Community Highlights: Meet Tess Cox & Chelsea Cox Gillman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tess Cox & Chelsea Cox Gillman.

Tess and Chelsea, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The first two words that come to mind in reflecting back on our TC&A story are “emerging and evolving.” I (Tess) had been working for a private Leadership Coaching company that provided incredible experiences traveling and working in New York City, Europe, Singapore, Rancho Mirage, CA and various cities in California teaching and coaching on leadership development. Chelsea was living and working in NYC in the hotel industry and rising through the ranks of hotel management and leadership.

As I worked with the private Leadership Coaching company, three of our major clients in the tech, medical and educational industries changed their C-level leadership all within the same time frame. Our contracts were not renewed due to new mindsets bringing their own philosophy of leadership to their individual businesses. It was a very difficult time for both my boss and I. He was at retirement age and decided to scale his work back to enjoy more time with his family. I was not anywhere near retirement age. I wanted and needed to look forward to expanding my present and future opportunities that would further shape my future.

In 2013, I began Tess Cox & Associates (TC&A). I always loved creating and have an entrepreneur mindset. Certainly, I felt many different emotions and felt insecure embarking on my own path. Deep down, I knew I no longer wanted my future shaped by someone else. I wanted to create the life and future that was going to be meaningful to me and to my family. I needed to stay open to the potential opportunities that would emerge.

Several of TC&A’s first clients came from an industry that provided leadership learning for people in all aspects of the Agri-Business Industry. I had worked closely with the leadership of this program to support their new curriculum, along with being the founder of their new Leadership Coaching program. This program did extremely well in providing an 18-month learning and coaching focus on leadership. There was a missing element of the program in providing further Leadership Coaching after the program was completed. This is where TC&A met a need and had an opportunity that has evolved to who we are today.

Many students of the program struggled to be in their work environments due to their personal and professional transformation. They had new mindsets, skills and resources for their work environments and yet, many of their organizations (as supportive of the program as they were) were stuck in old mindsets and ways of doing things. This increased the tension between communication, managing change and conflict management. Our TC&A coaching process supported the further development of taking what they had learned and provided further tools and resources to use their learning in their current work environments. And for some, they chose to move on and find new opportunities that gave them a fresh start to utilize all of their learning and development.

Over the past nine years, TC&A has developed an in-depth training that provides one-on-one coaching, manager and employee coaching, team coaching, seminars, and cross-functional learning within an organization. Our focus is to build self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness and strengthen relationships for communication, collaboration, decision-making and cultural transformation. Overall, our influence within an organization, team or individual ripples through their roles and responsibilities, which creates a strategic culture of alignment, confidence, use of best intentions and success.

In 2016, Chelsea joined TC&A and brought her influence of organizational processes and procedures from over a decade of hospitality and hotel management leadership experience. As she worked to build our foundational structure for TC&A, she also was gaining in her natural ability to coach and train individuals and teams alongside me. Now, she supports several businesses as they work toward building self-awareness, gaining confidence and learning to be mindful of how they manage their energy both in and out of the workplace.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
As TC&A continues to grow and develop with our current clients and those we would like to serve in the future – the tension we most experience is managing our own thoughts regarding our “current realities” with our “future desires / vision.” There is always more to discern in how we will expand the business and the capacity we have to expand. Both Chelsea and I have experienced burnout within our work and personal lives. With our work and life experiences, we are both mindful as to where we want to put our best energy and how we want to use our best energy.

We use a process of asking ourselves the hard questions relating to our obstacles and challenges. We are mindful of the constant refueling that is required when providing our services, support and love to others. A challenge we constantly look at as well is, “How to scale our business model?” We are highly relational in our approach and much of our success is due to the relationships we build.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are passionate about the work we provide our clients in all of the respected industries and all aspects of what is required to run a $500,000 business to a billion-dollar business. We value the businesses we support who are a public company, acquiring other companies, running well-established family business that desire to grow and businesses that serve their clients. 

We always say, “We want the best for you!” We do our part to provide our clients, their employees and their businesses the tools and resources to be the best they can be, believing in themselves to continue to become who they need to be and stay committed long enough to experience who they are for the best of outcomes for their businesses.

What were you like growing up?
When I think of my growing-up years, I think of shaping experiences and ask myself, “What was significant in shaping me?” One deeply personal and meaningful aspect is I (Tess) am adopted. I am above and beyond grateful for the love of my parents as I was growing up. As an adult, what I learned is their shaping experiences were a part of my nurturing. As I grew up, I became more aware of the nature within me that is very different from who they were. At the age of 30, my knowledge and understanding provided an awakening that I could and would forge my own path for the life that was/is meaningful to me. I continue to evolve into the leader I desire to be with integrity, emotional intelligent skills, commitment and confidence.

We use shaping experiences in the coaching process as they are core parts of what has helped shape who we are today. I (Chelsea) associate the first nearly 20 years of my life to being an athlete. From a young age, I was determined to become a competitive gymnast. I dedicated my entire life to gymnastics until my sophomore year of college. There were experiences I would have changed within my gymnastics career, yet I am left with a deep gratitude for the foundation that being a gymnast provided. The motivation I felt from within led me to achieve my goals and taught me the value of commitment, overcoming fear, patience and being consistent.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tesscoxandassociates.com
• Instagram: @coachtesscoxandassociates
• Facebook: Tess Cox & Associates
• Youtube: @chelseacoxgillman8041
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tess-cox-5074a09/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-cox-gillman-5846b88/ and  https://www.linkedin.com/company/6465815

Image Credits
Personal Photo by Josh Premako Photography Beach Photo by Harneet Bajwa Photography