We recently connected with Lizeth Santamaria and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lizeth, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
When I entered college I was presented with a major decision that anyone beginning college must decide… what career do you want to pursue and what degree will you choose to pursue it? I honestly had no idea! I wish our education system helps students prepare for this decision, but unfortunately that was not my experience. What I did know is I wanted to help people and I had many creative interests which narrowed down my career and degree choices to either pursuing a degree in psychology or in communications specializing in radio and television. After learning how long it would take to pursue a degree in career in psychology. At the time, at the young age of 18, pursuing a degree in psychology seemed very long to me, so I made a final decision to pursue a degree in communication to eventually work in radio and television. At the time I didn’t realize my decision was deciding between a career of purpose (which for me was to ultimately help others), and a career which I had interest in but wasn’t purpose aligned. Reflecting back I realize I chose the path of interest vs. purpose.
I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Communications specializing in Radio & Television from the University of Central Florida and began pursuing entry level positions in this field. It didn’t take me very long to realize I chose the wrong career path, because working in this field didn’t feel right to me and my heart kept bringing my back to my original realization that I wanted to help others.
This year in my life brought several life changing moments. I not only decided I was going to pursue a different career where I could help others and also set myself up for success, and I ultimately decided to pursue a career in Human Resources. To help me do this I knew I needed to go back to school to further my knowledge and gain experience in this area. So I began working to obtain my Master of Human Resource degree from Rollins College. The second life changing moment was being diagnosed with the autoimmune illness lupus. Being diagnosed with lupus was not easy for me to accept, and it completely changed life.
I eventually obtained my Masters in HR and found success in various organizations as a leader in HR. Working in Human Resources allowed me the opportunity to climb the corporate ladder, help my organizations and employees, and reach my ultimate goal, which at the time was to help others and become a Human Resources leader and Director where I have managed and directed teams of 40+ direct reports. During that period of my life while pursuing success in my career, working in the corporate environment brought much stress and negatively affected my mental, physical, and emotional health. Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that exacerbated my health, and created damage to my body including my skin, joints, and organs. Lupus also caused damage to my kidneys and caused my hair to fall out. It was an awful experience.
Being diagnosed with lupus, experiencing the negative effects from the stress of my career to my health, and ultimately realizing I was not happy with my life and my career environment in the corporate world which was not conducive to my health were the defining moments that helped me realize I needed to make a change. Although I was helping others, I was not working and living in my purpose. I also knew I needed to transition my career to one that would add to my health and healing mind, body, and soul. Eventually, instead of letting my career and lupus control me and my destiny, I decided to empower and educate myself about my chronic illness, and discover my purpose so I could lead a happy, healing, and healthy life.
That is when my journey with health, healing, purpose, and life transformation began. This realization ultimately led me to change the trajectory of my life. This was the start of my spiritual awakening which helped me heal myself mind, body, and soul, and also realize my life’s purpose was to help and inspire others to do the same through coaching.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, The Lupus Coach®, Certified Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach, Leadership Coach & Organizational Consultant, Registered Yoga Teacher® 200, Certified Intuitive Healer, and PhD student pursuing my doctorate in Mind Body Medicine to further my education in holistic health studies.
My coaching philosophy is to take a holistic approach to help and empower people to improve their health and performance, heal, live purposefully and authentically, so they can transform their lives and create the life they want! Through my organization Discover Your Power®, I offer health, healing, and purpose coaching, intuitive healing, leadership coaching and organizational consulting, yoga, personal training, and nutritional education sessions, motivational speaking, as well as lupus and wellness advocacy.
I help people who want to improve their energy, and overcome health issues, feel empowered, and heal, while supporting them as they begin their journey of transformation with health, healing, and well-being, and creating a life where they have optimal health, energy, well-being and performance.
I help coach empower and support people going through their spiritual awakening to discover their purpose in life, so they can ultimately be happier, live purposefully, and authentically.
I coach, consult, support, and empower leaders to better lead their own personal lives and be better leaders in their organizations so they can add value to themselves and others.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
I believe all the decisions I made in my past with education and my career were learning lessons I needed to experience to bring my to my purpose in life. I could’ve chosen a career of purpose from the start, however I went through the journey of eventually getting to my purpose which I wouldn’t take back. Everything I experienced helped me realize my purpose, gave me experience, and untimely a story to share to help others along their journey’s of life and purpose.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
I consider myself to be a student of life. I value education and pouring into my craft, and continuously increasing my knowledge has helped me to gain insightful ways to continue building ways to help my clients. This is something I would recommend to anyone throughout their career to help with personal and professional growth.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.discoveryourpowertoday.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/coach_lizeth/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/discoveryourpowertoday
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lizethsantamaria
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE-5nFNVw04iAPzZ5x7kZRA
- Other: TikTok: thelupuscoach https://www.tiktok.com/@thelupuscoach?lang=en
Image Credits
Lizeth Santamaria