The ONE Advisory Circle

Shonnie Lavender

Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Shonnie Lavender is a leadership coach and speaker. Her life and work are oriented around her Cause: To inspire and empower people to live in a conscious, loving, and connected way. Through empathetic listening, evocative inquiry, and compelling calls to action, Shonnie helps her clients embody their authentic power, embrace their accountability, and become the change they want to see in the world. Her clients come from a variety of professional backgrounds, including not-for-profit, communications, law, healthcare, academia, graphic design, architecture, consulting, and coaching.

Shonnie has a decade of experience in healthcare marketing with large health systems. Her work included event planning, internal and external communications, community relations, magazine publication, website development, media relations, and physician practice marketing. She earned her BS (with high honors) in speech communication from The University of Texas at Austin and is a graduate of the Coach Training Program at Coach U.

Her passion for the work of Lance Secretan began in 1999 when her employer hired Lance to conduct senior leadership retreats. She read Lance’s books and practiced the principles on her own before becoming an instructor of the work through the Higher Ground Leadership Community at CoachVille. Shonnie is currently on the Advisory Circle for Lance’s book ONE: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership and leads Higher Ground Leadership teleclasses for Secretan Center clients. “I am committed to this work because it persistently challenges me to be my authentic self and to express my deepest compassion,” says Shonnie. “To be an effective teacher and coach of others, I believe I must walk my talk. While this may not always be easy, I’m truly grateful to be a part of a community that so lovingly supports me to do so.”

Shonnie has written a book titled, Live the Life You’ve Imagined: 100 Practical Strategies for Creating Your Ideal Life. She and her husband, Bruce Mulkey, are writing I Do! I Do! The Marriage Vow Workbook for couples who want to create their own vows for their wedding ceremony and for their lives together. When Shonnie is not officially on the job, she can be found running the Southern Appalachian mountain trails near her home in Asheville, North Carolina; savoring time with her running partner, collaborator and soul-mate, Bruce; or cavorting with her five feline family members.