FemmeNoir
A Web Portal For Lesbians Of Color

Anita Charlot
Lifestyle Coach & Columnist

Anita Charlot is a Lifestyle Coach who teaches teenage/single mothers and women of all lifestyles how to love and appreciate themselves, speaks with teenage boys and men on how to better communicate with the women in their lives and has coached couples as well in the area of communication, opening up communication channels and restoring the 'fire' to relationships that were on very shaky ground. She teaches you:

· how to value yourself first
· how to set boundaries, both personal and professional
· live the life you want to live
· identify your strengths and build up your weaknesses
· how to say what you mean and mean what you say
· how what you say is sometimes received differently by the other party

In addition to her coaching practice, she also facilitates workshops and retreats for individuals, couples and organizations nationwide. She is a very 'straight to the point' speaker and a wonderful teacher who shares with you through her own personal experiences, how to overcome and rise above those things that have been serving as blocks to you living the life you truly want to. Her clients are couples both heterosexual and gay, business owners, students, investigators, social workers, consultants, coaches, administrators, controllers, executives and professionals in all sorts of positions, stages of life and industries.

Background

Anita has held several different positions within various industries, thus making her a well-rounded individual personally and professionally. She has both a 12 and a 7-year-old son who keep her on her toes and yet challenge her at the same time. Anita has completed a 14-year tour with the United States Army Reserves. She is currently working on her Bachelor's in Metaphysics. Within the next year she will be certified to teach yoga to children as well as enter Medical school for Traditional Oriental Medicine. She is also a student and practitioner of yoga, meditation and natural medicine.

Affiliations

Anita is a member of the following Organizations:

Chicago's Gay and Lesbian Professional Networking Association
Chicago Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
National Association for Female Executives

She also contributes through monthly and quarterly columns titled Purrfectly Speaking for the following magazines and websites:

Blacklines Chicago (www.outlineschicago.com)
NTHALIFE.com (www.nthalife.com)
L Magazine (www.madmanprod.com)
(quarterly lesbian and bisexual magazine for women of color)

She has contributed to and facilitated retreats and discussion groups for the following organizations:

Affinity
Aunt Martha's Youth Center
Building Bridges Conference, University of Milwaukee, WI


Purpose, Mission and Passion

Anita's purpose is to one day devote all of her time to enhancing and empowering all women, specifically the single mothers, both gay and straight in recognizing that they are all goddesses and worthy of so much more than they have settled for in the past. Her mission is to reach out to other lesbian and bisexual women and educate them on how to appreciate themselves, love themselves, and stand up for themselves by providing them with words of wisdom, courage, inspiration through as many avenues as possible to empower them to realize the beautiful women that they are.

She plans to do this through written word, spoken word, workshops, retreats, monthly columns and any public speaking engagements. Her passion is seeing her clients "glow" with the new sense of self they obtain after really getting to know and love themselves.

On Creating the Company

"I will be the first to admit that I do not hold any 'traditional' certifications with respect to coaching/counseling; I speaks, teach, and communicate strictly on what I know and what I have lived…LIFE! In looking for someone to assist me during my transition time of accepting myself as being a gay parent, I found that there was no one that could speak from his or her experience. It is one thing to have someone talk to you in the traditional counselor role, but no one understood first hand the issues and fears that I faced. I also encountered prejudice in the community as well. It was very insulting to not have people take me serious or to be categorized as having 'identity issues'. Everyone I encountered thought that I was just going through a phase since I had lived the majority of my life straight. Therefore, I decided to create this company to provide a resource for those who like myself, felt as though they had no where to turn, where they would be understood and respected at the same time. I am now that person for you."

Website:  http://www.purrfectharmonyinc.com/