Anna Wertenbroch The Trailblazer To Immulate An Easy Way For Small Business Owners To Keep And

In a time when history is being made in the United States, Anna Wertenbroch has been breaking the glass ceiling in male-dominated industries for over 20 years. “I was the first black female that they hired at the University, and it was quite an interesting situation,” Anna says. “Some of the things that they said to me, it was sexist, but I grew up with a lot of brothers, there was a lot of men in my family. I never allowed that to stop me from saying what I believed. I believe that you should speak your truth instead of keeping it inside.”

Originally from Jamaica but formally educated in Germany, France, and the United States, she is fluent in French, German, and English and regularly applies these language skills within her international personal development agency, “The Essence of Coaching.” Anna became an executive coach as a result of her passion for helping people develop their full potential. Leadership development is in her blood, and for much of her career, she has held senior operations and negotiation positions related to travel services, including starting and managing her own travel agency. She also created and managed a corporate travel office at Duke University and was a travel consultant for Yale University’s travel services. “I’ve never had a fear of being the ‘first’ to do something,” Anna says. “I believe that if you don’t try, then you lose, but if you try and it doesn’t turn out the way you wanted, then at least you tried.”

At INSEAD, Anna built on her experience and key motive of developing talent within organizations at the Centre for Advanced Learning Technologies (CALT), where she has worked in the areas of change management and innovation, knowledge management, learning, and pedagogical style, and teaching a change management simulation. Anna has pursued post-graduate programs in psychology at Loyola University in Chicago and in psychotherapy through the University of Phoenix. She also led The CTI executive coaching program in the Netherlands. When asked why her coaching practice has been so successful, Anna says, “God gave me a gift to be able to see and understand people. He gave me the gift not to judge, not criticize, but to be completely fair. My coaching style is that I talk to you about what you want, and we work hand in hand to accomplish that goal.”

Her interest in other cultures has led her to live and work in many countries, including the United States, Jamaica, France, and Singapore, where she organized a large private relief effort to help Sri Lankan Tsunami victims in early 2005. In addition to being a bestselling author of, “A Dinosaur Without the Head: Inefficiency in Higher Education Leadership and the Male-Dominated Hierarchy,” Anna is a restauranteur owning “Just Wings & Country,” and “Bistro Neuf 9.” She currently lives in France with her family. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, cooking, charitable work, and conversation.

When asked how other women can make their mark in a noisy world, “Always respect yourself,” is Anna’s frank reply. “We respect ourselves until we allow someone to disrespect us. And this is what we should never do. Never lower your borrows, your principles, and the respect that you have for yourself.”