Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Laverne McKinnon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Laverne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
A defining moment in my career was when I was fired from a company that I had been working with for ten years. I had a fairly meteoric rise being promoted every 18-24 months and came to be a Senior Vice-President. And then one day, out of the blue for me, I was told that I was a liability. It was a complete shock and the timing of it was exasperated because I was a new mother (having adopted our first child 9 months earlier), my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and my marriage was in disarray.
Being fired significantly impacted my identity and threw me into a severe depression. Traditional therapy wasn’t helping so I began to work with a coach for the first time in my life. To be clear, I’m an advocate for therapy – it just wasn’t a match at the time. My coach helped me understand that I wasn’t ready to make any big life decisions because I wasn’t clear on my values or purpose. So we began the slow process of rebuilding my identity that wasn’t reliant on being a people pleaser or perfectionist.
My coach tragically died in a car accident about 8 months after we started working together. Her last voicemail said, “You know more than you think you do.”
As a way to honor her and those words I enrolled in a coach training program to better understand how she did what she did. It was there that I fell in love with coaching. The pillars of my training are that people are creative, resourceful and whole. Nothing is broken, nothing needs to be fixed. My job as a coach is to help people access their own inner wisdom. We all know more than we think we do.
It took me years to ultimately understand that part of what was missing from my recovery work was that I was suffering from dis-enfranchised grief. Dis-enfranchised grief is a term coined by bereavement expert Kenneth Doka to describe any type of grief that is not openly acknowledged, socially validated, and publicly mourned. Being fired is an isolating, painful experience – people don’t want to be associated with the fired person for fear of being “tainted”, people don’t know what to say or are seeking to gossip, there’s an expectation that the fired person should just “get back on the horse.”
Having been fired from a job and company I loved taught me that I was out of alignment with myself. My ambition had turned me into someone that I was no longer proud of — despite how much I cared about the people I worked with and wanted to have a positive impact. As a result of the support I received, I discovered my calling as a coach and teacher — and now define my wellness work through the prism of educating and helping people grieve losses in the professional realm. It’s actually part of the grieving process – to find agency and make positive meaning out of the events that have occurred.
The hard truth is that we will always experiences challenges, setbacks, failure, and face plants. However, we get to choose how we want to respond to those events and write or re-write the narrative of our lives.
Laverne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’ve always been on a mission to make a positive impact on people and organizations, helping them reignite their spark and pursue their dreams. I wear many hats to achieve this: I’m a Career Coach and Grief Recovery Specialist. But I also have a creative side as a Film & Television Producer, and I get to share my knowledge as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University.
My expertise lies in guiding individuals and companies to rediscover their core strengths and dreams. You see, I believe that unaddressed setbacks and grief can erode your resilience. And studies have shown that unresolved grief diminishes your ability to bounce back, which is vital for long-term career success. And successful careers pave the way for financial stability and fulfillment. That’s where I come in – my coaching helps clients understand the grieving process, leading them to their north star, where they find clarity of values and purpose. That’s where fulfillment and meaningful impact are born.
My clients are ambitious, driven individuals who’ve encountered professional setbacks and yearn to rekindle their careers. Sometimes that means diving deeper into their current role or venturing into a new industry. I also provide workshops and training for organizations looking to strengthen their culture, foster a sense of community, and enhance employee retention.
You can find more details about the people I work with and the services I offer on my website, lavernemckinnon.com.
But to back things up a bit and at the risk of talking too much, my journey began in Chicago as an award-winning educational film producer. But I always knew I wanted to reach a wider audience, so I made the leap to Los Angeles, starting as an assistant at an agency and eventually becoming the head of development at the animation company Klasky Csupo.
From there, I transitioned into the corporate world, climbing the ranks at CBS until I became the Senior Vice-President of Drama Development. I had the privilege of being part of the team that developed hit shows like NCIS, CSI, and CRIMINAL MINDS, which took the network from last place to first. I also served as the first programming chief at EPIX, earning the platform its first Emmy nomination.
From there I went on to become an independent film & television producer. One of my greatest passions is advocating for marginalized and underserved stories and communities, a commitment that stems from my Japanese heritage and growing up in a lower-income household. As the Executive Producer of the Netflix series GIRLBOSS and co-founder of K&L Productions with filmmaker Kay Cannon, I’m dedicated to amplifying these stories.
As I mentioned earlier, I also have the honor of being an adjunct professor at Northwestern University’s MS Leadership for Creative Enterprises program. My Persuasion & Pitching course is quite popular because I believe in learning by doing. I teach my students that pitching isn’t about winning a contest; it’s about finding the right match. People invest in individuals before ideas, a philosophy I’ve developed from my experience as a TV programming executive and producer.
My academic journey reflects my dedication to education. I hold a BS in Radio-TV-Film from Northwestern University and an MBA from Pepperdine. As a lifelong learner, I continuously pursue certifications as a coach and grief recovery specialist. I’m also a certified cognitive behavioral therapist and neuro-linguistics practitioner. Currently, I’m in the process of becoming a Reiki master.
In the past, I’ve served as the Co-President of the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) and continue to support them as a mentor in their New Writers and Leadership Fellowship programs.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
As a recovering perfectionist and people pleaser, I’ve had to unlearn that I’m not in control of other people’s feelings and that I’m not for everyone. I always believed that if I could anticipate what someone wanted or needed than I could deliver on that (talk about over-confident!) and then I would be safe and loved.
Anyone who also suffers from perfectionism and people-pleasing will know that it’s a direct result of childhood. It can come from growing up in a dysfunctional family or having primary caregivers who have experienced trauma. There are lots of reasons and a therapist can help you unpack and understand your origin story and triggers.
As a small business owner, it’s been a rough lesson to learn that I’m not for everyone and in trying to be for everyone, I’m not able to truly support the people that I am right for. So I have to make tough decisions every day to say “no” and risk being dis-pleasing to someone. However, in doing so, I’ve been able to successfully grow my business and feel fulfilled, have more energy, and attract clients that share many of my values.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Three things have helped me build my reputation as a coach and grief recovery specialist:
- My credibility as someone who has risen the ranks of corporate America and my success as an entrepreneur. I’ve been where my clients are, faced their challenges and came out the other side intact.
- My extensive education and training. It’s not enough to have first-hand experience. I seek out and draw from other people’s research and wisdom to compliment my own technology and frameworks. I constantly introduce new skills and tools for my clients to work with and grow from.
- Consistency. I say what I do, do what I say and own my face plants. We’re all human so we make mistakes. They key is to own them and state how you will course correct so it doesn’t happen again. And then to build trust by being consistent and clear with who you are and what you will do (or not do.)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lavernemckinnon.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lavernemckinnon
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laverne.mckinnon
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lavernem/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@moonshotmentor/videos
- Other: best place to find me is on substack: https://moonshotmentor.substack.com/ I post a weekly blog and podcast that provides amazing resources and tools
Image Credits
None are needed, all taken by me or a family member.