Meet 2 Embrace Change Coaches!
Meet These Two Highly Successful Executive Career & Leadership Coaches
When I first started Embrace Change over six years ago, I had burnt out of my job as a public defender and honed in on a specific problem I had noticed: BIWOCs continually being overworked, underpaid, and under-appreciated in the workplace. For the first few years, I coached hundreds of clients, led dozens of trainings, contributed to countless podcasts and press pieces, and grew an online following of over 200K across all platforms. It was a lot to undertake on my own, but it helped Embrace Change reach new heights and get to a place where we could scale our impact even more.
“Whether it’s executive coaching, salary negotiation, or learning how to retain employees of color, our new all-BIPOC team members have been able to provide additional—and fresh—perspectives.”
In early 2021, I was able to expand the Embrace Change team to better serve our clients. Whether it’s executive coaching, salary negotiation, or learning how to retain employees of color, our new all-BIPOC team members have been able to provide additional—and fresh—perspectives.
Today, I wanted to spotlight two of our team members: Stephanie Heath and Steven Branch. Learn more about them below—and if one of their coaching methods speaks to you—you can read more about our comprehensive coaching options here or complete this short questionnaire to see if they’re a good fit. Because Embrace Change career coaching is a fully tailored experience customized to your specific career needs and goals, we’ll be in touch within a few days to share coaching details for your recommended coach.
*Interviews have been edited for clarity and length.
STEPHANIE HEATH
Stephanie is a job search and negotiation expert who thrives on helping women land their dream careers. Having grown up in Queens, Stephanie has spent time in Japan, Singapore, and Thailand—but her dream today is to live near a beach. Outside of her work, she’s a fan of kundalini yoga, spiritual work, and spending time with her 13-year-old (!) rabbit. I had long admired Stephanie’s work from afar—her impact and her receipts when it comes to both her clients’ wins and her own press and TV features—so it was really a dream come true when she enthusiastically agreed to join the Embrace Change team!
What brought you to the role that you have and work that you do today?
I loved high performance and success psychology and the methods that folks used to level up professionally and personally. Initially I started a company in Japan called SoulWork and Selfies. Although it brought me a lot of joy; I wasn't able to reach the clients that I felt needed it most (dark-skinned women developing their self esteem). Since in my corporate life I functioned as a Recruiter and even Head of Recruitment for several companies in the finance space, I decided to use my love for self-development to help professionals step into the next-level versions of themselves. It's been a wild ride, but I am so glad we're here.
2) What is your coaching/management style for prospective clients?
My coaching style is a combination of extreme accountability, partnering and adjusting to each client’s needs, and focusing on whole mind and whole body health. This could be focusing on “How are you taking care of yourself outside of your search? What energy are you bringing to your colleagues, family, and friends while we are working together? How can we make this process feel more serendipitous, safe, and expansive?”
“When our clients feel aligned and optimistic, they’re able to attract better opportunities and work relationships.”
I've found that when our clients feel aligned and optimistic, they're able to attract better opportunities and work relationships.
3) What's a recent win that has fueled your work?
In 2021, I worked with a former sales associate/makeup artist that found herself wanting to start a new career. She had been a caretaker for a sick family member and hadn't spent time focused on herself. We started working together to illuminate what would light her up in work, and so far, she had taken several detours and different career paths (creative, customer success in tech, light coding).
She realized that she was happiest when she was working creatively, helping companies define and execute a strong brand identity via their social media accounts. Luckily she had some volunteer and pro bono experience, so within one month, she taught herself all of the newest social media management tools and how to speak a brand’s language. She built an entire portfolio, revamped her LinkedIn, and updated her resume to attract those roles. I watched her take interview after interview, fail and learn, and finally land a six-figure position with a reputable well-known social media marketing agency.
She inspired me, because she worked so hard in such a short amount of time to teach herself this new trade, while also showing up for her family and not taking the rejections personally. If I could work with duplicates of her, I would be such a happy camper.
4) What's your favorite part of your work with Embrace Change?
Without a doubt, my favorite part about working with Embrace Change is the relationship and network we have with the other coaches. We have the most hilarious Slack account and coach each other all the time. We pass along work opportunities and just generally hook each other up often. I trust them completely.
5) What’s one piece of advice or a resource you'd like to share? We have a great free resource library on our site. If I could give one piece of advice, it would be to dream big.
STEVEN BRANCH
Steven is a Black career coach, DEI coach, and professional development expert who works with people of color, typically mid-career professionals. He’s currently the Associate Director of DEI for MIT’s Sloan School of Management’s Career Development Office (who’s moving to Boston this summer!). His core strengths include Achiever, Command, and Relator—which often show up in his coaching. Outside of work hours, he’s a dog-dad to a Lab/Pit mix named Seis, loves playing sports, or is singing. What I love about Steve is his can-do attitude. He’s got such fantastic energy and intense enthusiasm about his work and catalyzing real, sustainable change—I just love that! It doesn’t hurt that I’ve seen him support clients to multiple early wins, either!
1) What brought you to the role that you have and work that you do today? I love working with people, I’m best when I’m in conversation and can relate with people. I always knew that I had a unique ability to relate and provide space for people to be vulnerable; I wanted to have an impact with people and create a lane for myself.
2) What is your coaching/management style for prospective clients? I’ve been professionally trained in a separate work setting by Coaching for Performance, written by Sir John Whitmore, which focuses on Leadership Coaching Style. I would further classify my coaching style as holistic, believing that everything is connected, theorizing that individuals are a sum of their parts, and that balance needs to be achieved in all aspects of the client’s life.
“Always close to the next interaction, never leave anything to chance or up in the air.”
3) What's a recent scenario or case study that has fueled your work? I struggle when I walk into professional settings and there are so few BIPOC in positions of influence or power. Only to then see a multitude of BIPOC employees holding lower-level positions in firms en masse. I want to change that narrative through coaching. I’m open to all audiences, but I have lots of expertise as it relates to BIPOC professionals.
4) What's your favorite part of your work with Embrace Change? I love the freedom of style delivery. So many business owners want to put their stamp on everything they do. Working with Embrace Change has been a breath of fresh air as it relates to keeping my personal style and brand and delivering that through my coaching.
5) What’s one piece of advice or a resource you'd like to share? Always close to the next interaction, never leave anything to chance or up in the air. My favorite quote by Sir Jermaine Cole is, “Either you gon’ whine or you gon’ climb, choose the latter!”
