About Stefanie Harris and Spacious Heart Coaching

Stefanie Harris, Founder and Owner Spacious Heart Coaching

Hey there, I wanted to share a bit of my story and how I arrive here today.

I have been on a lifelong journey to fill my longing to be deeply loved, seen, connected, and worthy; and I am not any different than every other human being. We all have a desire to be loved, seen, connected, and worthy.

My personal story and context is this: I spent 25 plus years in the corporate world working for Macy’s and more recently, I was with Amazon for 12 years.

At Amazon, I was a Director. I had a big job and thought I was thriving until I was forced to confront how much stress I was carrying both on the work and home fronts; and the impact it was having on me and my family. And then…on top of all of the day-to-day stress…

In August 2014, my parents were in a car collision which killed my father, my parents two dogs, and critically injured my mother. My life changed significantly in that moment. My mother was in the ICU at Harborview for nearly 10 weeks and I was constantly there with her while attempting to maintain my marriage, be a great mother to my two sons and stay on top of my career; along with the tremendous grief of losing my father who I was very close to and caring for my mother….It was overwhelming. For the first time in my life, I was unable to cope with all that was going on in my life.

Long story short, my overwhelm and grief was concealed by working harder and achieving more externally.

My Wonder Woman persona was facing burnout.

Taking off my cape

A few weeks after my mom got out of the hospital, I attended an Inseus Mindfulness retreat and finally sunk into myself, my pain, my grief…and the release was a gift, and the start of many shifts in my perspective and my life.

At first, life got more difficult as I found myself unable to find my footing—shifting from one where I was able to power through everything, to one that left me feeling untethered. Work became my focus again—my wonder woman persona was in overdrive.

I was shaken to the core by the loss and I slowly started to find my footing by going inward, hiking, doing yoga, meditating, and connecting back to God; yet my wonder woman persona was still the driving force in my life.

I did find solace in the mountains as I trained to climb Mount Rainier on the anniversary of my dad’s death; a climb that I had been wanting to do for a long time and my dad’s motto of “no woulda, coulda, shoulda’s” got me to summit, where I spread some of his ashes.

My life was changed on that mountain and I started to slowly loosen my cape and allow myself to grieve, let go, and re-examine my life and priorities. Over the last eight years, I have slowly released my attachment to external validation, being perfect, pleasing everyone, and finally took off my cape.

I have discovered the beauty in being rather than doing and undergone deep healing and training so that I am able to hold space for others as they build awareness, find the pause, and consciously heal themselves.

Stefanie Harris, Professional Credentials

Professional Background: Stefanie has over 25+ years of corporate experience and is a 12- year veteran and former Director and Biz Tech leader at Amazon. She has led large and diverse teams internationally to innovate and build products to delight customers while cultivating a culture of personal growth and development. Stefanie transitioned to Amazon when Macy’s closed its corporate offices in Seattle. Stefanie joined Amazon in 2008 and moved quickly up the ranks as Senior Leader across the Softline’s Retail Organization managing the Baby, Apparel, Shoes, Jewelry and Watch businesses for the first nine years of her tenure. Stefanie’s last position at Amazon was as Director of Brand Registry, which is a global program built to protect the intellectual property rights of brands in 17 countries. Stefanie was responsible for managing sales, marketing, product, user experience, public policy and technology teams as well as representing Amazon’s anti-counterfeiting strategy with government, law enforcement agencies and brand associations across the globe. 

Stefanie decided to leave her role at Amazon in February 2020 to pursue her second mountain career and became a collaborator at Inseus. Stefanie facilitates mindfulness programs for corporations, medical professionals, law enforcement, school districts, and a variety of non-profit agencies. During the pandemic, Stefanie, through Inseus, taught mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and stress reduction sessions to the FDA.  Stefanie teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindful Self-Compassion classes to the public. Stefanie is also an Executive/Life/Inner Alignment Coach and Independent Consultant.

 Stefanie loves combining her corporate knowledge with her mindfulness training to deliver transformational impact on the lives of individuals and on the culture and effectiveness of the organizations where they work and lead. 


Certifications & Education:

  • Graduate of Montana State University, with a B.A. in Business Marketing and Economics, she is also a member of Montana State University Hall of Fame for her performance on the Cross-Country and Track teams, 1990.

  • Qualified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Instructor through the University of California San Diego’s Center for Mindfulness in the School of Medicine, 2020

  • Certified Hudson Institute Executive Coach, 2020

  • Certified Inner Alignment Coach, 2022

  • Trained Mindful Self-Compassion Instructor through The Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, 2021

  • Certified Yoga Alliance RYT 200 hr. Teacher, 2021

  • Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, 1996

 

Stefanie’s Personal Bio

Now to my heart—-at center of my world are all of the amazing people who touch my life every day! There are many and I am so grateful to have all of you in my life.

I have been blessed in this life to be a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mom, an aunt, a cousin, a friend, and most importantly a human being who is riding the waves of life and who wants to be deeply loved, connected, seen, worthy, and held in grace.

“May I have the courage today

To live the life that I would love,

To postpone my dream no longer

But do at last what I came here for

And waste my heart on fear no more.”

—John Donohue

 

“Stefanie has the unique gift of energetically connecting through space time. My career, all relationships, but most importantly, the relationship with MYSELF, has transformed. I am living the life I desire and am able to navigate it with more grace and ease than before!”—-Peggy D.

Deep gratitude to my coach Stefanie for leading me to the understanding of how positive, focused intention powered by higher vibrations can transmute my life situation, relationships, and my hopes and dreams. I feel that now I can know this in my mind - plus embody it my heart and body. Coaching sessions with Stefanie allowed me to uncover decades of negative thinking and familial modes of interaction. This awareness has allowed me to alter long held beliefs and patterns that no longer serve me and dare to step forward towards life long hopes and dreams I had abandoned.”—-Debbie H.

“I appreciated being able to be heard on my updates from the week. I loved having my changes celebrated. and also appreciated questioning around my perceptions of situations. Stefanie did a great job of bringing me back out of my head, and into my heart. She helped me to identify fear and to get the vibration of: "I can do anything."— Ash S.

“Stefanie has given me a different perspective on how to approach my life and work. I used to view myself as less than who I am. Coaching and accepting change in my life came together at the right time and I have grown and am confident in who I am and the value I bring to everyone I interact with.” —Lorraine T.