ABOUT ME
Welcome!
I am Melissa Arthur, National Board Certified Health & Wellness and Executive Leadership Coach, and Founder of Illuminate Guidance, LLC. I help purpose-driven leaders to experience more joy and balance in their lives and health while developing their capacity to lead and succeed as executives and entrepreneurs. I believe each of us has the power to create a healthy, joyful, purpose-driven life. For most of us, there’s a gap between our current experience of life and our highest aspirations. When we are supported and open to exploring this gap, new resources and possibilities emerge.
As an entrepreneur, I owned a successful yoga studio for 10 years and now run a thriving coaching business. In my professional career, I have served as a director in a non-profit organization and as a health coach in a primary care clinic. In addition to being a national board certified health & wellness and leadership coach, I have 20 years experience in organizational development, community engagement, and education program management.
My approach is empathetic and action-oriented. Friends and strangers alike are drawn to my ability to lovingly listen to and accept them for exactly who they are, while challenging them to become more of who they are meant to be. My clients often say that my zest for life, joyful presence, and infectious laughter help them feel at ease, with a sense that something wonderful is about to happen.
I am Melissa Arthur, National Board Certified Health & Wellness and Executive Leadership Coach, and Founder of Illuminate Guidance, LLC. I help purpose-driven leaders to experience more joy and balance in their lives and health while developing their capacity to lead and succeed as executives and entrepreneurs. I believe each of us has the power to create a healthy, joyful, purpose-driven life. For most of us, there’s a gap between our current experience of life and our highest aspirations. When we are supported and open to exploring this gap, new resources and possibilities emerge.
As an entrepreneur, I owned a successful yoga studio for 10 years and now run a thriving coaching business. In my professional career, I have served as a director in a non-profit organization and as a health coach in a primary care clinic. In addition to being a national board certified health & wellness and leadership coach, I have 20 years experience in organizational development, community engagement, and education program management.
My approach is empathetic and action-oriented. Friends and strangers alike are drawn to my ability to lovingly listen to and accept them for exactly who they are, while challenging them to become more of who they are meant to be. My clients often say that my zest for life, joyful presence, and infectious laughter help them feel at ease, with a sense that something wonderful is about to happen.
My Coaching Journey
Coaching professionally was a mid-life career shift, although I have always had a natural inclination toward coaching friends and peers. In my earlier professional life, I served 16 years as a director in a non-profit organization that connects kids with nature, and owned a yoga studio for 10 years. I was first introduced to professional coaching when healing through a health crisis of my own in 2010. With the guidance of a health coach, I made changes to improve my stress response, diet and lifestyle that addressed the root cause of a disease progression for which western medicine offered no cure. This personal experience with the healing power of lifestyle changes and the support of a skilled and caring coach opened my heart and mind to coaching.
Years later, teaching a workshop about aligning with Dharma (life purpose) at my yoga studio challenged me to re-examine my career path. As I engaged with my students in the work of Dharma discovery, the words nourish, connect, and transform came up for me again and again. My inner wisdom revealed that my innate ability to help others to realize their deep desires for self-actualization, vibrant wellness, and joy is the most important work of my life. This has always been my nature, but I had been pursuing other professional interests while quietly supporting those in my inner circle to transform their lives. I began to feel pulled to spend more time supporting clients one on one. Not long after, The Kansas Leadership Center, where I was engaged in leadership development programs, offered an ICF accredited leadership coach training program, and I was off and running toward an exciting career shift.
I founded Illuminate Guidance, LLC in 2017, and began building my private practice as a leadership coach, while also providing wellness coaching to my students at the yoga studio. In an unexpected turn, I was recruited by Vera Whole Health to work as a health coach in a primary care clinic, and served part time in this role for 3 years while continuing to build my business. I enjoyed the leadership challenge of serving as part of an integrated medical team that opened 2 new advanced primary care clinics that included coach training for all staff and coaching for every patient. I coached clients from all walks of life while earning my national board certification for health & wellness coaching (NBC-HWC) and contributing to Vera's initiatives to address racial health disparities.
As I was starting to feel called back to my leadership coaching roots, my current vision for wellness and leadership coaching for executives and entrepreneurs began to take shape. Having seen first had how our western medical model lets patients down when it comes to supporting them to take leadership in their own health, I wanted to work with entrepreneurs like me who are innovating in this space. As I began talking with other health coaches, nutritionists, trainers, etc. it was clear that so many of us were building our businesses alone from a home office, and longing for the camaraderie and partnership of peer professionals. Building on my training and experience with peer learning circles, I created my mastermind program for health and wellness entrepreneurs.
Around this time, I also had the great honor and pleasure to join Annie Ricci's team of executive coaches. The Annie Ricci Coaching team partners with global science & technology operating companies to connect and empower their women associates and leaders. We help women leaders achieve the impact, influence, and fulfillment they seek in life and work. Completing Tara Mohr's Playing Big Facilitator Training and Dr. Claire Zammit's Feminine Power Course have strengthened my tools and skillset to support the specific needs of high achieving and self-actualizing women clients.
Through this work, I get to live my dream and learn from so many amazing clients who are being and doing so much to make our world a better place. When I help them to come more fully into their power and move past what is holding them back, they create the kind of community and world that I want to live in.
What to expect from coaching
Please visit my Coaching Page to read about my programs in more detail.
How to get the most out of coaching
My coaching program, workshops, and group experiences were created for people who are ready to explore new possibilities. This means not just wishing things were different, but committed to honoring your needs and embracing your potential to experience life on your own terms. My programs were created for clients who are committed, decisive and resourceful. They were created for you to design and activate strategies within a few months (sometimes weeks!), which will eventually lead you to love and trust yourself, live your life's purpose and shine from the inside out.
How to find out more about me
My clients are getting great results and have taken time to write about how working with me has impacted their lives. On my Client Testimonials page, you will likely find someone who is in a similar situation to your own and is enjoying the results you would like to achieve with the support of a coach. Exploring my Blog is a great way to get to know me, the next best thing to meeting in person! You may also check out my LinkedIn page to learn more about my professional training and credentials.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly via email and/or book a free session with me. It is my intention for you to have a complete understanding of exactly who I am and what I offer so that when you sign up to work with me you can do so with clarity and confidence that I am the right coach for you. I’ll be happy to walk you through my coaching programs to see which one will be the very best for you. I can’t wait to see you succeed and am honored to be the one to help you. Let’s get going!
Coaching professionally was a mid-life career shift, although I have always had a natural inclination toward coaching friends and peers. In my earlier professional life, I served 16 years as a director in a non-profit organization that connects kids with nature, and owned a yoga studio for 10 years. I was first introduced to professional coaching when healing through a health crisis of my own in 2010. With the guidance of a health coach, I made changes to improve my stress response, diet and lifestyle that addressed the root cause of a disease progression for which western medicine offered no cure. This personal experience with the healing power of lifestyle changes and the support of a skilled and caring coach opened my heart and mind to coaching.
Years later, teaching a workshop about aligning with Dharma (life purpose) at my yoga studio challenged me to re-examine my career path. As I engaged with my students in the work of Dharma discovery, the words nourish, connect, and transform came up for me again and again. My inner wisdom revealed that my innate ability to help others to realize their deep desires for self-actualization, vibrant wellness, and joy is the most important work of my life. This has always been my nature, but I had been pursuing other professional interests while quietly supporting those in my inner circle to transform their lives. I began to feel pulled to spend more time supporting clients one on one. Not long after, The Kansas Leadership Center, where I was engaged in leadership development programs, offered an ICF accredited leadership coach training program, and I was off and running toward an exciting career shift.
I founded Illuminate Guidance, LLC in 2017, and began building my private practice as a leadership coach, while also providing wellness coaching to my students at the yoga studio. In an unexpected turn, I was recruited by Vera Whole Health to work as a health coach in a primary care clinic, and served part time in this role for 3 years while continuing to build my business. I enjoyed the leadership challenge of serving as part of an integrated medical team that opened 2 new advanced primary care clinics that included coach training for all staff and coaching for every patient. I coached clients from all walks of life while earning my national board certification for health & wellness coaching (NBC-HWC) and contributing to Vera's initiatives to address racial health disparities.
As I was starting to feel called back to my leadership coaching roots, my current vision for wellness and leadership coaching for executives and entrepreneurs began to take shape. Having seen first had how our western medical model lets patients down when it comes to supporting them to take leadership in their own health, I wanted to work with entrepreneurs like me who are innovating in this space. As I began talking with other health coaches, nutritionists, trainers, etc. it was clear that so many of us were building our businesses alone from a home office, and longing for the camaraderie and partnership of peer professionals. Building on my training and experience with peer learning circles, I created my mastermind program for health and wellness entrepreneurs.
Around this time, I also had the great honor and pleasure to join Annie Ricci's team of executive coaches. The Annie Ricci Coaching team partners with global science & technology operating companies to connect and empower their women associates and leaders. We help women leaders achieve the impact, influence, and fulfillment they seek in life and work. Completing Tara Mohr's Playing Big Facilitator Training and Dr. Claire Zammit's Feminine Power Course have strengthened my tools and skillset to support the specific needs of high achieving and self-actualizing women clients.
Through this work, I get to live my dream and learn from so many amazing clients who are being and doing so much to make our world a better place. When I help them to come more fully into their power and move past what is holding them back, they create the kind of community and world that I want to live in.
What to expect from coaching
Please visit my Coaching Page to read about my programs in more detail.
How to get the most out of coaching
My coaching program, workshops, and group experiences were created for people who are ready to explore new possibilities. This means not just wishing things were different, but committed to honoring your needs and embracing your potential to experience life on your own terms. My programs were created for clients who are committed, decisive and resourceful. They were created for you to design and activate strategies within a few months (sometimes weeks!), which will eventually lead you to love and trust yourself, live your life's purpose and shine from the inside out.
How to find out more about me
My clients are getting great results and have taken time to write about how working with me has impacted their lives. On my Client Testimonials page, you will likely find someone who is in a similar situation to your own and is enjoying the results you would like to achieve with the support of a coach. Exploring my Blog is a great way to get to know me, the next best thing to meeting in person! You may also check out my LinkedIn page to learn more about my professional training and credentials.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly via email and/or book a free session with me. It is my intention for you to have a complete understanding of exactly who I am and what I offer so that when you sign up to work with me you can do so with clarity and confidence that I am the right coach for you. I’ll be happy to walk you through my coaching programs to see which one will be the very best for you. I can’t wait to see you succeed and am honored to be the one to help you. Let’s get going!
