I share my experiences in business and venture startups to help founders develop sustainable and profitable businesses.
Your journey and your vision are very inspiring, but are there any achievements or accomplishments you would like to mention?
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I led a venture scale startup for 6 years and am now leading a profitable and successful talent development practice where I have hit or exceeded all of my targets but really the achievements of my work are not measured by my owns success but by the success of my clients which you can see highlighted in my client testimonials here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseawagen/details/recommendations/?detailScreenTabIndex=0
Would you like to share with our young budding women entrepreneurs the change you would like to see in the world if given an opportunity?
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I would love to see space in the world where leaders who add value can build sustainable and profitable businesses. Being a female entrepreneur is very challenging and requires a lot of drive, grit, self motivation and determination. There is a steep learning curve and many things you need to figure out for yourself. In everything I do I hope to make that learning curve a little easier to provide people with the tools and resources they need to be successful.
Women are a growing force in the workplaces worldwide, standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. There are cracks in glass ceilings everywhere, with many women breaking through to carve out a space right at the top of the pyramid. What are your thoughts about women leadership today?
We still have a long way to go. While there are cracks you will often be the minority surrounded by a room of men. Learning your worth, strengths and value and communicating those confidently without apology is an ongoing growth journey. You are enough and you worthy and you can lead in a way that is unique to you. That way will not always be respected and you need to find or create space where your unique strengths can shine through. Being a woman in leadership can be isolating and lonely so find a community of champions and look at setbacks as an opportunity to grow.