We had the good fortune of connecting with Lynda Drake and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lynda, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Risk in my life has been like diving off a diving board into an unknown pool. A pool that taught me to step forward in faith, trusting that I would learn what I needed to know and be led on the right path. That path hasn’t always been easy or felt successful. It has led me to where I am today, which feels amazing!
The first time I dove off the diving board was when I quit my job as a stockbroker to work from home so I could spend more time with my three kids. I was able to spend more time with them, but we ended up in bankruptcy! I learned so much about money and myself from that journey. I discovered it was a path I needed to take with lessons that changed my life.
My next diving board was into the pool of training to be a life coach while working full time, writing a book, and caring for my children who have various labels, (Down syndrome, mood disorder, extreme behaviors, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, and life-threatening allergies). At first, I thought I just don’t have time or money for this training. Then I realized how life coaching uses all the skills I have acquired, and my desire to watch others shine, so I went for it! I am so grateful I did! I really love helping people step into their magnificence as I humbly step into all I am here to be. There are many more examples of pools I have dived into that have taken me on a journey of becoming all I am today. I am so grateful for every step along the way, especially the challenging ones!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have had an amazing career! My first job out of college was at Ameritrade brokerage firm. I knew nothing about money or investments, but I learned and soon passed the test to become a stockbroker, which I was for 17 years. I loved the job, the fast pace, the constant learning not only about money, but about people and their relationship to money. Then when the work demands were too much for me as the mother of three kids with various challenges, I quit to work from home. I worked from home helping people with their personal finances until I ran out of money and needed a ‘regular’ job. The job I acquired was helping people with disabilities find work. Dealing with the challenges my children faced really helped me excel at this job. I started working at Bayaud Enterprises as a Job developer helping people with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness find work. As I mentioned before, I also created a weekly class called Beyond Bayaud where I shared tools to help the participants their quality of life. A group of us created Bayaud Community Academy, which gave the people I served the opportunity to teach the Denver community about whatever they were an expert in, for instance making tortillas from scratch, what it is like to live in Nigeria and India, etc. Those are the accomplishments I am most proud of and the ones that made the biggest difference in the lives of those I served. The challenges I overcame were nothing compared to the challenges my clients faced. That taught me to look at challenges as gifts that developed in me strength, empathy and showed me how to let go of judgement of others. I learned to reframe struggle and see it as lessons that create people who have a passion for life, empathy, gratitude and true generosity.
My brand is to embrace our imperfections allowing ourselves to see how perfect we truly are.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When my best friend comes to visit, we would take some time to reconnect and have a deep conversation where we really listen to each other and feel seen and heard. We will have this conversation in my beautiful back yard. I will introduce them to my two children who live with me, my son with Down syndrome and my oldest daughter. I will also introduce them to my best friend and mentor Rocky, who designed my beautiful back yard. He is also a chef, so he will create an amazing meal to share along with great conversation. We would go on a couple of hikes in our majestic mountains. We will take a day to stroll around downtown Littleton and eat at the delicious View House. We would spend another day enjoying a museum that interests them, maybe the Denver Museum of Nature and Science where we would marvel at the magnificence in our skies at the planetarium. We will go out to eat at the White Chocolate Grill and then to the Candlelight Concert that is a tribute to either Adele or the Beatles. It will be a beautiful time of reconnection and enjoying the wonder and joy all around us!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people that have supported, encouraged me, loved me and mentored me along my journey. My parents who believed in me. David Henninger and Dave Delay from Bayaud Enterprises who allowed me the space to create classes for people experiencing homelessness to share tools that encouraged them to discover their own strength and confidence, which taught me at least as much as I taught them. My friend and mentor Rocky who has led me on a journey of true self-discovery, walking with me as I did the oftentimes painful work of really finding out who I am and encouraging me to keep going deeper and deeper into me. Those are the main influencers in my life, along with my children who have taught me about strength, courage, and unconditional love as they have embraced their labels to become the amazing adults that they are. There are many books too!

Website: https://coachlyndadrake.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/coachlyndadrake/

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122108511254321611&set=a.122108511434321611

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Lyndadrake

Image Credits
McLeod9Creative

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