Entrepreneur and Life Coach Sheera Gersh has been in the beauty industry for 20 years. Her business, Addicted to Nails, has a huge clientele of ladies that trust her with their nails and their personal stories, dreams, fears, and problems. Sheera has the privilege of working on someone’s outside while getting a glimpse into what’s going on inside of them. Remembering one such conversation, Sheera recalls, “I had a client whose husband was terminally ill. We talked for a long time during that session about death and mourning and what life would be like for her after he passed away. When we were done, she told me that I have a gift and should go to school to become a life coach. This conversation stayed with me, and I thought about it a lot. After a while, I did some research about classes and that’s how I found SWIHA. Soon after that I made an appointment with an admissions coach, and signed up for classes!”
Sheera’s college background in Sociology and Psychology beautifully served her studies and practice with life coaching; however, it was the differences between the two academic pursuits that she really appreciated. It was ultimately through SWIHA that Sheera was able to understand the merit of finding our own answers with powerful questions. “Life coaching guides clients to reach their true potential,” she says. “It makes my heart happy to see clients move past their personal blocks and achieve their goals.”
Sheera has always had a strong work ethic, possibly even to the point of being a self-described “workaholic.” In Life Coaching classes, you do the same work that you will be asking your future clients to do. During those exercises, Sheera recognized some very important truths about herself: “I discovered that I was so wrapped up in my own business that I had zero balance in my personal life. I didn't even recognize this in myself until my teacher, Richard Seaman, suggested I take off the professional hat and just focus on my own personal life for a bit. Talk about a challenge! I am forever grateful for that. Through working with my fellow students and coaching each other, I gave myself permission to let go and receive. I was depleted from giving too much for so long. SWIHA created a safe place to be vulnerable and focus on exploring different modalities and fine-tuning my gifts.”
Speaking of Richard Seaman, Sheera offers praise and appreciation for his teaching style and his message: “I cannot say enough about Richard Seaman. I have nothing but gratitude for him and will always hold him dear in my heart. Richard saw something in me that I hadn’t seen in myself and kept pushing me to learn and grow. Because of him, I learned to ‘BE,’ which is a concept I previously had a hard time grasping. I would ask myself, ‘How do I just BE when I don't have time to be present? I have 1200 other things to get done!’ Through the Life Coaching program at SWIHA and the way Richard helped us to show up and do OUR work, I learned to be calm, meditate, be present, hold space, and appreciate what makes my soul happy.”
Finding that peace in the moment also helped Sheera to gain some powerful perspective regarding fears and the stories we tell ourselves and others. “I think one of the greatest lessons I learned at SWIHA is that fear is nothing more than an illusion,” she says. “Fear is the story we tell ourselves when we aren't quite sure how something will play out. Imagine if we were to see our experiences without fear and were open to the lessons we can learn from them. That is why I choose to live an honest, open, conscious life.”
In addition to working with her coaching clients and creating nail art for her fabulous clientele, Sheera coordinates events and education for the Arizona Nail Technicians Network and runs a popular nail blog called Nail Addict Society. She has also joined forces with five other educators in Nail Tech Reality Check as an Empowerment Coach, which is something she is very excited about. They will be covering different topics and offering articles over the blog and in person at workshops, seminars, and teaching classes at trade shows.
Sheera would like to share the following advice to anyone thinking about signing up for classes at SWIHA:
“SWIHA is a truly magical place filled with like-minded soulful people. If it feels like it's where you should be, don't hesitate to sign up for a class and get to know others there. I have made friendships at SWIHA with people I share heart space with and who I will always hold dear.”
