Melissa Arthur is a Leadership & Wellness Coach and Founder of Illuminate Guidance, LLC. She lives near Lake Perry in Kansas, USA, with her husband, Mike, and their 2 dogs (Lionel & Birdie). She enjoys being close to her family here, part of a wonderful community, and surrounded by nature so she can hike, kayak, garden, and read on her porch.
She is passionate about coaching and connecting individuals and organizations who are making a positive difference in the world. She helps purpose-driven leaders to experience more joy and balance in their lives and health while developing their capacity to lead and succeed as executives and entrepreneurs.
As an entrepreneur, She has created a successful yoga studio and a thriving coaching business. In her professional career, she has served as a director in a non-profit organization and as a health coach in a primary care clinic. In addition to being a national board certified health and wellness and leadership coach, she has 20 years leadership experience in organizational development, community engagement, instructional design, and facilitation.
Her approach is empathetic and action-oriented. Friends and clients alike are drawn to her ability to lovingly listen to and accept them for exactly who they are, while challenging them to become more of who they are meant to be. Her clients often say that her zest for life, joyful presence, and infectious laughter help them feel at ease, with a sense that something wonderful is about to happen.
Tell us about your life before the venture/ leading up to your venture?
Coaching professionally was a mid-life career shift, although I have always had a natural inclination toward coaching friends and peers. In my earlier professional life, I served 16 years as a director in a non-profit organization that connects kids with nature, and owned a yoga studio for 10 years. I was first introduced to professional coaching when healing through a health crisis of my own in 2010. With the guidance of a health coach, I made changes to improve my stress response, diet and lifestyle that addressed the root cause of a disease progression for which western medicine offered no cure. This personal experience with the healing power of lifestyle changes and the support of a skilled and caring coach opened my heart and mind to coaching.
Years later, teaching a workshop about aligning with Dharma (life purpose) at my yoga studio challenged me to re-examine my career path. As I engaged with my students in the work of Dharma discovery, the words nourish, connect, and transform came up for me again and again. My inner wisdom revealed that my innate ability to help others to realize their deep desires for self-actualization, vibrant wellness, and joy is the most important work of my life. This has always been my nature, but I had been pursuing other professional interests while quietly supporting those in my inner circle to transform their lives. I began to feel pulled to spend more time supporting clients one on one. Not long after, The Kansas Leadership Center, where I was engaged in leadership development programs, offered an International Coach Federation accredited leadership coach training program, and I was off and running toward an exciting career shift.
I founded Illuminate Guidance, LLC in 2017, and began building my private practice as a leadership coach, while also providing wellness coaching to my students at the yoga studio. From day one of my practice, I viewed leadership and wellness as interconnected. In an unexpected turn, I was recruited by Vera Whole Health to work as a health coach in a primary care clinic, and served part time in this role for 3 years while continuing to build my business. I enjoyed the leadership challenge of serving as part of an integrated medical team that opened 2 new advanced primary care clinics that included coach training for all staff and coaching for every patient. I coached clients from all walks of life while earning my national board certification for health & wellness coaching (NBC-HWC) and contributing to Vera’s initiatives to address racial health disparities.
As I was starting to feel called back to my leadership coaching roots, my current vision for wellness and leadership coaching for executives and entrepreneurs began to take shape. Having seen first hand how our western medical model lets patients down when it comes to supporting them to take leadership in their own health, I wanted to work with entrepreneurs like me who are innovating in this space. As I began talking with other health coaches, nutritionists, trainers, etc. it was clear that so many of us were building our businesses alone from a home office, and longing for the camaraderie and partnership of peer professionals. Building on my training and experience with peer learning circles, I created my mastermind program for health and wellness entrepreneurs.
Around this time, I also had the great honor and pleasure to join Annie Ricci’s team of executive coaches as a private contractor. The Annie Ricci Coaching team partners with global science & technology operating companies to connect and empower their women associates and leaders. We help women leaders achieve the impact, influence, and fulfillment they seek in life and work. Completing Tara Mohr’s Playing Big Facilitator Training and Dr. Claire Zammit’s Feminine Power Course have strengthened my tools and skillset to support the specific needs of high achieving and self-actualizing women clients.
Tell us something about your organization. What is it about and how is it helpful for people?
My one-on-one coaching clients are purpose-driven leaders who want to experience more balance in their lives and health while developing their capacity to lead and succeed as executives and entrepreneurs. My coaching blends national board certified health & wellness as well as leadership coach training with extensive experience teaching mindfulness. In my practice, I’ve found that wellness and leadership are interconnected for most women, and that mindset is a powerful foundation for success in all areas. In our work together, my clients work toward a vision of success that goes beyond achievement or “having it all” to realize their deeper desires for self-actualization, vibrant wellness, and joy.
I also lead mastermind groups for start-up to mid-stage entrepreneurs in the health and wellness space. These small groups of 8-10 participants meet monthly to support each other’s personal and professional growth, wellbeing and success. These powerful partnerships accelerate growth in our businesses through relationships that help us access resources, celebrate wins, and address challenges much more quickly than we can do on our own. This program includes optional one-on-one business and mindset coaching as well.
My clients come to me with a wide variety of wellness, leadership, and business challenges. Through coaching, they begin to:
*Be visible and lead in a way that aligns with their strengths, values and passions
*Master adaptive leadership skills to influence, engage, and motivate others with or without authority
*Cultivate an authentic, unshakable executive presence so that they can communicate with confidence, even in the face of uncertainty or setbacks
*Prioritize wellness and balance to sustain higher levels of professional responsibility without giving up what is important in their personal lives.
One across-the-board impact consistently reported by my clients is that it alleviates unnecessary suffering and isolation. We work together to dissolve the inner barriers to leadership and wellness by quieting the inner critic, connecting with inner wisdom, and letting go of old limiting beliefs. They learn that they are not the only ones experiencing leadership and wellness challenges, and that there are effective, pragmatic tools to work through them with the support of a coach.
What has been the response of the consumers towards your venture?
I invite you to read about the impact of my work in the words of my clients here: https://www.illuminateguidance.com/testimonials.html
How has your life changed because of your venture?
Through this work, I get to live my dream and learn from so many amazing clients who are being and doing so much to make our world a better place. When I help them to come more fully into their power and move past what is holding them back, they create the kind of community and world that I want to live in.
As a result of starting this business, I enjoy complete freedom in every aspect of my life. Freedom over my time, to work when I want to work. Freedom to self-actualize and serve the healing of the world through my gifts. Freedom to create, learn and grow through the challenges of entrepreneurship. Freedom from the stress and burnout of working in a corporate culture. Financial freedom, my income has increased over 100% since dedicating my full time and attention to my business.
Give a motivational message for the audience/women who are reading this.
You are the only person in the world who has your unique combination of skills, life experiences, and gifts. You don’t have to compare yourself to what anyone else is doing. Find the people who need what you alone have to offer and serve them with your whole heart.
