Hi, I’m Laura…
I draw on my experience living, working, and teaching yoga around the world to provide intimate yoga and leadership retreats that empower women to thrive – in work and in life.
A professional chemical engineer, I’ve lived and worked in four countries and built a successful career in engineering, construction, and program management.
I am a (fierce) workplace diversity and inclusion champion in my industry and have lead local and global women’s resource groups. I speak at universities, companies, societies, and conferences, and write articles and develop programming to empower women to thrive.
I know first-hand the obstacles that prevent women from truly thriving. Only when we recognize the stories that drive us, put aside societal pressures to find our unique purpose, define our version of success, and work to close the gap, can we cultivate work and life we love.
My curriculum, Leading from Within, teaches a combination of workplace inclusion, holistic leadership, goal-getting, and mindful strategies which I pair with meditation, yoga, and the power of community in self-led retreats.
I believe that we don’t need to make ourselves sick to be successful, and with a little work on who we are, why we’re here, what we want, and how we go get it, we can all cultivate a life we love. I believe every one of us deserves to thrive.
My dream is to help create a wave of purpose-driven female leaders who thrive in their version of success, and make the world a better place for all of us.
“Every one of us deserves to thrive.”
My Story
From aspiring engineer in the deserts of the UAE to yoga teacher in the concrete jungle of Houston, TX.
For as long as I can remember I felt a need to prove I was as capable – and as worthy – as men. Part society, part ego, part challenge, this storyline has governed a lot of my life for good and for bad.
It’s the reason I excelled at school, took up “non-traditional” hobbies, achieved a first-class degree in Chemical Engineering, and blossomed in my career. It’s the reason why I’ve been passionate and active in women’s empowerment since I was a child.
It’s also the reason why I gave up art for chemistry when I was 16, stopped singing and writing in university to focus on my degree, and why I struggle with pressure, perfectionism, anxiety, and feelings of worthlessness.
Our stories are the reason we are who we are but left unchecked can be damaging. Competition and challenge are stimulating, motivating; but comparison strips piece by piece your unique identity, your unique purpose.
One thing that I did stick with was yoga; I’ve practiced since I was a teenager. I began my teaching journey while working in a remote area of Australia where I led a weekly practice to help friends and co-workers destress. As soon as I returned to Houston in 2016, I signed up for teacher training and became a registered yoga teacher within the year.
Yoga teacher training surprised me – it was less about the physical practice, and more about taking a deep dive into yourself, figuring out what makes you tick, what you live for, and the stories you tell yourself that hold you back.
This was the catalyst that helped me uncover my story, and so began my path to purpose.
I had always been passionate about women’s empowerment, that was the fire in me; and there was more to that fire than competition and motivation. With intention and direction, I could use that fire to help people.
I quickly became a workplace diversity and inclusion champion in my industry, working to expose the scale of inherent biases and microaggressions that hold back women and minorities.
But that wasn’t enough. In my yoga I was coming to terms with the personal and societal pressures that prevented me from being myself, pursuing my purpose; and I could see people all around me with the same struggle.
What’s more, in 2019, with a new job in a new city in an extremely challenging and male-dominated work environment, I burnt out. I gave out more than I replenished, my mental health suffered, and I fell into a depression.
So often people, and especially women, make themselves sick tirelessly pursuing an idea of success that is not theirs, in an environment where they are tolerated, not celebrated. I did.
Slowly, I went through the work of making myself better. It was one of the hardest things I did, but, I uncovered some core truths about myself that I am using to build a work and a life I can thrive in, and enabled me to help women in the workplace even more.
My experiences, upbringing, career, and teaching have equipped me with tools to overcome the very real challenges that face women striving to succeed in the workplace. Tools that I now use to help create a wave of empowered, purpose-driven women leaders who thrive in their version of success, and who in turn will make the workplace, and the world, a better place for all of us.