Hidden Gems: Meet Elena Armijo of Coaching with Elena

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Elena Armijo.

Hi Elena, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Las Cruces, NM, with my parents and two younger brothers. Music has always been a part of our lives, and NM is an incredible place that supports and nurtures music throughout the community.

This included Solo and ensemble in Middle School, Show choir, and A Cappella groups in High School, all leading to New Mexico State University, where I received a Bachelor of Music in Education.

In order to support expenses for college, my father put all three kids through real estate appraisal courses where we started a family business, and all became real estate appraisers at 18. I credit this education and early training as an entrepreneur as part of my success today. My father taught me how to be a business owner. I never intended to sing professionally, and all roads kept leading to performance.

Both my undergrad and my master’s degree in Music from the University of Washington were funded by scholarships. I started my professional opera career in Seattle and found my way to NY in 2007. I sang professionally for ten years, and all of the skills I learned in my first businesses supported my entrepreneurship in opera. There was a point where I was traveling ten months out of the year for four years straight, and I was exhausted.

I was working long hours, missing important family and friend events, and was lonely. Through my burnout, I realized something needed to shift as I wasn’t going to make it the next 20 years in this career from this viewpoint. I hired a coach and began to do some very deep work around myself and learned quickly I had built an entire career by proving my worth to the world. I decided to take a coach training program for more healing and transformation and quickly fell in love with coaching.

I loved supporting people and found I was good at the business side of coaching as well, as this was the third business I had started. That was ten years ago, and I have loved every minute since. In 2021, I launched The C-Suite Collective, a group of exceptional coaches and trainers that supports organizations and clients in transformation, diversity of thought, and shifting cultures.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all. The struggles along the way have included limiting beliefs about myself, questioning if I was making a “right” or “wrong” move, and having many people tell me along the way that it wasn’t going to work. As a real estate appraiser, I was too young, shouldn’t have been involved in “grown-up” conversations about homes, and should not have gotten a license.

As an opera singer, I was out of line when I had an original thought or pushed back on systems that felt unfair or restricted artistry. I was told by many people that it was a pipe dream and I should give up as I would never make a living in the arts. As a coach, I was told that this industry is fake, people will never pay for it, and that the industry is full of fraudsters.

As the Founder of The C-Suite Collective I was told it wouldn’t work, that coaches could never own their own company and that clients wouldn’t be interested in shifting culture. People have never been shy with their opinions, and one of the things I have had to learn how to do is to listen and evaluate opinions for truth and learning while staying steadfast in my vision and goals.

Thanks for sharing that. Maybe you can tell us a bit more about your business next.
I am an executive and leadership coach who loves supporting high performers and achievers who are up to big things in the world. I have worked with top leaders in research and economics, founders and entrepreneurs of startups, celebrities, and politicians.

All of them know me to be the kind of coach who is bold while bringing a lot of love. I specialize in possibility. Clients come to me to remember that they can achieve their wild, crazy dreams, and having a partner along the journey to stand for them when it gets rough is imperative. I am most proud that all clients refer me out. For ten years, my entire business has been built on referrals, and that is the highest compliment possible for me.

To have people trust and value the work, say it has changed their lives, and speak freely with others about it is an honor. Organic growth has always been the way I choose to grow my business, and when people come to me, we have a conversation to see if we are a good match.

If I am not the one, I know hundreds of other coaches that I refer to as well. What I want readers to know is I am the coach to come to when you are ready to dig deep and have a transformation in your life. I am not the coach who is going to convince you to do anything – instead, I work with people who are ready.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love the space, sunshine, and access to nature. It is a beautiful place to ground in nature when you need it and has access to all sorts of places on the coast.

I love the beach and the ability to change scenery within an hour! I dislike how guarded people are in Los Angeles. My experience is people in LA are nice but not kind. I imagine this is because the city has so much space and allows people to stay in their worlds instead of forming a deep community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ElenaArmijo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elena.armijo/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachingwithelena
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-armijo/
• Other: https://www.thec-suitecollective.com/

Image Credits
Sean Flint Blair