Kelli Reese is an author, Leadership and Alignment Coach, and former exec. who was running a $34M organization before she boldly walked away from her seventeen-year career in 2015. The high stress atmosphere of her former career left her with three fibroid tumors growing on her uterus and her kidneys and adrenals depleted.
Kelli moved out of the country and spent two years on a soul-aligning journey, healing and working remotely with clients before she returned to the United States.
She works privately with business owners and people in management roles to help them resolve unhealthy patterns, dissatisfaction, and burnout. She’s dedicated to helping people reclaim their lives and once again find joy in leadership, business and life.
Kelli lives full time in a tiny house on wheels in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, with her pug and cat. She works virtually with clients from all over the world through private coaching, group programs, and retreats.
Q1: What do you do for a living?
I’m a Leadership and Alignment Coach. I work with entrepreneurs and people in management positions to help them resolve unhealthy habits, dissatisfaction and burnout.
Q2: What is the name of your latest project? Tell us more about why you embarked on this project.
The Simplicity Lab.
This is an experiential group program that teaches business owners how to simplify life and finally trust what they know inside.
If you could trust those little nudges or the inner knowing that something is off or the risk is worth taking, you can get to a place where you follow your own guidance, without second guessing yourself. When you live from that trusting place, magical things begin to happen, the ups and downs of life become a lot easier to manage, and you approach opportunities with an open heart and excitement, rather than resistance and fear.
Q3: How does travel play a role in both your personal and professional choices, especially as a Leadership and Alignment Coach?
I walked away from a seventeen-year career, my marriage, and a business I co-owned all in the span of 18 months. I traveled solo for 2 years on a healing journey – working remotely around the globe with Tulum, Mexico, as my home base.
Before the pandemic, I led Sacred Soul Journey retreats where I gathered women together in sacred places around the world for transformational journeys.
For me travel is an opportunity to dive directly into the unknown and trust in yourself. I like to immerse myself in other cultures. I tend not to take the touristy route, but go where I’m led.
Over the past two decades I have moved around quite a bit. I seem to have a two year threshold for places. I go where I’m guided, and relying on my inner wisdom has never let me down.
Q4: Do you believe travel provides a positive or negative effect on the world? How?
Both.
The impact on the earth of people moving about the planet is undeniable. Look what happened when the world stopped during the pandemic. Economically it had a detrimental impact, however, for Mother Earth it was a much needed pause. We saw just how resilient the planet truly is. The planet doesn’t need us, we need her.
Within communities I’ve witnessed the negative impact of tourism with locals being pushed and priced out of their communities for fancy resorts and expensive housing being built – without regard for infrastructure, the locals, or the land.
On the flip side, travel can impact a place positively by bringing in needed money to communities. It can also attract caring people who truly want to make a difference in the area through volunteering or creating organizations that support the city or town.
Q5: What does responsible travel mean to you?
It means I’m more intentional about where I travel, and I stay put much longer than I used to. I do less airline travel these days. When I do fly, I try to go with airlines that have programs for recycling and minimizing waste.
I seek to understand the impact my visit has on a place and make sure that I’m conscious of representing the United States in a positive way. I bring my reusable water bottle and coffee/tea canister. When I buy things, I make sure they are locally produced rather than mass produced.
I turn off the AC when I leave my room or villa. I try to do the same things I do at home, being conscious of my footprint abroad as much as I am at home.
Q6: How would you differentiate between travel and tourism?
Travel is the act of traveling to a place – it can be for a variety of reasons – business, personal, family gatherings, etc.
Tourism is more about a locale that has been set up to serve the people who have come to visit. There’s a lot of places that survive based solely on tourism. Typically prices might be higher in this area as the market is capturing the traveler as they’ve been drawn to that area for one reason or another.
Q7: What do you think is the biggest threat travel could pose on the world? How can that be mitigated?
I think the biggest threat is “loving places to death”.
Sucking them dry of their resources, energetically and physically.
I think we can be cognizant of places that are being impacted in negative ways and visit during low season, minimize our footprint, or choose a place that might be less popular, but could benefit from tourism, but may not be there yet. In other words, get off the beaten path.
Q8: How does education come into play in your life? Do you seek out learning opportunities while traveling?
I do, and when I host Sacred Soul Journey retreats, we get involved in the local culture of where we go through volunteering and service work.
I love learning about the places I go. I will hire a local person to take me on a tour or I will do some research while I’m in a place to learn about the culture and history.
Q9: What is your experience with alternative education (worldschooling, unschooling, etc.)?
I don’t have any personal experience other than both my nephews attended an immersion school.
Q10: Have you ever volunteered or supported a local cause or initiative while traveling?
Yes I have. This is important work and something I include in my retreat experiences as well.
Q11: How do you support your local community?
I’m looking to do more volunteering within my local community. I also support the community through buying local, being a member of my local food co-op, supporting local farmers, etc.
Q12: What struggles have you run into along the way while accomplishing your goals? If you travel, how does that impact your goals?
In the past I struggled with the ebb and flow of my business. I wanted it to be more consistent and feel more reliable, but I had to become aligned with the fact that my business has a flow and energy all its own and when I tried to fight against it or push it to be something it wasn’t meant to be in that moment, it never worked. It left me feeling frustrated.
I want time to travel and create experiences for myself (and my business), in order to do that I had to get in tune with my business and allow it to be in states of expansion and renewal, though it can be a 24/7 process, at times, to manage the mind during those renewal moments. My mind wants to take action and go, go, go, which isn’t a healthy way for me to live.
Q13: Aldous Huxley said, “I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.” How have you changed throughout your creative process? How do you improve yourself every day?
Change is one of my favorite topics. It might be easier to tell you how I haven’t changed, because being an entrepreneur is all about change, personally and professionally.
I don’t know that people understand when you choose the entrepreneurial path (whether it’s being creative or writing or owning a business), you make an unconscious decision to personally grow.
Whether you like it or not, the entrepreneurial path is one of the most direct ways for all your sh*t to be presented on a silver platter right in front of your face.
If you have – self doubt – wounds (and we all do) – insecurity – money blocks – worry – fear of being seen – trouble managing stress – control issues – etcetera. All that stuff is going to come up for review.
Some people believe owning a business is about freedom, making money, contributing to the world, or building an amazing company… and it is.
BUT the entrepreneurial path is also an opportunity to go on the inner journey to find and heal yourself in the process. And doing the vital internal work is a key element for handling BIG success.
I’ve been on the personal growth path for two decades and few things have catapulted my inner growth more than owning a business. I’ve faced everything on that list above. Moving through those struggles wasn’t always fast or easy, but it has been worth it, because I’ve come to know myself more deeply and the relationship I have with myself after traveling solo and working remotely for 2+ years is solid.
I’ve really been on the move for 25+ years. Moving so much has fed my wanderlust and taught me about impermanence and change. I learned to navigate high stress situations and roll with the unexpected.
Uncertainty has become my companion as I understand that no matter what is happening I can manage my reaction to change, not control change itself.
Q14: Intolerance and divisiveness are prevalent across the globe. Our voice may not be loud enough to right every wrong, but it is enough to make a difference one person at a time. Small acts move mountains. What one thing would you ask your audience to do to help inspire social change?
If you have the means, support businesses that support the planet, anti-racism, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, etc. Set up small, recurring monthly donations, because a little can add up to a lot, especially for creatives and people who are doing more of the heavy lifting in areas that need it most.
Q17: Maya Angelou said, ‘I did then what I knew how to do, but now that I know better, I do better.’ We are all flawed humans. Perhaps we haven’t made the most responsible choices in the past. Give us one suggestion on how we can travel responsibly and/or make a positive impact on the world around us.
Buy local! There’s a lot of ways we can spend our money when we’re traveling – choose wisely – you can mix it up and support the street vendors, local restaurants, and purveyors along with the more traditional places to eat, shop, and tour.
The handmade scarf you buy from a single person standing outside the museum door can have more meaning to both of you than spending your money solely in the museum gift shop.
Q19: How can we connect with you?
If you are looking for a great Leadership and Alignment Coach, look no further. Here are all the places you can find Kelli. Make sure you check out her freebie, The Grounding Guide.
https://www.facebook.com/kelli.reese.coach
https://www.instagram.com/kelli.reese
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellireese/
Final Words
You can also check out Kelli’s video interview and more like hers by clicking here. I highly encourage you to check out Kelli’s website if you’re looking for a Leadership and Alignment Coach.
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