Charlene Ridley | Coaching | Speaking | Bio
Charlene Ridley, Coach
Meet Charlene Ridley, Founder of the Unpause Your Dreams Brand which includes: the Creative Studio, Podcast Studio, Brainstorming Journal, and Merch (coming soon), AirBnB investor, Podcast Host, Keynote Speaker, and Influence Digest Recognized Top Charlotte Coach.
Coaching
Charlene Ridley offers 1:1 coaching for professional women who dream of starting or growing a new business but feel stuck and struggle with how to get started.
If this is you, you might be…
- Thinking you need more (education. skills, time or money) before you can start
- Second-guessing yourself and your ability to make the leap or be an entrepreneur
- Afraid you will fail, lose or limit your lifestyle if you walk away from corporate
- Deflated at the countless times challenges and fear have “made” you pause your dreams
- Exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed from settling for a life you don’t really want
- Tired of the start/stop cycle and having “someday” dreams
- Experience negative thoughts/self-talk that says you can’t, shouldn’t or aren’t able to pursue your dreams
- So much uncertainty
You’re not alone. I used to be you until I decided to invest in myself and hire a coach to get unstuck. Now I have I’ve started not one (1) but three (3) businesses.
I use my D.R.E.A.M Framework, in the Unpause Your Business Dreams 6-Month Accelerator to help you:
- Get clarity – Decide the vision and direction for your business
- Build confidence – Trust your skills/ability to determine next steps and lead business
- Strengthen mindset- Manage your thoughts, emotions, self talk & solve problems easily
- Create Systems – Take the right actions to increase productivity and revenue
…so that you can create the business of your dreams NOW!
Charlene Ridley, Speaker
Who I am & Why this matters
My journey started with a dream that many little girls have: to be an entrepreneur and open my own law firm. I was inspired by the story of an attorney at my school’s carer fair but my dreams were deterred by my mother’s prompting to be more practical. She lived through times when women couldn’t have bank accounts, own property, or make financial decisions without a man. Because of that financial independence and stability meant everything. The way to achieve those was to play by the book, go to school, and get a good job.
I did that. Despite having my daughter at 17, I got a bachelor degree in management studies and later an MBA. I worked for incredible companies, all leaders in their industries. I made great money and created a great life for myself but I knew I was settling.
At age 37, I took a leap and enrolled in a personal development program. That experience was a game-changer., shifting my beliefs, thinking, and awareness in profound ways. For the first time, I felt empowered to pursue my true calling. I hired a coach to keep growing and fell in love with the coaching industry. I saw firsthand how coaching could bring profound and lasting change to people’s lives. From that moment, I committed to always having coaches in my life and decided to become one myself.
I coached for 7 years while working full-time. In January 2023, encouraged by my son and daughters, I left my full-time job as a consulting manager at Deloitte to finally unpause my own dreams. Just six months later, my son Jayden passed away in his sleep.
Coaching, particularly mindset work, has helped me navigate this tragedy and keep going. in fact, because Jayden believed in me, I decided to pursue ALL of my dreams. Including the Unpause Your Dreams Creative Studio which opened January 4, 2024.
This work has always been personal but now in my son’s memory, I intend to help 1 million women unpause their dreams. Because life is made better when we live our dreams.