Meet your Coach ...
Meet Monet 👋
The woman who spent years holding everyone else together —
until she finally realized she was worth holding, too.
Let’s not sugarcoat it:
I wasn’t born a leadership coach.
I was forged —
by fire, burnout, reinvention, and enough tears to irrigate a small farm.
Before I ever coached a single woman, I was her:
the overachiever, the fixer, the emotional pack mule, the woman everyone called when their life imploded … even as I was coming apart underneath my blazer.
Yep.
I’m a recovering people-pleaser with nearly 20 years in HR —
and a former accountant (I tried spreadsheets before souls; it did not go well ...).
During those two decades?
• I witnessed the full spectrum of humanity — the beautiful, the brutal, the bewildering (so, so bewildering …)
• I became an executive faster than most
• I led teams and became known as an industry leader
• I ran a nonprofit HR council for 7 years
• I taught college-level Leadership and HR classes like it was a fun little side quest … all while working my corporate 9–5
I was the resident superwoman.
… until the day my body said absolutely not.
Burnout didn’t knock ...
It kicked the damn door in.
This wasn’t the cute, “I need a spa day” burnout.
This was:
My doctor looking me dead in the eye saying:
“This is killing you.”
For three months, my life was:
• multiple radiation treatments
• endless medical tests
• passing out without warning
• pain that hijacked every part of my body
• fear I didn’t have the words for
• and a soul that had completely checked out
And like so many women, I tried to duct-tape myself back together with:
• every self-help book I could reach
• podcasts promising “alignment in 3 steps”
• enough crystals to start my own geology museum
• spiritual rabbit holes
• over-exercising
• over-everything-ing
Spoiler alert:
None of it worked.
Turns out chronic self-abandonment can’t be cured with a bubble bath and peppermint tea.
Then one day, I did something terrifying ...
... I chose myself.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Not in a “burn it all down” kind of way.
I just … stopped.
I cracked open.
I told the truth.
I let the masks fall.
And I slowly began reclaiming the woman buried under years of “I'm fine.”
Healing wasn’t glamorous.
It wasn’t Instagrammable.
It was messy, inconvenient, emotional, humbling — and absolutely non-negotiable.
And guess what ... that journey is never ending.
Burnout didn’t break me.
It rebuilt me —
piece by piece, breath by breath, truth by terrifying truth.
And in that rebuilding, something undeniable clicked into place.
From HR expert → to coach → to the woman who teaches other women to lead their damn lives.
After nearly 20 years in HR — exposed to everyone else's emotions, trauma, crises, complaints, chaos, conflict, and expectations —
My recovery woke something up in me.
A truth I couldn’t unsee:
Women are leading EVERYTHING — except themselves.
Work.
Home.
Friend groups.
Relationships.
Kids.
PTA boards.
Group chats.
The emotional climate of every room they enter.
We’re running entire ecosystems —
and nobody ever taught us how to hold ourselves.
So, I built Summitways HR —
and eventually, The EmpowHERd Academy —
not from theory, not from textbooks, but from:
lived burnout
lived breakdown
lived self-abandonment
and lived resurrection
My Coaching Philosophy?
Soft Power + Deep Truth
I’m not here to help you become a “better version” of yourself.
I’m here to bring you home to the woman you already are.
No mindset glitter.
No corporate-approved confidence.
No “just be more positive” BS.
And no Confidence Barbie.
I help women:
• stop shrinking
• stop people-pleasing
• stop performing themselves into exhaustion
• stop carrying emotional worlds that were never theirs
• stop abandoning themselves for approval
… so they can lead themselves with quiet, grounded, undeniable power.
I use:
✨ psychology-backed tools
✨ identity-level transformation
✨ nervous system grounding
✨ emotional leadership
✨ and compassion with a raised eyebrow 🤨😘
Because you don’t need a personality makeover.
You need permission to be the woman you already are — fully, unapologetically.
(And if you want crystals + chakras in the mix? Babe, I can sage a room and talk about trauma patterns at the same damn time. 😉)
I’m rescuing abused and abandoned animals —
which means my home is a chaotic, glorious sanctuary of fur, healing, and unconditional love.
I dress like Lara Croft, crawl under sheds, climb through briars, and dive into swamps to rescue the ones everyone else forgets.
I’ve nursed hospice animals until their final breath
and held them so they didn’t leave this world unloved.
My heart?
At this point, it’s 100% fur, duct tape, tenderness, and divine purpose.
I also live with my own permanent gaggle of disabled animals —
which is really just a polite way of saying:
It’s their house. I merely pay the mortgage.
And when I’m not in critter-rescue mode, you’ll find me:
🌿 hiking
🎨 painting
🧘🏻♀️ yoga, Pilates, kickboxing
🌧️ swimming in the rain
❄️ driving through snowstorms
🎶 vibing to good music
🌩️ chasing thunderstorms
🎬 watching cheesy rom-coms because Hallmark is one of my many love languages
I rebuilt myself —
and now I help other women rise without performing, shrinking, or losing themselves in the process.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably standing at the edge of your own turning point.
Good.
Lean in.
You don’t have to carry the world alone anymore.
I’ve got you.
Welcome home. 💛
p.s. yes, I am absolutely a hugger —
and yes, you will receive a number of virtual hugs and high fives during our coaching. 😉
(Yes, I have more letters after my name than in my name. Shiny object syndrome is real. But now I use them for good instead of just chasing them 😉)
Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI)
