Meet Gretchen Cleveland

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gretchen Cleveland.

Gretchen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve never quite known what to “do” with my life. I’ve struggled since my early 20s to find my “purpose” or whatever was supposed to be my “calling.” Over the years I transitioned from wanting to be a writer, to a brief career as a high school English and reading teacher, to a decade-long tenure as a corporate attorney, to finally stepping into my true self as a work/life balance coach for busy professional women.

During the past 15+ years, I worked with coaches, read a lot of self-help books, and got serious with self-inquiry and exploration. It was only after years and years of doing this inner work and having some mega life experiences that I figured out the right sequence and components that lead me to my current role. Now, I can proudly say that I know who I am, what I want, and how I want to show up in this world, which is a far cry from where I was those 15+ years ago.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No life journey is ever smooth! Like most people, I’ve had a ton of challenges and obstacles. As a teacher, I really struggled with separating my students’ issues from my own. I didn’t know the word for it or how to handle my feelings, but in hindsight, I see that I was empathic and wasn’t practicing enough self-care to manage and sustain in a setting like a classroom. That two-year period of teaching was one of the most difficult and depressing times in my life because I literally had no tools or even vocabulary to figure out how to help myself or to find help.

Being an attorney was a bit better in that I didn’t feel the same sense of responsibility toward my adult clients, but I had new challenges in the form of learning how to be my true self in my work settings, which were oddly not as welcoming of individuality as my clients. I often felt stifled and like my voice had no value or weight. I also was faced, very directly, with the hustle culture. Though I love productivity and can get a lot done, it was never something I subscribed to. In the end, I got really resentful and not surprisingly, I burned out and fell hard.

The biggest struggle, though, was my brother’s death in 2019. He was about ten years older than me and died in his late 40s. Observing his life, witnessing his potential and his path, and experiencing all the pain and suffering that he and everyone who loves him endured when he passed has been life-changing. Though it sounds cliche, his death fuels me to make the most of the people and the time I have today because “one day” might never come.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I’m a corporate coach who helps busy professional women find work/life balance. I serve women through online courses and other virtual programs so that they can get the tools and resources they need on their own schedules and in their own homes, making it as convenient as possible. My signature course is called, “Should I Get a New Job: 4 Weeks to Career Clarity” and is for working women who find themselves at a juncture where they aren’t sure what they should do professionally and if their current jobs are even a good fit for them anymore. Through video trainings, assignments, and group coaching calls, women reconnect with themselves, identify who they are and what they want at this stage in their lives, and determine the next right step in their career paths.

What sets me, and especially the “Get a New Job” course, apart from others, is that I combine the corporate, results-oriented world with the entrepreneurial, process-oriented world in an approach that I call “hustle meets woo.” This approach leverages the professional framework women are familiar with (and excel in!) with the intuitive, heart-centered truths of life to maximize my clients’ results.

I’m most proud of the unique way in which I support working women; between the virtual nature of the support, to the “hustle meets woo” approach, to the topics that are often whispered about among friends but not addressed, I want working women to know that I see them and I truly get them!

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have lots of wonderful memories, but one of my favorites was sledding with my brothers. One epic year my brothers built a snow ramp that leads from our driveway down into the backyard, which was especially cool because we got to sled down a small set of stairs. Kid heaven! We sledded for hours and then we went inside and my mom made us cocoa from the hot-water spigot at our kitchen sink, which I never see in homes anymore. The three of us didn’t often hang out together because of our age differences, so this has always been a special memory to me!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gretchencleveland.com
• Email: hello@gretchencleveland.com
• Instagram: @gretchen.cleveland

Image Credit:
Jennifer Little

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