Who Am I?
HEY, I’M DENISA.
I am a Christian mother and wife, coach, entrepreneur and an avid reader devoted to helping you become the person you feel most called to be. Whether sipping my husband’s espresso in my favourite flowery mug each morning, arranging a bouquet of fresh cut flowers (peonies and lilacs please!) or spending a quiet evening by the fire with a good book or with my family and close friends,
I truly delight in the little moments of the day.
Born and raised in Europe, I never fit in a conventional box.
For as long as I can remember, I was always curious about everything: people and their life stories, spirituality, psychology, other cultures, fashion, media, music and art. Since I was about 8 years old, I read everything I could literally get my hands on, from medical journals to pregnancy books. Yes, that was before the Internet!
My high-school years were busy producing performance shows and student programs, writing and publishing my first poetry book and having too busy a social life. Law School and a reporter’s job at a local newspaper followed for a year, when at 20, I moved to Canada.
I started my entrepreneurial endeavours with an image consulting practice, after (like many other women) being frustrated by the unrealistic image expectations in the fashion industry. Being absolutely in love with everything entrepreneurial and creative, I started taking on more projects like event planning, producing and writing a monthly makeover column for a popular Vancouver lifestyle magazine and… interior design.
After studying Interior Design at the Art Institute of Vancouver I formed and grew Style Society Design, a Vancouver-based interior design boutique firm. Over the years, whether in my work as a personal and corporate image consultant or as an interior designer, I have been very blessed and humbled to have been widely featured and quoted in national and international press and television.
But—after all these years of creative entrepreneurship and volunteering at my local church, I started to seriously consider ministry as a vocational call, and enrolled in a Leadership Development program as a Pastoral Apprentice.
Prior to starting the program, I started to feel discontent with my work and its purpose. My work started feeling very ‘worldly’ and shallow. I started to doubt my divine purpose and entered into a season of many questions and uncertainty. Something felt ‘off’. I know now, God was calling.
During the program, it became clear that although creativity in many forms has been my primary pursuit, my undeniable gift has always been rooted in my insatiable curiosity about the human potential and its relationship with God.
During this season, with a heavy focus on spiritual formation, while also working with a spiritual director, God has put me on a path of self-discovery and spiritual growth like never before.
Although still working as an interior designer, God started to change my desires, my dreams and my overarching passion from creative entrepreneurship, to a life of devotion and service to Him.
As a certified Christian life and leadership coach, my primary focus changed from helping bring beauty, light and function to people’s homes, to helping bring beauty light and function to people’s souls and minds.
Are you a woman who has attained a certain level of success in your work or business and are wondering if you are fulfilling God’s call and purpose for your life? Are you feeling exhausted, lonely and/or confused about your next step?
Are you wondering “Is this it”? Are the transitions of, or into mid-life, keeping you awake at night?
I used to be that woman. Wide awake, at 2:00 am trying to make sense of my calling, my role, my life…
I still don’t fit in a conventional box. A multitude of seemingly unconnected things have weaved my journey: a former model, journalist, law student and image consultant, a poet and interior designer who became a Christian coach, a mentor, a wife of 20 years, a teenager’s mom, a ministry leader, and a compulsive reader who is working towards pastoral accreditation. A recovering codependent and perfectionist, impulsive and rigid at times, I still make mistakes and I’m still learning.
Chronic pain, a history of anxiety and a multitude of health issues, personal losses and heartbreak have also constructed the woman I am today: a loving servant of Jesus Christ, who is here for you, fully devoted to helping you become the person you feel most called to be.
