Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Smith.
Hi Nicole, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m a life and executive coach, but that’s not how my career started. For almost 20 years, I was a sports and marketing executive. It was a fun, fast paced career that allowed me to learn, grow and travel. I worked for The Walt Disney Company, NASCAR, an MLB team, and our local WNBA team – which is why I moved to DFW in 2016.
In 2017, I was on the D Magazine top executives in Dallas list. I had great work experience and a wonderful network from my years in the sports and entertainment industries. But something was missing for me. I wanted to make a change.
I had always been passionate about supporting women in business. I was very aware of the specific challenges women executives face because I observed them and lived them. I was also aware that the resources provided by most companies didn’t adequately address the challenges (if they were acknowledged or addressed at all). We were presented with false choices, and lack-luster options. When I started to explore how I could help address the gap in resources, coaching stood out as an option.
It combined my love for business and personal development, plus gives me a tangible and impactful way to be the solution to a problem I had lived and observed for so many years.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It wasn’t always smooth or easy, but I’d do it all over again! I love what I do, I love my clients, and I love the life I’ve created.
The process of deciding to make the switch from corporate executive to entrepreneur and the move to coaching was challenging at times. It was more than a job shift; it was an identity shift. I think that’s an aspect of growth and change that is often overlooked and rarely talked about.
I had to mourn the loss of the woman I thought I was going to be and welcome the woman I was and wanted to be. Which meant turning down offers for executive roles in sports (something I had worked very hard to achieve) to do what I knew was the highest and best use of my time – helping women define and create the lives they wanted for themselves.
I navigated other people’s expectations, opinions, projections, and judgments which required me to embrace that their thoughts belonged to them, not me. I didn’t have to carry them.
I had to address my own judgments, self-criticism, and uncertainty. What we think about ourselves can be the biggest obstacle to success. I refused to let myself be the reason I didn’t succeed. Having coaching tools and coaches helped tremendously. It’s one reason I advocate for this work – I’m a product of my product. I know it works.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Smitn is the name of the company. It’s a play on my last name and first initial, but it also represents how I want every client to feel – completely smitten with their life. I offer customized one-on-one coaching experiences that can include any combination of life coaching and executive coaching. But it’s not just about navigating life and work – it’s creating about lives that work.
As a former executive, I have a lot of empathy and understand for where my clients are and the challenges they’re facing. Also as a Black woman, I bring cultural perspective and understanding that’s often missing in coaching and work environments. My coaching isn’t just theoretical. It’s grounded in real world experience.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
The crisis was a reminder that life can change very quickly and that things you never thought were possible are, in fact, possible. Think about that in the context of changes you want to make. What if what you think is out of reach or impossible is actually possible for you?
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@imsmitn.com
- Website: www.imsmitn.com
- Instagram: @imsmitn
- Facebook: facebook.com/imsmitn
- Twitter: @imsmitn
Image Credits
Heacox Creative Co. / Rachel Heacox 2019 Powher Moves Conference D CEO Women in Leadership Conference 2017
