Letter From The Editor

A couple of years ago, a friend mentioned to me that she was seeing a life coach. (I pictured a polo-shirt-and-khakis-clad man blowing a whistle at her bedside to wake her up.) I was, at first, confused. My friend was a successful professional a few years older than me who had moved from a peripheral role in a small organization to being an innovator in public policy. Plus, she exercised daily, had a happy family life and travelled often. Meanwhile, I was behind on my rent, my dinner most often came out of a box and I had tried and failed to quit smoking multiple times. This friend was someone I looked up to; if she needed someone to coach her in life, what hope did I have going it alone?

Since then, I have met a few more friends who were utilizing life coaches. It’s no coincidence: In recent years, the life coaching industry has been thriving. (Yet, interestingly, it’s also been attracting some deal of controversy: Despite its rise in popularity, it’s yet to be regulated — meaning, technically, I could become a life coach tomorrow even though I kind of accidentally ate Triscuits for dinner last night (again).)

Curious about what the life of a life coach is like, we looked into it, meeting with a few different local coaches and chatting with them about their work. See the story here.

I, personally, can certainly see the appeal. In my first few minutes sitting down with Cynthia Yamasaki, one of the coaches, she challenged a lot of the assumptions I was making about the problems I thought I was having. I haven’t made any life-changing moves yet, but it was nice to have someone give a fresh perspective.