I Read This Bio Anytime I Feel Like I Haven’t Accomplished Anything

Melissa Pierce, LECC
I started coaching in 2006 because it was one of the only professions I could have that helped people in which I could set my own hours and work from home. I used to refer to myself not as a work-at-home parent but a “work-during-naptime” parent because that’s when I took my client calls. In 2010, when my children were old enough for school, I sold my coaching practice to try new exciting things. It was a fascinating journey but after each new adventure, I always came back to coaching. Helping others make sense of themselves and their businesses is just what I’m meant to do.

I call myself a co-creative life coach because I believe our interactions in coaching sessions are an act of creation we perform together in order to bring you the life you want. I call my particular coaching method “Insight Outing” because my coaching centers on understanding your creative and emotional self, getting down to the root of who you are and learning how that manifests into shaping who you are and who you want to be. If you are ready to make a meaningful shift in your personal and professional life, I’m ready for you.

In my non-coaching life, I continue to discover insights for small businesses and corporations through a combination of brand discovery, brand voice building, and web presence building (from designing websites to social media presence strategies).

I’m a recognized member of the Chicago tech community and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. In 2010 I directed and produced the documentary Life in Perpetual Beta about how access to the internet is changing the way we work, think, and connect. In 2011 I founded Chicago Women Developers, an organization for women in and interested in computer programming. I was also on the founding team of Everpurse, a handbag designed to discreetly charge the cell phones of women on the go and was the Business Operations Professor at a local start-up school. I’ve organized and produced conferences and workshops on subjects as varied as pitching press and investors, to human connectedness and emotional mastery.

In 2017 I started the women’s wellness company, Ellementa, with my long time friend Aliza Sherman. Together we build a bustling media and events company focused on women’s stories and voices.

I own the video production company, Optimist Lens, where we are working on the upcoming documentary Born with Curiosity – The Grace Hopper Story, (2020), and am also on the board of Chicago community social services resource mRelief.  These things, creative writing, and spending time with my three precocious children are what brings me joy these days. It’s an amazing life, and I’m ferociously grateful to live it.

I already know that I’m delighted to meet you, and I’m so looking forward to helping you live a life you love, whatever that means to you.