Media

Published articles, interviews and more

View my published media and work across the web.

View content based on your area of interest

Career Focus

Career Focus explores personal values, living with purpose, and having choices in how we live today. What I call “Coaching 101.”

Life fully loved

Enjoying a Life fully loved means developing personally and professionally. That’s what these topics discuss.

Time Management

Time Management examines setting priorities, establishing boundaries, developing SMART goals, dealing with setbacks, and ensuring follow-through.

Career Focus

Podcast: Focus on What’s Important – with Chris Janke

Defining what’s important starts with understanding your values. From there, you can figure out your purpose in life. We all have one! Take the time to determine yours and you will be rewarded with a life more fulfilling than you ever imagined.

Instructional

Working Well: Laura Barker On How Companies Are Creating Cultures That Support & Sustain Mental, Emotional, Social, Physical & Financial Wellness – An Interview with Karen Mangia

An in-depth analysis of what’s happening in the workplace today vis-à-vis wellness. We talk about all aspects of workplace wellness including social, financial, physical, emotional, and mental.

Career Focus

“Should I hire a career coach?” and other common questions

If you hate your job, need a raise or want a more fulfilling work life—a career coach can help. Here’s how to know if you need a career coach.

Career Focus

8 Coaches Share What Books Inspired Them Most

Your Body Is Your Brain by Amanda Blake inspired me more than any other coaching-related book I’ve read. So often we live in our heads and want to use rational reasoning to solve our problems. Blake’s book taught me that our body holds a lot of information.

Life fully loved

Should you mention family business ties when applying for a new job?

Yes. The college grad in question wants to present his authentic self to potential employers. Shouldn’t all of us applaud that a little more? When the college grad explained the familial relationship, he was being honest and forthright. Personally, I’d hire someone like that any day. I can teach you skills, but I can’t teach having the right attitude. He’s a winner in my book.

Life fully loved

How to get a job with no experience

If you lack experience, it doesn’t mean you can’t land a role. There are lots of jobs available right now, with a huge workforce shift happening.

From the beginning, Laura put me at ease, creating a safe, open space for me to talk and share freely without fear of judgement. I loved the variety of approaches she used depending on the topic we were working on and it was fun being able to try out things I wouldn’t have considered before! With Laura’s coaching, I substantially grew my confidence in the workplace, overcame fears, dealt with issues I’d been carrying around for many years and, most importantly, learned to value myself and define a path forward into the future.
AG

Coaching sessions with Laura gave me new perspectives on how to process specific feelings and situations in life. She showed me how to sit with my emotions, acknowledge them, and then use visualization strategies to move through them. I now feel more confident and in control of how I choose to walk through life.
CP

Laura is an incredibly intuitive, positive and caring coach. Her techniques helped me recognize both my strengths and areas I might want to explore as I embark on the next chapter of my career. The exercises she employed were instrumental in providing self perspective and challenging my frames of reference.
LE

Laura is a natural coach. Her probing and compassionate questions helped me learn about myself: my value system, interests, goals and strengths.
LM

Coaching is life changing. It pushes you outside your comfort zone and challenges your perspectives. It is highly motivating and the exercises and techniques used are both fun and informative. I think the main benefits of coaching are to see yourself, others and the world more clearly. I think coaching is valuable to anyone regardless of where you are in your life or career.
LE

Laura is very patient. She took the time to understand what was causing me to be stuck where I am today and help me build a better vision so I can continue to grow.
MM

You have to be open minded in order to grow. The coaching that Laura gave me opened my eyes to what and how I was doing things and allowed me to see the bigger picture. I am not done yet but I already see the changes in my everyday life.
MM

I think Laura’s coaching was what I had been waiting for. Laura was so approachable, kind, and open. Her willingness to help and support made a difference for me. I found in her coaching new strategies, ideas, and perspectives that I could incorporate into my goals and objectives that I didn’t see before.
MO