Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Eades.
Hi Katie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstories.
A dreamer and a doer from the day I was born, I’ve always had a strong sense of purpose and an inner knowing of who I am meant to serve. An only child who loved learning and teaching my friends, I knew I would become a teacher. Inspired by the movie Dangerous Minds, I had a successful career teaching high school history; 3 years on the North Side of Chicago, 3 years on the South Side of Chicago, and 1 year in a rural community in Illinois. It was here I developed the ability to connect and inspire diverse groups of people, facilitate a love of lifelong learning, and weave entertaining stories that included jokes, notes from the lesson, and a brave and safe space for students to explore their thinking. But I also had other dreams. At age 10, I dreamed of having my Club, like the BabySitter’s Club, minus the child care. I recruited some friends, charged a yearly membership fee of $2 with monthly dues at 50 cents, and sold tickets to a “carnival” I held in my backyard using my basketball hoop and croquet set. And whatever else I could find to create games, I could sell tickets to play and raise money. The Club was a place for friends to help each other with homework, earn money by working together on local projects, and celebrate our accomplishments. It was also my first business prototype and laid the foundation for how I would approach building my next 3 companies.
After a 60lbs weight loss and conquering food addiction, I left the formal classroom to sit in a park and generate interest in a new type of workout called CrossFit. As a teacher always, I cultivated a community in that park and began developing future staff to coach a diverse range of athletes from ages 4-74! Two years later, we opened a new, 12,000-square-foot facility that included office space for the Special Olympics, Chiropractor, and a classroom for me to teach wellness and nutrition seminars to our members. During this time, I (re)connected with my passion for giving back and began hosting community-driven fundraisers and launching an international fundraiser for the Special Olympics, RowRasier. I once again began to dream and was ready to DO something new, so I sold the business to my partner and packed up my car to head to NYC with nothing but faith and hope that God would do BIG things through me.
10-year-old Katie would be quite proud of our third career as the Executive Director of a nonprofit mentoring program for kids ages 7 -17. Developing a staff of 150 millennial volunteers longing to make a difference in the world was one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had in my life thus far. I also founded a local CrossFit Kids program, spending my Saturday mornings coaching 3-12-year-olds and making exercise fun! The stars were aligning, and this leap of faith propelled me into what I am here to DO. Partner with Outstanding Women Leaders (OWLs) and the men who support us, coaching them along their journey to achieving their higher purpose and dreams and making it OWL fun, funny, and transformational!
Fast forward to today, this dreamer continues to do OWL the things her heart feels called to do with the common thread of educating and coaching people to lead from a place of self-acceptance and self-authority. I have a gift for bringing ideas to life, painting a picture of what reality could be instead of what it is. My superpowers include offering people a whole new way of thinking, exploring new and different perspectives, and empowering others to find meaning in life’s important, natural struggles. Unafraid to pull out what’s hidden or stagnant, I am the fearless warrior with a flashlight ready to shine a light of truth necessary for transformation compassionately. As a bonus, I’m also a hoot!
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The common struggle along this road was my ‘inner game.’ In my first career, I turned to food when I had a bad day and neglected to take care of my body. A former NCAA athlete, I lost the ‘spark’ that is on a team brought to my daily life. (Re)connecting with that joy opened up new doors and a career path for me, but the inner game still struggled. My mom had major health problems, including a quadruple bypass when I was 24, and my now ex-husband had kidney failure, chemo treatments, and a transplant when I was 28.
My inner game overcame food addiction in 2011 and paranoia and anxiety in 2015, but the challenge wasn’t over yet. By the time I sold the gym, I was newly divorced, and the massive change, coupled with a bad business partner, led to a mental breakdown that I hid quite well from people. In 2018 my mom had a heart attack and died unexpectedly. In 2019 I was being bullied at work, my dad came out as a gay man, and in 2020 the world experienced a pandemic. By 2021 something in my inner game “had to give,” and I had a PTSD flashback from 2015, and this time, I couldn’t hide it and could get the support I needed to heal from a loving partner and family.
Today, my inner game is strong, confident, and fully healed from the pain and struggles I experienced on my journey to get where I am. Each ‘inner game’ struggle I’ve had was just as important as the ease and flow I’ve also experienced. It’s allowed me to see the world and the people experiencing it differently. People are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole; without the struggle, we wouldn’t be nearly as creative or resourceful.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Outstanding Women Leaders (OWL) Professional Coaching is on a mission to disrupt things that need to shift and change for the better in leadership, relationships, and life. Authentic, collaborative, playful, insightful, and soulful, the OWL experience is a radically different approach to personal and professional development. We coach not for a problem to be solved but for a life well-lived. Our individualized, whole-person, strengths-based approach combines the power of experiential learning, emotional intelligence, and Neuroscience to create fun, funny, and transformational coaching for individuals, teams, and organizations. What sets OWL apart is our Chief OWL, which partners directly with you to develop the framework, workshops, and development plans specific to your needs, desires, and goals. OWL brings her wisdom; you bring your expertise; together, we soar into a success!
OWL services include:
– Professional Development & Coaching for School Leaders & Educators
– Professional Development & Coaching for teams and organizations
– Executive Leadership Coaching designed for CEOs, senior leaders, small business owners
– The Art of Coaching supports leaders and coaches in developing their craft
– Co-Created Workshops & Retreats, including OWL signature Laugh & Learn training and workshops
– Nonprofit Board Development & Executive Leadership Coaching
– Event Key Note Speaking, Stand Up Comedy & Master of Ceremonies
– 1 Year ReWrite, Your Story Group Coaching Cohort, limited to 10 women leaders and launching on January 16, 2023
Our Founder and Chief OWL, Katie L. Eades (that’s me!), is a successful educator, entertainer, and entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience developing diverse populations of student leaders, highly effective teachers, and purpose-driven staff. A Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and ICF Associate Certified Coach currently pursuing higher education in leadership mastery and Human Design, Katie partners with leaders at every level, from teenagers to retirees.
Katie’s areas of expertise include women’s leadership development, small and mid-size business development, communication, change management, leading difficult conversations, strategic planning, distilling vision, career development, and nonprofit leadership. As a bonus, she’s hoo-sterical!
We are most proud of upholding the OWL commitment to leadership and lifting outstanding women leaders (and the men who empower us) from around the world on the OWL podcast. From individuals to business owners to wildly successful leaders at Fortune 500 companies, the OWL podcast continues to give a voice to OWL women, providing an empowering platform for OWLs to share their stories, wisdom, and superpowers with the world. We give a hoot about you and humor too!
We are equally proud of the OWL commitment to the Art of Coaching, Leadership Mastery, and giving a voice to OWL-standing men through our podcast platform. As we work each day to improve ourselves as leaders and coaches, we aim to inspire others to do the same on our weekly Wit & Wisdom on Wednesday podcast, and 4.3 Forty’s on Friday, with OWL co-host Ziz Abdur-Ra’oof, and our Bring. Your Brain (BYOB) monthly podcast with a group of men and women on their path to mastering leadership. As Warren Bennis said, Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself,” and we are OWL very proud to ‘become’ each week.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The most important lesson I’ve learned along my journey is how to know and trust who I was designed to ‘be,’ what I’m here to ‘do,’ and what’s important for me to ‘have’ along the way. I learned this lesson the way all humans are created to learn: through experience, self-reflection, repetition, motivation, and increasing my self-consciousness, i.e., self-awareness, but with the ability to observe yourself without judgment and an awareness of who you are at a ‘soul’ level.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.owlprofessionalcoaching.com
- Instagram: @outstandingwomenleaders
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/owlprofessionalcoaching
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwhwLBJF-i7NS1mlVrwGvEQ
- Other: https://www.owlprofessionalcoaching.com/podcast
Image Credits
OWL Professional Coaching, LLC owns the rights to all images.
