Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenna Dillon.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Sure! I think of myself as a creative analyst, and it shows in my areas of study in college; dance and business management. After seven years of my dancer career in Chicago, with aches and pains I didn’t know one could have before the age of 30, I decided to step down from the stage. I had no job lined up; just the notion to pursue my next career endeavor. With that, I moved out to Los Angeles for change; change in career, change in lifestyle, and, I was hopeful for, a change in perspective. It was both out of my nature and one of the scariest things I had ever done, but it was thrilling.
While putting together a mastermind group soon after I moved to LA, one of the members suggested I consider hiring a coach for myself to which I replied with curiosity, “what’s that?” Little did I know that the stars would align, as I met an executive coach only days later. Weeks following, I hired my first executive coach. By our third coaching session, my whole body had this vibrating hum. Deep down, I knew I could do this as a career. It brought out the passions I had had for so long around human behavior, psychology and business management. I just had to get properly trained. Within a matter of months, an executive coahcing firm invited into their apprenticeship program. To say that that was a rigorous program is an understatement, but it was the kind of rigor I was looking for. Upon finishing my training program and becoming the firm’s highest performing apprentice up until that time, I was asked to join the firm.
After being with the firm for a few years, I ventured out on my own to develop my own coaching practice. Though it was difficult in many ways to leave the firm, I learned so much from that decision. Sometimes the things that are the most heartbreaking are the things you glean the most value from. They can also be the impetus in having more joy and love in your life than you thought possible. This is when the magic started to happen. I started seeing pieces of a puzzle that before I was blind to. I met several colleagues who were not only synergistic to my work but brilliant at what they did and, like me, wanted to make more of an impact in the world. I saw how I could integrate my pedagogy and business management training with the coaching skills I was practicing. Fast forward several months of finessing and putting together this fixture of a puzzle, I saw before me a team of top business consultants, executive coaches, a change management consultant, and a keynote speaking coach. Each one of them eager to learn from one another. Each of them committed to collectively develop and certify executive coaches, or simply put, to reinventing a new standard of elite executive coaches. I called the company Executive Performance Institute for Coaching. We now offer two different executive coaching training programs with a high success rate from our graduated coaches, as well as provide robust programming for individuals and companies in leadership, communication and organizational development.
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?
My path was anything but linear. If someone would have told me 15 years ago that I would be at this point in my life, I would have said you’re crazy! There were times when I was scared, struggling to make ends meet, or burning myself out on a regular basis just to push and fight to keep it all together. Anyone relate to fear of failure? Or the feeling of not being good enough, always feeling the need to prove yourself? That was me to the max. I was exhausted and insecure, working long hours with hardly any days off. This is the history of a recovering perfectionist. However, I wouldn’t trade any of it. If I hadn’t experience those hardships, I would never have learned how to come out on the other side of it. I would never have known how to live life in a different, healthier dimension if I wasn’t in the toxic one to begin with. Now, I pinch myself with gratitude everyday that I found a release of freedom. A platform filled with intentionality. A place to breathe and embody grace. One where I get to live my life peacefully with myself how I choose.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I can tell you more about what my company is up to. Executive Performance Institute for Coaching serves people who want to make a positive impact in other people’s lives. Our programming is not only structure with various types of educational sessions, but we provide an intimate, interactive experience with live instruction from experts in the field. Thus, we tailor our programs to best fit the strengths and areas of growth for each cohort of students. In addition, the coaches-in-training build their business and generate revenue while in the training program to better equip themselves to achieving success post-graduation. This is a company with a team of people who are committed to being the best of the best in their industry and for applicants who want to become the best of the best in the executive coaching field.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
How someone responds to their fears reveals so much about their character. When I can recognize that I am afraid of something that has nothing to do with my actual survival, then I know it’s stemmed from my ego. I start to anlyze my doubts, fears, and risks with curiosity. I tell myself something like, “There’s usually more to learn about a situation or outcome when you take a risk, so why not take it? If the worst scenario happens, though it can be unlikely, I can always pick myself back up and start again with a clean slate.” The more I take risks, the more I learn, the more I built trust in myself, and the more I am capable of. As an executive coach (and as a coaching client), I find this to be HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT. The ability to trust ourselves, build our discernment is the catapult to being confident and making healthy present and future-oriented decisions to live a more enriching life.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://executiveperformanceinstituteforcoaching.com
- Instagram: @epic_coaching_institute
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EPICcoachinginstitute
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennakdillon/
Image Credits
Photography By Rachel Collins & Cornelious Jordan
