Changing Lenses
Un-Executive Coaching™ that Intersects Race, Gender, and Trauma

Typical executive coaching is not integrated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”).

Typical corporate DEI is not integrated with trauma-informed coaching.

Typical trauma-informed coaching is not customized for race, gender, and culture.

Rosie Yeung’s atypical “Un-Executive Coaching™” integrates all of the above.

This visionary Founder and President of Changing Lenses is a Certified Human Resources Leader and Chartered Professional Accountant who never planned to become a coach. “I’m an immigrant woman from a shame-based culture, living with mental illness and recovering from cPTSD. I don’t fit the mold of a Western corporate executive, and neither do my clients,” Yeung says. During her career, Yeung had no coaches or corporate trainers that represented her lived experience, so she set out to be one for other Asian women by becoming a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach.

Yeung saw that companies tend to focus on employee performance, output, and behaviour, without considering the impact of systemic discrimination, intergenerational trauma, and individual experiences. Before an employee even enters the office, what happened that morning or the night before may cause an otherwise highly capable person to appear “out of it”, “angry”, “passive”, or “unprofessional”.

Just as doctors recognize the social determinants of health, so must companies recognize the health and social determinants of work. It is psychologically impossible to leave our “personal issues” at the office door; research shows that trauma and stress impact areas of the brain that control executive function, implicit memory, and much more, which reduces performance and productivity. Employers can benefit people and profit by providing holistic coaching that integrates mental health and leadership training.
Un-Executive Coaching™ uniquely meets this need, especially for racialized women who are often stigmatized as “emotional” and “too sensitive”. One research study found that 22 percent of men had access to coaching through their employer, compared to only 16 percent of women. Moreover, the women who wanted coaching had “clear interests around improving confidence and well-being” whereas the men “desired more support in technical skills and building expertise”.

Yeung bridges this gender gap by serving professional women who have reached a certain level of success but are blocked from further advancement, are close to burn out, or face other obstacles.

“Racialized women who are, in reality, highly accomplished leaders, still come to me for help with impostor syndrome, anxiety and anger, fear of speaking up – things they’ve come to believe about themselves because they’ve been labelled as ‘too aggressive’, ‘too quiet’, or ‘not confident enough’,” Yeung recounts. “There’s no regard for their childhood upbringing, cultural norms, systemic racism, intergenerational trauma…no wonder they feel alone and unsafe at work!

“I help my clients see that there’s nothing wrong with them, what’s wrong is what happened to them. Without the context of culture and trauma, what’s labelled as problems may in fact be learned beliefs and coping strategies.”

All of Yeung’s clients seek her out precisely because of her non-judgmental, culturally relevant lens. One such client, a South Asian Muslim woman, was not recognized for her achievements at work while her junior white male colleague was promoted. Even if her employer offered to support her with coaching (which they did not), the usual goals would focus on improving self-confidence, leadership skills, or existing strengths.

“There’s nothing wrong with strengths-based coaching focused on skills improvement. The question is, is that the best place to start?” Yeung asks. “A person of average fitness is not going to start Olympic training on day one. A person with a cold isn’t going to the gym and lifting weights. A person with a broken leg isn’t even able to walk. Executive coaching is problematic when we expect the employee to perform like an Olympian but ignore their injuries and illnesses. As my trauma teacher Linda Thai says, “Trauma isn’t mental illness, it’s mental injury.”

In the case of Yeung’s South Asian client, they worked on the client’s self-esteem and self-worth by processing her traumatic past; dismantling toxic cultural narratives; and addressing work-specific issues. By the end of her coaching, the client reported feeling “more confident in my professional self and skills”, which boosted her work performance and relationships.

This makes Un-Executive Coaching™ a win-win for employees and employers, as team leaders benefit from healthier more resilient employees, higher team morale, and clarity on how to help people perform at their best.