Meet Michelle Kuei | Intuitive Confidence Coach, Clinical Pharmacist, Author, Professional Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michelle Kuei and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michelle, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?

I started my coaching company with a vision to be able to quit my full-time pharmacy job and devote myself to raise consciousness one person at a time through my work as Visibility Confidence Coach. I believe passion is what drives many people to take the initiative and start a movement, but just passion alone without realistic and meaningful action is not sustainable. 

My dream is to work full-time at my pharmacy job and let this be the “safety net” while launching a full-time coaching business. 

Many had laughed at this idea and I have heard comments ranges from “Well, you are not going to be able to a successful launch with your company.” “You have to give up what’s holding you back!” 

Personally, I believe “Balance” is always yours to create. You get to decide what you want to accomplish, how you get there but more importantly, it is understanding why is this important to you in the first place. 

If you have a passion to start something, you will figure out a way to maintain this balance because you have this absolute passion for the vision you are trying to create. 

And this comes from the inner KNOWING. It is a Trust from within you that makes you unstoppable. Many times you would hear me referring to this as the “Self-Confidence”. The ability to know without seeing the evidence of what is true. 

The way I think about “Balance” is heavily influenced by my Chinese cultural background. In the ancient Chinese system, every human is born with an imbalance of the 5 elements -Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal and the imbalance of these five elements can lead to illness we see in our body, mind, and soul. 

By understanding our own five-element archetype provide valuable information to confirm who you are and what you need to achieve the successes that you envision. When you apply this in your business model, it establishes your brand personality. 

For example, I have a dominating Earth-type personality based on the 5 element archetype. 

I enjoy building community, feeling supported, being grounded, and being understood. I enjoy working as a group or having a team of people, and therefore I love hosting group discussions and speaking in front of an audience. This is also the reason why I love public speaking. 

These are the things I do for my business makes me feel I am safe and grounded as well as balanced. If I can meet these core requirements that satisfy my Earth-personality type then my life is at a balance and nothing feels unachievable or too challenging. 

I believe “Balance” is something that you get to create by having a deeper understanding of who you are.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?

As a visibility confidence coach, I love helping amazing women coaches who are hiding their personal magic and need coaching to bring their unique story to the front of their marketing, so they can courageously inspire others and attract clients who need their light.

Shame and unworthiness should never keep us from stepping fully into our entrepreneurial dreams.

Personally, I am not a stranger to Shame and unworthiness. My story began when I was 11 years old and came to fruition when I was 40 after a childhood automobile accident that changed my life trajectory. 

For 29 years old life, I let negative beliefs about my body image rule. I have done a great deal of body shaming and I played small all my life. 

I am only 4’4” tall and use crutches. But the hardest part of living with a visible disability was the shame and unworthiness that I carried in my heart and mind.

Letting go of my own self-doubt and self-judgment was difficult and required repeated practice. 

Claiming your unique voice in your business can be scarier than any mountain. When I came home after hiking through the Inca Trail in Machu Picchu Peru with my 2 crutches, I was changed forever.

The voices of shame and doubt about my body were gone. I was free to live my life fearlessly.

I knew my mission was to help others liberate themselves from the mean voice in their heads, so they can go forward and design their work, relationships, health, finances, and pleasure in a joyful way.

I founded Elevate Lifecoaching to be the champion that helps women coaches & entrepreneurs get to the top of their mountain, one courageous step at a time.

• We deserve to have unlimited abundance.
• We deserve to serve clients who we love.
• We deserve to banish the conditioning that women have been facing for centuries.
• We deserve to be seen and heard for the Truth that we speak from the heart.

It is what makes us stand strong and have a place in this world.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I am all about art and culture when it comes to showing my best friend around and personally in my past life before I became a coach, I was very much into street photography. Los Angeles is full of places to explore and some of these are not very commonly seen in the popular tourist book. Here is a sample of what 7-day itinerary I would prepare for my best friend.

Day 1 – Santa Monica Beach
Day 2 – Bergamot Station Gallery & Exhibits
Day 2 – Balwin Hills Scenic Overlook
Day 3 – LA Live
Day 4 – Pasadena Historical Tour (Gamble House, Museum, etc)
Day 5 – San Gabriel Mission Church
Day 6 – Huntington Beach
Day 7 – Long Beach Queen Mary and Seashore village

For restaurants and food:
Vietnam Restaurant – 340 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776

Good Mom and Pop kind of restaurant. Not very big but there’s a variety of food selections to choose from. I have passed this place many times and finally got a chance to step in to try. I ordered Traditional Vietnamese Beef Pho. It’s really good. The portion is decent. What I like about this place is the soup base is not too salty and doesn’t taste like they used a lot of those chicken powder for tasting. Would recommend for quick lunch and dinner. Good Comfort food for someone craving something soupy.

Golden Leaf – 717 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776
This is my go-to place for good Taiwanese food. I love their rice vermicelli. It is only available for dinner. Other traditional Taiwanese foods like stinky tofu and oyster pancakes are really good too. Portions are big and they do have set meals or Bento that comes with your choice of protein, vegetables, and rice.

Pizza Of Venice – 2545 N Fair Oaks Ave, Altadena, CA 91001
My friend took me to this place after our long hike. I ordered a Margarita Pizza and my friend ordered a meatball pizza. Both came thin-crusted. These pizzas were fresh, unlike other pizza places, you can taste the refrigerated taste of vegetables and ingredients. Not this place. The place is a bit hidden on Fair Oaks, it’s in a small corner of a liquor store. Not a very big sign and can easily be missed. Inside it’s very trendy. you sit high on a bench table and bar stools. I love the ambiance of this place. Non-alcoholic drinks are served here (I was hoping to get a nice cold beer after my hike though). I was still thinking about this pizza place the following day…this is how good this pizza place was to me.  Loved it!!

And Taco Trucks!
There’s a taco stand on the corner of Soto Street nearby the USC health campus. BEST TACO ever! I would definitely take my best friend to get some real taco here in LA!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to give a Shoutout to Lea Delorenzis, the owner of “Rather Be Bookkeeping”. Lea and I started working together during the first Covid19 lockdown that took place here in LA. Lea was working as a waitress at a Long Beach Restaurant when the restaurant was informed to close for business. Lea decided despite the uncertainty we were experiencing early in March to looking for a coach who can help her “figure things” out and help her find a job. I am giving her a shoutout because I was experiencing stress at the time myself due to the lockdown. Suddenly many of my in-person events had been cancel and it was a big loss of opportunity to get out there and up-level my business. However, when Lea took a leap of faith and placed her trust in me, I felt really honored. She showed me her light when all things were dark around me. And this is something many do not talk about is that many times, when I work with a client, it’s not just the client benefiting from this coaching relationship, the coach is also influenced by the relationship they are in. In August 2020, Lea launched her own bookkeeping company call “Rather Be Bookkeeping”. It turns out, Lea’s true passion wasn’t just working for another restaurant. She’s an organization guru and Bookkeeping is really where she shines the most. She is a beautiful soul who worked hard, courageous, and she has a big heart. She is definitely on the top of my Shout out list! This is how you can get in touch with her: lead@ratherbebookkeeping.com

Website: http://elevatelifecoaching.org

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/elevatelifecoach

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-kuei/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/coachbyelevate

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lifecoachingbyelevate

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/michellekuei2018

Other: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/perfectly-normal/id1476638842 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Lx5u5s0frBQY7PFWBv3i0?si=QBGxfYB8QlW0ifIvsSLDYg

Image Credits
Photography credit: Lauren Comes IG @laurennoamusic