Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Callaway.
Hi Christina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
When most people answer the question, “Who are you?”, they typically respond like this: “Hi, my name is Christina Callaway. I am a Certified Mindset and Confidence Coach and the owner of Christina Callaway Life Coaching, LLC. I received my BA degree in Leadership Studies with a dual concentration in Human Behavior and Organizational Development from Piedmont College.”
Everything you just read is true; however, that is “what” I do or have done up to this point in my life. It is not “who” I am. It is not my story.
My story may sound like your story. I was married for 15-years until I wasn’t. Devastated at the thought that I had failed at being a wife; disappointed God; and had become another statistic, my world literally came crashing down. I was no longer the strong, confident, and independent thinking woman who had entered the marriage 15-years earlier. I had become a shell of that person. I literally had lost my ability to speak.
Being a person of faith, I believed, with everything in my soul, that my marriage would not end. When the call came that the final divorce of decree had been signed, it felt like I had been kicked in my stomach. the immense pain rolled in like a heavy fog and set up camp. It was so unbearable that the only way I thought I could divorce the pain was to end my life. BUT, God had another plan and I did the work. Five years later in 2015, Christina Callaway Life Coaching, LLC was born. I now partner with individuals who want to feel more confident in their own abilities so they can reach their goals.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Quoting my favorite poet Dr. Maya Angelou, “Wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now.”
A life represents the sum total of its experiences. I don’t know anyone who has lived a “smooth” life. And such is the case with mine.
When my marriage ended, there was a four years period of rediscovery. This took on the form of me re-learning how to advocate for myself (something I had always been extremely good at doing); regaining my self-confidence (something I had always had as a former athlete); and learning to love me and making myself the priority without feeling guilty. My healing involved a complete mindset shift.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am a former national competitive gymnast and I have been coaching gymnastics for more than 30 years. While coaching, I became known as the person who could help gymnasts identify and overcome their fears and mental blocks. This happened naturally and organically. As a gymnast, I, like most gymnasts, went through the phase of my career where learning skills became scary. I started questioning whether or not I would get hurt, fall, or if I was even capable of doing what was being asked of me. Fortunately for me, one of my gyms brought in a mental training coach and I was introduced to techniques to help me to “reset” and “retrain” my mind and thoughts. When I became a coach, I used those same techniques to help my gymnasts and the word spread. Soon, parents from around my local area, state, and neighboring states began to contact me. It was surprising at first because I never told anyone what I was doing. I just did.
In 2015, I decided it was time for me to take the mindset coaching that I was doing to the next level. I formed my LLC with the State of Georgia, but I still didn’t actively market myself as an expert. I was relying on my clients to do that for me. Then, March 2020 came and brought with it the pandemic. The gymnastics program that I directed now became an online program for the next six months. In transitioning my program to online, I developed some new skills. I also was forced to transition working with my clients in a different environment. I could no longer coach them in person. Covid-19 wasn’t through with me. In November of 2020, after returning to in-person classes with my gymnastics program in September, I was diagnosed with Covid plus double-pneumonia. I would be sick for eight weeks and battle long Covid for another six months. It was during this time that I made the decision that I did not want to take my gift to the grave. Three days after receiving my diagnosis of Covid, I enrolled in my first of two coaching certifications. It was a three day intensive and at the beginning of 2021, I began the six months journey towards completing my coaching certification and in July 2021, I graduated from Valorie Burton’s CaPP Institute of Positive Psychology as a Certified Personal and Executive Coach with a specialty in Mindset and Confidence Coaching.
My area of focus is athletes, parents, and coaches. I work with athletes on the club, collegiate, and professional levels helping them to uncover what is causing their fears and mental blocks; helping them to advocate for themselves with their parents, coaches, and organizations; and helping them to retire from their sports knowing who they are and beyond what they do. I help parents better understand how to support their athletes, understand the sport in which their athletes participate, and how to effectively communicate with the coaches. I help coaches to identify how to support their athletes from a mental health perspective. I help all three of these groups understand how they intersect on and off the field of play.
What sets me apart from others is the fact that I have been where my clients are as an athlete and a coach. Having this experience gives me practical and educational knowledge others may not have.
What I am most proud of Christina Callaway Life Coaching, LLC is that it was born organically out of my passion and love of sports and the desire to make a difference in the lives of others. My participation in sports gave me the life skills that I continue to use in my daily life and it has allowed me to make marks in the lives of others that will impact individuals, communities, states, regions, and this world for years to come.
What I want the readers to know about Christina Callaway Life Coaching, LLC is we serve athletes, parents, and coaches, helping them to reach their athletic goals one mindset habit shift at a time. You are an athlete for a limited time. You are an individual for life. Partner with Coach Christina and allow her to introduce your athlete to his/her unlimited potential!
Coach Christina is available for one-on-one sessions; group sessions; and speaking engagements.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
There are many. I will only give two.
1) Going to my first National gymnastics competition in Santa Clara, California. Traveling by car as a family with my mom, dad, and siblings from Georgia. It was a four day trip and we got to see cousins along the trip. We stopped in Colorado to visit cousins and they had arranged for me to have a private practice at a local gym. We got to visit the Grand Canyon, Redwood Forest. It was also special to represent the State of Georgia as the only Black gymnast.
2) Being a Varsity Cheerleader for the University of Georgia. As a young adult, this was still a memorable occasion. All through high school, I never cheered because I was doing gymnastics. When I got to college, I decided to give cheerleading a try because I wanted to be able to attend the football and basketball games free and I also wanted to travel to the away games. It was also special to have been the third Black cheerleader at this flagship school.
Contact Info
- Email: christina@christinacc.
com
- Website: https://www.
christinacc.com
- Instagram: https://www.
instragram.com/ christinamindsetcoach
- Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ christinamindsetcoach
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/c/ChristinaMindsetCoach
Image Credits
Nick Nelson @brandpreneur
