About

About me

I’m Shailoo. I am an immigrant from India who arrived in Victoria (on the traditional Lekwungen territories) in 1973 and am so grateful to have spent most of my life in this beautiful city and space.

I have spent over 25 years in a formal leadership position in higher education, while raising a family and doing a PhD in my 40s. I have led diverse teams of 7 to 90+ staff, in unionized and non-union environments.

An insight that has come up for me through life and work, is that we are often in positions where we need to navigate the variables/variabilities that life can pose on us. “Navigating the variables” means to me that life’s journey is rarely a straight path and the variables that come up can be unexpected, so we are often put in a place to learn and ask “what is this variable asking of me?”

Some of my clients have included early career professionals, recent graduate students seeking clarity on next steps, emerging leaders, and executives.

I am accredited as an Associate Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation, and have completed the EQ-i 2.0® and EQ 360® certification.

How coaching has helped me

Although, I have been the recipient of great coaching with various coaches in my life, my first exposure to coaching was in in 2009. My boss at that time, announced her upcoming retirement. She asked me to consider going for her job. My initial thought was excitement. I definitely had the mindset of “climbing the ladder.” So the opportunity to move up, take on more responsibility, have a bigger pay cheque – all drew me to go for the job. However, I could not shake this niggle that maybe this wasn’t for me. I did the standard pros and cons list, talked to family and friends and I was still struggling with clarity. My boss could see that I was struggling. She made the offer of hiring me a coach, Sherry LeBlanc.

Working with Sherry was just what I needed. She provided me a structured approach, kept me on task, offered probing and curious questions, helped me rethink my mental models, and clarify my values. After all that work, the illuminating realization came forward – I didn’t want my boss’s job. I wanted to do my PhD! I wasn’t done with formal learning and I had some deep curiosities, a desire to explore new ideas and learn new skills. This clarity led me down a path that I have never regretted, and I am not sure I would have gotten there without a coach.

Navigating life’s variables asks us to grow, shift, and learn more about ourselves. It also asks us to build our skills in self-awareness and self-regulation, so we maintain our balance. Contact me to learn more and work with me!