We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elisa Preston. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elisa below.

Alright, Elisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

One of the greatest extensions of kindness happened two days after my daughter was born. I hadn’t met her yet because of severe complications directly following the birth. I was in the ICU, barely capable of emotion or energy or anything resembling ‘health’. My nurse whose nickname was Big Red – because she was about 5 feet tall and had bright red, like Lucille Ball red, hair. I wasn’t supposed to leave the ICU because of whatever rules, and she made sure to break every single one of them so I could meet my daughter. She knew I needed to start that bonding, and she knew that even though I didn’t feel like it in the moment, I would treasure that experience for the rest of my life. It was the only child I was going to give birth to; those complications ended in a hysterectomy. She said, “You’re going to hold your baby,” as she wheeled me out of my room and over to the Labor & Delivery ward. I heard her say to one of the other nurses, “I don’t care where you get the dang wheelchair, just get it. We’re breakin’ a few rules.” Nurses like her have my heart and allegiance forever.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am a writer, podcaster, and personality teacher. I started the Praise Through It podcast in January 2021, two months after leaving my school counseling career. In September 2021 I became a certified Enneagram Coach. Everything I write, podcast on, and teach comes down to one goal: help you feel better from the inside out.

With the podcast, I shine the light on our daily lives, helping listeners see the praiseworthy side of their daily struggles.

With Enneagram coaching, I teach personality for self & others. The Enneagram is a personality assessment tool that speaks to the core motivations of nine separate personality types. I love teaching individuals, couples, groups and organizations to understand themselves better, and then turn around and understand others better. My teaching helps people hold onto the truth that they’re not weird, just human, and so are the other 7 billion people on the planet.

When individuals go through the Enneagram coaching process, they understand who they are on a deeper level. They come out of our sessions understanding more of why they say, think and do what they say, think and do. They come out of our sessions feeling empowered to be who they are, while also growing unabashedly in who they’re made to be.

When couples go through the Enneagram coaching process, they come out of our time together understanding each other better. They have better language for expressing what matters to them, and for expressing care and concern for their partner.

When groups and organizations go through Enneagram training, the environment and culture of their space just gets better. It is kinder and more wholehearted, it is more fun, it is more tightly knit. Especially when groups learn the stress and security behaviors of themselves and the other members of their team, team dynamics improve as they shift from ‘we are a team of people who know each other’ to ‘we are a team of people who understand each other’.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Other than training and knowledge, the most helpful thing for succeeding in my field is having a heart for the people who will be doing the hardest work of all: improving themselves. If I go out trying to make money, I’ll be bored and unfulfilled. If I approach people as people, and have an undertone of compassion as they begin a journey of self-discovery, I’ll have so much more fun and my work will have such a greater impact. My job is easy because I love it: go and teach what I know and love. The clients’ work is harder because it’s their heart and mind that changes through our teaching.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I was first trained as a journalist, and then as a school counselor. I had 12 total years in those fields, and even though they’re different career fields my goal was the same: educate people in order to make their lives better. It’s always been easy for me to see the hurt and struggles of other people, whether they share them or not. I’ve always loved offering solutions to the root of our daily struggles, which starts with the heart. I figured, if I could address heart issues, readers’ and listeners’ daily struggles wouldn’t be such a struggle. Almost 10 years into being a school counselor, the pandemic hit. The job had already been changing by requiring counselors to be in charge of more and more standardized assessments; a lot of the heart was missing. Then, through a screen (during the pandemic) and with more uncertainty than ever, I didn’t see how I was helping as much as I wanted to. I was restless, cranky, and felt absolutely useless in a role I had once found immense joy and satisfaction in. I knew I had to pivot. I had been learning about the Enneagram since summer of 2019 and I had seen what a drastic impact it had on my own life: my parenting, my marriage, my friendships, and even my faith. All the things I cared most about in the world were improved because I was improving myself through this powerful tool of personality assessment & typing. I left my school counseling job because we moved 700 miles north back to our hometown area after being away for 15 years for that military family life. I could go back to my roots of writing, and then I could add onto my skillset with a certification in Enneagram coaching. Back to addressing the heart issues; the reasons behind the struggles of our daily life. The Enneagram speaks right to that because unlike every other personality assessment, the Enneagram hits on the motivations behind what we say, think & do. When I teach the Enneagram, I teach about how personality is not the be-all-end-all, which is a funny thing for a Personality Teacher to say. But it’s in learning how we’re wired, that we can re-wire ourselves to be the best, healthiest versions of ourselves. We are ever-evolving. As we mature and grow, there are aspects of our personality that shift and express themselves differently. Yet, it’ll always come back to a core motivation: why do I do, say, and think the things I do, say, and think? Writing about these daily struggles & teaching personality is my favorite thing because I love helping people shine their light brighter so they can help light the way for themselves & the people around them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elisapreston.com
• Instagram: elisapreston
• Facebook: Messy Enneagram
• Linkedin: Elisa Preston
• Twitter: byelisapreston
• Youtube: Elisa Preston

Image Credits
Pink top, scarf & cloudy day – Michael Pompili Black t-shirt in front of house – Rosanna Galbreath Others – Elisa Preston