In 2024, I experienced executive coaching for the first time as a client. At that time, I was a senior leader in a high-pressure, high visibility role - and newly returned from my second maternity leave.

Professionally, things were going well. Personally, I felt increasingly stretched between the demands of leadership and the season of life I knew would pass quickly. I found it difficult to disconnect. My phone was always within reach. Even when I logged off, my mind continued working - replaying conversations, refining ideas, anticipating stakeholder reactions, and preparing for what came next. The pace never really stopped.

Despite recognizing this, meaningful change felt out of reach on my own. Coaching created the space I hadn’t been able to create for myself.

Through that experience, I began to see how deeply my thinking patterns were shaping my leadership, decisions, and energy. My coach didn’t give advice or prescribe solutions. Instead, through thoughtful questions and reflection, I developed my own clarity - and with it, a different way of leading and working. The impact was profound.

I experienced some of the strongest years of my career while operating with greater intention and boundaries than I had ever believed possible. That experience changed not only how I worked, but also how I understood leadership itself. It led me to pursue formal training in leadership coaching grounded in human psychology and neuroscience, ultimately founding the Tai Johnson Group.

Today, my work is rooted in a simple belief: leaders don’t need more pressure or better advice, they need space to think clearly enough to lead intentionally.