Education:
- MAPP, University of Pennsylvania, PA
- B.A., University of Michigan, MI
- Certificate: The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland
Location: Philadelphia, PA Teaches: Philadelphia, PA & CAPP Online
Professional Experience:
Carin has spent 15 years in corporate marketing before pursuing her passion as a women’s empowerment and purpose coach.
She began her career in automotive marketing for companies like Alcoa and then moved to purposeful marketing, serving as the Vice President of Marketing for Team NEO, Northeast Ohio’s regional economic development organization. After receiving her MAPP, she was an adjunct faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and worked for 6 months at SAY Media while building her business. Today, she works for myself at PurposeGirl LLC, where she coaches women in purpose and empowerment, running groups such as her EMPOWERED mentorship, her monthly membership club, “The F*Midlife Club”, and her one year divine feminine initiation, AWAKEN.
Carin takes women on retreats all over the world to locations such as Paris and Sonoma, to awaken their souls to their true beauty. She also speaks at conferences and for companies globally, such as Progressive Insurance, BMW, and EY. She is a regular columnist for LiveHappy, has been featured on NBC, CBS, PBS, HuffPo, and Forbes, and is monthly contributor on SiriusXM’s WakeUp with Taylor, for which the show has dubbed her their, “Happiness Guru.”
My Story:
From a young age, I wanted a “perfect” life – tall, dark, handsome husband, beautiful house in the ‘burbs, a nice salary. I had all of this by the time I was 24 and yet, I cried nearly every day. It didn’t make any sense since I had everything I had ever wanted. I kept feeling like I was here for something larger.
I got divorced at 26 and began my journey to Happiness. Through therapy, I remembered that I had been physically abused by my girlfriend in high school. I had blocked it out of my memory because I was confused about my sexuality and ashamed that I had loved her so much even though she hurt me. I started volunteering with high school girls and found a mirror in them. They were so optimistic about the future, yet so unsure of themselves. Several felt fat, ugly, not smart enough, not good enough. I only saw their beauty. I would tell each girl what was special about her and lift her up along her strengths. I motivated them to happiness and I felt ALIVE for the first time. I recognized this as “purpose”. Meanwhile, I began posting on a message board for young divorced women and before I knew it, I became the board leader, inspiring the other women to stay positive and optimistic. Again, I felt alive. All I wanted was to empower other women – but how? I couldn’t see a career path.
Simultaneously, I had submitted my writing to an agent and he rejected me. This was before “Eat. Pray. Love” so he said to me, “You’re a great writer, but I can’t publish this.” The rejection and lack of a path forward spun me into a deep depression. I got Shingles at 34. I begged a psychiatrist for more and more medication until she finally said, “Carin, you’re not mentally ill. You talk about all these dreams and you’ve never pursued them.” So I went home and made a list of every dream, every regret, everything others did that I was jealous about and one by one, started pursuing my list. I told my boss that I needed to live abroad and rented an apartment in Paris for a month. I ran a marathon, going from 0 to 26.2 in 6 months.
One night, I was walking home to my condo in Cleveland, Ohio when a man approached me from behind and pulled a gun to my head. I fell to the floor crying, “Please don’t hurt me! Please don’t hurt me!” I began asking G-d to tell my parents thank you and to thank G-d for my life, when suddenly another voice came into my heart. “Oh no,” she said quietly. You were born for purpose and women are waiting for you.” In that moment, I said to G-d, “If you let me live, I promise I will pursue that purpose.” And at that moment, the man took my purse and ran. Just a few months later, a friend posted a link about Positive Psychology on my Facebook timeline. I followed the link and began crying. I knew I had found my path. I decided to quit my 6-figure VP title job and move across the country to be a poor grad student. My father said to me, “That is the stupidest decision I’ve ever heard.” Just 5 weeks before MAPP began, I took one final spin on my boat to give my friend Ed his first trip on Lake Erie. That day, he dove off the boat and never resurfaced. After Ed drowned, I thought about not going to MAPP, but I heard Ed tell me to go live my purpose for him. The first day of MAPP was my 36th birthday and Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. 18 is a very important number in Judaism, as it means “Life” so I knew this was my “second” life. It’s turned out to be the best decision I’ve ever made.
Words of Wisdom:
Morning Ritual:
Gratitude first! Then oil pulling while walking my dog, followed by yoga stretching, breathing, meditation and loving kindness meditation.
A Little Known Fact About Me…
In high school, I wanted to be an OBGYN, to which one of my clients recently said, “That is so cool! Now you birth women’s dreams!”
What Students Are Saying:
“When someone has literally changed your life so positively, how do you put it into just one sentence? Carin was the wise, wonderful, compassionate, funny, empathetic, energetic, passionate teacher that showed up perfectly when this student was ready. Forever changed and grateful”
-Stacey Yates Seller, Happier by the Minute