Welcome!
My name is Amery (pronounced like “Avery” but with an m instead of a v) and I am the founder of MasterMind Executive Leadership, LLC. My superpower is gathering people together to solve challenging problems while fostering deep connections. For the past 3 years, I have been honored to direct a leadership development and group coaching program at my university promoting the wellbeing and professional fulfillment of my fellow scientist mothers. Empowering scientist mothers to lead authentically, connect deeply, and find alignment has undoubtedly become the most rewarding, invigorating, and impactful work of my career thus far. Driven by my passion to support scientist mothers, I “went back to school” (at 8 months pregnant!) to complete the Professional Coaching Certification Program at Duquesne University’s Palumbo-Donahue School of Business. I founded MasterMind, and specifically developed the MotherMind program, to enable me to do this work that fuels my soul on a larger scale.
In addition to founding MasterMind (and apparently now running a small business—what?!), my “day job” is as an NIH-funded principal investigator at an R1 university. And, of course, my most important “job” is being a mother to two young daughters (currently 3.5 years and 9 months old). Outside of work and family, I am a Toronto-born, introverted, energetic, foodie living in Pittsburgh, PA. I am an avid 4pm crossfitter five days per week; I enjoy going out to dinner weekly with inspiring female friends; and I recently started singing in a choir again—something I haven’t done since my teenage years and I felt like a kid again when my mum and in-laws came to my choir concert!
I am sometimes asked how I “do it all” (I don’t), if I sleep (7ish hours per night), and if I am “crazy” (perhaps 😉) . What I definitely am (in addition to being privileged by being cis, het, White, partnered, etc.), though, is self-reflective, strategic, a ruthless guardian of my time, and crystal clear on my values: Wellbeing, Growth, and Impact. While I regularly feel the chaos and overwhelm of balancing all of my roles and a demanding career in science, aligning my priorities, work, and time with my values allows me to shift my mindset, challenge limiting beliefs, and face daily struggles head on with confidence and, dare I say it, a sense of peace.
My values were what inspired the magnolia tree element in the MasterMind logo. Magnolias have always taken my breath away in the spring and, in obvious ways, remind me of Wellbeing and Growth. The iterative branching of magnolia trees represents what is most important to me about Impact. My vision is to not only have a positive impact on those in my direct orbit (my daughters, friends, colleagues, etc.) but for those I impact to go on to positively impact others, and so forth. Through MotherMind, I strive not only to positively impact scientist mothers, but that I empower them to unleash their capacity to more positively impact their science, their children, and the systems in which we work.
I am absolutely honored to partner with my fellow scientist mothers to promote their wellbeing, professional fulfillment, and pave the way for the next generation of scientist mothers to thrive.
I genuinely can’t wait to hear from you!
Amery
