I’m Shanti Joy Gold, Founder of Grow with a Pro™. If you want to see my traditional bio, I invite you to check out the bullet points below and/or my LinkedIn page. What I offer here is my story told from the inside out, with personal and professional layers I haven’t previously shared….
I began my relationship with my now-wife at a company that was Wild West-esque. I quickly learned what unsafe feels like. One of my memories of our early days together included periodically having this discussion: “We could lose our jobs because of this relationship. Do you still want to keep going?”
When I started my next job, I remember surreptitiously walking around the kitchen/break room looking at the mandatory HR posters for any fine print that indicated that I’d chosen a safer environment (thankfully, I had).
I also decided I was DONE referring to my significant other as “they” in an attempt to acknowledge my partner and our life without the big, scary gender reveal (in other words, “they” was not her chosen pronoun). So I decided this new job would be my opportunity to come out at work.
The first two coming-out conversations were, literally, the stuff of sitcoms.
Scene One: My assistant sat in front of me, like a deer in headlights, as the words I’d intended to say fell out of my mouth in a ramble of epic proportions. As my words continued to spiral and it became clear I was not going to gracefully land the discussion, I finally took mercy on the sweet woman and abruptly said something poetic, like “you can go now.”
Scene Two: I decided that my wife’s upcoming planned surgery, and my request for time off, would be the perfect opportunity to come out to my boss. Armed now with my learnings from Scene One, I carefully planned my words and took deep breaths to center myself. I called my boss’ cell, unaware that she had the day off. As if I were jumping off a cliff, I uttered the first words. I then continued all the way through, ramble-free. Phew! Wow!
And then I heard the words I’ll never forget: “I’m sorry. I’m at the mall with my daughter. Could you please repeat that and speak up a little?” 😳
I then had a semi-out-of-body experience during which I repeated the story while screaming at the top of my lungs. I’m fairly sure I inadvertently came out to the whole office that day.
I have so much that I’m grateful for in my career, including the fact that my boss – and everyone else at the company – didn’t skip a beat.
AND, looking back, I realize that as a gay woman my career, I had some legitimately “not normal” and challenging moments.
I’ve also come to believe that my underrepresented-ness offered me unique experiences and a worldview that ultimately guided my path and fueled my strengths.
I had my biggest career successes following Scene Two. I lowered my defenses. As I led teams, I was able to look people in the eye as I put authenticity first, using it as the glue to bind us and as a tool to draw out each person’s unique brilliance.
I was called to professional coaching, which reinforced my understanding that no matter what comes our way, we are in control of how we choose to respond when life inevitably throws us curve balls.
Simply, when I’ve lived my truth and used my unmuted inner compass as my guide, success has followed.
And now, as the Founder of Grow with a Pro, I’m proud to help LGBTQ+ and underrepresented people confidently thrive in their careers by being fully themselves.
- Certified Professional Coach - 300+ training hours
- COR.E Leadership Dynamics™ Specialist
- Energy Leadership™ Index Master Practitioner
- 20+ years successfully coaching sales executives and teams to achieve professional and personal goals
- Responsible for multi-million dollar budgets at top national and international companies
- Delivered results and led teams successfully through change in the highly-competitve NY market
- Created customized partnerships with local businesses and top national brands to increase sales
- Developed stratagies and executed delivery of projects to meet expecations of internal and external clients
- Comcast Spotlight – two-time winner of President’s Club and Women in Leadership nominee/graduate
- Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude – University of Pennsylvania
- Bilingual: English with Spanish Proficiency, Written and Spoken
