This power lady is a coach, facilitator, and teacher with a big heart. Anna-Riikka has been coaching hundreds of people on their professional and personal ambitions, goals, and dreams since 2012. She has a background in leadership and training, managing three different teams, facilitating over 100 events, and teaching thousands of people - a number that just keeps growing. In her past life (which seems a life-time ago) she worked as a project manager and later as a teacher for two years.
“What has driven me forward is my curiosity to understand myself and others – what makes us learn and act as we do. I’ve always been inspired by big, crazy, bold, and creative ideas and by people who follow their calling, know themselves inside out, and have the courage to show up and make things happen. I feel grateful I have got these people around me with whom I have also had the honor to work on incredible projects.”
“I got into coaching because I’ve always been good with people. However; it was not until 2014 that I finally had the courage to leave my paycheck job and become an entrepreneur. In fact, it was a friend of mine who asked: "what would I do if I wasn’t afraid?" I immediately knew there and then that I had no other choice than give coaching a chance – and here I am today. My mission has been to work with my coachees to get them to wake up to a world of possibilities. And all I can say is that this is a job that has shaken me to my core.”
“Looking back there are a couple of things that have shaped my personal and professional life in the last 5 years. In 2015 I thought I don’t have the time to create and host a 10-day leadership seminar in Romania with a hand-picked team of facilitators and coaches. Now I’m thankful I took the challenge and co-created that unforgettable experience because it is what lights me up at the end of the day: to be able to co-create spaces for people to come together and learn from one another. The following year I had by far one of the most humbling experiences to go back to Uni after a ridiculously long break to finish my master’s thesis on linguistics. It taught me a lot about resilience that has later become one of my superpowers.”
“More recently I have become a mother and that’s been revelatory in every possible way. I’ve learned a lot about myself, both the good and bad, and I've given myself the opportunity to dive deeper into my being with the support of a coach. It has become clearer to me that I want to live from a sense of beauty, safety, and joy, both at home and at work.”
Anna-Riikka enjoys working with individuals and companies who are looking to express a deeper calling in this life and to work on their wellbeing. You can book your first coaching conversation with her for free here.
If you have any questions for her, pop her a message here.
In this blog series we make you familiar with us and introduce you to our precious members - your personal growth agents. Up next will be Pauliina, a world-class trainer and coach, and the chairman of Growthroom's board!