Hi, I'm Vanessa
Life Purpose Coach & Astrologer
I work with creatives, seekers & mystics who want to align their purpose with livelihood without losing their soul.
I help them navigate the threshold intersection of life purpose and livelihood gain and shift perspective on their journey, find the inner gold buried within their quest, and engage with the new possibilities that await them.
These courageous folks are now traversing their midlife and have been engaged in their quest for purpose and meaning through their work and creative endeavors.
They’ve experienced victories and losses, faced burnout, and felt lost more than once on their journey.
And in this time of our collective evolution, these creative folks continue to say yes to the transformative initiation of giving birth to what wants to come through them, especially now as they traverse their midlife passage.
The middle passage of life presents us with an opportunity to reexamine our lives and work.
It’s a time of reckoning and new possibilities if we answer the call to redefine and reorient ourselves, how we show up in the world, and what we want to bring forth from within.
A time to take stock of our journey thus far, and claim all the spokes of our life’s wheel, bringing forth what wants to be expressed, and release whatever obstacles stand in our way to becoming more fully ourselves.
As the world navigates its middle passage in its evolution, it needs us to answer the call of our purpose and bring forth our gifts and medicine through our creativity and work.
The core belief in my work is that we’re all here to CLAIM ALL THE SPOKES OF OUR LIFE’S WHEEL and become who we are meant to be.
As we collectively navigate these highly creative times of paradigm shifts, full of chaos but also possibilities, it’s no surprise that many are wondering what their role and place in this world are. Collective transitional times are also awakening initiations, where more profound questions beckon to be answered.
The old status quo of how we work, earn our living, do business and view ourselves as participants in a society is shifting at unprecedented speed.
While under this chaos of change, it’s no wonder many find themselves feeling lost about what to do or how to do it, burnout from the old ways of working or doing business, and hungry to find more meaning and purpose both in work and life.
Superficial fixes and approaches aren’t working. When we’re collectively culturally undernourished, only doing inner depth exploration will satiate the hunger we all feel for a sense of fulfillment, meaning, and purpose in our lives and work.
But chaotic times are also highly creative, for chaos and creativity are siblings.
In times such as this, life beckons us to be more fully ourselves, bringing forth the unexpressed aspects of ourselves while transforming our pain, doubts, and vulnerabilities into creative medicine. Because more than ever, the world needs CREATION MAKERS.
CREATION MAKERS are folks willing to do the inner healing work to transform their pain into medicine and birth their gifts in the world, expressed through their work, career, business, or creative endeavors.
Coaching is about the depth and mutual commitment of both parties. How you show up, your engagement with the coaching process, and what I bring to our journey are the vessel and alchemy of our work together.
When we work together, I become your partner in exploring ideas, possibilities, and the hidden gems in your story. Coaching is an approach of depth in listening and inquiry that help you find answers that have been waiting for you.
Along with my depth approach, I also use astrology as one of my navigational tools in our journey.
Exploring your birth chart from an archetypal and psychological perspective gives us an incomparable and nuanced view of your soul’s development, life purpose markers, and unique gifts and talents.
Astrology is both a methodology and a developmental compass for our lives and a potent tool for self-understanding, especially when exploring your life purpose and livelihood.
My approach is depth-oriented, therapeutic in style, and focused on helping you see yourself from a broader and more empowering perspective so that you can claim all the spokes of your life’s wheel and bring your gifts to the world.
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
–Oscar Wilde
From a very young age, I was already fascinated by the idea of finding out what my life’s calling and purpose were. I didn’t have the vocabulary to describe it, but having learned from my Catholic teachers the idea that God would speak to us and let us know our calling, I started quieting my mind to make sure I wouldn’t miss the summons.
But it wasn’t as easy as I wanted in my younger years. So instead of waiting, I went on my quest, exploring what sparked my curiosity in the hopes that it would lead me to find what my ‘thing‘ was.
Inspired by my interest in psychology and storytelling through advertising, I got my B.A. in Social Communication & Advertising from PUC-MG, my Brazilian alma mater. Today I use this knowledge to help my clients explore their Brand Archetypes and make their business and branding ideas coherent and congruent with who they are.
To pay my way through college, I started working as a language teacher, which turned into a career of more than a decade. I taught EFL (English as a Foreign Language) while living in Brazil and later Portuguese at Hunter College in NYC.
My years as a teacher gave me a unique way to break down complex subjects and make them more easily digestible. They also helped me appreciate the power of language, etymology, and the imagery behind the words we choose when telling our stories. This skill comes in handy when coaching, for it helps me with deep listening to what is being expressed and the imagery evoked by the words chosen.
Teaching led me to get my M.A. in TESOL – Teaching English as a Second Language from New York University.
My love of teaching informs my understanding of the importance of methodology and of having a framework to help one learn, make changes and achieve their desires.
After teaching for over a decade, I embarked on my accidental career as an Executive Assistant at some of the world’s most prominent international law firms.
Working in a corporate setting gave me a glimpse of the challenges and hidden possibilities waiting to be brought to life in these professional environments.
However, my desire to align my skills, and talents, with what gave me joy kept me searching.
Because of my love of Jungian psychology, mythology, dreamwork, and my desire to better understand myself and others, I got my M.A. in Counseling Psychology with an Emphasis on Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.
My therapy work experience, both personally and in seeing clients, informs my depth and therapeutic approach to my coaching.
Inspired by my desire to develop and grow in my work, I became a Certified Life Coach through the Life Purpose Institute and a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) from the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
Always in the background, throughout these past 25 years, I’ve studied astrology with various teachers worldwide, including the Faculty of Astrological Studies in the U.K.
Lastly, the works of C.G. Jung, Michael Meade, Brian Clark, Liz Greene, Richard Tarnas, Marion Woodman, and Sharon Blackie to name a few, along with history, mythology, fairy tales, and pop culture, inform my philosophical approach and my style of depth coaching.
As a lifelong learner, I’m continually bringing new information and insights into my coaching work. The more I grow, the better I can help my clients.
Vanessa Couto, MA, PPC, is a Life Purpose Coach, astrologer, teacher, and artist.
In her work, she weaves mythology, fairy tales, Jungian psychology, and a good dose of practical and grounded common sense to guide her clients at their intersection of life purpose and livelihood. In addition to coaching, she teaches various classes and workshops.
Vanessa holds a B.A. in Social Communication and Advertising from PUC-MG, an M.A. in Teaching from New York University, and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology with an Emphasis on Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.
She is also a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) from the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
Originally from Brazil, she lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, their two Gemini cats, and an ever-growing collection of books, printed art, and vinyl records.
