A woman with short red hair wearing a white sleeveless top and white wide-leg pants, standing against a plain white background, smiling with her hands in her pockets.

My Story

I CARRIED ONE WORD NEARLY A MILE HOME.

A few years ago, after a heavy rainstorm, I was hiking alone in a park I love here in Napa. Wandering alone is often where I find my answers.

Along the trail, part of a wooden fence had broken apart. Across one of the boards, spray-painted in bright magenta, was a single word:

A woman with short dark red hair wearing a black jumpsuit with a tie waist, gold high heels, and statement earrings, standing and smiling with her hands raised.

I stood there staring at it.

At the time, my life looked successful from the outside. I had spent more than twenty years building a highly respected consulting practice and helping thousands of young people and families.

But internally, I was disappearing. I was exhausted, creatively shut down, and profoundly unalive.

The signals had been there for a while:

This is too much. This doesn’t fit anymore. I don’t love my life.

I knew something had to change. What terrified me was admitting what that might mean. My career wasn’t just a job. It was identity, security, status, and more than twenty years of my life.

That day in the park, I didn’t have an answer.

I had a word.

So I picked up the broken fence piece and carried it nearly a mile back to my Mini Cooper, even though it weighed about twenty pounds and barely fit in the trunk.

I didn’t know exactly what it was asking of me.

I only knew I needed to take it home.

Woman with red hair sitting on a wooden chair, smiling, wearing a black blazer, white t-shirt, white pants, black and white sneakers, and large gold earrings, against a white background.

THE SIGN WASN’T THE CHANGE.

The change happened one bolder move at a time.

I finally faced the fact that the career that had defined me for decades no longer fit.

It still took me two more years to close the practice for good.

I allowed myself to rest, something I had always struggled to do. I slowed down enough to hear myself again.

And I started paying attention to what I actually wanted.

What still fit. What didn’t. What I wanted more of. What I needed to say no to. And what I was finally willing to risk.

I dyed my hair pink just because I finally could.

And I committed to becoming a Co-Active coach, a dream I had been talking myself out of since 2015.

As my creativity and joy returned, I understood what the word on the fence had given me.

It was an invitation to love my life a whole lot more, one brave-enough move at a time.

That became You, Bolder.

Work With Vania

"My coaching with Vania helped me see that I am a leader and I am worth it. The acute situational coaching was invaluable during my return to work. But the more holistic work has helped me shift my self-image."

- Designer at Citibank

Two women smiling and talking to each other. One has long curly hair, wearing a light blue shirt, dark overalls, and flats. The other has short red hair, wearing a white T-shirt, white pants, and sneakers. They appear to be engaging in a friendly conversation.

YOUR BOLDER WON’T LOOK LIKE MINE.

You don’t need to close your business, leave your career, or make some enormous, disruptive life change.

Your bolder might be a terrifyingly honest conversation with your spouse. Letting go of a relationship that drains you. Dating differently after divorce. Saying no to an adult child you love. Making the decision you’ve been circling. Or sometimes doing nothing, on purpose, because that is the bolder choice.

The point is to figure out what Bolder looks like for you. That’s what we do together.

We take the complexity seriously without making the work heavy. We think hard, experiment, change course, and laugh, often in the same conversation.

Woman with short red hair, smiling, wearing black outfit, sitting on the floor with knees bent, leaning on a wooden chair, arms resting on the chair back, white background.

Experience and credentials

VANIA MATHEUS, MA, MS, CPCC, ACC

My coaching draws on more than twenty-five years of experience helping people navigate complex decisions, relationships, and family dynamics.

I hold master’s degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy and School Counseling. I am a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) through the Co-Active Training Institute and an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through the International Coaching Federation.