Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Swanson.
Hi Stephanie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m a life and career coach who primarily works with people navigating chronic illness and disability. Before this work, my career started in engineering and grew into project management and leadership roles in an academic medical center. I spent years helping organizations improve systems and solve complex problems.
My path into coaching came through my own life upheaval. In 2022 I developed Long Covid, and my life changed almost overnight. I went from leading major projects, raising three kids, and performing aerial silks in my spare time to navigating life with significant health limitations.
That experience forced me to rethink my work, identity, and what success looks like when life changes unexpectedly. Becoming an ICF-credentialed coach became a natural next step, merging what I loved about leading teams of people with my own personal life experiences. Today I help people navigate the same questions I wrestled with deeply: how to adjust your professional life when illness, disability, or life transitions disrupt the path you had laid out for yourself.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not smooth. When chronic illness or major health challenges enter your life, it doesn’t just affect your ability to exercise or participate in the extras of life. It can disrupt your career, your identity, your sense of stability, and the plans you had for the future.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that our culture often treats our productivity as the indicator of our worth. When illness limits what you can do, that can create a lot of cognitive dissonance – both internally and with others. People often feel like they’ve lost their identity, and others who are used to them showing up in a certain way often find themselves confused, frustrated, or uncertain how to engage.
But what I’ve learned, both personally and through my work with clients, is that the goal isn’t to go back to who you were before. The real work is learning how to build a sustainable life moving forward by identifying your limitations and then advocating for the systemic changes to support showing up as our best selves.
Universal design means we’re creating places and systems that work for everyone – with and without disabilities. When we can build in universal design elements such as access to remote work, everyone benefits from those design choices.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I have two different roles at the moment.
The first is my coaching practice, where I work with individuals navigating career transitions due to illness, disability, caregiving responsibilities, or major life changes. Many of my clients are professionals who find themselves needing to rethink how work fits into their lives.
The second is The Empower Network, a nonprofit I founded that supports entrepreneurs living with chronic illness and disability. Our mission is to help people build financially sustainable work through education, networking, mentoring, and community support.
In 2022, there was only ONE disabled owned business incubator in the entire country. In contrast – there are over 200 entrepreneurship support organizations in Kansas City alone, none of which focus on people with adult-onset disabilities (there are a few vocational programs for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities). We are excited to be joining the work to expand access to employment for those who no longer fit within the traditional work environment.
We focus primarily on capacity, not limitations. This isn’t charity, it’s sustainability and long-term productivity. People living with disability and chronic illness bring enormous talent, experience, and perspective to the workforce. When our workplaces and communities are designed more inclusively, everyone benefits.
In fact, 60% of all adults have a chronic condition that could progress to disabling. Everyone will eventually face the limitations of their body and mind from either illness, injury, or age, and it’s incredibly important that we create spaces for everyone to participate in meaningful work, even as their capacity changes.
Individual coaching can be a great place to start – talking with someone who understands what it’s like to live with chronic pain, diabetes, autoimmune conditions, and even perimenopause – all common health conditions that often require taking a big step back and reevaluate what’s working, what’s not working, and what is the next best step forward for you.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I grew up on a farm and spent countless hours working in the garden, the field, and in the barn on equipment. Whether it was building a new hayrack with a sister, building walls and insulating the barn with a brother, or replacing tines on the hay rake with my dad, there were always projects that needed to be done and usually very little knowledge about how to do them.
You figured it out as you went.
The resourcefulness of the disability community reminds me a lot of my farming background. When something needs to be done, people adapt, improvise, and find workable ways forward, often without a clear instruction manual.
Of course, farming also teaches another lesson. Sometimes the work pauses whether you planned for it or not. The forced lemonade breaks in the shade were where I first learned that respecting limits is part of doing the work well. Pace matters. Rest matters. And knowing when to step back is often what makes it possible to keep going.
Pricing:
- $5 Consultation Session
- Coaching Packages start at $150/session
- Sliding Scale Available as needed
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stephanieswansoncoaching.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanieswansoncoaching/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553019095512
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-swanson-icf-acc-406a4b1/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheEmpowerNetwork
- Other: https://www.threads.com/@stephanieswansoncoaching
