The Coaching Community Podcast

What does it mean to keep learning, growing, and becoming who you really are? In this episode of the ICF Tennessee Coaching Community Podcast, Hannah Finrow sits down with Gail Southwell, PCC, whose career has taken her from the Ford assembly line to Human Resources leadership, negotiation, coaching, and now authorship. Gail shares what she’s learned about following the client’s lead, asking for help, building a coaching business, and the importance of having a community of coaches who learn from and support one another. She also shares the heart behind her book, Lessons in Leadership, Laughter, and Love, and why she believes human connection will continue to matter as coaching evolves. As Gail says, coaching can help people become “who they really are.” Join us for a conversation about leadership, connection, community, and a lifetime of learning. Connect with Gail and learn more about her book, here: https://gailsouthwell.com

What does it take to build a coaching community that lasts? In this episode of the ICF Tennessee Coaching Community Podcast, Hannah Finrow sits down with Pat White, founder of ICF Tennessee, to look back at her journey into coaching, building an executive coaching business, taking risks, and creating the community that would become ICF Tennessee. Pat shares lessons from decades in the profession—from investing in quality coach training and mentorship to having the courage to ask for what you want and build the kind of coaching practice that fits your life. As Pat says, “Sometimes you do have to be a little gutsy.” And perhaps most importantly, she reminds us why ICF Tennessee began in the first place: community. “Everything that has happened with our chapter has been because of community, and that’s what I was searching for.” Join us for a conversation about coaching, courage, community, and the story behind ICF Tennessee. Connect with Pat and learn more about her new book, here: https://patwhitecoach.com

What happens when your path into coaching doesn’t look like everyone else’s? In this episode of The Coaching Community Podcast, Hannah Finrow, MCC sits down with Dr. Lydia Rosencrants, Principal of Mantle Coaching, LLC, to explore Lydia’s unexpected journey from academia and higher education leadership into coaching. After beginning her coach training in 2024, Lydia quickly discovered a profession that felt like something she had been looking for her entire life. But her path hasn’t been linear. Lydia shares candidly about balancing coaching with motherhood, family health challenges, significant personal loss, and the realities of pursuing an ICF credential when life has other priorities. Her story offers an important reminder that becoming a coach isn’t a race and that meaningful development can happen even when the timeline looks different than expected. Hannah and Lydia also explore the ripple effect of coaching, the importance of giving ourselves the same grace we offer our clients, and why coaches don’t have to carry everything alone. Lydia reflects on the role community and ICF Tennessee have played in her development and why connecting with other coaches can make such a difference in sustaining this work. They also look ahead to the future of coaching, including Lydia’s perspective on AI, accessibility, and why technology may expand access to coaching without replacing the power of one human being sitting fully present with another. Whether you’re just beginning your coaching journey, working toward your next credential, or have been coaching for decades, Lydia leaves listeners with a simple encouragement: you’ve got this. Keep going, take care of yourself, ask for help, and don’t try to do it alone.

Brenda Baird, MCC and former ICFTN Chapter President, joins the podcast to talk about her path from organizational development into a decade-plus career as an executive leadership coach. Brenda shares how a cut budget for external coaches led her to IPEC in 2015, and how that training changed the way she worked through stress in her corporate role. She talks about the milestones that shifted her focus from individual clients to building the next generation of coaches: earning her MCC, serving as chapter president, and directing education at the University of Tennessee's coach training program. We also get into the current disruption in coaching, especially around AI, and why Brenda sees the ICF community as central to helping coaches adapt without losing what makes the work valuable. She reflects on her time leading ICFTN, including the shift to virtual meetings during COVID, a statewide Listening Tour, and the governance and DEIB work that helped the chapter grow. Brenda closes with advice for coaches just starting out: don't rush the process, and don't skip the inner work. Connect with Brenda: https://brendabaird.com Connect with ICFTN: https://icftn.org #Coaching #ICF #MCC #ExecutiveCoaching #Leadership #CoachingPodcast

Hannah Finrow sits down with Matt Kodsi, ICF Tennessee's Director of Membership, to talk about his path into coaching — from a career in clinical medicine and healthcare leadership, back to his early roots in theater. Matt shares the burnout that led him to Hudson Institute's Life Forward program, the lesson on presence that changed how he shows up for his family and clients, and his belief that you can only take a client as far as you've taken yourself. They also discuss Matt's parallel life as an author of short, story-driven books exploring presence and the stories we tell ourselves, his advice for coaches who want to write but don't feel ready, what makes the ICF Tennessee community unique, and his perspective on AI as a supplement — never a replacement — for the human connection at the heart of coaching. Matt's books, "A Story Tale" and "Never There, Always Here," are available on Amazon in print and audiobook. The Coaching Community Podcast is hosted by ICF Tennessee, featuring conversations with coaches, leaders, and members of the coaching community about the journey of coaching — what brought them to it, what they've learned, and where the profession is headed.