ABOUT ME

Who is Melanie Curtis?

Ahh, about me... in the smallest of nutshells, I am a small town girl turned Middlebury graduate, turned corporate American, turned professional skydiver, turned life coach. And yeah, like all of us, that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.

I have been driven my entire adult life by my love for skydiving... my sport. My community... family. My love for training and competing with my teams... the freedom of flying my body... the unparalleled connection flying with friends... coaching new jumpers on basic skills with the purpose of not only keeping them safe but helping them unlock their own flying freedom... organizing mass-scale events for all skydivers to deeply enjoy, adding love, awesomeness, and hilarity to an already uniquely tight community... traveling the world bringing that energy to every event I’m asked to attend and personally gaining a broader personal perspective and world view. Yeah, I know, it’s crazy awesome, and I am beyond grateful.

Then something big happened. Something I never had to deal with before... ever. It hit me that, although the one deep and real passion I had for my sport, community, and lifestyle had sustained my happiness, and personal and professional growth up to that point... it was not going to make me happy forever. I panicked. Internally at least. I was burning out, and I couldn’t dream of finding another thing that would ever make me as happy as skydiving. I mean, it doesn’t work that way, does it? Some people never find one passion, much less a second after such a huge first, ya know? Not gonna lie, I was bummed. Defeated. Ok, depressed, at the thought. That said, I didn’t wallow too long cause that’s just not how I roll. With the luxury of perspective from my years in a cubicle, and gratitude for my totally awesome life as a professional athlete in one of the most amazing sports in existence, I had time to explore... brainstorm... time to take my inherent and authentic optimism and use it to light the fire under the search for my next chapter.

After months of contemplation, conversation with close friends, and mildly random internet searches... I found life coaching. I remember the first time I read the iPec Coaching website (the intense year-long program I ended up attending), I thought, “This is ME. Impacting the world... one person at a time. I would say exactly that. Ripple effect. This is huge. And this is literally perfect for me. Whoa.” My gut NEVER lies, and after satisfying my logic through countless hours of continued anal-retentive research, I set my fear aside and swiped my credit card for school—on my birthday—and the rest is history.

Now, I’m even more amazed at the synchronicities in life. How everything truly flows when you trust your gut and take leaps of faith driven by your deepest, most honest self. My intuition has never led me astray, and because of the leaps I’ve taken, I now have an even more free life than I could have EVER dreamed possible sitting in my first cubicle at Credit Suisse. Ironic that jumping out of airplanes is actually a profoundly fitting metaphor for the overall way I approach my life. Calculated risk and preparation, followed by commitment, release, and ecstasy.

Further than even that, I have a BALANCED life now that I have found through coaching—both by working with my own life coach, and helping successful clients/athletes like me deal with the common challenges we face as intensely driven, focused, and passionate personalities. That has allowed me to beat burnout and sustain my love and commitment to the sport that has truly given me my life. Through balance I have uncovered even more layers of how I find my happiness. My relationships are deeper, more authentic, more lasting. Radiant alignment. My entire world and everyone in it are affected for the better. Typical stresses have no foothold in the face of this radiance and realness. And the choices I now make are all made with this in mind. Ever-increasing personal awareness and growth... balance between the people I love, the things I love to do, and everything else in between. All with the approach that somehow made it into my DNA—love, awesomeness, and hilarity. Nuff said.

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