Lisa Gates, CPCC

Life Balance Specialist and Coach

Photo by Elite Henenson

From business owners to CEOs, women come to coaching with me wanting to unravel the knot of their busyness and get the things they want most to show up on their everyday schedule. We find out who you really, truly, madly, deeply are, design a raucous road map, makeover your schedule and change the way you set goals forever. As you learn when to say yes and how to say no, you become fluent in creating the essential shifts you seek and make infinite room for expressing your purpose to get results. What's important to me, and what drives me forward is a passion for helping clients connect and collaborate, to invest in being and doing in equal measure, and to feel in the bones a sense of balance, purpose and peace.

 My life experience ranges from actress to freelance writer, as well as management roles for membership associations and nonprofits, and event design for PR and marketing firms. Dovetailing this experience with coaching my practice reveals a skill for helping people find and express their natural leadership, brainstorming to develop and organize big ideas and creative projects, and relentlessly connecting passion with purpose.

Lisa received a BA in Dramatic Arts from UC Santa Barbara, and studied journalism at Humboldt State University and earned her CPCC in coaching from The Coaches Training Institute.

"If not for Lisa Gates' spirited advice and understanding, I’d be thrashing around in the abyss right now. I was desperate. I was losing touch with my novels and berating myself everyday. Lisa got me to the point where I’ve stopped tripping myself. Today I’m not desperate; I’m consistent, determined, and confident in what I’m doing. Lisa, thank you very much."

D. Young, writer

"Lisa Gates reached into the very core of my being in order to bring me back into the reality of my dreams. Her talk is real and her methods concise. I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for her innate ability to fast forward me to that next step. I no longer doubt what I'm doing...instead I speak, write, and live, knowing exactly why I do what I do and I realize that the goals I have set for myself are entirely up to me and attainable."

Cicily R. Janus, Writing Away Retreats

"Lisa Gates is a knock-out coach. Her hilarious sense of humor combined with razor-like insistence on accountability makes her one of the most powerful coaches I've ever met. She goes deep, makes me take responsibility, stop blaming others, calls me on my BS, stands for my leadership at work, and loves me with great humanity. Coaching is an amazing process. Just do it."

B. Anderson, HR Director