We were lucky to catch up with Vernita Parker recently and have shared our conversation below.
Vernita, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
The mission of the VF Parker Group, and my personal mission is to partner with individuals and organizations to reconnect to their wholeness. Whether I am coaching an executive, facilitating a strategic planning session or teaching a hot yoga class, the common thread that runs through all that I do is inviting people to see themselves in a more expansive way.
One of the foundational moments that feeds into the meaning behind my mission goes back to when I was an undergraduate in college. During my junior year, I worked as a Career Assistant at my college’s Career Development Center. Go Terps! I helped students explore how their interests, skills, and values aligned with college majors and potential careers. I loved hearing about people’s passions and what they saw as their superpower. It was amazing to see people light up as they talked about what they loved. As I am reflecting on this question, another key element of my mission is linked to my parents’ encouragement to always stay grounded in my truth and allow my spirit to guide me. I find that many people get disconnected from the truth of who they are for many reasons. My mission as an integral coach and yoga teacher is to work with people and organizations to remember who they are, and to bring the brilliance of they are to the world.
Vernita, 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?
If I had to sum up who I am a few words, I would say I am a lover of life. I get energized by being in nature and making transformational soul connections with people. I love all types of artistic expression, especially music and dancing, and I incorporate it into my work as an integral coach and yoga teacher. As I mentioned before, I got the opportunity to work as a Career Assistant when I was an undergraduate. After a stint as an account executive for a payroll processing company and a sales manager for a major department store (I also love fashion). I decided to go back to school and get a master’s degree in counseling. I remembered how much I loved working with the students at the Career Development Center, and I thought why not pursue it as a full-time career. After completing my master’s degree, I worked in higher education for a while. “Hook ’em Horns!” and from there I moved into consulting. I was living in Austin Texas when my grandmother became ill. It was important for me to be near her, so I moved back to the east coast, which is where I’m from originally, Maryland to be exact. While in Texas, I was fortunate to meet an amazing woman who owned a training and development consulting firm in Maryland, and she offered me a job as a career coach on the spot. My first gig was providing career coaching services to employees at the U.S. Coast Guard in Washington, DC. I went on to expand my competency in leadership and executive development training. After three years, I moved to a global consulting firm, where I fine-tuned my experience in leadership and executive development. I also got certified as an Integral Coach during that time. For those of you wondering what an Integral Coach is, I engage with people who are interested in showing up in all aspects of their lives in an integrated way. We explore their interior world (thoughts, emotions, culture, etc.), their exterior world (practices, relationship to systems and the physical world, both nature and manmade), and how all of these things impact their current way of being in the world. We focus on how I can support them in showing up in a more expansive way, aligned with the vision they want to step into. I also led a best-in practice Executive Coaching Program, in addition to other areas of learning and career management for 10 years before striking out on my own.
Coaching is one of my offers to the world; the other is yoga. I was an avid yoga practitioner and had experienced the benefits the practice had on my mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. The owner of the yoga studio I practiced at suggested I attend yoga teacher training. It was a 9 week, fully immersive experience in Los Angeles, CA, which meant that I would have to move to LA for nine weeks. This was not an easy decision for someone who is self-employed. I didn’t seriously consider becoming a yoga teacher until standing on the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. I was in South Africa for work, and had an actual mountain top experience, while standing on Table Mountain. The views are breath taking, and I felt like I was standing at the seat of creation. There’s more to the story, which I will be happy to share with anyone who reaches out to me after reading this interview. At that moment, I knew that my “work” had to be deeper. The vision was not 100% clear at the time, but I knew that I had to find a way to invite people into what it means to live from a place of Oneness. I believed that getting certified to teach yoga would be a beautiful complement to my coaching work. Especially, as I work with my coaching clients to explore the mind body connection, and how it impacts how they show up as leaders.
Which brings me back to my mission, which is, partnering with people to reconnect to their wholeness.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Yes, a little over five years ago, I fell into a window well at a friend’s house and snapped my ankle in two. My ankle bone literally snapped from my tibia bone. My foot was going one way, and my ankle bone was going the other way. I had to end up having reconstructive surgery with screws and a metal plate, the whole nine yards! Needless to say, that was a pretty major shock point in my life. I was on my back for six weeks before I could start physical therapy, which meant no weight bearing activities, no driving, no in-person client meetings, and no yoga teaching. This was at the end of September in 2018, so I had to pivot to virtual client meetings, from my bed. I wasn’t able to resume teaching yoga until the spring of 2019. I was truly grateful for my coaching clients who agreed to work with me virtually. I sometimes say that my ankle break, prepared me for the global shutdown that came in 2020.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
When I was in my coaching training program, I read a book called A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilbur. This book really impacted my view on the interconnectivity of everything. As an integral coach, I also work with my clients on integrating the wisdom of their head, heart and body. A couple of great resources that support tuning into the intelligence of your body and heart are Bodyfulness: Somatic Practices for Presence, Empowerment, and Waking Up in This Life by Christine Caldwell, and Heart Intelligence: Connecting with the Heart’s Intuitive Guidance for Effective Choices and Solutions by Doc Childre, Howard Martin, Deborah Rozman and Rollin McCraty.
I also love The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.
- Be Impeccable with your word
- Don’t Take Anything Personally
- Don’t Make Assumptions
- Always Do Your Best
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @vernita_earthwoman
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/vernita-parker-0b93501
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
Andreas Andreou and James Posey