Well, hello there!
I’m Marijke Ocean Joy Kemble.
(Yes - that’s my real name. Raised by hippies. Became a banker…now an executive coach. It’s a long story…read more below!)
“Develop strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.”
For most of my life, I loved achieving the next milestone ahead of me. I focused on the excitement of the learning experience and relished the challenge. For a long time the thrill of getting better & achieving more was enough to quiet the feeling of being a little off base with my career and my life.
Then one day, I ran out of gas. All of a sudden all the nagging fears that my career path and my life weren’t quite right for me started to flood me with doubt.
On the outside, I held it together reasonably well but in my own head, each day was a struggle.
I knew the team around me needed inspiration, vision, and focus but it was becoming harder and harder to show up as a confident, competent leader.
I was longing to be a mother, partner, and leader I could be proud of but felt like I was falling terribly short.
And I was losing faith that all the hustle wouldn’t ever get me the life I loved.
Gradually, I surrendered to the fact that getting what I really wanted would require me to go about it in a radically different way.
One step at a time, I began to question what really mattered. What rules, principles or values were true to me? What really made me feel alive - regardless of real or imagined expectations?
My particular journey led me eventually to leave my job as a corporate executive and become an executive coach. (Caveat: In case a career change terrifies you, I don’t think that leaving a job is always necessary to reignite passion and purpose.)
I now support financial industry executives, corporate leaders, lawyers, technical specialists, and entrepreneurs work toward big-picture visions using the tangible business of day to day work.
Along the way, I’ve been Certified as a Wayfinder Coach - learning incredible tools developed by sociologist and author Dr. Martha Beck. Her teaching balances out the years of traditional training and experience in leadership, mentoring and coaching I gained at Harvard, in banking, and in the tech start up world.
It’s important that clients get well-rounded, practical tools capable of igniting creativity, clarity, and meaning in work and life.
I’m also a Certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher with over 20 years of personal meditation practice. We all need practices that ground us and build our resilience. I’ve got a lot of tools in my tool box for regulating our nervous system and restoring clarity & focus. They are simple, straightforward, and evidence-based. Most importantly, the work.
Most importantly, I have discovered a way to live that is infinitely more authentic. Today I take risks and do things that scare me every day - but always in the service of something I care so deeply about I wouldn’t even call it stress.
Now I know for sure that we can care deeply about our work and life, learn and grow every day, and feel curious and joyful while embracing our inner achiever and perfectionist.
I can’t wait to show you the same.
And finally, ‘The Creds,’
if you’re into that kind of thing…
Harvard University, B.A.
University of Rochester, M.B.A.
12+ years as a manager & executive in the financial services industry
Former President & General Manager of a mid-stage sales & marketing business.
Certified Wayfinder Coach with Dr. Martha Beck and team. (Martha is a Harvard-trained sociologist, NYT best selling author, and columnist for O Magazine.)
Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher. Trained with Jack Kornfield & Tara Brach through the Greater Good Science Center at UC - Berkeley.
Certified Mindfulness Mentor
Coached over 500 corporate executives to lead with more wisdom, passion, courage and purpose.