Hi, I'm Keri Bailey!
I’ve always been curious about the choices people make and fascinated with how different the outcomes are. Maybe it was being the daughter of an English immigrant and Fullbright Scholar who set sail on the Queen Elizabeth to make a new life in America, or maybe it was my mom’s midwest farm roots that instilled a tenacious work ethic and positive perseverance to go after a goal. Most likely it was the combination of both that has led me to always dream big and cultivate bold beliefs and actions to make it all happen.
After graduating at the top of my class in college, navigating a 20-year marketing career in Silicon Valley, going solo as a marketing consultant, and leading as founder and CEO of my very own tech startup, I can attest to "the only constant in life is change!" It’s learning how to create Courageous Change that leads to true freedom, fulfillment, and the kind of satisfaction that not only lights up your mind but soothes your soul.
Over the past two decades I’ve gone through many cycles of Courageous Change™ that have served to bring my work and life into greater alignment. It has been as challenging as it has been rewarding. I’m an ex-corporate climber turned personal and professional development coach, speaker, and thought-leader, all thanks to an insatiable thirst for growth, relentless commitment to my authentic self, and a fearless attitude toward change.
But the road I’ve traveled hasn’t been perfectly paved. In fact, it’s been anything but! (See below for proof!) I’ve learned to find magic in the mess and joy in the journey by using every failure as fuel and each challenge as an opportunity for positive change. Looking back, it could have been much faster and far less painful if I had a method and a personal guide to show me the way and walk by my side. And that’s what I want to do for you.
Now, I’m on a mission to help other big-hearted, big thinkers, like you, skip the headaches and the heartache, make your Courageous Change, and accelerate your trajectory towards your most aligned life...because I can tell you from experience, it feels sooooo good!
What Courageous Change is calling you? I can’t wait to hear your story and partner with you to make it happen!
My Story
1976:
A Solid Start
The third (and final) child born to a midwest farm girl and an immigrant English scholar, I was raised with a beautiful example of creative resourcefulness, enthusiasm for hard work and a dogged determination to go out and create a life you love.
1981:
Culture Shock (in the Best Way)
My world expanded overnight. At 5 years old, our family left our cozy Southern California bungalow for chilly and proper England on my dad’s professor-exchange sabbatical. Learning to read in an English accent and traveling through Europe blew my mind wide open! I fell in love with new perspectives, people, places and cultures.
1986:
My World Expanded...Again
My parents took us all out of school to travel for 6 months to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand on my dad’s second sabbatical. Living in a tiny rustic beachfront studio on Oahu for a month, and camping for 60 days straight while driving 12,000 miles around Australia was the best experiential learning I could imagine. My desire to take the road less traveled was solidified.
1987-1994:
Diving into Life
From 4-H and band to drama club, swim team, volunteer work, and student government, I wanted to know what I was capable of and there was only one way to find out. I stretched myself to try new things and learn all I could. I graduated top of my high school class and as Student Body President, delivered a graduation speech to stadium of thousands entitled “There Are No U-turns.”
1994-1998:
A Strange New Land…Silicon Valley
Voted “Most Likely to be a cut-throat executive with a heart of gold” by my freshman class, I launched myself into a world of private university education (and price tag!). I took the dean’s “Welcome Message” that students should expect to drop a full grade point average, from their high school GPA, as a personal challenge and achieved straight A’s. Alongside a 20 hour per week big tech company internship, I graduated as a runner-up to the Valedictorian.
1999-2007:
DotCom Bomb to DotCom Mom
Despite college accolades and two years of tech internships, I started my career with a painfully low salary plus a heap of student loan debt. Determined to rise up, I used every setback as fuel and tripled my salary in two years. 6 job changes, 3 house-moves, 2 layoffs, one mortgage, and too many roommates later, I married my forever partner in life and love, and took on the most important role of my life– Mom.
2008-2009:
From Heartbreak to Leap of Faith
Determined to not have motherhood derail my corporate climb, I took on an executive role as a new mom. I converted a small conference room to a pumping station and even had the nanny bring my baby to the parking lot for feedings. Excitement turned to exhaustion as the juggle of motherhood and work demands intensified, and all the stress caught up with me at the 18-week OB check-up which showed no heartbeat for our second baby. Devastated and disillusioned, I resigned 2 months later and went all-in on family.
2009-2012:
Redefining Success...for Myself
Choosing between career success and growing a healthy family felt like a choice between cutting off my arms or my legs, but my supportive husband and deep faith pulled me through. Trading 11 hour office days for 20 hour Mommy days was a serious identity crisis. I learned to let go of external recognition, tune in to my internal compass, and be enough for myself. I found a new and deeply rewarding identity outside of my professional achievements.
2012-2016:
Finding "Work-Life Balance”?
Though deeply in love with motherhood, my drive and business capabilities never left me and I wondered if working part-time could be the best of both worlds. Pregnant with baby #3 and on partial bed rest, a former manager asked me to come work at a start-up in San Francisco, and thus started my part-time consulting work. I loved having a foot in both worlds, but “work-life balance” felt more like a “balancing act” as I raced between kids and clients.
2017-2018:
CEO... A Dream Come True?
After decades of focusing my time, talent and energy on other people’s companies, I felt the moment was right to pursue the seedling of an idea I’d been nurturing for 8 years. After a few serendipitous events and a successful pitch, I secured funding and was officially CEO of my very own startup. But what I thought would be the Holy Grail of my professional pursuits ended up feeling further away from living my values and the mission of the investors was no longer in line with my most authentic self.
2018-2019:
The Deep Think & Great Reminder
I made the excruciating decision to exit my startup not knowing what came next. I met with my mentors, discussed with my friends, prayed, meditated and met with a coach. Then I picked up a book I hadn’t read in 20 years, and there in the margins in my own handwriting dated Aug. 4, 2000 was this: “My greatest passion is helping others see what is possible and realize their dreams.” This was the reminder I needed, and this time, I wasn’t waiting another minute to dive into coaching full time and heart first.
2019-Present:
The Big Click
After working with clients, studying the process, and seeing the transformation, I realized there was definitely a pattern to successfully navigating change that allowed each person to take hold of the reins and get the results they wanted. I reflected on all of the tough transitions and studied the pivotal shifts that brought me to a place of true freedom, fulfillment, and ownership of my work and life and I created a clearer, calmer, quicker approach to creating purpose-filled productive change...the Courageous Change Accelerator is born!
The Courageous Change Check-Up™
Take the quiz and find out which of the 3 links in the Courageous Change Cycle is keeping you from having what you really want.
