Lisa Smith

Life Coach and Mentor

Hi there! I’ve always felt like I've been living my life in 3 phases. I like to relate it the metamorphosis process of the butterfly. The traumas first, the relationship and family second, the education and career third. While most people are reaching the point of retirement, I feel like my career is just getting started.

A bit about me: I attended the school of hard knocks from the age of birth. It's not a hard school to get in to, definitely hard to graduate from. The curriculum is tough and the lessons are extensive but it has to be one of the best schools I’ve been a part of. The curriculum included but not limited to abandonment, death, abuse, life in the system, drugs, short stints in jail and complete mental breakdowns. Surviving this kind of life as a child and young adult is a success in it’s in own right although you don’t realize it when you’re living in it. As an adult, it has brought gratefulness and appreciation into my life and the opportunity to be more understanding and empathetic to those around me. Not everyone is empathetic to the struggles of another.

After leaving the first school of hard knocks, I enrolled in their extended program. This included a relationship with someone who is very good at public persona, not so good behind closed doors. Although this relationship turned out to be a tumultuous one, I have been blessed with 3 beautiful children because of it. I was lucky enough to stay home and raise them for 12 years. It’s amazing what you can learn from your children and the value they hold inside of themselves. To be a mom is an ongoing success story that will always be one of my greatest achievements. There are many sleepless nights and a lot of work put in with no fancy awards or annual raises. For those raising children, you should be praised to the highest degree. Again, success in it’s own right.

The third phase of life goes into my career. I went back into the work force in 2011 and kicked off my career at Sephora. What a fun company to work for! It’s an entire playground of skincare, makeup, haircare, fragrance. During that time, I won the work, life, balance award twice yet decided to leave after 2 years due to the anxiety of missing out on my kids everyday life. I went back in 2013 during my separation, what a time. I was driving a Range Rover, making $11/hour with about $100 in my bank account. I think I got paid just to afford the gas. For the first few months, I would sit in the back crying just so I wouldn’t bring this in front of my kids. I was really lucky to have a great team around me who allowed me the space to let it out when needed. I am forever grateful for this. I made a conscious decision for myself during that time that I would make it in this world, someway and somehow! I saved every penny I could, deleted most of my social media, fell off the planet and indulged into hiking with my best friends. I took the time to free myself from the circumstances that were holding me back from the outcomes I was wanting. I left Sephora in 2015, started doing brand work, saved money and in 2019, I landed my dream job as a Sales and Education Executive at Drunk Elephant skincare for BC, Canada. I’ll never forget my first interview with my Manager, he asked me all kinds of questions about life, hobbies and the things I enjoy on a day to day. It was such a different interview and had nothing to do with sales or metrics. I thought to myself, this is odd, especially since I had been preparing myself for a ton of questions on how I’ll be able to enhance the business, what skills do I have or what experience am I bringing where I can guarantee money returns. You know, the typical things you get asked in interviews that are completely unpredictable and quite boring. I went through my second interview with the VP and again, questions about my life and things I enjoy. My last interview was with Tiffany Masterson, the founder and creator of Drunk Elephant. I think I sweat more during that interview than I ever have on a hike. Her presence during that interview was so nice. We talked about the brand, our horoscope signs, I got to ask her questions and again, nothing about sales or what I was going to do to grow her brand. Drunk Elephant has always been steps ahead in the skincare industry. Looking back on this interview process, they were steps ahead in hiring as well. Creating and building a team out of life and passion vs. how much money can you make creates a structure of wealth on it’s own. I feel this is still one of the biggest downfalls in corporations today, the lack of passion for it’s people. Don’t get me wrong, I understand scale but if you drain and suck every inch of your people, they will not perform.

The things I’ve learned through this position has paved the way for my future. I have built so many amazing relationships, business building skills, driving sales, task management and organizational skills, educating and public speaking. Throughout the last 5 years, I have contributed to growing a brand that I love while still maintaining a life for myself.

In 2023, I decided to go back to school and pursue my lifelong passion for coaching. I always knew there was something inside of me that was bigger than me but fear always held me back. I made a choice to stop listening to others, stop listening to the voices in my head and go after what I was always meant to be, a life coach, mentor and leader. I started building my Caterpillar in a Jar life coaching and mentoring business, from the history of my life experiences, this is where the name was born. The logo is my 4 year old inner child and a representation of how I’ve felt most of my life…trapped in a jar, waiting to break free and burst into the world as the beautiful butterfly. Firm believer over here that time is very precious and so very short. I now help others focus on building positive solutions vs focusing on problems and raise personal value without fear. As humans, we love to overcomplicate things and we forget about simplicity.

I have also pursued public speaking to enhance my skills in communication. I am a member of Toastmasters and have chosen a public speaking mastery pathway to help me achieve my TEDX goal. I’ve gone from zero to something, back down to zero and up to making 6 figures. It can be done! I have 3 amazing children, my loving boyfriend who is supportive in everything I do, a handful of really great friends who are there during the good times and the bad (very important) and my health. Investing time into yourself, drowning out the external noises, working hard and staying focused will lead you to where you need to go. Will it be easy? It won’t but nothing in this life is. One thing I will say, if you’ve survived this long through all of the shit you’ve been through, the rest will be a piece of cake.

As a society, we tend to measure success by money and job titles without thinking about the other ways we have been successful in life. Whether you got out of bed and brushed your teeth or flew to the moon, both are successful. It’s all in the mindset and the way we look at it.

This is a part of my story and the rest is still unwritten...