It’s amazing to meet you!

I’m Alice. Some people call me “Coach,” others call me “Doc,” and a few really special ones call me “Momma.” I’ve spent the past decade working closely with members of the military Special Operations community and, more recently, law enforcement. I’ll spare you all the gory details right now as this is our first introduction, but feel free to check out my full resume here if you’re curious!

How did I wind up here, talking to you? It all began with my daughter. Like anyone else, I want to be the best mom that I can be, and as I witnessed her approaching her preteen years, I realized that I’d spent my whole life buying in to masculine definitions of empowerment that didn’t make space for honoring the woman she was becoming.

I had turned into one of those women who defined myself as “not like the other girls.” I thought women were confusing, difficult to make friends with…you know the deal. I was stuck in a feedback loop of regurgitating the lies that society had fed me (and all women) about ourselves. And I knew I couldn’t continue like this if I was going to be the mother, guide, and role model she needed me to be in her teen years.

Maybe you’ve even been there, too. If you have, it’s not your fault - society doesn’t give strong, empowered, feminine women like us much space to define ourselves. We’re usually left to shoehorn ourselves into boxes that don’t really fit quite right (cue the image of Barbie trying to fit herself back into the big pink box at Mattel HQ in the movie - remember?).

Of course, what I had really done was internalize a lot of toxic patriarchal messages. I’d come to believe that to lean in to my femininity was to lean into my weakness - to identify as a player on the losing team - and I couldn’t have been more wrong.

This led me down the path of inqiry that brought me to you! (Remember, I’m a Ph.D., so research is in my blood - once I’ve got a burning quesiton, I don’t stop digging until I find answers!). The problem was that, like many women, I felt alienated and disconnected from mainstream feminism. I wasn’t looking to radicalize my worldview; I just wanted to connect with my own authentic strengths.

I’ve spent so much time serving men in male dominated spaces - Special Ops, law enforcement - while learning powerful lessons in mindset, leadership, and high performance at the same time by having privileged access to those worlds. I found myself asking, why don’t many women feel like we have a stake in these same tools? Maybe the answer was that we needed a female led space to grow in our strengths together, taking ownership of these tools beyond the masculine purview.

This is what inspired me to break out of the boys club and bring that knowledge with me to share with women and girls eveywhere. Cross-pollination of ideas is a world-changing force - I experienced that with my first business, SOFxLE, bringing lessons from elite military Special Operations units like SEAL Team VI and Special Forces to support members of law enforcement. And I’ve seen first hand the power of coaching girls and women using the same formula, without underestimating them. Atalanta Leadership Forge is the next step in that mission - and I’m grateful you’re here for it.