Hello, my name is Komita Liggans!

I’m a Certified Executive and Personal Development Coach passionate about professional development. I help mid-career professionals navigate roadblocks in business and careers.

My specialty?… Empowering mid-career professionals to successfully pursue entrepreneurship while working full-time.

Welcome to your backstage pass to developing the mindset, skillset, and toolset to accelerate your professional goals and transform your aspirations into achievements.

Why should you listen to me?

• MS in Organizational Leadership
• ICF credentialed Associate Certified Coach (ACC)
• Certified Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Facilitator
• Personal and Professional Development enthusiast
• Over 20 years of experience working with business and people leaders

I understand deeply that personal and professional development is essential for long-term success. By combining the right mindset, skillset, and toolset with professional coaching, individuals become more dynamic, productive, and successful.

After more than 200 hours of 1:1 coaching clients, I have developed a system and strategies to make professional development easy, helping individuals gain clarity and confidence to strategize their next moves quickly and provide the accountability to achieve their goals.

My Story of Transformation

There was a time when I felt utterly stuck. I was yearning for something different but felt overwhelmed by the lack of time and the burnout that came with it. I knew I needed a change, and I needed it fast. This led to a pivotal moment in my life – a complete career change as well as becoming the Principal Coach and Development Strategist at KOCALI Coaching and Development.

The system I developed, which had been instrumental in driving team performance, became my tool for personal transformation. I adapted it to turn my aspirations into achievements, overcoming the roadblocks that once seemed insurmountable.

For several years, I’ve used that system for teams. And, I’m thrilled to use it when helping professionals and entrepreneurs transform their aspirations into achievements.

But, My Story Didn’t Start There

Besides being a coach, I’m a multi-creative artist who harnesses creativity in all aspects of my life. Leveraging creativity has been part of my personal development strategy since before I even knew that was a thing to do. It’s given me the necessary mindset to be able to pivot, challenge doubt, and self-manage. 

And yes, I also empower my clients to develop this mindset. I believe cultivating creativity can help you advance in life, at work, or in leadership. 

For me, it all started while growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The best years ever!

The ’80s and ’90s

The word bored was not part of my vocabulary growing up. Playing outside and finding something to do was not a challenge. Even on rainy days in the Pacific Northwest, being confined to the indoors I found ways to entertain myself. And, as an only child, there were lots of opportunities to create and cultivate moments for myself that were fun but simple to do.

It might be safe to say that many of my fellow Gen X’ers were able to do the same. 

Some of my favorite things to do or play with as a kid:

Legos

Word Search 

Puzzles

Trivia and Riddles

Picture Matches or Finding What’s Different

I got a kick out of brain-challenging and problem-solving games. 

I also remember being very particular about using my Crayola crayons and colored pencils to perfectly color in the lines, and draw intricate mazes and an infinite number of cities and landscapes. But, my favorite pictures to draw were sunsets and palm trees, along the shoreline. Anybody who knows me knows I love being in warm weather. 

After my grandmother taught me how to sew in the 7th grade, not only did it give me more options to occupy my time, it gave me skills that really started my journey of creative thinking and problem-solving.

As I learned how to follow a sewing pattern, I quickly realized I enjoyed manipulating or creating my own patterns. This made me curious! Every time I picked up a pattern, “I wondered what else can I do with this?”

As a result, I’ve designed wedding dresses, prom dresses, custom home furnishings, and everything in between.

High School Years

In high school two pivotal things happened that would be the start of me understanding the power of having a creative mindset.

The first was being chosen to chair the school’s Winter Tolo Dance (a dance where the females asked the males to dance). This would be the first of several events that I would plan throughout my life. I learned how to work within a budget, coordinate with different vendors, and plan for the unexpected.

I led my peers to plan this event for my entire high school. It was through this experience that I learned how to articulate a vision, ignite that vision in others, and most importantly successfully execute that vision with a diverse group of people

This was the start of my leadership and creative execution with other people.

The second pivotal thing that happened was in my Home Economics class (in my opinion, a class that should be brought back to schools). It introduced me to Interior Design and Decorating. Which opened up another world of understanding colors, textiles, composition, and technical drawing the old-school way (non-computer-generated drafting tools).

I instantly grew fond of and got good at mixing all of these elements that encompassed interior design and decorating.

Coupled with these new skills and growing curiosity about what boundaries I could push using them, I had to creatively think and problem-solve through my ideas that didn’t fit the “norm”. It was exhilarating to successfully curate my ideas. As a result, my teacher encouraged me to apply to interior design and decorating schools for college.

I did and was accepted!

But, my college trajectory would prove to be quite different. However, embracing creativity and leveraging it continued into my college years and beyond. 

Moving On To College

Entering college as a Civil Engineering student I completed assignments and interned at a civil engineering firm, designing and constructing solutions to human problems or making them better. This definitely used a different part of my brain. Although engineering wasn’t for me, leaning on my creative side and enjoying brain-teasing games, got me through the technical aspect of my engineering classes. I changed my major but continued to leverage creativity in all that I did. 

As a Resident Assistant (RA), part of my RA duties was developing opportunities for dorm residents to engage in activities that fostered healthy, safe interactions, and positive dialogue. Well, unlike my high school Tolo dance, there wasn’t much of a budget to help offset the cost of these engagement opportunities. They had to be done with little or no money at all. 

Being able to design experiences under these circumstances was a welcomed challenge. It was a challenge that was filled with strategic thinking, creative execution, and keeping things simple but with a big impact.

Married With Kids

Keeping it simple with a big impact meshed well when my husband, Dr. Girvin Liggans, and I married. We’ve embodied this motto in our careers and while raising our four children.

He also has had a relationship with creativity throughout his life. He even has his own motto: “Stay curious, solve big problems, and have fun!,” which you can find in his book Think Fired Up! How to Take Your Team From Burnout to Engaged. Occasionally, he’ll drop into GK Liggans to share ideas and resources that can help accelerate your professional growth.

As parents we gave our children varied experiences that were fun, interactive, and educational, particularly during our homeschooling days. Interestingly enough we both worked full time and homeschooled them at the same time. We managed this lifestyle by keeping our systems simple. Our systems, although simple, we ensured, were impactful to the learning and development of our children.

As a family, we worked hard during the week and played hard during the weekends.

Some of our favorite things to do:

• Camping
• Hiking
• Archery 
• Disc golf
• Orienteering

We’ve even enjoyed learning about different species of birds and trees particularly those native to the Eastern United States.

Glimpse Into My Career

My curiosity for the relationship between people and their environment led me to eventually graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health. I spent almost two decades ensuring that environmental exposures in the air, water, soil, and food were reduced or eliminated to protect people from harm and provide communities with healthier indoor and outdoor environments. Primarily I did this through enforcing laws and regulations at the local government level while also instituting training and coaching to businesses in noncompliance with laws and regulations.

Interestingly enough my husband and I have very similar fields of study. This made for great conversations between the two of us and story-sharing with our children. Not only did our kids learn about different ways humans impact the environment (good and bad). But, also the different ways to enjoy the great outdoors.

Learning From What We Love to Do

With my husband and I sharing our love for being outdoors, our kids grew fond of the outdoors in their own way. They traveled with us pretty much everywhere. 

Family time was a priority. We made sure whatever activity we were doing, all our children would be able to participate. They even joined us when we facilitated outdoor education programs for youth.

Was it challenging with four different personalities to consider? Yes! 

But, again family time was a priority. So, we kept things simple but impactful. 

Simple but impactful helped when prioritizing our family time and continues today in our careers. We’ve been able to develop the skill of and enjoy making the complex simple.

Almost three decades later we are still living by this motto. 

Helping Others Achieve

As an internationally certified coach, consultant, and facilitator, I have the pleasure of working with people from all over the world who are ready to go from where they are to where they want to be. With this blog, I provide strategies and coaching for building the skills, mindset, and plan to get unstuck and master your next move.

Capture the secrets to transforming your aspirations into achievements.