My guest this week is one of my favorite clients, Erika Gutierrez. She’s been in education for 13 years, and she’s a second-year lead principal for an elementary school. One of the first things I help my clients with is aligning their work to their values, and I’ve invited Erika on today because her primary leadership strategy is connection, and she’s done an amazing job of cultivating authentic relationships with her entire school, campus, and community.

If I had to assign Erika a superpower, it’s most definitely connection and relationship building. She holds so much capacity for vulnerability and embodies so much love, and this is truly how she shows up in everything she does. If creating connections is something that feels scary to you or something you don’t think you’re good at, you’re going to gain so much value from listening to Erika, who has beautiful thoughts about connection that help her approach everyone with love and compassion.

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In my commitment to creating more connection this month, I’ve been speaking to so many people who are in turn creating value for you through this podcast, and my guest today is no different. Scheduling time for connection on my physical calendar every single week has been so gratifying because it’s so easy for us as school leaders to put it on the back burner, and I hope this conversation shines a light on how important prioritizing it really is for expanding your impact and influence.

By day, Jodi Schilling is an assistant principal for an online education program, and by night, she’s a certified life coach for moms wanting happy and healthy families. She has been an educator for 22 years, with six years of school leadership under her belt, and her work as a coach focuses on giving mothers permission to feel confident and relinquish the need for total control over their kids, which I’m sure you can relate to.

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So much of my work revolves around connections, and the more connections I make, the more people I am able to serve. As a school leader, the same is true for you. So, throughout the month of March, we’re taking a deep dive into connection, starting this week with how you connect with yourself.

As a coach, my mission is to help all of you as school leaders to fully believe in the value of internal connection, alignment, personal development, and to make clear how focusing on beliefs over actions is the missing link in our education programs today. And what I have today is a huge part of showing you that the work of becoming an empowered leader starts in the mind.

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This month, I’ve been focusing on bringing you interviews with real educators who are using the life coaching skills I share here on the podcast in their professional lives for the betterment of their entire schools. And my guest this week is an amazing example of that, but he’s taking things a step further.

Joey Mascio is currently a middle school teacher and – at his own request – occupies a special place in the discipline office in his school. Through his time in that role of a ‘disciplinarian with a difference’, Joey was able to hone his skills as a coach for the teens who get sent his way. How he’s stepped into that role and what he has planned for the future is truly inspiring.

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This year has already been incredibly challenging for our schools as a whole. Leaders don’t know what is around the corner, and our staff and students are isolated and struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We are in the midst of an endurance race. Our mental and emotional faculties are being pushed to the limits. Now more than ever, we need tools to help ourselves and to help others thrive in the environment we find ourselves in. So, that is why this whole month on the podcast, we’re going to focus on mental and emotional health. We’re talking about what mental and emotional well-being is and how we can maintain it in our schools.

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