Conversations with Rebecca Cohen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Cohen.

Hi Rebecca, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I view Denver as a gateway to adventure, which began in my twenties and still rings true today. On a business trip to Denver, I drove to Boulder to meet a friend for breakfast. Eating outside under heat lamps in winter, I had a feeling that there was something special about Colorado. Being in and making time for nature was something I always longed for on the east coast. In Colorado, daily time outside is a part of life. While still living on the east coast as I wrote my parenting book, 15 Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids (Sourcebooks), my best friend invited me and my two boys, then four and six, to take cross-country RV trip from Virginia to Denver, where she was moving.

It would just be me and her, our own ‘mom’ version of Thelma and Louise, with our kids in tow – did I mention she had two year old triplets at the time and a dog who just had a leg amputated? Since that epic road trip over eight days, I came back to Denver many times for interviews on live morning TV in Denver to share simple family-bonding activities from my book. When it was time to visit with my family, we adventured farther to ski together, always taking time to stay in Denver with my girlfriend and learn all that she loves about the place she now calls home. While at a women’s entrepreneur retreat in San Diego, a friend from Chicago brought up Steamboat Springs. Still living on the east coast, my husband and I were looking for a mountain community in which to live with our family. It turns out, my friend grew up in Steamboat and had the best childhood memories of being outside.

As a result of her recommendation, my husband, boys, and I visited Steamboat for a long weekend, taking part in not only skiing but also local community activities… We had told my kids in advance that we had heard that Steamboat was a great place to live. At the end of the weekend, we asked the boys if they would like to live there. The answer was ‘Yes!’ so we went back home and told everyone we were moving. Five months later, we moved across the country to Steamboat, and during that time, I wrote an early-reader children’s book series called PJ’s Backyard Adventures (Little Big Bay). Fast forward to today, we’ve had more adventures that took us away from Colorado, but my husband and I have just moved back to Steamboat. Our youngest son graduated high school and will be at the University of Denver in the fall. Once again, our paths have brought us back to Colorado. In my work, I am still drawn to simple strategies that make our lives exponentially better.

In 2019, I started ShareMyJourney.org, a community where everyone offers their lived experiences in service to one another. Your story matters, and simply hearing what another person has been through and is going through can help us know we’re not alone and we can learn from one another… A virtual community, ShareMyJourney.org has a set schedule of member circles via Zoom on self-improvement topics, from Accountability to Discovering What’s Next for You to Manifesting, and Processing Emotion. We even have a Caregiver Circle for those caring for aging parents or ill family members. The authenticity and mutual support that is created in the moment without it being prescriptive or judgmental is inspiring. Each of us has the wisdom to share but also welcomes help. And now I get to run the global community I love from my happy place in the Colorado mountains.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I say the life of an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. It is a rollercoaster! Before becoming a social impact entrepreneur, I had a corporate job. At the end of the ten years of climbing the corporate ladder, I cried every day before work. I used the time at night, after an emotionally exhausting day and after my two small children went to bed, to journal about what I loved. The list consisted of the most simple things: the sound of children laughing, watching the sunrise, my cup of coffee Saturday morning watching my boys play outside and being in the garden. The theme was that I loved to be outside – it was not a seasonal love when the weather was perfect, it was an everyday desire. At the time, my life was running at light speed, rushing from garage to garage, and running down the hall at work, panicking to not be the last person to pick up my children from daycare. I remember seeing a note card on an executive’s desk at work that said, “Life is not about finding yourself; it is about creating yourself.” I never knew what that meant until deciding to take the leap, leave the corporate world, and create businesses for the greater good, which is the essence of social entrepreneurship. You don’t rely on donations – you seek to create business models that help people. Ever since getting my MBA (while working full-time in the corporate world), I had this desire to explore ways to use business to make our lives better. Upon reflection, social entrepreneurs are pioneers, and just like any entrepreneur, you have to have a high tolerance for ambiguity. The desire to make a difference is so ingrained in you that you torture yourself a bit to keep going even when it doesn’t make the greatest financial sense. If the positive impact is there, you keep going.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I connect people in meaningful ways, whether one on one, in small groups online, or in panels of journey-sharing events. I also coach individuals in helping them intentionally create more fulfilling lives and consult for corporations in diversity, equity, and inclusion. I help Chief Diversity Officers and their teams in creating journey-sharing events that model desired behaviors and reinforce DEI messages that are aligned with people goals. My work is extremely personally rewarding. Every moment that I engage in work for ShareMyJourney.org, whether in community, coaching, or consulting, is what I want to be doing. I would have never been able to say that fifteen years ago. Setting the intention that you want to enjoy your work, even if you don’t know how, will invite opportunities in your life to explore how you want to feel in each area of your life, and to start to make small changes, step by step. Over time, those tiny steps lead to the alignment with your authentic self that you desired all along.

One of the reasons I coach individuals now is I had a coach who made a huge impact in my life. She has since passed away, but her legacy lives on in any mentor, coach, or friend who makes a difference to help someone see the possibilities for their own life. Asking yourself, “What do I want?” and taking one action forward, is the first step toward a more fulfilling life. I authentically care about people and want to know what they are thinking and feeling. My differentiator is that I’m really good at facilitation, which I didn’t know until others told me how much they appreciated it. I hold space for people, allowing the conversation to unfold, and trusting where the conversation is going (and never directing). It is an art, which I learned by doing. No one taught me, which has been an unexpected gift. Like coaching, I view facilitation as a sacred space that requires deep listening and allowing myself to be guided by intuition. I am the conduit of a meaningful experience.

How do you think about luck?
I believe that every experience is meant to teach me something, although many times I don’t know it until much later (or at all). When I look at things that have gone well, I think my energy or way of being has helped materialize them. People also think of this as manifesting. When things don’t go well or don’t work out, I also think of this as manifesting. Closed doors are meant to either test me to see how much I really want something or as a detour toward more of what serves me. An example of something that would seem complex which fell into place easily was our recent move back to Colorado. We had to sell our east coast home in order to purchase something in Colorado, but couldn’t move for six months. We also didn’t want to put our house on the market. I mentioned to a neighborhood realtor that if a miracle happened and someone wanted to purchase our home now and move in six months later, we would be open to selling it. Two weeks later, the realtor texted that she had a buyer, who agreed to the price of our home before seeing it. We closed a month later, which enabled us to close on a home in Steamboat in January. We were able to rent back our east coast home, and then another miracle occurred. In another stroke of luck, our realtor introduced us to a local friend who unexpectedly needed a six-month rental in Steamboat. Our complicated situation ended up having easy answers.

Pricing:

• $100/year (Individual membership)
• $175/year (Caring Business membership)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sharemyjourney.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharemyjourney_org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShareMyJourney.org
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/rebeccapcohen
• Other: https://www.beoutsideandgrow.com/

Image Credits
Picture of family jumping and headshot/Personal Photo: Andrea Flanagan Photography