Headshots for Founder and CEO
Earlier this year, I had the incredible opportunity to photograph fellow Chief Marissa Fernandez. I asked her to tell me about her journey from marketing to Founder & CEO of her own consulting company.
“For 15 years I climbed up the corporate ladder. I worked hard, learned to ‘play the game,’ and clocked a LOT of hours. When I eventually made it to the C-Suite, I thought happiness and fulfillment would come with the territory but I was wrong. Professionally, I was unfulfilled. I started questioning what all that grind had been for.”
Then, in early 2020, Marissa’s role was eliminated. “I was faced with unemployment for the first time in my life. I didn't know who I was without my career. For too long, I realized, my identity was almost completely tied up in my job and my title.”
“I went on a path to self-discovery to figure out my next move. I read several books and hired a coach. I started contemplating the peak experiences in my career and considering the moments in life I've been most impactful and fulfilled.”
“That's when I had my a-ha moment. So many of my best professional experiences had little to do with marketing and everything to do with building and developing the talent around me – helping people see and be the best version of themselves, increasing their confidence and subsequently their ability to make a bigger impact. Coaching was this thread that persisted through all of my career experiences—a once invisible thread that once it became visible, I couldn't unsee it. I felt deeply called to pursue it.”
Marissa went on to earn a certification from the College of Executive Coaching, a specialization in Positive Psychology from UPENN via Coursera, and in the summer of 2021, she launched what she called her pilot program.
“I knew I had found my calling. The impact I was able to help facilitate in my clients – through thoughtful inquiry, partnership, and holding space – delivered a level of professional fulfillment I had never before experienced.”
Since then, Marissa has built a multi-six-figure business serving a mix of individual and corporate clients. “I love working with ambitious, collaborative leaders, helping them to harness their unique greatness, and increase their confidence, momentum, impact, and fulfillment. Clients appreciate my creative, thought-provoking, collaborative process and empathetic yet direct approach with a dose of humor that allows them to move out of their comfort zone and have fun doing it!”
“Before working with Alissa, I had an old headshot, wearing a black blazer, from my days as a corporate marketer. These new shots by Alissa capture the joy I feel, fueled by the work I get to do each day: supporting my clients to change the trajectory of their lives, accelerated towards their highest dreams, purpose and ideals.”
Thank you, Marissa, for the honor of capturing part of this new journey.