When I was 13 years old, I chose to go to high school at the Admiral William Brown Army and Navy Academy in La Plata, Argentina. I said "I decided" because my parents did not influence me and they were not happy with my choice.
The Academy was one of the top five schools in Argentina. I was immersed in an environment full of values such as honor, integrity, respect, responsibility, compassion and gratitude. There, I was able to develop astounding ‘life’ skills such as teamwork, organization, problem-solving, and communication.
It was the ideal place for leadership development, independence, resilience, motivation, and confidence. During my Senior year, I was promoted to become a battalion leader, based on my academic achievements, proven leadership abilities, dependability, and principles. Everyone was coming to me for advice and to talk things through. That is why coaching is so natural to me.
At the age of 16, I joined the Opus Dei, an institution of the Catholic Church. I was there for over 30 years. Joining the organization required living the life of celibacy and extensively studying leadership extensively, philosophy and anthropology. It also meant that I had to commit to following strict norms and regulations, driven by a clear mission and specific values.
At the age of 22, I graduated Laws School from UBA, Universidad de Buenos Aires, the best Argentinian Public University. I also held several managerial positions in the Argentinian Opus Dei leading hundreds of people. I coached free of charge, helping people to listen to their inner wisdom, to discover their own intuition and be more confident in their abilities.
Some say that spiritual advice cannot be considered a form of coaching because of the nature of spirituality – it can´t be measured, and is often hard to describe since it is different for everyone and comes from a place without words. However, while many people came to me for spiritual advice, more often than not our conversations would turn to other aspects of their life: job, family, career change, relationships, etc.
Those individuals were from all different backgrounds, shaped by their ethnic, racial, religious and different nationalities.
That led me to enroll in a Master’s Program in General Management, a Program in Business Administration, and another in Organizational Communication. I knew I needed to enhance my knowledge to become more skilled to understand people’s situations.
I have been listening and coaching people for almost 32 years – that’s a lot! As a result of learning so much from others, I developed a powerful intuition.
In 2011, at the age of 45, I tendered my resignation from the Opus Dei for personal reasons. I had to start a new life path. At the end of 2012 I decided to move to New York. That decision implied many changes in my life. The first one was that I had to learn English since I had never studied or spoken that language before. I also decided to work with my own personal coach, who helped me in many wonderful ways. I am grateful to her.
I fell in love with the kindest and beautiful person I had ever met and married her, a French-American woman, my dear Christine.
As you can see, I went through a personal discovery development, my own transition, and change and culture integration.
In 2015, I received my Leadership Coaching Certification from Georgetown University and in May 2016, I was certified as an ICF Professional Coach having submitted my application to the International Coaching Federation with over 5.889 coaching hours and scoring 83% on the ICF Coach Knowledge Assessment.
Speaking from experience, when we dare to leave our comfort zone and work hard, we reach our dreams.
Now I split my time between New York and Buenos Aires, working as an Executive Coach. I find myself blessed and enormously happy as I have found my true calling.
So, if all this is of interest to you, I’m ready to start working together.
