About Alison

Hello! I’m Alison

Certified Coach | Life Crafting & Career Coach | Mental Fitness Trainer in Madagascar

Why Madagascar? The simple answer is that I fell in love with Madagascar and my husband the first time I visited in 1998.

The complex answer is that as a kid, I sprouted in the mountains of Colorado in the security of a traditional two-parent home led by non-traditional parents. My father was an artist and master do-it-yourselfer. My mother is an academic whose work brought many foreign graduate students into our home and foreign foods across our dinner table.

My paternal grandparents traveled and worked overseas in their later years. My grandfather was a chemical engineer, and my grandmother, a Montessori teacher, worked with neurodivergent young adults.

My maternal grandparents were real cowboys. With horses, trucks, cows, and a wicked work ethic. They were very successful financially, but both had known the grueling poverty of the Great Depression and lived in the Wild West on ranches without electricity or running water.

My life has taught me that careers and people can be very successful outside the 9-to-5. In fact, I believe the 9-to-5 is terrible for our health and prosperity. One of the reasons I adore the PQ program is that it gives us tools to enjoy our day, every day, even when we choose to work in an office. 

I witness scarcity culture, have a love-hate relationship with capitalism, and believe in decolonizing our minds. 

My work is to build something better than a rat race world.

I do all of this because I have been there in the inner office without windows, I’ve lived the days where my “gym” was a walk to get a double latte. 

It’s easy to lose our spark.

To stop living and focus on surviving.

And yet, even though I have chosen my path, the last five years in Madagascar started out the most challenging five years of my life.

At times I’ve been in survival mode, watching my region suffer drought and wide-spread famine while my own family struggled to live with PTSD.

Over time, I’ve adopted the tools and the mindset that allows me to see my world in a different life, and my day to day has changed drastically for the better.

I’ve found a peaceful satisfaction with my past and learned to be in the present moment.

I am hopeful for my future and our collective future.

How did this happen?

My journey to and through coaching exposed me to the latest neuroscience research. I’ve studied, read, earned certificates, and coached over 1000 client hours.

I’ve come to understand that trauma can be any event in our life that we experience in isolation without a witness.

In these moments, we form limiting beliefs that impact our actions and how we do them.

My coaching is trauma-informed and resilience-focused. As a coach, I invite you to let me in as your witness.

To support you in articulating where you will step into who you are.

My work is to be the one who creates the cracks that allow the light in.

To be there to challenge you as you learn to forgive, grieve, live, and be present.

To find your joy and craft a life of impact.

I may leverage career crafting, life crafting, and the Positive Intelligence program in our work.

Book a session if you are ready to stop surviving and start living.