My mission is to help people around the world live with joy.

I do this by helping people achieve:

  • a solid connection to their mission and purpose in life

  • Self-love, self-care and self-compassion

  • healthy boundaries

  • Mindfulness and a greatly increased ability to be present

  • freedom from their negative core beliefs and negative self-talk

  • authentic confidence.

The avenues I use to achieve this:

i am an international life and business coach, who is a twice-successful entrepreneur.

My story (or part of it!):

In the mid-1990s, I found myself in a very successful career in Mergers and Acquisitions with the most prestigious investment banks at the time.

I was miserable. I felt disconnected from the work I was doing, and I was spending 80 hours per week doing it. I also felt (and was) physically disconnected from my three children who I adored. AND, I felt disconnected from my own soul.

Yet, I was sole financial support of the family. All the financial responsibilities were solely on me. I was earning an astonishing income, and had a position envied by many. But I could not deny that I was miserable.

I spent years in soul-searching, self-help programs, and counseling. I also became an avid meditator, and joined a buddhist community for support around meditation and living a peaceful, meaningful, serene life.

Finally something just clicked for me. I was living a life that reflected other people’s values: my father’s values, our society’s values. But not my values. It also clicked that I did not have to do this. I had enormous choice. I did have confidence in my abilities to adapt, yet I was terrified and unsure what I really wanted.

The day I quit my Wall Street job, I felt like I was jumping off a huge cliff. Not long thereafter, I realized that whatever powers there are out there in the universe caught me, supported me, and gave me a gentle landing into an incredible life. I also gained confidence in my ability to envision what I truly wanted and to take the steps to achieve it. I returned to school at the age of 39 for a second master’s degree and began my journey to open a private psychotherapy practice.

I founded Mindful Psychotherapy, LLC, recognizing that as a private practitioner I was also an entrepreneur. I had a successful private practice, specializing in anxiety and trauma. I remain incredibly grateful to the numerous clients who came through my door, trusting me with their innermost feelings, and allowing me to witness and guide as they did the work to transform their lives.

After almost twenty years as a psychotherapist, I started a YouTube channel (now that’s another LONG story!). Within a year it had grown to almost 10,000 subscribers and I was hearing from people all over the world about how meaningful the videos were to them, and how much they were improving. I was also hearing about how many felt they had no access to mental health care, and, honestly, I was overwhelmed by how many people were reaching out to me for help. That was when I decided to create group programs, offer a free “mini-series,” and become an affiliate of Betterhelp and Virtual EMDR (services people could use worldwide).

My online business, Awaken Joy, @awakenjoy.life, is my second successful entrepreneurial business, and is one that is reaching a worldwide audience. People from all over the world have joined my coaching programs. People from all over the world are resonating with the videos I produce.


I aim, with my YouTube channel, to produce videos that provide actionable steps and “how-tos” not simply “information.” I aim to provide experiential learning in all my coaching programs as well as on my channel.

I now live an amazing life. I am in a wonderful marriage (my second, and last!). I have three children and four stepchildren, all young adults. I have a rotund orange cat named Zucca (pumpkin in Italian). I am able to travel (other than the pandemic of course!) and regularly visit Italy, where my husband was born. I will be spending a month skiing out West this winter - a goal I have had for a long time. I am truly blessed.

I thank you, my supporters. Whether you are or become a direct client, or whether you simply watch my YouTube videos, I want you to know that I appreciate you, and I am honored by your trust in me.

for those who are interested, my bio:

Barbara has a BA from Yale University, an MBA from Columbia University and an MSW from Southern Connecticut State University. She is an EMDR Approved Consultant, and provides supervision to other therapists learning EMDR. She is also an expert in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for anxiety, and trauma-informed CBT for trauma. Barbara has been meditating for over twenty-five years, and she integrates mindfulness meditation and visualization into all her coaching work and YouTube videos. Barbara has studied meditation in Buddhist, Hindu and Shamanic traditions.

Barbara was the Executive Director of the Domestic Violence Crisis Center in Fairfield County, CT from 2003-2007. In her first career, Barbara spent sixteen years in Investment Banking, primarily in Mergers & Acquisitions for Salomon Brothers and Merrill Lynch.