MY STORY

It took me over two decades to figure out how find peace and thrive inside and outside the world of tech. I can’t wait to show you how to do it in a few months!

“The worst experiences in my career were at my highest moments.”

HOW I GOT HERE

I’m an overachiever. Always have been. I learned very early that good grades and academic achievements were my best bet for positive attention. And so it went into adulthood, always in search of that next milestone, that next degree or certification or title. Thinking if I just reached that next milestone in my life or career, if I just got that top-tier MBA or founded a venture backed company or built something big that people had heard of, I’d get to feel like I’d really accomplished something. But I just kept climbing higher and higher and it never changed. In fact, the worst experiences I’ve had in my career were (uncoincidentally) at my highest moments.

“I believeD that crippling self-doubt was just part of the journey for someone like me”

THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED

When I say I grew up poor, I don’t mean I had a job in high school poor. I mean government cheese poor. I mean Pell grants and scholarships and the first to ever earn a bachelor’s kind of poor. I wrote on this in detail years ago, so I won’t rehash it here. Suffice it to say, I understand imposter syndrome on a deep, visceral level. Navigating an insider’s cocktail party is not just feeling like I don’t belong, it’s the very real statistical anomaly of me being there at all. This led me to believe that my sometimes crippling self-doubt was just part of the journey for someone like me. (Spoiler alert: that's bullshit.) So for over two decades as I moved into ever more male-dominated spaces within tech, first as a female founder in enterprise software and then in venture capital circles, I thought that the respect and acknowledgement I craved was just a matter of time and hard work.

“It took me over two decades to find peace and thrive inside and outside the world of tech”

THE AWAKENING

After switching gears in 2017 and running an organization for women in tech along with endless books, workshops, courses, and (of course) certifications in gender and ethnic studies, I turned to coaching for more personal growth. The transformation I saw in myself led me to (you guessed it) coaching certification with the singular mission of building an army of strong-minded folks who have been underestimated, underpaid and undervalued to crush the thoughts and beliefs that prop up the white, male, cis, heteronormative, classist, ableist, sizeist, patriarchal systems that allows those that fit the description to fail upward with factory-level precision. I founded Unbound & Unbothered and earned my certification through the The Life Coach School studying under its famed founder, Brook Castillo, followed by additional training under intersectional coaching guru and leader of the feminist mindset revolution, Kara Loewenthiel of Unfuck Your Brain. It took me over two decades to find peace and thrive inside and outside the world of tech. I can’t wait to show you how to do it in a few months!

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WORK WITH ME

TESTIMONIALS

“I've noticed such a positive change in all areas of my life - situations that previously would have overwhelmed me are totally manageable now. I'm less anxious (fewer Sunday Scaries), more clear-headed, and able to be more productive both inside and outside of work. I'm so glad I took the leap and worked with Gretchen!”
- Leah M.
“I needed the mindset work Gretchen specializes in to help me understand what it is I really, truly wanted, and how to set up my life to accomplish it. It was about digging deep, understanding my true self and beliefs, and then working through that to both set goals that truly fit with what I wanted and to be able to recognize the mental blockers that were holding me back, along with the tools to overcome those blockers.”
- Robin D.
“The way that Gretchen deftly weaves in her feminist studies into her mindset work is both unique and invaluable. She helped me uncover a lot of socialization I would have sworn I didn’t have so that I could look at them in the light of day. It was this awareness that allowed me to start making changes that have massively lowered my anxiety and helped me be more present in my daily life.”
- Amy W.
“Gretchen is serious badassery no matter what realm we are discussing. She brings her full self to the table - from hustling startup co-founder/COO/creative maven and to her very real human experiences as a woman who rose out of a trailer park. Her honesty, humor, and brilliance shine through in her coaching that we are all blessed to have. She will challenge and encourage you while you’ll feel as though you’re hanging out with your best girlfriends!”
- Tina S.
“My one-on-one coaching helped me gain insight into what I had been telling myself about my goals that kept me stuck. The work on over-analyzing and second guessing really resonated with me. The approach and tools she introduced enabled me to move forward. Invaluable experience!”
-Heidi H.
“Gretchen understands the value she can bring to the challenges you’re experiencing. She pushed me to make measurable progress. I was in my own way and she taught me how to take a new approach to change the outcome.”
— Leah K.

MY COACHING METHOD

Intersectional Feminism

Actively working to crush the limiting thoughts and beliefs that prop up the white, male, cis, heteronormative, classist, ableist, sizeist, patriarchal systems that allows those that fit the description to fail upward with factory-level precision
Thought Work

Our thoughts create the results we see in our lives. But it’s never as simple as affirmations and power poses because they fail to address the underlying beliefs about ourselves. Thought work is a tool for lasting change because it unveils and destroys the limiting system of beliefs we have about our capabilities.
Behavioral Theory

Putting thought work into action requires a series of steps to create last change by leaning on the theories and practices of persuasive design and behavioral economics pioneers such as BJ Fogg, Dan Ariely, Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler.