About
Elevate purpose, peace, profit!
To answer this question, I need to share my initial epiphany and the events directly after that brought me to where I am today: coaching and consulting entrepreneurs to help them become truly free and elevate the purpose, peace, and profit in their business.
In 2010, my life took a dramatic turn. It started with an epiphany I had while I was volunteering at the Hay House I CAN DO IT conference in Toronto. I was assigned to the room where Denise Linn was leading a past life regression. I didn’t intend to participate in the meditation but something drew me in.
Denise’s voice guided me into a deep meditation and I experienced past life regression for the first time. In this past life, I saw myself as a brave warrior who was fighting hard in a battle. When the battle was over, everyone around me — including everyone I cared about — was dead. I lived a long, lonely, and sad life and eventually died alone. The message I received from that experience was “if I fight, I will end up alone”. Then another message came to me:
my name Irina means “PEACE” in Greek and my current life needs to be about peace.
From warrior to peace seeker
Up until my epiphany, I had lived my life as a warrior fighting hard to survive. Having been emotionally, physically, and sexually abused as a child, having been told that as a woman I was not as good as a man, and having lined up to get food while living under communism, I had adopted a survivor mindset. Despite these discouraging circumstances, I had blazed a path for myself, getting accepted into university, coming to Canada, and building an impressive career in nuclear engineering. I had done more than just survive and I was proud. I thought I was thriving — but I wasn’t.
I was accomplished in my nuclear engineering career, managing large teams and complex projects of about $7 million. But by that time, I felt more drained than happy. I was probably close to burnout.
That day, at the I CAN DO IT conference, I came to understand the reason for the way I was feeling: I was doing it all wrong. I was not being authentic! I had become a skilled warrior in order to overcome the big hurdles in my life, but this was not the real me. It was quite the opposite.
A few months after the conference, my father died, and shortly after that, a long and unpleasant conflict at work left me feeling disheartened. I wondered if there was a better way to live life.
It was through grieving my loss and the damage to my top-performer identity that I realized that the only person in the world that could destroy me was me. No one else had that power! I vowed to stand by me, and I immersed myself in absolutely everything I could to restore my well-being and discover my purpose.
A leap of faith
With my upbringing, personal development was always something that interested me. I took all the leadership courses available as I climbed the corporate ladder to Senior Manager and Acting Director. In 2009, I obtained a Coach Practitioner status from the Certified Coaches Federation; and, as if in preparation for the events to come, in early 2010 I enrolled in a strategic intervention coaching and family therapy certification with Tony Robbins and Cloe Madanes. Because of my vow to myself, I poured everything I had into this training and learned a great deal about myself and human needs psychology.
My empathic nature and the past life regression experience inspired me to also pursue spiritual development. I devoured books, attended events, took courses, and certified as an Angel Communication, Angel Card Reading, and Rainbow Energy Healing Practitioner. I worked extensively with several intuitive energy healers in my desire to grow and evolve. In fact, I received over one thousand hours of such sessions.
As a result, I achieved a new level of clarity, awareness, and enhanced competence. I wanted to keep evolving. I wanted to share what I had learned with others, so they could also find their purpose, achieve inner peace, and create a profitable business.
After 18 successful and accomplished years in a corporate nuclear engineering career, I left that life to follow my soul path.
As I became connected with large entrepreneur communities, I discovered that our subconscious mind holds onto self-sabotaging patterns learned in childhood. To be truly successful in business, we need to identify, resolve, and release those habits and become truly free from the past.
I noticed that kind-hearted people have difficulty growing a profitable business while still maintaining their well-being.
Purpose-driven entrepreneurs have an important mission: to make the world more peaceful and loving. I’ve committed the rest of my professional life to helping them do so.
A new discovery
I moved away from the city, acquiring 84 acres of vacant land in the country, and built an off-grid solar passive house with my then husband. Concurrently, I started my coaching practice and also managed his brick-and-mortar herbal medicine clinic and dispensary.
While the time and effort I invested in personal and spiritual development helped me find my purpose, it was during the growing stages of our businesses that I was able to witness and deeply comprehend how personal growth is directly linked with business success.
With this in mind, I created the Entrepreneur Enlightenment Academy, where through curriculum, coaching, and community, entrepreneurs are supported in all aspects of their journey to success.
I moved away from the city, acquiring 84 acres of vacant land in the country, and built an off-grid solar passive house with my then husband. Concurrently, I started my coaching practice and also managed his brick-and-mortar herbal medicine clinic and dispensary.
While the time and effort I invested in personal and spiritual development helped me find my purpose, it was during the growing stages of our businesses that I was able to witness and deeply comprehend how personal growth is directly linked with business success.
With this in mind, I created the Entrepreneur Enlightenment Academy, where through curriculum, coaching, and community, entrepreneurs are supported in all aspects of their journey to success.
As I became connected with large entrepreneur communities, I discovered that our subconscious mind holds onto self-sabotaging patterns learned in childhood. To be truly successful in business, we need to identify, resolve, and release those habits and become truly free from the past.
I noticed that kind-hearted people have difficulty growing a profitable business while still maintaining their well-being.
Purpose-driven entrepreneurs have an important mission: to make the world more peaceful and loving. I’ve committed the rest of my professional life to helping them do so.
With this in mind, I created the Entrepreneur Enlightenment Academy, where through curriculum, coaching, and community, entrepreneurs are supported in all aspects of their journey to success.
Through working with my clients over the years, I have developed my own Entrepreneur Enlightenment philosophy, concepts I share on my Radio Show and TV Show, and in my first published book about establishing a purpose-driven business.
Evolving Entrepreneur Enlightenment
As I progressed with my business, I began consulting businesses with more employees, drawing on my extensive corporate skills such as business management, strategic planning, project management, team building, and business efficiency. Quickly, I saw that my impact multiplied: I was helping the business owners and enhancing the lives of their employees and their families. This opportunity excites me greatly!
To better support business owners with employees and leadership teams, I began writing about and teaching topics on team efficiency, defusing power struggles, successful negotiations, and drafting my next book in the Entrepreneur Enlightenment series about purpose-driven business relationships.
Speaking about purpose, as I became a published author, more visible teaching and hosting retreats and as my dreams expanded, my marriage became strained. It occurred to me that our paths were diverging, so in 2019, I made the hard call to end the marriage for the benefit of both.
Again, my purpose led me into the unknown. Although leaving my marriage was unsettling, it promised much freedom to fulfil my destiny and lots of excitement.
My impact multiplied: I am helping the business owners and enhancing the lives of their employees and their families. This opportunity excites me greatly!
From Purpose to Legacy
Next, I discovered I needed to evolve from chasing my purpose to establishing my legacy. In November 2010, the same defining year where it all began, I serendipitously fell in love with the Gypsy Vanner horses. Somewhere in my heart blossomed the vision of having horses and offering programs for youth who suffered adverse childhood experiences.
When I moved out, I moved into the horse country. The first two places were transitional, but the third, where I am now, is a beautiful equine facility with a pond and willow trees, also perfect for hosting executive retreats.
Here I acquired my first horse, a calm and beautiful Gypsy Vanner called Amore. I created a new division of my business, the Child Innocence Equine Experiences, to provide free-of-charge equine experiences to youth, focusing on developing their leadership and entrepreneurship skills.
The road ahead is long. We are now creating partnerships and sponsorship alliances, seeking a couple more horses, hiring a team, and increasing the capacity to provide the program to more youth in need.
We are open for business advising engagements, strategic planning, masterminds, leadership training and executive retreats. We also offer healing meditations online, and if you wish, you can get your guest pass here.