Debra Russell, MBA
Certified Business Coach
Debra Russell is an elite Certified Business Coach, Keynote Speaker and Professional Development Trainer, and holds a Master level Certificate in Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP. With an MBA focused on entrepreneurship and innovation, she brings a level of academic rigor and professionalism to her role.
Since 2001, Coach Debra (as her clients like to call her) has helped hundreds of people create profitable, prosperous and sustainable businesses and careers.
As a Certified Business Coach, Keynote Speaker and Workshop Leader, Debra works with individuals, groups and organizations to help shape their success in their chosen field.
Debra specializes in serving:
- Corporate rising stars, upper level management, C-Suite and Boards,
- The Arts and Entertainment Industries in both the performing and visual arts; coaching performers (musicians, composers, actors, etc.), writers (fiction, non-fiction and playwrights), and visual artists (painters, sculptors, photographers, etc.) as well as executives, producers, venue owners, agents and those involved in production,
- Professional Athletes (during and post-career) and professionals in the Sport Industry,
- And Small Business Owners who are pursuing their passion as a business. (in industries as varied as alternative health, law, finance, even a nuclear physicist!)
She has an MBA and is a Certified Business Coach, Certified Master Results Coach, and additionally Master Certified in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Neurological Repatterning and Ericksonian Hypnosis.
Debra is also pursuing her certificate as an Athlete Development Specialist through the University of Florida.
You have spent thousands of hours honing your craft, your sport, your passion. I’m betting you didn’t spend nearly as much time learning the skills of business. I’m here to bring the business savvy, so you can live your dreams.
- Use savvy business strategies and tactics to run your business/career making the most of your opportunities to increase your prosperity and profitability, while maintaining your joy and passion for what you do. Oh, and also have a life!
- Build foundational skills like time management, money management and emotional intelligence, so you can focus on what’s most important for you and your family.
- Lock in prosperity for you and your family, while staying true to your values. Learn to evaluate opportunities, set boundaries and honor your priorities.
As a child, Debra learned from her mother, the CPA, how to budget and how businesses work from the early age of 11. From her father, who held a PhD in Experimental Psychology, she was gifted with an intuitive insight into human behavior.
Debra has discovered that she can combine both of these talents through coaching to inspire deep and lasting change in her clients and empower them to create real success in their business and their lives.
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Debra’s own creativity began in her teens when she began acting in high school and later appeared in off-Broadway productions in NYC. It was during this time in her career that she also began producing and leading personal development programs setting the stage for the her eventual development as a Keynote Speaker and Professional Development Trainer.
In 1989, Debra returned to school to get her degree. While earning her BFA in theater from Syracuse University’s conservatory program, she also studied directing as her minor. She moved to Los Angeles and worked in the production side of the film and television industry, commercials and music videos.
On the brink of fulfilling her dreams of directing and producing films, life took a distressing turn. She was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) in 1995 and spent several years learning to manage her illness.
Knowing she would never be able to return to film, Debra did a lot of different things, wondering, “What am I supposed to do now?” And then in 2001, coaching found her! (Ask her, she’ll tell you the story!)
In 2001, Debra trained with the Australian based Results Coaching Systems and became a Certified Business Coach. She extended her training to also be certified as a Lead Trainer and spent a year training coaches for RCS.
This, along with her experience in the mid-80’s leading personal growth workshops (that’s a whole nother story!), set her up to begin her career as a speaker, which began in 2005, at the TAXI Road Rally (music business conference in Los Angeles).
Always looking to expand and improve her skills, Debra continued her studies at Thomas Leonard’s Graduate School of Coaching. In February of 2008, she began her training with the Christopher Howard Training Company and quickly achieved her Master Certification as a Results Coach and as a Master Practitioner in NLP, Neurolinguistic Repatterning and Ericksonian Hypnotherapy.
Since then, she’s spoken all over the United States, Europe and Australia, at conferences, universities and colleges, and private organizations, delivering everything from Key Note talks, SME lectures, and 2-day Bootcamp style workshops. For more information on her speaking – check out her Speaker Profile and Speaking Testimonials.
In 2020, when Covid virtually closed down her business, Debra decided to go with the flow and head back to school. She completed her MBA from the University of Colorado, Leeds School of Business with a Summa Cum Laude in 2023.
With this additional level of business skill and knowledge, Debra works in the corporate setting, coaching and training rising stars and newly promoted management as well as C-Suite and Boards.