Out Loud Coaching
True Voices, Inc., is a coaching company serving individuals and teams in a variety of industries. Our client list may be diverse, but the common threads are clear: our clients are passionate, authentic people like you, ready to put yourself out there and risk your way to fulfillment and success. We work with:
- individuals who yearn to be more fully themselves in both work and the rest of life,
- partners (business partners, couples, etc.) who want thriving, harmonious relationships,
- teams that are ready to perform at a higher level, and
- businesses seeking to develop the strengths of their key players.
Our mission is radical: We help you embrace your true voice – that which is truly you – and let go of that which isn’t. We inspire you to be YOU, on your own terms. Ultimately, we help you to be you outk loud. That means taking the inspired actions and risks, big and small, that will further your learning process and lead to the exciting changes and results you want in your life.
“When you are working and playing from your truest essence, your potential for joyful success in all areas is exponentially unlimited!” ~ Laura Biering
Laura’s Story
Beginning on a High Note
I began my career as an opera singer. Not exactly what you’d call a safe, conservative career choice.
Well-meaning loved-ones asked, “What will you do if you fail?” They advised me to get an education degree so I could teach music as a fall-back plan. So practical, so cautious, so… dull (for me)! I knew I might not succeed as an opera singer. But I instinctively knew I had to take the risk… or risk later regret.
So I leapt, and became that opera singer. I studied with great voice teachers, I got up on the stages, sang the notes, and wore the fabulous costumes. I was indeed living my dream and not letting the cautious fall-back plan stifle me.
Sounds like a fairy tale ending, right? Well, it turns out my career path was meant to take a number of sharp turns.
From High Notes to High Rises
I moved to Atlanta from Houston to pursue my singing career. I wanted to sing, but I also needed a way to pay the bills until my “big break.” So, I got a job as a receptionist with a large, well-known law firm while also pursuing my singing career.
Eventually, I realized I didn’t have the temperament to be both happy and successful as an opera singer. I still loved singing, but had to be honest with myself that this was no longer my profession of choice. I decided to stay at the law firm – I stayed at the law firm (for 13 years)! I was good at my work and enjoyed it. I worked my way up, became a certified paralegal, worked as a legal recruiter and then in professional development. he business and management experience I gained was invaluable, and I simply adored many of my co-workers.
During my time at the firm, I became particularly enthralled with the professional development work I was doing with the lawyers, and began discovering that I had a strong passion for helping people explore and pursue their own dreams.
Leaping Without a Net
While I loved working at the law firm, I also knew I just had to follow the inner yearning that was beckoning me to make a change. I made the difficult – and risky – decision to leave my secure job with the firm. I didn’t even know quite exactly where I was going! Following my heart and making that leap, is one of the bravest things I have done in my life.
As it turns out, making that couragous move, along with honoring my passion for working with people lead me straight to becoming a professional coach, where I am privileged to help others find their true voices. Oh, the beautiful irony that it took leaving the opera to find my true voice!
The Power of Vulnerability
More risks. More bravery. After years of dealing with an eating disorder, I made another vulnerable choice – the choice of putting myself in treatment. I knew I had the chance for a really good life, so as scary as it was, I went to the hospital and got on the road to recovery. I was finally dealing with the food and body image issues from which I had been suffering from for so long.
Sometime after that, I saw a one-woman show, most of it performed in the nude. The way the performer, Aviva Jane Carlin, claimed the power in her vulnerability – it simply blew me away! I was struck by her wisdom as she conveyed her experience of the first time she appeared naked on stage. She said that she realized in that moment she was both the most vulnerable and the most powerful person in the room. In that instant, it hit me that vulnerability and power are two sides of the same coin.
I thought wow, wow, wow! What could I learn about myself from this? How might I benefit, were I able to do this? I wanted to know what it would feel like to get in front of people without my clothes and not crumble or disappear. I knew in my heart that it would bring me more alive, not less. So I bolstered my courage, shed my clothes, and began posing as a nude model for life drawing classes and classes at a celebrated sculpture studio.
There is such amazing power in having something to “bump up against.” In this case, that “something” was the art students’ reactions to my body and their renderings of it, and hearing the teacher describe my body while instructing the students. These experiences and more forced me to see myself in new and more liberating ways, ways that were invaluable in helping me to conquer seemingly unconquerable demons about my own body and image.
These brave risks have certainly altered the course of my life for the better. I’m a much stronger person today, and more alive than I ever could be living under a shroud of “shoulds” and “fall-back plans.” I write about risk-taking in my blog, riskaday.com, where I share my experiences about taking risks – not for the heck of it – but for learning and growth.
My Coaching Style
What my clients say they love about my style of coaching is the emphasis on how personal power is borne of vulnerability. As your coach, I draw from my authentic self – my own power and vulnerability. I’ve been told that I create a safe, nurturing and inspiring space for clients to tap into their own strengths, courage, and wisdom, so that their hidden moxie is revealed. And that’s where the magic happens and we honor our dreams!
In addition to my experience and training as a coach, I bring deep compassion and humor to the process of unfolding your true self. I’m committed to your radical success, however you define that for yourself.
I think you’ll find that my zeal for coaching people who want to do enlivening work and live inspired lives is infectious. I am fired up about the power of taking risks great and small. I’m also passionate about celebrating life with the people I love, allowing the arts to move me, retreating at my farm, Brinson’s Race, in Southeast Georgia, and frolicking with my adorable four-legged children.
I’ve logged thousands of hours as a professional coach – I’ve seen the power of this process! In other words – come prepared to have fun and make some changes, too!
Background and Credentials
You’ve read my story – my mosaic career that lead me from opera singer to legal recruiter to professional coach. I’ve also been a bank teller and am an ordained minister. And the client list I serve? Well, it is just as varied. And here are some details about my education and key affiliations, and recent awards:
Education/Training
- Authorized Facilitator, Team Diagnostic Assessment, Team Coaching Internations
- Graduate, Lucid Living Program
- Certified Strategic Attraction Coach, Perfect Customers, Inc.
- Certified Co-Active Coach, The Coaches Training Institute
- Ordained Minister, Madonna Ministry
- Certified Facilitator, The Artist’s Way at Work
- Certified Facilitator of Expressive Dance, Awakening to the Divine Feminine, Priestess Process,
The Institute of Conscious Expression - Certified Paralegal, with honors, National Center for Paralegal Training (ABA accredited)
- Bachelor and Master of Music (Vocal Performance), Rice University
Affiliations
- True Voices, Inc., Founder & CEO
- Corner Office Coaching, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer
- Georgia Coach Association, past board member, member
- International Coach Federation, past committee member, member
- The Complete Lawyer e-zine, Senior Editor and contributing author
- ProWIN (Professional Women’s Information Network); Co-Founder, Co-Chair of the ProCoaching Committee, member
- Decatur Business Association of Decatur, member
- A Guide to Getting It: Sacred Healing, contributing author
- Love your Body, Live your LifeSM program and products, creator
- Organic NetworkingSM program, Co-Creator
Awards
- Chosen as a Service Provider for the Young Professional of Decatur 2001, Grant Recipient
- Nominated for the 2008 Prism Award for Excellence in Organizational Coaching
Be sure to check out my RiskADAY blog: www.riskaday.com.
