There was a time when becoming a lawyer and a fashion model were what I dreamed of doing someday.
The perfect marriage of bringing justice to the injustices of the world and indulging in fashion; plus the potential to travel the world while modelling.
They didn’t have much in common with each other, other than I guess you can say they had everything to do with people.
Fast-forward, it’s what I later found myself specializing in for the better part of my career – people.
My love of people and understanding great leaders from terrible ones led me on a lifelong journey to self-leadership and helping to transform leadership in business one leader at a time.
A mission I have to help leaders like you become the
Director of your life and do business and
life on your terms.
A genius at playing matchmaker in the world of talent for multi-national, global organizations, I spent 15 + years of my corporate career working for industry leaders like L’Oréal USA and Salesforce.com.
I never lost my love of law (I can re-enact a strong Jack Nicholson, “You can’t handle the truth!”) and I love my sense of fashion like any woman, yet, I knew I had a far bigger impact to make in the world.
I’m Lisa. Your Intuitive Leadership Coach, Corporate Magic Maker (a Trusted Advisor who believes in magic) and the champion in your corner when you’re looking to bring inspiration, power and depth to you and your business. Just to name a few.
I’ve been known as the go-to for as long as I can remember. My parents often used to say, “How do you know what to tell all your friends and colleagues about their relationship problems?”
For context, when I was much younger, that was the advice I was often dishing out. Kind of like your “Ask Sally” column, this was “Ask Lisa” and you’d get the truth sprinkled with some love and likely a little humour along the way.
As much as I was a source of counsel and a sounding board for others, I often struggled with finding that for myself. So much so, I spent much of my career watching a revolving door of leaders that came and went as I looked for mentorship and guidance. Ten managers in ten years to be exact. Many, leaving nothing but lessons on how not to lead.
You might say I had the great advantage of diverse exposure and direct insight from working in multi-national, corporate environments, small, flat environments, male-dominated environments, female dominated environments, agency’s, RPO and last but not least, working from home while successfully serving the U.S. business. And yes, I learned a ton.
My experience offered tremendous learnings and unique opportunities; however the overall journey at times, on the other hand, were anything but smooth sailing.
I struggled with many challenges women face today in corporate, from being overlooked and undervalued to unappreciated and being discriminated against for my gender.
Watching leaders come and go as often as I did, coupled with my experience, taught me just how far behind corporate was in truly understanding what it means to create a safe place for people to show up, come to work and give their best.
I believe when you understand yourself and bring the whole of you to work, you allow yourself to show up authentically and not as a fragment of who you are or a role you play.
Showing up in this way allows you to break traditional rules and norms in the world of corporate, but more importantly, to lead by example and show up as you are.
By doing so, it helps to build trust with others and truly creates an evironment where people can feel free and confident to show up as they are.
Thankfully, the future is brighter.
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What if you assumed the role of being the Director of your life, did business on your terms and threw out the rule book of someone else’s definition of success?
You’d start feeling like you were the main star of your life, you’d be a shining example of how to lead and break all sorts of rules. (Hello, reimagining leadership!)
What about when you bring more heart and soul to your business and life? It would be like seeing color for the first time after looking through a black and white lens.
The confidence to make more empowered decisions, the fulfillment and sheer fun of life again becomes sweeter, your self-worth is no longer a negotiation because you know you’re worth so much more than playing by someone else’s rule book for success.
Not to mention those you lead feel valued, appreciated and cared for.
This could be your transformation and what’s possible for you.
I knew my life-long dream wasn’t to climb the corporate ladder and while it gave me the experience of making mistakes like many of you leading a team, my sites were set on building my own business. One where I could spearhead a new way of leading and help women do the same.
As for the details of life you won’t find anywhere else, here are some things that make me, ME. Ask me about them in your podcasts, on stage or in your next article feature.
1. Italy is always on the list of vacation spots and has been for as long as I can remember. One of my favorite places by far (next to the Amalfi Coast) is Florence. Rich in culture, history and stunning art. Other travel destinations include Dubai, Greece and Spain!
2. I have a deep devotion to my spirituality. I dove into my spiritual development years ago and continue to nurture and walk the path of understanding our connection to the universe and learning universal truths. It led me to becoming certified in Reiki and learning a new healing modality I plan to use in my own practice!
3. I hold the same last name of the first president of Italy in 1948 – Enrico De Nicola. No relation as far as I know! It’s amazing how I didn’t follow suit and get into politics.
4. I’m the first in a family of 5 who went to University and graduated with a degree in HR Management. I originally majored in Marketing until the finance and economic courses part of the program killed it for me. I know my strengths!
5. I come from a family of entrepreneurs and was the only one in my family to work a 9-5pm . . . until now. 😊
6. I took my first city bike ride in downtown Toronto in the Summer of 2021 after living here for 10 years – yes, I know. Crazy. I’m a city walker, what can I say.
7. I’m a huge animal lover and grew up with a German Shepherd and Cameo cat. Interestingly enough, I never considered being a vet.
8. I sold cosmetics for almost 5 years when I was in school (way back when). Fast forward years later, I was one of the first Recruiters to join a then, team of 26, as part of a centralized function working in Talent Acquisition for L’Oréal USA, the largest beauty and cosmetic company for nearly 10 years.
9. I have a strong passion for advocacy and the law. It’s why I’ve had an acute focus on all things people in my corporate career and now, coaching bold leaders to help them alchemize so they can do business and life on their terms and redefine leadership. (Buh, bye outdated leadership ways!)
10. Why leadership? Because I’ve seen poor leadership. I’ve heard of poor leadership from others and I’ve experienced poor leadership first hand. Our world needs to transform what leadership looks like from the highest levels on the global stage, down to the businesses and corporations we all know and see everyday. It’s time to redefine and elevate what leadership looks like.
11. I believe the world sorely needs to bring more heart and soul into the way we do business and live life. A coming back as they say, to who we are, a going back to basics, a relearning of what it means to connect back to the heart and honor the soul in ways we may have forgotten, but is possible.
So what does this mean for you?
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