IMUA OLA

IMUA OLA We guide high-performing leaders through transitions—when success no longer feels aligned. Deep coaching, bold clarity, trusted partnership. Life Moving Forward.

At IMUA OLA, we guide high-performing leaders through pivotal transitions—when clarity fades, roles no longer fit, and success stops feeling like success.� Through deep coaching, immersive experiences, and trusted advisory partnership, we help them reconnect with their intuition, reclaim energy, and move forward with purpose.� Our work bridges insight and action—so they don’t just perform better,

they lead with presence, impact, and authenticity. �Because everyone deserves to live and lead in alignment with their boldest dreams.

08/28/2026

On Monday, I wrote about dissatisfaction as a data point, a piece of information. Well, here is mine.

Right now, I am dissatisfied.

I feel it in the canoe. I see opportunities for us to learn and improve, and I have to remind myself that I am there as a paddler, not the coach.

I feel it professionally, too. There are times when I know there is more of me I could be putting to use.

Humility matters to me. So does knowing what I know.

At some point, making yourself smaller isn't humility.

I have experience, curiosity, energy and a lot to give.

I want to teach. I want to contribute. I want to learn.

Hell yes, I want to use all of it.

My dissatisfaction is giving me information.

The question is what I do with it...

Dissatisfaction gets a bad reputation.We often treat it as something we need to overcome or push aside.But sometimes dis...
08/24/2026

Dissatisfaction gets a bad reputation.

We often treat it as something we need to overcome or push aside.

But sometimes dissatisfaction is simply another piece of information. A data point.

It can be the gap between what you are doing and what you know you are capable of.

Where are your time, talent and abilities not being properly used?

No one does it alone.I often say that every coach needs a coach. Every entrepreneur needs people around them who bring d...
08/19/2026

No one does it alone.

I often say that every coach needs a coach. Every entrepreneur needs people around them who bring different strengths, challenge ideas, and help make things happen.

For me, that's Peter, my partner in life and IMUA OLA's Head of Operations, who keeps IT, Finance, and Legal running behind the scenes. Emily supports our marketing and social media, and Carley keeps me organized and makes sure our content gets out into the world.

And then there are the coaches, clients, partners, friends, and many helping hands who are part of the journey.

Behind every visible success is an invisible team.

Today, I want to make them visible. This is my team.

Who is part of yours?

The best leaders know they do not get there alone.Every coach needs a coach.No one does it alone.Who is part of your inv...
08/11/2026

The best leaders know they do not get there alone.

Every coach needs a coach.

No one does it alone.

Who is part of your invisible team?

I booked a flight to Germany for my school reunion.Then I started adding ANDs.A reunion AND a Core Values workshop.AND a...
07/30/2026

I booked a flight to Germany for my school reunion.
Then I started adding ANDs.

A reunion AND a Core Values workshop.

AND a tailored Leadership Development Offsite with the team at Markus Munzinger

AND doctors' appointments and taking care of my health.

AND time to recover.

AND time to reconnect with friends.

Then life added another AND.
An invitation to compete in the German Championships of Hawaiian Sports. Hawaiian Sports Club e.V.

Reflecting on my travels, I realized I was not trying to fit everything into one trip.

I was connecting dreams that matter to me.

For years, my motto has been:

DREAM.PLAN.EXECUTE.

This trip showed me another possibility.

CONNECT.

Some of the richness comes from what I experienced and learned. Some comes from finally closing chapters that had remain...
07/27/2026

Some of the richness comes from what I experienced and learned. Some comes from finally closing chapters that had remained open for a long time.

I came back from Germany this time with new perspectives, deeper relationships, renewed friendships, new ideas, and experiences I would never have had if I had stayed comfortably in my own world. I also came back with a few things settled.

So perhaps the better question is: What did your last journey add to your life?

I took a moment to glance in the rearview mirror.Most of the time, my eyes are fixed on what lies ahead. That probably d...
07/24/2026

I took a moment to glance in the rearview mirror.

Most of the time, my eyes are fixed on what lies ahead. That probably does not surprise anyone who knows me or IMUA OLA. Life Moving Forward, after all.

Occasionally, it is worth looking back. Not to stay in the past, but to see where you came from.

At the end of a month in Germany that somehow brought many parts of my life full circle, I had the honor of sitting down with journalist Ute Niephaus. She gave me the opportunity to tell my story and, perhaps more importantly, to own it.

Reading her article felt like looking into that rearview mirror.

The first attempt to move to the United States did not work. Coming back to Germany. Twenty years in corporate life. Meeting Peter. Boston. Hawaiʻi. Leaving corporate. Building IMUA OLA.

From where I am standing today, it can look like there was a plan. There was not!

There was a dream, followed by decisions, detours, failures, opportunities, scary leaps, and a lot of moving forward.

The headline Ute Niephaus chose was “Wenn Träume wahr werden.” When dreams come true.

I was a little girl in Markt Erlbach when I decided that one day I would live in Hawaiʻi and become a dolphin trainer. It was a ridiculously big dream.
I never became the dolphin trainer, but I did arrive in my dream, and I get to live it every day.

Along the way, making dreams come true became part of my coaching philosophy. The dream may change. The plan almost certainly will. Sometimes you will have to do things that scare you. But first, you have to give yourself permission to dream.

A glance in the rearview mirror once in a while and then eyes back on the road ahead.

That is how Life Moving Forward became more than my company’s tagline. It became my mantra.

IMUA OLA

07/13/2026

Yesterday, something unexpected gave me permission to admit something I have known for months.

A tarot card.

I do not believe tarot predicts the future. I see it as an invitation to reflect.

My own reaction surprised me: I felt relief and excitement.

It made me wonder why endings feel so uncomfortable.
We celebrate the first day: A new job. A new relationship. A new business.
We rarely celebrate the last: The resignation. The conversation that ends a relationship. The decision to close a business.

Over the past months, I noticed an emotion I could not name. Nothing dramatic. Just moments when my values and my way of life were not in sync.

Yesterday I finally gave myself permission to name it.

An important chapter of my life is ending.

I am ready to be honest with myself.

Now I find myself thinking about what I choose not to carry forward.
Old expectations.
Old habits.
Old inner narratives.
Guilt. Shame, and the endless "should-list"

What would change if we celebrated the courage to end something with the same enthusiasm as we celebrate a new beginning?

07/10/2026

Not my water. Not my boat. Not my paddle.

That is the only way I can capture what it felt like to take part in the German championship of Hawaiian sports.

Being invited to compete was truly an honor, yet it quickly became one of the most humbling moments I have experienced on the water.

In Hawaii, the water is my second home. I paddle five days a week and have competed in many races over the past 5 years.

Wearing a PFD in a heatwave, racing on flat water, and paddling a borrowed canoe with a borrowed paddle forced me to adapt in ways I had not expected.

At home in Hawaiʻi, I have learned to read the ocean and work with it. I know my water. In Germany, I had to find a completely different rhythm and trust my experience instead of my familiarity.

Still, I knew I had made the right decision when I woke up the next morning only to say, "Let's do it all again."

Thank you Volker Briel, Jamie Lee, and Torben Kuhlmann for the footage and for making this experience possible for me.

07/02/2026

What happens AFTER you work so hard?

For me, the ocean is my place to recharge after an intense stretch of work.

So, when I was asked to participate in the German championship of Hawaiian sports during this trip, it was an immediate “yes.”

To be clear, this was not an impulse decision. I could make it quickly because it aligned with my core values.

Self-care, rejuvenating on the ocean, and paddling all tie back to one of my top core values: adventure.

And when you know your core values and what drives you, it’s easier to choose what’s a priority and what’s not.

What core values help guide you after a longer stretch of work?

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