Hi, my name is Latisha Turner. I am a certified life and career transition coach. I also work in a leadership role for a fortune 500 company. As a transition coach, I work with women and young adults who are transitioning from school to work, from entry level positions to leadership, from corporate job to small business. My specialty is helping people overcome their fear of stepping out on faith and taking risk to reach the next level in their lives whether it was choice or force. I have been a certified life coach for 4 years and in my leadership role for over 20 years.
My process of “Becoming” on this journey has not always been easy but has been rewarding once I learned from the mistakes I made along the way. I also learned to self-identify areas of opportunities and I have had a few destiny helpers who pushed me to find my purpose. This journey began 20 years ago when I started my first job as a travel reservation specialist. The company believed in me and saw me as a coach and leader in the making. This job gave me an opportunity to tap into a new skill which was coaching. I was asked to trial a new position called a sales coach. I was ecstatic and excited they picked me. I was going to be able to coach people to success by spending one on one time with them, setting goals, and monitoring their success.

I had no idea that this position was my life purpose. It was putting me on my path to where I’m at now in my life coaching business and a manager for a fortune 500 company. Then this happened, the company shut down. I was devasted because this job tapped into something I wanted to do. When the company shut down, I decided to start my own business at 22. I did it! I opened a retail store called “TT’s Got IT.” Then this happened, boy did I step out there on the edge of a cliff by taking that bold step open a retail store.
My clothing business started to decline, and my funds were running out. I had to make a decision to let go of my dream and get back into the workforce working for someone but before I completely closed my shop, I decided to do some research regarding grants and business loans. I went to the Small Business Administration office in my area to see if they can help me grow my business by giving me funding in the form of a grant to keep going only to be told,” Girl your business is not going to make it without a solid plan”. I walked out discouraged and I decided to start a new job directing me back into the coaching field.

I moved up rapidly to where I then became an Operation Manager at 24 years old. I was the youngest African American women without a GED to be in an Operation Manager position and the only female among men in that level in that company. I was training other people to transition to supervisors and managers with little to no experience but those coaching skills. I learned help me help others it came natural to me. Then this happened, with more responsibility it became more difficult to balance work and home life which caused division in my home.
I was already feeling the pressure to excel because I had to prove myself worthy these top leaders who were mostly men in the company. I didn’t have that much experience of being a leader and at that time I could only model the manager that taught me how to manager which was also a man. It was truly an on-the-job training I must say; but my performance never wavered. I ended up leaving this job because I was having a hard time balancing business and life which was overwhelming. It was affecting my family. I couldn’t keep up with the large demands the company was putting on me, my first-born son also needed me since his dad worked on the road most of the time.
I was missing precious time, but I wanted to be able to provide all that I could for him. I then stumbled upon the fortune 500 company that I work for now. I wanted this job so bad. I did not want to lead or manager anyone. I only wanted to be responsible for myself. I needed flexibility and I needed to be there with my son. I wanted this job so bad, it forced me to go get my GED because you couldn’t apply without having one. I also couldn’t tell my young son that he needed to finish school if I didn’t.
This job has been a blessing to me, and it has taught me so many things. It also allowed me to grow, and they gave me the resources to become a better me. I excelled into several positions. I have been a part being a leader who has been given many positions that required me to start them up. I am still there needless to say 15 years. I am in a leadership position, and I have helped many people along the way to pave their path to success in their roles. I was also able to receive resources to go to college and receive my Associates Degree in Business management.

Throughout this journey, I really didn’t have anyone to push me in my family as no one in my family has done the things that I have done. My family depended on me to make a way for us. I was happy I was blessed to have these opportunities and what felt even better is I was breaking records and generation curses that I did not know at that time. The support came from memories of my grandmother who believed in everything I did as a child (rest her soul). I’ve also had some leaders who mentored me that I ran across in my career. Believe it or not there were many Self-help books I read to improve my personal growth and continue to learn, as well as utilizing resources that were available to me to be able to excel. All these things were ideas planted from God. He was guiding me into my purpose, and I didn’t even realize it at that time.
It will be hard juggling work and children but if you want it bad enough, it will take planning and balance.
I’ve had to work hard to get to the next level in every position while also juggling children, but I used that as my goal to push forward one because I want to leave my children with generational wealth and not debt, but it requires perseverance no matter the obstacle. I’ve been told no, I’ve been called aggressive, I’ve also been turned down on numerous jobs, I’ve been looked down on, but it did not stop me from taking risk as I learned something new to build onto my skill to make me better at what I am destined to do. I had a plan and a goal to achieve.
I tell you my story one because the number one thing that stands in our way sometimes is letting our situations limit us. “Oh, I have a kid so I can’t possibly do that let me wait until they get a certain age, or oh I am not good enough to do this because I see so many other people doing it and I can’t possibly compete for that race.” What I learned from each one of those jobs were that on the first job I was discovering my purpose which was leadership and coaching. On the second job I learned that taking risk is good, but I needed to learn to plan my goals. I needed a strategy plan to implement it if I wanted it to be successful. I searched for wholesalers, and likeminded people.
In my current job I learned to search out resources and improve in areas needed to get to the next level of leadership as well perfecting my skill not only for my job but for many other jobs outside of that. I learned to share my skill and take others under my wing to share the practice of doing research and taking advantage of resources to help me build myself up. I began to speak up and ask for what I wanted and not what others wanted me to do. I had to keep learning and researching to perfect my skill and while doing so I added some mentors along the way.
You need a coach and a mentor to help you in your journey, get feedback you may not want to hear to grow, and a solid plan of action to get started. Each job taught me something and has prepared me for the next level in not only by current job but how I can use this in my coaching business. Now go for it! What I want to leave you with is to trust the process. If it had not been for God ordering my steps and putting things in my life in his perfect timing; I would have made the choice to be comfortable in the way my family lived and not step out on Faith.
I have always gone after what I wanted without thinking twice about it but now I do it with the approval of God who leads my path. I really wasn’t alone when I thought I was. He was there for me. He taught me that when you follow him, you may have to start out alone in the natural world, but he was always with me in the supernatural. This is the reason I decided to become a life coach.
I want to give back to people by helping them find their way, find their purpose, and give them the resources to move forward. I want to be someone’s destiny helper as I have experienced these transitions in moving to higher positions at work and starting my own business. I have learned to juggle it and I know what it takes to make it happen with faith as small as a mustard seed. I want you to know that God always blesses us with people at the right time during the right season, so I want to be a blessing to others. Its ok to take a risk and step out on faith so that you can do exactly what you have already been gifted to do. If God gave you the idea, he will bless you with the tools, the people, the finances to carry it out. Receive it in the name of Jesus!
I have been truly blessed. I am a proud mother of two children. I women of God. A business owner of multiple businesses and a leader in the corporate world. It can be done just stay focused, determined, and driven.

Currently I offer mini-workshop sessions to teach working women to go forth, have confidence, and apply for that higher position. One of my packages is called, “Overcomer.” It helps working women to overcome some of the obstacles that stand in there way of stepping out. I also have workshops as available for young adults called, “Find your way.” Sometimes as young adults it’s hard making major life decision and sometimes there’s no one there in your family just as it was for me to prepare me.
All of my sessions work with transitional stages so if you are a working mom wanting to transition into a higher position or transition into starting your own business, my workshops will help you prepare to get there. If you are a young adult needing guidance on getting prepared to really do the “Adulting” thing, my sessions will prepare you for the transition. You can reach me by going to my website for a consultation and booking information at www.Lrtransitioncoach.com or you can email me at lrtransitioncoach@gmail.com.

Latisha Turner