Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Williams.
Hi Rachel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started my career as a scientist doing environmental permitting for utility-scale energy projects – everything from oil and gas upstream and midstream to wind farms and solar farms. I climbed the corporate ladder quickly and had achieved all the goals that I thought meant “success”, but found myself feeling very unsatisfied. I was having health issues and relationship issues and quickly working myself into a state of burnout. It was around this time that I started searching for answers, and coaching found me.
After leaving the energy industry for two years to launch my coaching business, Authentic Women’s Leadership, I ended up re-entering the field in a completely new way. Through the magic of coaching, I got really clear on my own unique gifts and strengths and ended up pivoting my career to align with those. I created a unique “dual-role” – one part business developer for an environmental and engineering consulting firm in the energy space, and one part CEO of my women’s leadership business – networking, traveling, and speaking for both, and being a mentor and advocate for women’s leadership and women in STEM for both.
I have personally witnessed huge transformations in health, wealth, and relationships by living an authentic life aligned with my natural gifts, and now help other women do the same by crafting their careers to fit THEM – not the other way around!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has definitely been bumpy! As I mentioned in my story, I checked off all the “boxes” that society had taught me would lead to “success” and “happiness,” but ended up experiencing severe health issues, weight gain, anxiety, and a marriage on the brink of divorce instead. I’m grateful for the struggle, however, because it’s what ultimately lead me into coaching and cracking the code to helping women foster authentic and sustainable leadership.
Also, transparently, when I re-entered the energy industry back in 2019, I felt like a major failure. At the time, I felt like a “sell-out” who ran back to corporate after not being able “make it” as a full-time coach. But nothing could have been farther from the truth! It was an incredible blessing and a unique milestone that allows me to live my mission and serve women in a capacity I wouldn’t be able to without it!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As I said previously, I work part-time as a business developer for the environmental and engineering consulting firm Tetra Tech, and then also run my own business as CEO of Authentic Women’s Leadership. My major strengths are serving as a networker/connector, speaker, leader, coach, and mentor, and I get to do that for both roles!
For Tetra Tech, I connect energy leaders with the environmental and engineering services they need to build successful energy projects. In my business development role, I travel to a bunch of conferences and am active in multiple organizations. This naturally led to me teaching, speaking, and hosting workshops, which is why most of the time, I feel like I can’t draw a solid straight line between my “corporate” job and my “coaching” job. Additionally, because I am so passionate about leadership and coaching, I ended up being on the board for, and helping charter, the formal Tetra Tech “Professional Women’s Network” Employee Resource Group. A fellow coach and myself met through the ERG, and we co-founded a “pro-bono” coaching organization within the ERG and have built a team that provides individual and group coaching to the employees of Tetra Tech.
In my own business, Authentic Women’s Leadership, our mission is to help women create authentic and fulfilling lives by crafting their careers to fit THEM – not the other way around! Our process helps women obtain clarity on their unique gifts and strengths, learn how to leverage and communicate those in the “real world” workplace to make more money, and claim and step into their own unique leadership identity and create a professional presence and brand. Through this process, 90% of our clients have been promoted into unique opportunities and moved into more aligned work that they love! We facilitate this transformation through individualized private coaching, group coaching, masterminds, retreats, and workshops.
I think what really sets us apart from other “career” coaches and more traditional leaders is the “Authenticity” piece of Authentic Women’s Leadership. Rather than trying to fit people into a box or just get them better job opportunities or more money by coaching them through resume, interview, presence, etc. – we start at ROOT by identifying what your unique gifts and strengths are and building your career off of THAT foundation. Authenticity is the KEY to sustainable leadership.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory was graduating Valedictorian at my high-school graduation. Walking across that stage felt like the culmination of YEARS of hard work paying off.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.allwomenleaders.com
- Instagram: @allwomenleaders
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=8321466&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelbonnerwilliams
