We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sally Colón a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Sally 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.
I knew at the age of 6 that I was going to be in some form of entertainment after watching one of the greatest films ever made, “The Wizard of OZ”. I wanted people to feel what I felt while watching that magical film. In my senior year of high school the caption under my photo was “Hollywood, Here I Come”, the dream was still alive and well. So, in the late 90’s, I packed up my bags and moved to Hollywood. I acquired an agent within a few months and booked my first feature film, “8 Heads in a Duffle Bag, with Joe Pesci & David Spade. Soon after shooting that film, I was recruited by a music producer to be part of a Latin girl group and eventually signed a 1.3 million dollar record deal, managed by Music Mogul, Suzanne DePasse, who discovered Jackson 5. It was surreal being in the company of some of the most high level executives in music. My success continued with more acting roles, hosting tv shows, and eventually producing and directing an award winning social impact documentary. During this time I also got married and had two beautiful daughters. I now had to balance family and my career.
Then in September of 2019, I have a defining moment in my life. It was early morning, I was getting my daughter’s ready for school and my phone rang, it was my younger sister on the other line screaming, “Dad is dead”!!! I fell to my knees and screamed, “NOOOOO”!!!!! My daughters came running into my room and I had to tell them in that moment that their grandpa was dead, they were young and weren’t sure how to process it. My dad was my best friend, my rock, the person that always made me laugh in my darkest hours. It was a total shock to my system. My dad had taken his life due to mental illness. He had always struggled with depression, but seemed to have it under control. It took me 6 months to dig myself out of that deep hole of hurt, depression, and darkness. That lead me to make the decision to go back to school to become a certified transformation coach to help other people suffering in silence.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Sally Colón, I am Latina, I am a mom to two beautiful teenage girls. I am originally from Chicago, but moved to Los Angeles 30 years ago to pursue entertainment. For 30 years my focus has been on entertainment as an actress, producer, director, host and singer. I had the privilege of directing an award winning documentary called “Women Like Us”, I often refer to that film as my third child. In 2018, After losing my dad to suicide, I went back to school to become a certified transformation coach to help other people suffering in silence. My goal as a coach, is to help my clients focus on their personal growth by encouraging them to recognize existing patterns of resistance from childhood traumas, difficult situations like divorce, raising children, finding their purpose, identifying their true identity and learning to be more curious in their every day lives. What I love the most about being a transformation coach, is watching the progression of each client and seeing first hand how changing their beliefs has helped them realize their true potential. I feel like my life has also changed and grown as my practice has grown. Each client is a learning lesson for me and an opportunity for me to keep stepping into my true potential. I absolutely LOVE what I do. I have always been very perceptive and discerning of people, but the depths of where I am today is like nothing I have every experienced. The downloads that I receive for each individual client is straight from God and I am here for all of it.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Here are some books that have impacted my life and helped me build a successful coaching practice: Tears to Triumph, Braving the Wilderness, The Alchemist, The Four Agreements, The Miracle Mentality, A Return to Love, The Untethered Soul, Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess, The Ten Bridges of Transformation, Codependent No More and The Coaching Habit. These are just a few books in my Audible library that have changed my life. I am a big reader and listener of books, I usually read or listen to a book a month. I also watch alot of YouTube videos about specific personality traits or life topics like Narcassim, Co-Dependence, Raising Children, Changing Your Mindset, Loving Yourself, etc.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Other than training and knowledge, what has helped my success as a transformation coach is my own life experiences. I am still learning about myself, I am still growing and still have triggers that I have to unpack. I went through 3 1/2 years of therapy to unpack a lot of my own childhood traumas and have learned so much about transformation and learning to love myself. I focus on being positive in every situation, and not giving my power away. I love the journey that I am on and will always see every difficult situation in my life as a lesson that I must learn. We don’t know what we don’t know, so it’s important to pay attention and listen for the downloads that can change our lives for the better and create long-lasting peace.
Contact Info:
- Website: sallycolon.com
- Instagram: @sallycolon1
- Facebook: @sallycolonpetree
- Twitter: @iamsallycolon
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@sallycolon1?si=-sB4BULyqm09n3hu