My Story

Like many women, I learned about my own ADHD around the same time my first child was diagnosed at age five. It made sense: the condition is highly inheritable, plus I could easily recognize myself in my child’s impulses. What I couldn’t appreciate at the time was just how important it would be for me to understand how the condition affected me throughout my life and how it would continue to impact me as a parent, as a wife, and as a woman of color.

ADHD is often missed in young girls. In fact, 30 is the average age that most women are diagnosed with the neurobiological disorder.

I now know that I was one of those girls whose ADHD went undetected in the classroom precisely because I was quiet and could sit still. This type of ADHD is the Inattentive kind, which is the most difficult type to detect and the least studied.

I had trouble learning to read (l suspect due to undiagnosed dyslexia) and was generally miserable at school, but I knew that the classroom was not the place for outbursts or acts of aggression. I learned to be “nice” on the outside, but on the inside, it was a different world. I learned to listen carefully to others and search for hidden meanings behind their words, because their actions seemed to conflict with what they said and how they said it. I began to doubt my own magic in a world that told me I was not smart, not beautiful, and that I was bad on the inside. My experiences with my peers only served to reinforce a negative mindset. I grew to be hard on myself and others. When I received my official diagnosis, I embraced it. It was the answer to the question that had eluded me for so long. I worked with a therapist and began to take medication, the effects of which I felt immediately at work. I remember feeling like I could think clearly, as if a fog had been lifted.

Adults with undiagnosed, untreated, or undertreated ADHD are at higher risk of experiencing mood disorders, extreme sadness, anxiety, isolation, and exhaustion.

Breaking free from the grip of generational mental illness.

Coming to understand who I am and how ADHD affects me has been a process, but one that has come with incredible benefits. During the forced pause of the pandemic, I gave myself permission to try meditation again. I began to journal regularly and to cultivate my relationship with God and the divine within me. I reconnected with nature and relearned how to breathe. Slowly, but steadily, I saw my efforts rewarded with a newfound peace in my mind and heart. The more I practiced, the closer I came to align with that invisible tether that binds all things between heaven and earth.

Following my north star

My path to coaching was paved by both big and small acts. I took the steps, one-by-one then two-by-two. And in this manner, I found myself one day sitting in on a virtual information session at the ADD Coaching Academy. Here was another decision to make, another leap of faith.

Through my ADHD coach training, I learned about the beauty and awesomeness of the ADHD brain. I also learned about its limitations and how to work with our inherent strengths when we are challenged. I learned that (as almost every coach I meet says), “if you’ve met one person with ADHD, you’ve met just one person with ADHD.” I learned about the mighty POWER of the PAUSE and how mastering this key skill leads to improved outcomes in all areas of life. I learned the art of meeting clients where they are and how to partner with them to define goals and to question the narratives that no longer serve them.

Why do I coach? Because I have seen the transformative power that comes from working with an effective coach. My goal is to help others, whether it’s a newly diagnosed mom, parents, adults, teens, and seniors to live and thrive with ADHD.