Alumni Spotlight Michaella

Meet Michaella, a talented life and business coach and Noma Alumni!

Michaella's transition to remote work wasn't about fitting in more; it was about finally living inside her days instead of racing through them.

Read Michaella's complete Alumni Spotlight below!

Can you share a bit about your professional background?

I’m a life and business coach who works with leaders, entrepreneurs, and high-capacity women who are very good at holding everything together and quietly exhausted from doing exactly that.

I've known that terrain personally.

Before coaching, I worked inside leadership and high-responsibility environments in high tech, start-ups and crisis communication and public relations, where being dependable and capable was rewarded and where I slowly learned to override my own needs in the process.

Today, my work helps women rebuild self-trust, make decisions they don’t second-guess at 2 a.m., and create success that doesn’t require abandoning themselves to sustain it.

Many high achievers aren’t burned out from doing too little. They’re burned out from carrying too much alone. Professionally and personally.

What motivated your transition to a remote working lifestyle?

Honestly, I was tired of living a life that looked full but felt crowded.

I didn’t want more flexibility so I could work more. I wanted space to think, to breathe, and to live inside my days instead of racing through them.

I knew how to achieve professionally. I knew how to achieve personally. But I wanted to stop living those two worlds in separate silos.

Working remotely allowed me to design my life around presence and depth instead of always running towards the next thing. It also made my work more effective.

When I’m not rushing, I listen differently. When I listen differently, people change.

What inspired you to come on a Noma Edition, and what was your biggest takeaway?

I’m drawn to experiences that interrupt autopilot living. Noma Collective does that beautifully, not only through place, but through community and possibility.

During my most recent edition in Belize, something shifted in a way I still can’t reduce to tidy language.

I didn’t arrive needing reinvention. My life works. I love my work. I’ve built something I’m proud of.

And yet, slowing down there changed me.

It felt almost cellular.

Without the usual noise, I could see with startling clarity where my life felt deeply aligned and where I had slipped back into momentum, expectation, or outdated identities.

I came home quieter inside. More honest. More willing to tell myself the truth. More available to choose what is right now, not what once was.

Nothing dramatic blew up. But I began making decisions from a different place.

And that changes everything over time.

I’m still in the middle of that integration, and I can feel the alignment deepening.

What bucket list destination are you excited to travel to?

Lately, I feel pulled toward places that aren’t polished for consumption, places where daily life is visible, and perspective is unavoidable. Vietnam, Albania, and Montenegro are calling me, not for a checkmark of going to yet another country, but for the humility and expansion that come from being somewhere unfamiliar. I’m also craving more tacos in my life, so Mexico is always close to my heart (or my stomach).

What is one message you wish to share with our Alumni community?

You can build a life that impresses everyone and still feel like you’re not fully inside it.

If something feels off, don’t rush to fix it. Get curious.

Your life isn’t asking you to perform better. It’s asking you to listen more honestly.

Even when it doesn’t make sense. Even when others don’t understand. Even when the roles you’ve held suggest you should stay the same.

Michaella's Social Handles

Website: www.michaellaoconnor.com

Instagram: @coachmichaella