Known as Coach Carey, Raia Carey has made it her life’s work to help others. Her main mantras? Lead with love, spread positivity and no stress, ever!
What does it mean to be a motivational speaker and life coach?
Being a motivational speaker means I am hired to speak to something that is important to me or the company and inspire people. Being a life coach is bridging the gap between psychiatry and therapy. On one end, therapy is a great practice and more for healing, whereas psychiatry is more cognitively the patterns of what’s happening. A life coach is somewhere in the middle, where we don’t give advice, we simply ask questions that to help the person figure it out on their own and that way it’s far more impactful and empowering.
How did you get into this career?
I majored in Psychology at University and it’s something I have always been passionate about – figuring out why people do the things they do. However, that felt very black and white – I’m very different and I bring my own vibe to everything I do, so it didn’t resonate with me as much. A few years later, I had heard about coaching and it felt like it was a way to bridge the gap between all of those things and connecting the dots throughout my life to really step into my purpose. After a ton of research, I realized I could still help people without having the authority to prescribe medication, as well as still do my own thing and thrive in the grey area.
What makes your job career goals?
I get to create my own schedule and I get to help people – which is the best thing ever. Overall, I get to connect and meet some truly amazing and inspiring people.
How does this career feed into your overall life career goals?
My three mantras in life are lead with love, spread positivity and no stress, ever. When I think of those things, I think that we always have a choice, if we don’t have a choice about what is happening to us, we do have a choice in how we handle things and react. My goal is to constantly learn, grow and strive to be better and this career is helping me do that.
How can someone get into this career? What are the first steps?
The best way to get into this career is to first do some interwork and see how you are with yourself. See how consciously aware you are, how many self-check-ins you’ve had and what self-care you currently have. Being a life coach really requires you to do a lot of inner work and be there for people without being “in it” with them. Next, I would do research on schools, there are so many schools, ultimately finding the one that resonates with you the most. The school I went to is called IPEC (Institute of Professional Excellence and Coaching) which is accredited by the ICF (International Coaching Federation). I also completed the Life Skills Program at George Brown College for group coaching and I recently just finished cognitive behavioural coaching.
What type of personality is best suited for what you do?
I think the best type of personality suited for what I do is someone that is selfless and someone who can stay objective.
Can you share three tips on how to be successful in this career?
1. Don’t take things too personally
2. Constantly put yourself out there
- 3. Keep growing
What’s a secret about your career no one knows?
A secret about my career that most people don’t think about is that I have hard times too! I have sad days, I have bad days, but I know the tools that help me work out of it. If I do have a bad day, I go right into my toolbox and know exactly what is going to pump me up. For me, that’s swimming, music, spending time with people I love, which prevents me from getting into a rut or funk.
Anything exciting coming up?
I will be getting into some podcasting. I have been working with the podcast The Lucky Few and I am also coming out with my own podcast which is called The Confidence Talk. The podcast will basically talk about how confidence has helped people be successful and what tools they used to achieve and maintain that so that other people can have their own.
To Learn more and connect with Coach Carey, visit her website, as well as find her on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.