From Erin Keeley (MS)

Culture Engineer | Executive Consultant | Relationship Coach | Gyrotonic® Instructor

Hello dear soul,

I hope I get to meet you and soon share the experience of “seeing and being seen”… in my opinion, the whole reason we are in these crazy human bodies: To be in relationship with each other. Nice to “meet” you!

I’m Erin, the founder of the Gifted Women Summit and of the Interpersonal Institute (currently disabled), a relationship-based, organizational development business that offers coaching, consulting, and training in Interpersonal Intelligence, the magic missing ingredient in Western Culture. I’m also a life, executive, and relationship coach for gifted women and couples (this site). You have found my more casual, personal website, hurray!

If you need a label for me, you might call me a Depth Coach and a Relationship Coach. However, I'm also a generalist and am skilled at helping others through many sorts of life’s greatest challenges. (Depth Psychology is similar to what I do, except I bring my sports coaching background to my clients, thus making me a coach instead of a therapist. I am trauma-informed, however.)

If you want to get a good “feel” for me, I recommend listening to the following interview in the Podcast Unleash Monday: The Lifestyle Podcast for Gifted Adults:

What does Gifted mean? (links go to the giftedwomensummit.com Glossary page)

If you feel like you don’t quite fit in in most cultures, you feel an intense urge to share your gifts with the world in order to address the world's pain points, if you are capable of multi-levelness (the ability to observe multiple points of view at once within yourself and others), and if you have extra "antennae" (AKA sensitivities)...  you are gifted by our definition. I would consider myself gifted, and most of the women I work and play with are too, though many of them do not know it.

Did you know? Gifted leaders, especially neurodivergent female ones, are the ones that are best equipped to think outside the box and serve in times of hardship.

This means YOU. The world needs you and your voice, quirks, wounds and all, now more than ever. 

Everyone has gifts to offer to the world. Our gifts come from the hard times of life that have taught us hard-won lessons. They also come from the "extra antennae" that we were born with, the parts of us that stand-out, the parts of us that are extra sensitive, extra smart, extra creative... the parts of us that are able to see/feel/hear the world in ways beyond the norm.

However, gifted women sometimes spend their whole lives hiding their neurodiverse genius gifts in the closet because it's too painful to stand out in our culture.

Until neurodiverse leadership styles are welcome, women like you will continue to be held back. I know this story well, because it is my story too.

It's not that you need to be more perfect. It's time to reboot what it means to be a leader. I created this business so we can do it together… I cannot save the world by myself!

"Beauty begins where perfection ends." -Dr. Douglas Brooks

I’ve lived a life of death and loss, tenacity and beauty that began with my adventurous spirit studying climate change in Antarctica and traveling around the world as a rock climber. I used to think I was tough... but life has shown me my limits along with my potential. I’ve been through several positive disintegrations and came out stronger every time.

Right after my brother took his life in 2002, instead of going on to complete my PhD, I left my previous career as a climate change scientist because I realized something huge: The core problem with us destroying our own home is a psychological one, not just a hard science one. I left not because science doesn’t matter, but because the science is useless if we aren’t promoting empathy and neighborliness in society. “Independent” culture without collaborative culture, creates narcissism, it’s as simple as that.

I have learned about how to welcome diverse gifts via "team" from my own varied experiences as a “multi-potentialite”... as a public high school science teacher, a state-championship high school gymnastics coach, running outdoor kids science groups, rock climbing all over the world, teaching yoga and yoga teacher trainings, helping to start-up several businesses and franchises, traveling to South India to study "relationship as a growth path" mythical traditions, running Authentic Relating facilitation programs, using Patrick Lencioni's work in executive consulting, being an attachment-based Authentic Relationship coach, and last but not least: Being a mother of a my gifted boy.

I help my clients claim the right to be ecstatically alive, in all the places they touch the world, despite flaws. But most importantly, I offer these gifts and wisdom to you not as your guru, but as a guide on a path of collaboration with you.

I don’t really like pedestals and power plays, and I bet you don’t either. Healing comes from safe relationships where trust happens first and transformation happens second. If a power struggle is present, there is no relationship happening.

But when I relate with my clients from a place of equal agency, magic happens. This is “Relationship as a growth path”. I call this the 1 + 1 =3 effect!

“Erin combines her highly trained engineering mind with her cutting edge soft skills to help women navigate the dark times of breaking free of patriarchy cages. She helps women find their callings, build out their dreams, and experience profound intimacy in relationships. If you work with Erin, expect to get s#@t done, she will hold your feet to the fire and call you to your desires.” -anonymous

Why invest in self-development when you have a million “more urgent” fires to put out every day? 

In 2016, Erin conducted her own study of 32 women in STEM and found that the biggest reason for job dissatisfaction or deciding to leave a job came from having to tolerate toxic cultures with unconscious biases, emotionless environments (interpersonally cold, and a lack of collaboration and creativity); not from having to balance family and work or from a lack in interest in the job itself. The work places that lost these talented individuals suffered huge financial consequences as a result of this dynamic. As a previous Engineer and Scientist herself, Erin knows this pattern well.

Erin left her work in STEM because she knew that in order to tolerate the cultures, she’d have to change her personality and therefore give up the very talent that made her good at what she did.

It’s astonishing how many talented people, especially millennials, women and minorities, leave jobs because of accidental cultures that foster high levels of emotional labor, a lack of personal connection and a lack of fostering a person into their highest potential and best fit role. This comes down to a neurodiversity problem: An inability to see people for who they are, an inability to welcome differences without making everyone be “vanilla”.

The higher your potential, the louder your calling will yell at you until you listen. Depression is common amongst gifted women… it happens because you aren’t meant to be a robot working to help someone make a lot of money. You aren’t meant to be in flat relationships either. You are meant to be tasting life by serving humanity and the planet. (You probably know this deep inside or else you wouldn’t be here reading all the way down this page of way too many words!!)

I waited until the universe, or whatever you want to call it, hit me so hard over the head that I almost died. Don’t do that. Join us instead. The world needs you and your gifts; it’s not a luxury, it’s a responsibility. And the time is now.

Who is Erin?

Erin Keeley has an inspiring life story of tenacity that began with studying climate change in Antarctica for her Master’s in Engineering and then took a sudden turn when her brother, also an engineer, took his own life in 2002. Instead of going on to complete her PhD, she decided to dedicate her life to understanding how our culture contributes to individual pain and suffering. She has since dedicated her life to human services that make cultural differences and create more life satisfaction for individuals.

She was raised in the south and in the mid-west, but eventually moved to Colorado to find like-minded souls who wanted to change the world. However, she loves to relate with all kinds of people and has been told that one of her gifts is her ability to hang with lots of different cultures.

Beyond her Master’s degree, Erin is a certified Authentic Relationship Coach and is trained in multiple methods of Executive Coaching and Organizational Health Consulting. She is trained in Polarity Management and also a Professional Secondary Teacher for the state of Colorado, trained in Experiential Learning Outward Bound and an ERYT-500 Yoga Teacher (Teacher Training credentialed). She is a certified GYROTONIC® Instructor (see services to find out more). Once upon a time, she was a state championship teen gymnastics coach, where she learned how to run a team of young women without setting up hierarchies. She is currently in training with The Gottman Institute (TGI) - “A research-based approach to relationships” in order to apply relationship therapy tools to workplaces and others that she coaches.

Over the years she has immersed herself in a multidisciplinary education that includes leadership, the sciences, business, psychology, relationships, yoga, women’s studies, gifted and talented struggles, culture and education. She is a public speaker for women’s leadership, yoga and interpersonal growth. She volunteers with the YWCA Women’s March. She has taught in many national events and festivals.

Erin’s superpower is her keen ability to see blind-spots in organizations, teams and individuals. Once a blind-spot (an unconscious pattern that is sabotaging a goal) is identified, she creates the psychological safety for people to fearlessly face their problems head-on and make powerful changes that stick. When Erin is on your team, look out! She doesn’t settle: She will make sure you meet your goals. 

In her free time, you’ll find Erin reading books of all sort, outdoors adventuring, mentoring young women, traveling the world as a traditional rock-climber, doing Gyrotonics®, spending time with her family, traveling and generally savoring life in all it has to offer, in full color.

”I offer systemic and individual solutions to one of our most pressing cultural problems: isolation and depression that roots in a lack of understanding how to engage meaningful human connection.”

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