I’ve been extra curious the past few weeks. I’ve been checking out new things, meeting and talking to new people, and showing up at new types of events and the like. That means I’m introducing myself a lot and answering questions about what I do and why. I haven’t really had to do that for a couple of years, you know?

Sometimes I say that I’m a life coach, sometimes a success coach or leadership coach, depending upon who is in the conversation with me. If they’re interested, I share some version of my niche: I help women in STEM get a bigger role without going back to school or working harder.

Life coaching has become much more mainstream in the past few years, so I don’t get too many questions about what that means anymore. But I do get a lot of questions about my niche, so I thought I’d answer them here. It’s good practice for me.

Q: What’s STEM?  A: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Q: What’s a niche? A: Another name for my field of specialization.

Q: Why do you need a niche? A: It helps me focus on my special skills, and also be clearer on my messaging and marketing.

Q: Why women in STEM? A: I’m a woman who has successfully worked in STEM for many years. I understand the challenges that women face in careers in male-dominated industries, like STEM industries.

Q: Why do you say without going back to school or working harder? A: As women, we are conditioned think differently about ourselves than our male counterparts. We are more likely to underestimate ourselves and our abilities. We assume we have to work harder or get more credibility through education to earn a promotion. We don’t recognize all the leadership skills that are transferrable from other facets of our lives.

Q: Who, why, how are women conditioned? A: We’re all conditioned by the social systems that we grow up in. For most of us, it’s the patriarchal, colonizing system. It runs so deep that we often aren’t even aware of the conditioning – we just assume some things are true. Like, women are more emotional than men, or women aren’t as good at science, or much, much worse. We are all being conditioned to believe that women are powerless and that we don’t have the right to make our own moral decisions.

Q: Do you only work with women? A. Oh hell no! I really work with people. I can speak to women from my own experience. Because I believe that the system is what’s broken. Not men, not women. The system. It’s shit for men today, too.

Q: How can I say that if men benefit? My answer: I don’t think that men really do benefit today. It’s easier, but not better. Because I was mother to a boy who is now a man. I know this because the world would be a much better place without that system.

I know that the world will be a much better place for everyone when tear down the patriarchal, colonizing systems and the conditioning that keeps them in place.  My work is to help that happen, one person at a time.

In the meantime, remember these things: You are loved. We are all loved. Let’s all be kind. And in all things – progress, not perfection!

Maggie

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I have room for a couple of one-on-one clients right now. Send me an email if you’d like to talk: maggie@maggiehuffman.com