An Inspired Chat with Ann Gerrard

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Ann Gerrard. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Ann, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: Would YOU hire you? Why or why not?
I am a kind of coach that just doesn’t want to just change lives, but help those remember WHO they are, and guide them to rise with planning, intention, strategies and from a place of SOUL.

I’ve walked through fire, personally and professionally, and not only survived, but transmuted pain into wisdom. That’s the kind of coach people trust. You don’t just know the theory, you’ve embodied the journey. As a client, I would feel safe and seen in their presence, knowing I’m being guided by someone who has lived it.

I hold life and business/strategic acumen, and not only help those succeed, but help define what success means for them.
I am compassionate, but not enabling. Empathetic, but discerning. Spiritual, but grounded. This allows me to challenge clients, hold them accountable, without judgement; which makes breakthroughs possible.

I have a way of observing, listening, and reflecting back what people don’t even know they needed to hear. With an intuitive guidance, mixed with my training, I feel it’s like GPS for the soul. And as a client I’d feel like I’m being coached from the inside out, not just by surface-level frameworks.

Why would I not Hire myself? I sometimes grossly underestimate the magnitude of my impact seen in my reviews and on-going contacts from clients after discharge. Because my standards a very high, I occasionally question whether my presence is “enough” or my message “clear enough.” But from this perspective: my authenticity is the message. Clients don’t need me to be perfect. They need me to be me!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m not just a Life and Business Coach! My journey reads like a masterclass in resilience, discipline, determination, reinvention, and soul-led leadership. From humble and challenging beginnings, I had to rise, again and again, not just to survive, but to thrive. And today, I helps others do the same; using many learned and lived strategies, techniques, tools and insights.

I am not your typical coach. I’m a former national skating champion and healthcare senior executive who built a national company from the ground up; leading hundreds, driving transformation, and achieving results that others only dream about; and a single mother of 2 two amazing and successful children. But beyond the milestones and accolades, over the years I heard a deeper calling.

I now work at the intersection of inner healing and outer self leadership with purpose; guiding business professionals, executives, and many others to reclaim who they are, their values, passions, talents, gifts, skills and abilities with their voice they forgot that they had. I support and guide in the update and redesign of their lives they want to live, on their terms, and help them remember their worth, confidence, joy, what brings them happiness and help redefine their idea of life success. I am also the creator of “Life Foundations” – a powerful online course that helps individuals update their mental and emotional health and wellbeing; so they stop living on autopilot and start living on purpose.

My brand is rooted in authenticity, spiritual wisdom, intuitive insight, and no-nonsense practical strategic coaching tools; “From Stuck to Unstoppable.” Because that’s what I help people do. Move forward. Break through. Rise higher.

I am working toward something greater than success.
Im creating a movement of healing, clarity, and empowered self and business leadership to pay it forward… one courageous conversation, one breakthrough session, one inspired soul at a time.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
It was during my tenure as a senior executive in a national healthcare company, leading operations and strategy across Canada. I had built the business from the ground up and was now at a leadership table surrounded by global executives, most of them older, seasoned, and heavily grounded in data, logic, and past performance metrics.

One day, I was told by our Global CEO that they wanted Canada to follow a particular strategic direction, one that made perfect sense on paper. It was logical. It was backed by historical success. But something deep within me said NO! I couldn’t explain it with data, only with conviction. I felt a strong, almost visceral resistance, a knowing that this path was wrong for our market.

Being the youngest executive in the room, I could feel hundreds of years of experience and judgment weighing down on me as I expressed my concerns. I was essentially asked to prove my case; to back up my conviction with a formal presentation. And then came the challenge: “If you believe this direction is better, put your job on the line.”
To my own surprise, I said yes.

I walked out of that room knowing I had just gambled everything, my career, my reputation, and the trust I had worked so hard to build; on a hunch I couldn’t fully explain.

Months passed. My team and I began building toward this “alternate” direction. There were no signs, no changes in the industry, nothing in our external environment to support my instinct. I began doubting myself. I felt isolated, anxious, and uncertain, wondering if I had made the biggest mistake of my professional life.

Then, nearly a year later, it happened.
Legislative changes were announced that rocked the industry, exactly in the direction we had prepared for. Overnight, we were the only provider ready to meet the new standards. We were not just aligned we were months ahead of our competitors. It was the first time in company history we led the market, not followed it. And it wasn’t because we followed the numbers. It was because we followed an inner compass.

This was one of my defining moments and how I saw the world from a different lens from then on. That moment showed me that intuition can shape the world just as powerfully, sometimes more powerfully, than logic and data alone. It taught me that the world doesn’t shift solely through what we know; it shifts when we have the courage to follow what we FEEL, even when it’s unproven, unpopular, or uncomfortable.

Since then, I’ve trusted my inner guidance more deeply; not just in business, but in every part of my life. It’s the same compass I now use in my coaching. Whether I’m guiding executives, young professionals or others, I listen deeply, not only to what they say they want, but to what they need; because I can sense the difference!

And I’ve learned: When you lead from within, the world eventually catches up.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes, there was…when I was just 14 years old. It was my first defining moment in a childhood marked by neglect, emotional abuse, and deep isolation. I was the youngest of four and, for years, I was made to feel unworthy, never smart enough, good enough, or lovable. I wasn’t hugged, affirmed, or protected. Life felt unsafe, unstable, and profoundly lonely.

By the time I reached 14, I remember standing at my bedroom window, seriously contemplating whether the world would notice – or care – if I disappeared. I truly believed no one would miss me. I was emotionally shattered and deeply vulnerable.

Then something extraordinary happened.

In that darkest moment, I heard a voice, a clear, intuitive whisper that said, “You haven’t even begun to do what you’re here to do.”
It startled me. I thought I was losing my mind. But it was also the first time I felt something larger than my pain… a purpose.

That single moment changed everything. It gave me just enough light to move forward. I was guided to volunteer at a local seniors’ hospital, where I met compassionate professionals who saw something in me I hadn’t yet seen in myself. That opportunity led me to study Occupational Therapy, launching a lifelong path of service and healing.

How It Guided Me Into Coaching…

That near-breaking point was also a breakthrough. It taught me the power of being seen, of someone holding space when you’re too broken to hold it for yourself. It also awakened a powerful truth I carry into my work today:
What almost breaks us can become what most equips us to lead and serve.

As a Life and Business Coach, I draw from that inner place, knowing what it’s like to feel invisible, and what it takes to rise. I see beyond what people say and listen for what their soul is trying to express. That early voice, the one that told me I had a reason to live, still guides me as I help others rediscover theirs.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I think a lot of smart, capable people, people with degrees, credentials, experience, and ambition – are getting it wrong in how they’re living their lives. Not because they lack intelligence, but because they’ve over-prioritized achievement, financial success, and under-nourished alignment, purpose, balance and peace of mind.

They’re constantly doing, achieving, performing, fixing; but rarely pausing long enough to reflect to ask:
“Is this still working for me?”
“Does this version of success still feel meaningful?”
“Am I thriving, or just functioning really well under pressure?”

They’re caught in the trap of productivity without presence, status without soul, and connection without depth. And many of them don’t even realize it; because from the outside, it all looks good. But inside? They’re running on empty. Quietly anxious. Disconnected from themselves and fearful of failure.

What’s missing isn’t more strategy. It’s more space; it’s being…to reflect, to think, to feel, connect, to re-adjust and to realign.

That’s why I do the work I do. Because even the most brilliant people need permission to soften, reflect, and rediscover who they are beneath the roles, expectations, and responsibilities. That’s where life truly begins again…from the inside out.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
If I had the gift of immortality, time without end – I wouldn’t spend it chasing more. I would spend it building deeper.

I’d build a global movement that reclaims the human spirit – where emotional well-being, conscious leadership, soul work, and compassion aren’t optional… they’re foundational. Where healing is not stigmatized but normalized.
Where purpose, balance, happiness, fulfillment and inner peace becomes the new currency of “The New Rich.”
Where Self-Care and Awareness would become a new currency of “The New Success.”
Robust Mental Health would be “The New Wealth” and Compassion and Word-Speak Kindness…”The New Cool.”

I’d create schools of thought, training centres, retreats, and digital sanctuaries that empower people; from the boardroom to the kitchen table – to lead lives from the inside out. A world where every child knows their worth before the world tries to convince them otherwise. Where adults don’t spend their lives unlearning shame and burnout, but expanding into their full expression of who they authentically are.

I’d write books, mentor generations of coaches, and collaborate with visionaries to infuse humanity back into systems; family, societal, education, spiritual (own faith), health, business, government, Because we’ve lost touch. And if I had forever, I’d use it to bring us back to ourselves, to each other, and to what matters most to everyone on this planet!

I want to build a future where we no longer just survive life; but deeply, meaningfully, thrive in it.

And if I could live forever, I’d make sure no one forgets that love, compassion, hope, authenticity, truth, helpfulness, passion, purpose, joy, balance and inner peace were always the greatest legacy.

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