“Everyone is gifted, but most people never open their package,” says Joanne, a life coach and a mentor, who for the past two years, has dedicated her time and energy walking alongside women who are stuck and are in a dire need for a fresh start in whatever faucet of their lives, find meaning and purpose. During our interview, Joanne emphasised that her mission is to help women across the globe get clarity on their life direction, live to their full potential and align their lives fully to their unique life purpose; and to live their one royal life with boldness and courage. That her calling is to inspire women towards realizing their worth through empowering them to break away from self-defeating patterns and beliefs and helping them to step into their zone of excellence and brilliance.
As noble as this venture sounds, Joanne was never like this, nor did she start out this way. For 13 years she worked for the United Nations, a dream job for most. However, the higher she climbed the proverbial corporate ladder, the more empty and stuck she felt. Deep down she knew she was meant for more. She knew that her life was not all about sitting behind a desk (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but she knew there was so much she could do. Like most of us, she was afraid to explore beyond her comfort zone. This was soon to change, as her turnaround came in the most unconventional way. Like every big thing in life, it started small. A little lethargy, a little burnout, a little discomfort. She couldn’t quite place it yet. A bad migraine, extreme fatigue, she was slowly losing the usual spring in her step. The severity of what was happening became evident when one day she bent down to pick a pen from the floor in the office and encountered difficulties getting back up. Alarmed, she called out to a colleague. That was the point she knew that there was something gravely wrong. Her colleague urged her to go for a simple medical routine check. What she thought would be a 30-minute affair became a week-long affair, where test after test were conducted. At the end she was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour and given months to live.
After going through this harrowing illness and literally fighting tooth and nail for her life, she survived the traumatic ordeal. She had to go through a lot of medical interventions including surgery, but she believes what really got her through it all was her unceasing prayer and unshakeable faith. The treatment was harsh, but God wiped away her tears and replaced her pain in ways she cannot even comprehend to date. In six short months, she got married to her fiancé, who had been her biggest source of comfort all this time. She also made the decision to resign from her high paying job and made the huge move across continents (from Africa to Europe) all within one year. It was overwhelming and extremely exhausting but as she settled into her new life, she suddenly understood that she had been playing small all along! That lightbulb moment came when she was doing her prayer walk and the revelation came to her that she was not engaging herself to the fullest. “Suddenly I got the revelation of how limitless and unstoppable I could be if only I could tap fully into my inner self and really work on my inner me,” Joanne says. That formed her aha moment and thus began her self-development journey. This started by deep soul searching and research on how she could get help. In this process Joanne stumbled upon the beautiful and transformational world of coaching. She knew she needed help to get clarity on her next steps and she made the decision to invest in several high-end coaches. In record time, her gifts and talents started to become visible to her. Joanne realised that she was a natural in the area of teaching, mentoring, inspiring, coaching and motivating women to live to their full potential unapologetically and to expand their mind’s eye. Combined with her MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship, she knew she was onto something! Finally, she had found her purpose; her divine calling. Her coaching journey had been birthed.
It’s been said that most women live constantly in fear. They are afraid of being judged, afraid of failing, afraid they will never find true happiness. Most women are critical of themselves and because of their self-consciousness, they succumb to the worldly standards and pressures of life. Most stop trying to be the best they can be, and more so, stop trying to be happy, because they feel if they shine too much, people will not like them and let’s face it, who doesn’t want to be liked? Worse still, we fear labels. We also fear rejection. We fear to fail, and yet still we often try to dim our light so that others can shine. We find ourselves at a standstill because we fear rejection and failing spectacularly. In short, we are afraid of being extraordinary. If you are holding yourself back from being extraordinary out of fear, you are not alone. Most people feel this way. Joanne learnt just how important it was to act even in the face of fear, but this realisation only came when she hit rock bottom. Having relocated to a different continent, being an entrepreneur proved harder than she had imagined. It was such a succession of potholes, speed bumps and dead-ends rather than a high road to prosperity that at some point she considered taking a job. But in the quest to find her inner mettle, Joanne decided to get additional mentorship via a 90-day programme with her coach and mentor then, Sarah King, because she knew looking for a job would go contrary to her values. After completion of the program, she signed up for a second one by John Assaraf (of The Secret movie) and several others.
In February up to end of 2017, Joanne also trained with Her Invitation, a UK based organisation that hosts power workshops equipping women on equality, work-life balance, influence, negotiation in the workplace and decision making. She is the only African facilitator for the organisation and is very proud to represent the diversity angle for the organisation. In August 2017, Joanne applied for a highly competitive coaching scholarship which had over 150 entries and she won the Maeve Scholarship offered by renowned author and business coach, Christine McAllister who wrote The Income Replacement Formula, a book that Joanne also got featured in. This took her several notches higher in the industry and she gained expert status. Some of the work that Joanne is very proud of are her popular workshops that she holds in Nairobi every beginning of the year where she gets to take the podium and speak on her favourite topic ‘Push into Purpose’. In the 2017 workshops, she had over 65 women in attendance which totally blew her mind as this was the very first time she was holding these events. It was actually working! All that blood, sweat and tears was not in vain!
In June of the same year, she held her first workshop in the United Kingdom in collaboration with a well-recognised peer and worthiness coach and it was well received. The event attracted 12 women from across the UK, which for her was a stunning success. It made her realise the importance of collaboration and the power of working with like-minded individuals. Her confidence muscle had been flexed. She was recognised within the international coaching space. Joanne then decided to focus on her online presence, and social media became her key advertising medium. In September of 2017, she took it to the next level by launching her first online group programme dubbed “REFOCUS”, that garnered interest from women in three countries: UK, Kenya and Australia. In December of 2017, Joanne headed back home for the Christmas holidays and to get some respite from the extreme winter. While in Nairobi, she once again hosted the same workshops but this time as a full day event incorporating a vision board party after the workshop training. The first one was such a hit with the attendees that they requested her to hold a second one for their friends and family. Joanne obliged and she has decided to make it a tradition for every start of the year.
2018 has been an amazing year for Joanne. She upped her game and took everything she had learnt a notch higher. Not only was she part of an influential Women’s Business Mastermind with 13 women from across the globe in Santorini in June, Joanne also created her own unique and outstanding brand as a Life Purpose & Business Coach. With her success in incubating, conceiving then helping clients launch their businesses linked to their passions, gifts and personal strengths, Joanne got a new brainwave. A new 6-week intensive, online group programme dubbed ‘Clarify, Connect & Cultivate Your Life Purpose’ was conceived. The first graduates of the programme completed their training mid-August 2018 and Joanne received rave reviews from the attendees. Due to the popularity of the course, Joanne launched version 2.0 of the same course in September 2018.
Mark Twain, an American writer, publisher and lecturer, caught pneumonia. When the doctor visited, he saw Mark Twain smoking a cigar. He asked, “How many of those do you smoke each day?” Twain said, “Oh, about a dozen or so.” And the doctor said, “I see a bottle of whiskey. How much do you drink?” Twain said, “I’m a moderate drinker, only a bottle or so a day.” The doctor said, “If you’ll temporarily give up drinking and smoking, you’ll recover quickly.” Twain followed the doctor’s advice and got well. Later, a woman he knew got pneumonia and Twain told her that if she temporarily stopped drinking whiskey and smoking cigars, she’d get well. She said, “I don’t drink whiskey, and I don’t smoke cigars.” And you know, she died. Mark Twain’s conclusion was that his friend died because she didn’t have anything to give up. Whether it is pneumonia or whether it is life, we hold onto so much! Our fears, our regrets, our worries and especially our resentments. We hold onto all of these for most of our lives. And then we die! Ask yourself these questions: What am I holding on to? What needs to change in my life? What is keeping me from living my life to the fullest? What limiting beliefs do I need to let go of that are not serving me?
To date Joanne has coached and mentored over 200 women in both her 1-on-1 and group programmes, not counting the thousands that she speaks to daily through her Facebook page where she regularly does articles, posts and livestreams on a myriad of topics revolving around life purpose, life by design and corporate transition. She also is the host and facilitator of her own thriving Facebook group called Lioness Arising where she encourages the members of her tribe to be fearless, to take personal responsibility for their lives, and to know that they have everything in them to be what they really want to be. Part of the work she has done is create the Live Your Life Purpose 5-Step Blueprint, which is a tool that she uses to teach her clients to succinctly articulate their unique and personal purpose and serves as a wonderful reminder to help keep them on track and in alignment as they live out their purpose going forward in life.
Joanne loves to share of her vast knowledge and experiences from across the board and she has created a free transformational e-book which she says is labour of love, called Fear.Less; to help you master your inner game so that you can step into your element and live a life fuelled by purpose.
Contact Joanne Muturi
