I’m Carolyn Baana, owner of Breakthrough Strategies and Associate Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation with more than ten years of coaching experience.

Being a part of the Area Voices blog site is exciting for me because I grew up in northern Minnesota and continue to make the Red River Valley my home – with the exception of summertime on Lake Seven, located about half-way between Detroit Lakes and Perham.

I grew up in Detroit Lakes and from there headed to UND to pursue my undergraduate degree. Three years later I followed my heart (husband) out of Grand Forks and we moved to West Fargo where I, after a break and a baby, completed my BS and MBA at NDSU. We now call Fargo home.

My career began at Great Plains Software in 1994 and continued at Microsoft following the purchase of GPS in 2001. During that professional journey I have been a technical support engineer, a manager, a manager of managers, a program/project manager and a director. I’ve had the opportunity to travel around the United States and the world as many of my roles have been global in nature. In addition to all this, my family and I relocated to Munich, Germany for a year. It’s been quite a ride!

In May of 2011 I left Microsoft to begin my professional coaching business. You can learn more about Breakthrough Strategies and the services I offer on my website: http://www.break-through-strategies.com.

Throughout my career I’ve had the chance to connect with people to discuss their career aspirations. Whether as their manager or a mentor, these conversations have been a highlight of the work I have done. The more I realized this, the more I felt that I wanted to discover tools to make those conversations even richer. Because of this insight, I pursued my Masters Certificate from the University of Texas – Dallas in Professional and Executive Coaching and am a certified coach with the International Coach Federation, as well as a member.

Coaching has been more enjoyable to me than just about any other endeavor I have embarked on. Having the chance to be a part of changes that people make in their careers and lives is incredibly rewarding. I’m also finding that writing this blog is quite satisfying, too! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Thanks for stopping by.

~c