Hi, I’m Chrissy Marquardt

I am a proud immigrant and an island girl from Jamaica living on a farm in small-town Oregon with my husband and three sons.

I am called many things, but to the people I love most in this world, I am a wife, fierce mama bear to my 3 man cubs, big sis, little sister, Aunty, cuzzy (cousin), daughter, daughter-in-law, loyal friend, loyal sister-friend, godmother, colleague, coach, client, life-long student, adventurer, traveler, creative free spirit, Enneagram 7, maker and crafter of bath and body gifts, and so much more.

My Core Values

My Call To Life Coaching

And Choosing Courage over Comfort

The Burnout

I’ve always been that person that’s full of a million ideas. It seemed that my perpetual problem was trying to implement all of my million ideas at the same time. I was always willing to go all-in on something that interested me but quickly lost interest when it “didn’t work out” the way that I expected it to.

It felt that I was always seeking novelty from each new idea, tactic, or strategy that came across my radar, thinking that each new “thing” would help me to find what I was looking for. I was more in love with the potential possibility and the outcome of something, rather than being willing to fall in love with the process of getting to my results.

I quite literally spent my days in FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) instead of JOMO (the Joy of Missing Out.) I almost never gave myself space and time to go deeper to bring my next big idea to fruition. Instead, I chose to cast my net wider and wider, always doing more and more, leaving a trail of unrealized potential and dreams that eventually faded away into the cobwebs of my subconscious mind and heart, to collect dust.

I was living my best life in the comfort zone of shiny objects, distractions, and excess productivity. Doing for the sake of doing without direction or aim.

All of that changed on October 27, 2018, when I gently but lovingly got called out on my bullshit by my coach.

The Breakdown

I was participating in a group coaching session, learning about the light and shadow side of our primary human drivers.

I was unfamiliar with the concept and learned that our shadow side is an unacknowledged part of our personality that can inhibit us from moving forward, especially when we are attempting to make a significant change in our lives. Our human drivers are our basic human needs and explain why we do what we do.

When I learned about the light and shadow side of Love & Connection as a driver, that felt like the “easy” choice. It didn’t quite feel complete, but it felt convenient.

And then I heard about Variety & Uncertainty.

The Light: “Risk-takers, likes surprises, creativity, experiences, novelty..”

The Shadow: “Not enough clarity, lack of predictability, indecisiveness..”

And the one that completely stopped me in my tracks “…inconsistency is their consistency.”

That sounded exactly like me. And as I had that initial thought, up came my walls and my Dam of Denial. My fragile ego was unwilling to wrap its mind around everything I had just heard. I was unwilling to tell the truth about myself to myself.

In an attempt to be validated by my “easier” choice, I tried, unsuccessfully, to convince my coach that I belonged over in Love & Connection, and I was no longer the person who belonged over in Variety & Uncertainty. That was not me.

She wisely responded:

“Our primary drivers do not change unless we experience trauma. You may have handed the map to Love and Connection, but if Variety & Uncertainty is where you have been all of your life, then that is where you need to be.”

She said something in a way in a way that I had never heard before. And when I heard those things, it stirred things within me that I didn’t even know needed to be stirred up.

The Dam of Denial broke.

Every single demon that I had ever buried and stuffed away in the graveyard of my heart, clawed their way through to my conscious mind.

They started to kick around the dust in my heart chambers, and stir up the emotional cobwebs of shame, fear, worthiness, embarrassment, and all of the stories associated with those emotions. Ready to confront me and ready for a wrestling match.

I saw them clearly for the first time, and they scared the shit out of me.

The Breakthrough

I was both lost and found at that moment. I was lost, because the shaky foundation upon which I had built my life and my identity had been completely shattered. I was found because my heart finally had her moment to speak up for the first time in a very long time.

I continually lost the wrestling match with my demons for about 6 months before I could muster the courage to start having conversations with them outside the wrestling ring.

Eventually, we skipped the wrestling matches altogether and started meeting for coffee and tea instead. Our confrontations turned into conversations and I was finally able to hear the lessons they had been trying to pass on all along.

That the thing that I was seeking all along was within me, seeking me too.

That my value, my worth, and my being come from within me, not from outside of me. External self-worth is dissatisfying and utterly exhausting.

That when I ignore the things I fear the most, it doesn’t go away or disappear into the ethers. It manifests itself in other areas of my life – my business, my clients, my money, and my relationships.

Knowing that my self-worth and value comes from within me gave me the freedom to stop doubting myself, to stop doing more, and to start doing less. To go deeper instead of wider and to create space in my life for the miracle of coming back to myself through self-love, clarity, and purpose.

My life is now happening for me in the Discomfort Zone, and I willingly embrace the darkness of my shadow to find the clarity of my light on the other side of the discomfort.

Instead of a wrestling match, I have the courage to show up each day to dance with the demons in my heart, so that my angels can rejoice and sing.

About Chrissy

Chrissy is a creative free spirit, a courageous visionary, a Cycle Breaker, a proud Jamaican immigrant, a fierce mama bear, and a spiritual soul who has a blatant disregard for other people’s opinions about improbability and impossibility – and pretty much anything having to do with tradition, convention, and rule-following. 

Her mission as a life coach is to help women+ embody the Belief of The High Self Worth Woman: That we are worthy, we are enough, our voice matters, and that our worthiness is our inherent birthright.

Chrissy thrives on working with heart-centered women+, who are ready to shatter the glass ceiling of patriarchal conditioning and self-imposed limitations, for the purpose of living our most authentic, courageous, and empowered life by design. Chrissy deeply explores personal growth and development with her clients at the intersection of Motherhood, Entrepreneurship, and Self-Discovery.

When she’s not coaching clients or having happy hour brainstorming sessions with Google Drive, Chrissy can be found chasing her three sons and husband around the farm, reading, writing, exercising, journaling, and crafting handmade bath and body products for friends, family, and clients.

Education, Training & Lineage

In-Process Continuing Education 

Certified Equity-Centered Coach and Leadership Coach, Institute for Equity-Centered Coaching with Trudi Lebron (in process)

Copywriting for Culture Makers Certification Program with Kelly Diels (in process)

Completed Education 

Associate Certified Coach (ACC), through the International Coaching Federation 

Master Practitioner, Neuro-Linguistic Programming – Accredited by the Association for Integrative Psychology.

Master Practitioner, Mental and Emotional Release ® – Accredited by the Association for Integrative Psychology.

Master Practitioner, Hypnotherapy – Accredited by the Association for Integrative Psychology.

Master Awaken Your Life Coach  – 400 Hour Training, Accredited Diploma in Coach Training by the Association for Coaching (ACDT).

Bachelor’s of Business Administration, University of Portland