We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emily Killeen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Emily , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I had been struggling with drugs and alcohol myself for a long time and had been in and out of recovery for 15 years until I finally GOT it. I had finally fully surrendered and began to embody and embrace my sober lifestyle. I had a new calling on my heart, a mission that I could not ignore, “I have to help other women get sober! They have to see that there’s another way to becoming happy, sober and free!”

For much of my own recovery journey, I had mentors and counselors forcing me to try and get sober the 12-step route, and for me, for whatever reason, it wasn’t working. I felt so resistant. So, I shifted things up and I decided to do recovery MY way and it worked.

I still incorporate some of the principles I’ve learned from the rooms as well as tools from the outpatient treatment programs I participated in, but I’ve shifted my recovery to look a little more like personal development. It includes a big emphasis on extreme self-care, connecting with other sober sisters, working on self-forgiveness and self-love, creating a vision for the future to find purpose, passion, and fullfillment and so much more!

I felt super excited about my new coaching business to help others find their path to freedom and happiness in recovery and couldn’t wait to get the ball rolling.

I hired a business coach who supported me through building out my website and my first real offer and together we created a marketing plan! I began posting more on my social media about my own recovery journey and how I had overcome the depths of addiction. The posts were well received and I was feeling excited to soon share with the world that I am a sobriety coach!

About a week before my “big announcement,” I received a private message from a friend Ashley. Ashley was a friend of mine from an outpatient treatment program that I had completed in San Diego, CA about 7 years prior. She said, “Emily, I can’t even seem to get ONE day sober, I just need someone to hold me accountable and I see that you are doing so great, could you be that person for me?”

Mixed emotions came up when I read her message: Sadness, that she was struggling. Happiness that I get to help someone. Hope that my coaching works.

I reached out to Ashley and shared with her that I was indeed doing well and that I was actually about to start my sobriety coaching business. I offered her a half-off discount and asked her if she wanted to be my first client.

She thought about it for a couple of days and then she came back and said, “Yes, Emily, I need your help.”

I will never forget that moment.

A wave of white light washed over me like I had never experienced, warmth filled my whole body. I dropped to my knees (I am not religious at all) put my hands together in prayer, looked up, and said, “Thank you.”

This was the confirmation I needed. I was on track. I was living my purpose. THIS, is what I am supposed to be doing.

Not only was this confirmation about my career, but it was also a turning point in my spirituality. In that moment, I went from someone who did not believe in God at all to someone who believes in a higher power of some sort and now knows I am not doing this all alone.

Ashley was my first client and I’m so grateful for her to this day! She now has over 4 years of sobriety and what a gift she was to ME on my early days of stepping into my life’s purpose. A time that can make us feel moments of unworthiness or even imposter syndrome, Ashley coming into my life that day was the confirmation I needed to move forward on this mission.

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 help women embody and embrace an alcohol-free lifestyle so that they can be happy, sober and free! I do that through virtual meetings, online programs, 1:1 coaching, and in-person retreats.

I have taken a non-traditional route to recovery that does not include the 12-steps but does adopt some of those principles. I say that my recovery program is a feel-good program. When we feel good, then we make better decisions for ourselves!

For me, practicing yoga, getting outside on hikes, diving into personal development, and finding my purpose and passion was ultimately what ended up getting me sober.

My Flagship program is Recovery Revival, it’s a 3-month virtual group coaching program for women with a 1:1 coaching component. We have taken a holistic approach to recovery and focus on health, wellness, mindset and lifestyle.

We know that when we get sober, there’s a lot more that goes into it than just putting down the drugs and/or alcohol. We really need to shift so many things in our lives to get sobriety to stick.

Something special about our group program is that we keep it very intimate. There are on average about 12 women in each round, which allows each participant time to share during the meetings and the ability for everyone in the group to really get to know each other. Many of the other online programs out there have 50+ people in them and clients often get lost in the numbers.

At this time, we have hosted 10 rounds of Recovery Revival and helped over 100 women. Although I don’t have the specific statistics, I know our success rate is very high. This is because the women are learning how to LIVE this new LIFE in real-time with the support from the group and me as their coach.

I’d also like to mention that my style of 1:1 Sobriety Coaching Mentorship is a bit different from traditional therapy or coaching. My clients have 24/7 access to me so that I can support them throughout the day as things come up. This way they don’t have to wait until next Wednesday or whenever the coaching call is scheduled, we can handle issues as they come up through the virtual coaching app. It works really well! I do let my clients know that my phone is on silent while I sleep as I practice what I preach about recovery and self-care.

In addition, we offer a free community Sober Sister meeting every Wednesday night to anyone who might be interested in sobriety or has been in recovery for some time. Many of the past Recovery Revival clients participate in that meeting as well, which is a living testament to the work that we are doing.

The community has grown super strong throughout the years and it’s become the cornerstone for MY own recovery. Even though many of us have multiple months or years of sobriety, we come together to support the highs and lows of life. We inspire one another to stay sober, even when things get tough.

I’m most proud of the growing community that I have created and that the women stick around to support the newcomers. These women are some of the most kind, loving, and non-judgemental humans I know and many of them have become my best friends over the years.

In addition to the online programs, I also offer in-person retreats out of my home in Sedona, Arizona! So, what’s really cool is, that these women meet virtually and become great friends and then they get to meet in person and connect on an even deeper level in a retreat setting!

My retreats are a mix of deep healing, adventure and fun! It’s important for me to share with my audience how fun sobriety really can be. I know that’s why I resisted sobriety for so long. I thought I wouldn’t have fun anymore and my social life was over. That simply is not true.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think having resilience is possibly one of the most important qualities that you need to have to be a successful entrepreneur. History shows that most successful people failed many times before they made their way to the top.

The same is for entrepreneurship. The thing is, many of us are doing this on our own, which can feel lonely and when we run into what feels like a roadblock or a failure, we don’t really have anyone to turn to except ourselves.

I always explain entrepreneurship as a rollercoaster. Honestly, it’s quite similar in many ways to what my life was like in addiction. High, high’s and low lows. We really need to have the grit and tenacity to keep going even when things feel challenging. Over the last 4 years, I’ve had many days where I said “I think I need to throw in the towel and get a job.”

But then something happens, I will get a message from a past client sharing with me how well she is doing and how much I helped her, or I’ll get a message from someone’s husband thanking me for saving his wife’s life, and I take a moment, pause and say to myself, “Emily, you can’t give up! You ARE making a difference.”

I think for most of us the resilience we cultivate and the mission on our heart is what keeps us going.

I will tell you what else does help, is being a part of other coaching communities, programs and personal development spaces because here we can connect with other entrepreneurs who are on a similar journey and who understand this rollercoaster and we can cheer each other on and lift eachother other up when we hit a low point.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There’s been many points in my business where I was forced to pivot, but the most monumental pivot was in 2022 when my husband told me that he wanted a divorce. Why was that a pivitol moment for my business? Well, we had built an off-grid wedding venue and retreat facility on the property where we lived in the high dessert of Northern, Arizona. I had been running 15-person wellness retreats on that property for the past 2 years. Getting a divorce meant selling that property and saying goodbye to that dream, which was absolutely crushing because it was my dream on top of the obvious, getting a divorce and everything that goes along with that.

Long story short, I tried to see if I could buy out the property on my own, and ultimately I couldn’t so, we decided to sell it. I was able to take my profit from that sale and purchase a home in Sedona, Arizona which, if I’m honest, was another dream of mine and it felt exciting. So, instead of running 15-person retreats, I am now offering mini-retreats for small groups of 3-5 ladies and they have been just, if not, more powerful and transformational.

I do miss getting big groups of people together, however. Bringing people together is my superpower, I have been told that I am a great connector. I am excited to announce that in 2025 I will be hosting a 50-person, all-gender event here in Sedona Arizona- Called the Happy, Sober, Free- Sedona Summit!

That’s how this journey works, we pivot and create from that new space! It’s fun and exciting!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.emilykilleen.com/#/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happy.sober.free/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emilyannkilleen