About Dr. Drea
Growing up, I had always struggled with the unfair expectations and demands women are burdened with. Being surrounded by superwomen, my perfectionist ideals conflicted with the anger I felt towards those traditional values. As a psychologist, I have nearly 15 years of combined training and experience, which included additional coursework in couples and family. My clinical research project for my doctorate degree addressed the division of labor disparity between men and women in heterosexual couples. Women’s empowerment has always been a priority in my clinical work.
However, as a mom, wife, psychologist and ambitious entrepreneur, I learned that I am not immune to fear of failure, procrastination, self-sabotage, over-scheduling, analysis paralysis and people-pleasing. I was well-known to be the “I got it” person; The person anyone could call on and I made it my immediate priority to help, no matter the cost. I was known to put way too much on my plate and I was setting myself up for burnout.
At home, I didn’t want to delegate and risk tasks not being done to my standard. I struggled with feeling that home obligations took away from business and business tasks took away from my family. I had to introspect and acknowledge that the factors that were getting in my way were within my control. I then had to face them head on and put into practice for myself, what I taught others. My perfectionism and people-pleasing habits were sabotaging my progress with business/career goals and any chance of a true fulfilling life.
It wasn’t fair to blame myself though. We are all trained to be superwomen. We get cultural messages everywhere that praise us for doing it all and set us up to compare ourselves to that ideal. With this awareness and dedication to myself and my family, I have successfully navigated how to balance a thriving career with a very rewarding home life. As a wife of a multiple business owner, I have grown not just in managing my own businesses, but also negotiating compromise and teamwork that allowed my husband to do the same. Most importantly, we successfully learned to do so in a way that doesn’t result in resentment, but better lends to gratitude, support and the vision we share.
My own personal experiences and expertise have evolved into a strong passion to help others do the same on a grander scale. Over the past several years, I found myself moving into a coaching model and assisting clients in thinking bigger, getting out of their own way to build businesses and incorporate systems that create the life they truly dreamed of. Consistently witnessing my clients’ success has only fueled my fire to help more women do the same.
If you can dare yourself to dream big, you can dare yourself to make it happen and you don’t have to do it alone! My coaching programs offer my expertise, experience, resources and support. The life you really want is just on the other side of fear and hesitation. You can do this!