Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. AJ Austin.
Hi Dr. Austin, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m the Founder of The International Center for Life Coach Training, LLC (home of Ladies Empowering Generations and Coaching You! — also known as, The Ladies of L.E.G.A.C.Y).
As the Lead Lady of L.E.G.A.C.Y, you may not know my story of why I created a movement of Black women worldwide becoming Christian Certified Life Coaches and where we’re headed from here.
It’s a journey of struggle and success, and I want to share it with you.
My mother told me she prayed for a girl. God answered by sending me.
I was born November 27, 1980. I like to say I was a Valentine’s Day gift unwrapped and delivered on Thanksgiving that same year.
I’m the eldest and only girl of 3; born to a teenage mother who named me ‘Andrieka’, (which is feminine for ‘Andrew’; my father who passed away recently but was never a part of my life).
My name is Greek meaning, ‘strong and courageous’, and I am that and more — despite growing up in small-town Douglasville, GA living in low-income housing, on government assistance, and having been surrounded by the sad reality of poverty most of my life.
Against the odds, I graduated high school in the top 5% of my class!
I was excited to receive six figures in scholarships and get accepted into the Honors Program as a Psychology major at Clark Atlanta University, where I made a vow to God to ‘help others as I helped myself’ heal our way through life.
But, that joy turned to disappointment when I learned that the additional funding I needed to complete my education had dried up. So, I dropped out and got a job.
I also got married…to a struggling musician — and we lived on a dream while working a part-time jobs here-and-there, and I attempted to go back to school.
We got evicted; and for the first time in my life, I dealt with homelessness (sleeping in my car, in guest bedrooms, on pull-out couches and on the floors of family and friends).
We separated and I went on to live in a shelter, then a former prison that had been converted into transitional housing for the working poor in Atlanta.
On April 14, 2008, at the courthouse in downtown Decatur, GA I attended the divorce trial that officially ended my five-year marriage.
I remember getting on the elevator to leave. I and pushed the “Down” button, the doors opened, and I stepped on and turned around. As the doors began to close, I saw my ex-husband for the last time.
At that moment, my phone rang inside my purse as I descended down to the lobby floor. I took a chance on getting a cell phone signal inside the elevator and I answered. I’m glad I did because it was my cousin calling to tell me that my mom had just passed away.
Can you imagine facing two life-changing within minutes?
After several legal fights (with family), I won and inherited my mother’s house and bank accounts and discovered that I had been named beneficiary on her insurance policy.
Then, my corporate job downsized.
I received it as my metaphorical pink permission slip to finally live out my dream of entrepreneurship (since I now had all this free time). It was at this point that I decided to take control of my own destiny.
A friend told me about the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and mentioned how because of my past jobs working with girls, she thought I would be a great fit for it.
I trained and became a Facilitator of youth enrichment seminars for girls and moms, teaching them how to start a dialogue about beauty and self-esteem.
I then wrote a best-selling empowerment book for girls.
I grew my brand and gained recognition for my work and began receiving requests from women in other states wanting to “borrow my brand”. So, I decided to become a Business Coach to help them build their own instead.
Along my personal development journey to help me deal with death, divorce, dropping out of college, and dealing with homelessness, I met a Black lady Life Coach with impactful insight, and I spent the next few years getting my life together.
But, I still felt like I needed permission to do greater things with my life.
A friend told me about a local Life Coach Certification two-day training intensive in Atlanta. I thought, here’s my chance to FINALLY help people in a much bigger way!
I was so desperate to go, I was willing to sleep in my car! But I didn’t have to because this same friend paid for my hotel stay (and wouldn’t let me pay her back) and she paid my training tuition (I paid her back for that tho, lol).
On April 27, 2013 (my dad’s birthday), I became an internationally recognized Certified Personal Life Coach. I knew I wanted to work with and serve Black women faith on a deeper level of healing and wholeness as I coached them into building their business brands.
Every day since my certification, I have dedicated my days to reading, watching videos, listening to podcasts, and attending events, in an effort to master this ministry.
The mere existence of the life coaching industry as a mental health alternative to counseling (and I didn’t need a college degree or to take on hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to become a successful Coach) was all the motivation (and permission) I needed to give myself to help ‘scratch the internal itch’ to serve greater in my purpose.
I sought guidance, I prayed, and I had my business prayed over by a Black Christian family of multi-millionaires here in Atlanta.
While I was doing all of this (and 15 years from when I first started), I re-enrolled in school in an Adult Learning program where I could attend classes in the evening (although I drove 2-hours to campus — with no gas in my car — in a car that was gifted to me, and later repossessed and replaced when I won another scholarship!
I continued my studies (before and after gallstone surgery) — and I became a vegetarian.
I took online classes (with no wifi at home) – so I sat in my car in restaurant parking lots and inside local cafes and borrowed their wifi.
I at local food banks and soup kitchens.
I buried five family members.
I lost close friends.
I made my first “F”.
I was also awarded “Outstanding Student” out of a class of 300.
I wrote my second best-selling book sharing life coaching sharing eight mistakes to avoid while running a new coaching business.
I graduated Mercer University in 2016 with a degree in Training and Development (and that same promise in my heart to heal and help others do the same)
One week after graduation, I was invited to became a Master Life Coach Trainer (with the same organization that Certified me as a Life Coach). This led to me to training one hundred and ten Certified Life Coaches from all over North America.
Four years later, the partnership dissolved, I lost my home, and lived in an office space for nine months.
I was encouraged by friends, fans, and followers – who had seen me build my brand by coaching and training online and offline – to create my own Life Coach Certification Training company.
So, I hosted live in-person workshops and focus groups, and at the top of 2020 (at the height of a global pandemic, an economic shutdown, civic and civil unrest, and race/religious riots), The International Center for Life Coach Training, LLC was born; teaching African American women how to become a professionally trained, skilled, qualified, Black Woman Christian Certified Life Coach (as African American women make up less than 9% of the life coaching industry – but 100% of people inside (and outside) of our community can use our services)
To date, we have successfully superseded sales goals and trained hundreds of Black Women Christian Certified Life Coaches worldwide — who are now known as ‘The Ladies of L.E.G.A.C.Y (which means, ‘Ladies Empowering Generations and Coaching You!).
Throughout the years, my delivery of one-on-one private life coaching sessions, group coaching sessions, classes, workshops, speaking engagements, training events, books, and podcasts has created a brand awareness that has impacted ministries and created a movement for Black women of faith.
Our work has been featured in magazines and endorsed through partnerships.
I have also been blessed to serve, share the stage, and certify celebrity Coaches.
And, to acknowledge my decades of working and serving ministry, I received an honorary Doctoral degree in Christian Psychology.
This all came together to help me live my life through longevity as a Lady of L.E.G.A.C.Y (and now a local filmmaker and documentarian!)
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The International Center for Life Coach Training, LLC?
The International Center for Life Coach Training, LLC is a virtual training and development firm helping Black women become professionally trained, skilled, qualified, Certified Life Coaches who can confidently convert coaching conversations to clients, cash, checks, and credit cards!
What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future is continuing to live my legacy of sharing entrepreneurial education, economic empowerment, and ethical engagement through media (social media, podcasts, videos, film, traditional media, etc.) with entrepreneurial women who want to live and leave a legacy as a Black Woman Christian Certified Life Coach.
I am looking forward to (and planning for) our next several hundred Black Women Chrisitan Certified Life Coaches who will go through our 1-Day Black Woman Christian Life Coach Certification Self-Study System.
Pricing:
- The 1-Day Black Woman Christian Life Coach Certification Self-Study System is currently $1,997 (price will be increasing soon)
Contact Info:
- Email: aj@thebossof.me
- Website: www.blacklifecoachcompany.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackwomenchristianlifecoaches
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drajaustin
- Youtube: www.blacklifecoachtv.com
- Other: www.futureblacklifecoaches.com
