How A Black Woman Coach set me on the Path to Solo Travel
By S. Anne Marie Archer
If you follow me on Instagram, you know How much I love solo travel. Last fall I went on a dream trip to Italy where I visited Florence, the Amalfi coast, and several towns and cities in Sicily. It was truly the best vacation of my adult life to date because I was able to take my time exploring each place without worrying about my day job or checking email unless I wanted to.
Do you know why? Because I have the best boss in the world now – ME.
This year I will be heading off for solo hops to Portugal, Italy, Turkey, and then the Caribbean. I will visit, Lisbon, Sintra, Porto, Florence, (a perennial favorite), Istanbul, Antalya, and later Trinidad & Tobago.
3 years ago, I would’ve never thought it possible that I could take off 5 or more whole weeks and explore Italy or anywhere else for that matter.
3 years ago, I was stuck in a job where I was miserable and was trying to figure out how to make it work without it breaking my entire spirit.
Then 3 years ago I hired a coach. I hired a black woman as my executive coach and working with her changed my life.
You may wonder, what my solo travel has to do with my hiring a black woman as my coach.
Well, frankly EVERYTHING.
I remember in one of our initial conversations I shared with her my dream of moving abroad. And her question was “then why don’t you?”
It was a question that kept resonating in my mind.
After losing two very important people in my life in 2020, my mother and my nephew, I really took stock of my life and decided I had to make a change.
I registered for and attended the Exodus Summit, the virtual sabbatical summit for black women travelers who want to move abroad created by Stephanie Perry and Roshida Dowe. And after attending that life-changing conference I couldn’t make any more excuses for not living the life that I wanted.
I walked away from the job that was paying me handsomely but making me miserable, and I moved abroad to a much more peaceful life in Mexico.
I now use my legal education and over 20 years of human resources management experience to start my HR consulting business, The AntiHR, HR Lady, where I level the employment playing field for employees by teaching them how to walk away from discriminatory hostile work environments with severance pay among other things.
Working for myself from a country with a much lower cost of living, allowed me to create a life where I can solo travel much more often, share my adventures with other Black Women 40+ and encourage and help them to also explore solo travel for self-care and rejuvenation.
But it all started with me hiring a black woman as my coach.
None of this happens without me taking that step.
I created The BlackWomen Coach™ Directory to connect black women who are coaches with people who need their services. When I was looking for a black woman coach to help me conceive a business plan and strategy for my life abroad, I found that I couldn’t find a repository online that would connect me with only black women who are coaches. So, I decided to build what I was looking for myself. I wanted a directory built by us for us. While I am happy for anyone and everyone in the world to use this directory and I hope they will, this Directory is my love letter to black women, it is my gift to black women everywhere.
We are always the footnote. We put everyone first, we take care of everyone else first, this is my way of encouraging us to engage in the radical redesign of our lives and put ourselves first.
You deserve to live your best life possible and you deserve to live it NOW.
If you want to engage in a radical redesign of your life working with a coach is the best way to do it and if you are a black woman interested in the radical redesign of your life, hiring a black woman coach is the best way to do it.
So, log onto www.blackwomencoach.com and find a coach today. You will have access to wonderful coaches like the executive coach who helped me transform my life, Tawana Bhagwat, and the business coach who has been a huge influence on my business strategy, Claire B. Soares. You can also find my current business coach who has helped me stay true to my mission and purpose, Jacquelyn Omotalade, and the branding and marketing wiz and business coach who helped me conceive the Directory website wireframe, Aleya Harris. These and so many fantastic coaches of every specialty and category can be found in The BlackWomen Coach™ Directory.
If you are a coach who is a Black woman and you would like to join the directory, I invite you to do so today.
And if you’re like I was all those years ago, stuck but truly seeking to get unstuck, The Directory will connect you with the coach who may help you change your life so why not start today?
Find a coach, redesign your life. www.BlackWomenCoach.com
Pssst ---------
if you’d like to follow my solo travel adventures and tips for Fly 40+ Black Women who love to, or aspire to travel Solo, follow me on Instagram at @baldgirlwilltravel and make sure you subscribe to my website www.baldgirlwilltravel.com
About The Author
S. Anne Marie Archer is the founder and creator of The BlackWomen Coach™ Directory. She is an HR consultant who specializes in advising her clients on exiting discriminatory and illegal hostile work environments with separations with severance (their “coins”) so that they can engage in the radical redesign of their lives. You can learn more about her work, or reach out to her for HR advice and HR consultations by visiting her website www.theantihr-hrlady.com.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know How much I love solo travel. Last fall I went on a dream trip to Italy where I visited Florence, the Amalfi coast, and several towns and cities in Sicily. It was truly the best vacation of my adult life to date because I was able to take my time exploring each place without worrying about my day job or checking email unless I wanted to.
Do you know why? Because I have the best boss in the world now – ME.
This year I will be heading off for solo hops to Portugal, Italy, Turkey, and then the Caribbean. I will visit, Lisbon, Sintra, Porto, Florence, (a perennial favorite), Istanbul, Antalya, and later Trinidad & Tobago.
3 years ago, I would’ve never thought it possible that I could take off 5 or more whole weeks and explore Italy or anywhere else for that matter.
3 years ago, I was stuck in a job where I was miserable and was trying to figure out how to make it work without it breaking my entire spirit.
Then 3 years ago I hired a coach. I hired a black woman as my executive coach and working with her changed my life.
You may wonder, what my solo travel has to do with my hiring a black woman as my coach.
Well, frankly EVERYTHING.
I remember in one of our initial conversations I shared with her my dream of moving abroad. And her question was “then why don’t you?”
It was a question that kept resonating in my mind.
After losing two very important people in my life in 2020, my mother and my nephew, I really took stock of my life and decided I had to make a change.
I registered for and attended the Exodus Summit, the virtual sabbatical summit for black women travelers who want to move abroad created by Stephanie Perry and Roshida Dowe. And after attending that life-changing conference I couldn’t make any more excuses for not living the life that I wanted.
I walked away from the job that was paying me handsomely but making me miserable, and I moved abroad to a much more peaceful life in Mexico.
I now use my legal education and over 20 years of human resources management experience to start my HR consulting business, The AntiHR, HR Lady, where I level the employment playing field for employees by teaching them how to walk away from discriminatory hostile work environments with severance pay among other things.
Working for myself from a country with a much lower cost of living, allowed me to create a life where I can solo travel much more often, share my adventures with other Black Women 40+ and encourage and help them to also explore solo travel for self-care and rejuvenation.
But it all started with me hiring a black woman as my coach.
None of this happens without me taking that step.
I created The BlackWomen Coach™ Directory to connect black women who are coaches with people who need their services. When I was looking for a black woman coach to help me conceive a business plan and strategy for my life abroad, I found that I couldn’t find a repository online that would connect me with only black women who are coaches. So, I decided to build what I was looking for myself. I wanted a directory built by us for us. While I am happy for anyone and everyone in the world to use this directory and I hope they will, this Directory is my love letter to black women, it is my gift to black women everywhere.
We are always the footnote. We put everyone first, we take care of everyone else first, this is my way of encouraging us to engage in the radical redesign of our lives and put ourselves first.
You deserve to live your best life possible and you deserve to live it NOW.
If you want to engage in a radical redesign of your life working with a coach is the best way to do it and if you are a black woman interested in the radical redesign of your life, hiring a black woman coach is the best way to do it.
So, log onto www.blackwomencoach.com and find a coach today. You will have access to wonderful coaches like the executive coach who helped me transform my life, Tawana Bhagwat, and the business coach who has been a huge influence on my business strategy, Claire B. Soares. You can also find my current business coach who has helped me stay true to my mission and purpose, Jacquelyn Omotalade, and the branding and marketing wiz and business coach who helped me conceive the Directory website wireframe, Aleya Harris. These and so many fantastic coaches of every specialty and category can be found in The BlackWomen Coach™ Directory.
If you are a coach who is a Black woman and you would like to join the directory, I invite you to do so today.
And if you’re like I was all those years ago, stuck but truly seeking to get unstuck, The Directory will connect you with the coach who may help you change your life so why not start today?
Find a coach, redesign your life. www.BlackWomenCoach.com
Pssst ---------
if you’d like to follow my solo travel adventures and tips for Fly 40+ Black Women who love to, or aspire to travel Solo, follow me on Instagram at @baldgirlwilltravel and make sure you subscribe to my website www.baldgirlwilltravel.com
About The Author
S. Anne Marie Archer is the founder and creator of The BlackWomen Coach™ Directory. She is an HR consultant who specializes in advising her clients on exiting discriminatory and illegal hostile work environments with separations with severance (their “coins”) so that they can engage in the radical redesign of their lives. You can learn more about her work, or reach out to her for HR advice and HR consultations by visiting her website www.theantihr-hrlady.com.
