Getting to know me.
I'm happy to provide you with more information about my background and qualifications so you can understand how I can help you. Please enjoy my personal story and professional bio below.
As a Wellbeing Strategist, Emotional & Psychological Safety Consultant, Founder, and Space Exploration Enthusiast, I have dedicated my career to understanding and harnessing the power of human emotions. Our feelings fundamentally shape our thoughts, choices, and behaviors, and this understanding has been central to my work as a counselor, leader, consultant, coach, and entrepreneur. I am honored to offer you a safe space that guides and supports you in navigating the complex emotional landscape of entrepreneurship and leadership with less stress and struggle and more ease and enjoyment.
Becoming an entrepreneur and taking on leadership roles was an easy choice. My journey has been full of unnecessary stress, struggle, sacrifice and suffering. I got caught up in all the wrong ideas about entrepreneurship and leadership, which led to self-doubt, comparing myself to others, and chasing after things I thought were the key to success. Even though I have made significant investments in acquiring knowledge and skills in my core area of expertise, emotions, I was deeply disappointed when these resources failed me in my time of need.
I was left feeling angry and frustrated, unsure of how to manage these emotions or use them constructively to move through the challenging times. With compassionate and empathic support, I recognized that I was self-silencing. I unlearned and learned to stop harming myself this way and allowed my anger to guide and support me. I began to experience the transformative power of acknowledging and working with it rather than silencing it. I also started to understand how anger can support navigating the other emotions that surface as an entrepreneur and leader. Allowing me to recover and heal from the wounds that I suffered in my entrepreneurial and leadership journey.
I see so many of us strive for happiness by choosing to run our own businesses or leading organizations. You may achieve societal and cultural success, but deep down, you're not happy. Instead, you are constantly in defense mode, having to fend off internal and external threats. If you're not having fun as an entrepreneur or leader, there's no point in doing it.
While we share common challenges with women entrepreneurs and leaders, our unique perspectives and experiences can be overlooked and grouped together, rather than recognized for their intersectionality. While finding solutions that meet our diverse needs and goals is challenging, it is not impossible. That's why I'm here.
I want to help you experience the joy of being an entrepreneur or organizational leader. Making this shift requires unlearning/learning how to work with anger and navigating the challenging emotional landscape that comes with being on these paths, something that most of us haven't learned to do with self-trust, self- empathy and self-compassion. Something that with the right guidance and support, will become second nature for you.
Interested in exploring if we're a good fit? Schedule a Chemistry Call today!
P.S. I also partner with organizations to enhance safety for all. To find out more, please go here.
Official Bio
Dr. Gigi Burke is Wellbeing Strategist, Emotional & Psychological Safety Consultant, Founder, and Space Exploration Enthusiast. She specializes in helping Black & Brown women in their entrepreneurial and leadership journeys, stop self-silencing their anger and other challenging emotions with more ease. So they get to stress less and enjoy their life, business and/or work more.
She partners with organizations to ensure that they have optimal structures and systems in place where all stakeholders feel safe enough to truly thrive. Her wildest dream is to someday implement these structures and systems for those living on the Moon, Mars, Europa, or Titan.
She has held various counseling and administrative positions in higher education and has worked as a consultant in leadership, learning, and development, creating innovative and award-winning solutions for academia, corporations, and environmental health and sustainability nonprofits, prior to her entrepreneurship journey.
As an award-winning speaker, she inspires Black and Brown women to transform their perspectives on wellbeing as entrepreneurs and leaders. Tapping into her superpower of converting dull and seemingly disparate concepts into palatable and practical tips and techniques, coupled with her quirks and sense of humor. Gigi offers a full on edutaining experience, appearing on podcasts, presents at conferences, and leads workshops for groups and organizations.
Her work has been published in peer reviewed publications. She has been recognized by the Association for Talent Development, Atlanta Chapter for her leadership of the Career Development Special Interest Group and the Sierra Club Centennial Group for her work on sustainability education. She was also a contributor to the book Hired! Paths to employment in the social media era.
Being immensely curious and a lover of learning, she holds her Doctor of Philosophy in Adult Education, Human Resources and Organizational Development from the University of Georgia, Masters in Counselor Education from The Pennsylvania State University, and her Bachelors in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is a certified somatic practitioner who utilizes a salutogenic approach to facilitate learning, change, and growth in individuals and organizations.
When she's not working with you... exploring new worlds, savoring great cuisine, and taking in nature's wonders are among her passions that she pursues.