Welcome back to the What Authenticity Means to Me series, where I talk to people I admit about what authenticity means to them! (You can also listen anywhere you get your podcasts.)
Wild Cozy Free is a community for like-minded souls committed to being their authentic, vulnerable, messy selves. I post a personal essay or conversation from this ongoing series every week, and publish additional work for paid subscribers.
Check out my reintroduction post from my one year substack anniversary, to learn more about me and the origins of this blog!
In a snapshot, I’m a writer and coach, who has also been an actor, associate producer, fourth-grade teacher, temp receptionist, development associate, and much more.
I help people create lives that feel as good as they look. I’m curious about the business of being human; all of the nuanced details, emotions, and attributes that make up who we are.
There’s nobody quite like me. And nobody quite like you.
I’m so excited to introduce you to today’s guest, Jake!
Jake Pardee, ACC is a certified coach, trainer, and facilitator who supports people to connect with the contributions in their heart so that they radiate courage and generosity. Through 1:1 coaching, his Quarter-Life Coaching Group, and his workshops, Jake empowers people to get clear on what’s most important to them, uncover their unique wisdom, and consistently take action that aligns with their vision. Jake is a Licensed Academy Trainer through the Academy for Coaching Excellence where he completed his coach training. His approach combines powerful principles from ancient wisdom teachings with the latest in neuroscience in ways that are both pragmatic and transformational.
Before coaching, Jake got his BA in Sociology at Vassar College and worked in non-profits, restaurants, construction, and recruiting. His greatest joys are basketball, parks, and sandwiches. He currently lives, plays basketball, and eats sandwiches in Philadelphia, PA.
Jake and I went to Vassar together, and we were actually in the same freshman writing seminar! We had many mutual friends, but never actually connected one on one. (To be fair, that seminar was at 9:00 AM. Brutal.)
Similar to my conversation last week with Torrie, it was really fun to catch up with someone I knew during a very different chapter of my life. Another fun bonus, we are both now coaches! It was particularly fun to talk about the connection between theater and coaching, and also just to nerd out about theater.
Some Favorite Quotes From This Conversation:
“Being a part of a collective with a shared vision was so exciting to me… the presence that it demands, there was an adrenaline that came with the heightened presence of performance and the feeling of being an important part of a well-functioning hole, that I have since seen exists in other places. So that itch has been scratched in some ways. I think that’s a dot I connected later on.”
“You can’t coach someone past a point that you yourself have not gone past.”
“Taking action aligned with who you are and what’s important to you, is how you demonstrate authenticity. It’s how your heart wants to be acting and 99 times out of 100, it’s good for the world.”
“We discover what is authentic not by looking for it, but by experiencing it.”
“The flip side of how good it feels to do things that are authentic is the toll that it takes to continue not doing them.”
“You can’t make someone willing. I can show up in a way that makes it as easy as possible for them to be willing. But I can’t control whether or not they do.”
Resources We Discuss:
adrienne maree brown's Emergent Strategy
Academy for Coaching Excellence Foundations 1: Mastering Your Life
Where to Find Jake:
Part 2 coming over the weekend, for paid subscribers!
What Authenticity Means to Jake Pardee, CLC, ACC Pt. 1