IF YOU’RE ready to do what you want, this is for you—
Have your funfetti cake…
What would you do differently if you stopped denying yourself… everything
When you were a kid, you were told to reach for the stars…
But now that you’re all grown up, you’ve thrown in the towel because the world’s sending you a new message:
YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN. Figure it out. Or better yet, pretend you have it all figured out. Because if your life looks perfect, you win. Doesn’t matter if you’re miserable on the inside, society says you win. ← Huh? What is this bullshit our culture throws at us?!
Ok, so maybe your tank is empty and you’re tired of pushing a boulder up the hill 9x a day – with a halfhearted, Mona Lisa smile plastered to your face.
Maybe you’ve put everyone else’s needs in front of your own for so long, you forgot what you wanted in the first place.
Without realizing it, you’ve denied yourself those beautiful moments to devour your own double-layered cake of dreams and desires, with extra ganache in between the layers.
Maybe you feel you have zero control over your time, career, relationships, creativity, health, and *ahem* your future (nbd)...
So you try to grasp onto the crumbs life throws at you along the way (when all you really want is a slice of the damn cake you’ve been side-eyeing). Because forever-grasping is part of the social contract you supposedly signed when you became an adult.
You deserve so much more than a few stale cake crumbs.
You deserve the whole damn cake and all the joy and pleasure that comes with it. Ya want it? It’s yours.
Maybe you want to know what’s on the other side of all. this. fucking. exhaustion. And is it really worth ALL the “hustle” to finally “make it”? While we’re at it – what does “make it” even mean? Can someone tell me??? Because if the answer doesn’t involve drinking cava and eating cake for breakfast on a beach, then it’s not for me.
If you’re anything like me, you’re done comparing yourself to others, trying to be perfect and avoiding failure, and playing waaay too small. And you refuse to abandon yourself, yet again.
You’re in the right place, my love… I’ve got you.
This is your chance to stop asking what if and start asking why not?
Hi – I’m Michelle.
AKA that friend that calls bullshit when you forget your truth and need a quick reminder.
We’ll get to my story (and other fun facts about how I can stick my full fist 👊🏼 in my mouth) in a hot minute…
But first – I’ve gotta confess something (this took me years to figure out so I’m here to 4x the process for you)…
I believe YOU (yes, you) can choose to have your fun·fetti cake and eat it, too.
And when you step into The Art of Compassionate Command, you can choose to view the world as full of limitless possibilities.
You can choose to trust your instincts in ALL aspects of your life. You can find your own voice and use it to set boundaries, speak your mind, and push back on all the negative voices in your life. You can advocate for yourself and become assertive – without being aggressive. You can start to lead in a way that feels authentic to YOU – even if it makes you uncomfortable, at first – instead of following the lead of those so-called “leaders” who came before you.
And you can start to ask…
Who am I
now?
(Emphasis on the now part)
What would I do differently?
(if I had permission to go after the life I truly want?)
This is your invitation to say yes! to feeling alive, again, and full of new ideas – ideas that are in alignment with your deep self and the kind of work you want to create in the world. You’ll think bigger, stay curious, and…
Open yourself up to the thought-provoking, slightly uncomfortable questions I curate especially for you.
I’m talking about questions designed to take you from “getting by” to “getting out of your own damn way”. Sounds too good to be true?
Not here – not in my house. Because the truth is:
You’ve already got everything you need inside of you. And when you explore The Art of Compassionate Command, I’ll be cheering you on AND kicking your ass every step of the way. Because it’s time to finally give yourself full permission to live your life the way YOU want to live – not the way society tells you to live.
Together – with a fistful of cake and a glass *or two* of something bubbly – we’ll experiment & play, make a terrible-horrible-oh-so-delicious mess, and maybe even bust out a dance move or two. Because life is way better when you can flow through it like a sun salutation – rather than clawing your way, day-by-day.
PSA: Our bullshit serves us…
We justify our bullshit so we don’t have to change.
You have two options, my love:
You can stay uncomfortable in your current bullshit even though you know it’s not serving you, OR (and, yes, there’s always an “or”)...
You can choose to be uncomfortable in your growth.
The first choice is easier, but it keeps you uncomfortable indefinitely and keeps you stuck. The second choice is significantly more work, but it gets you closer to the life you want to be living. You choose...
Tell me — which will it be?
I always knew what I wanted to be when I grew up…
…Until I grew up and didn’t want to be that anymore.
From the time I was 5 until the time I was 23, I was certain I was going to be a Broadway actress. Not just an actress, but a STAR.
I had so much conviction that in 8th grade I told my entire class that my family was moving to New York City for my “career”. (Let’s just say I was experimenting with “manifesting”…)
But somewhere in my early 20’s, something changed. I felt stuck.
One day I was literally cartwheeling across the stage at a callback for the national tour of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and something snapped…
I knew I didn’t want to perform anymore. I had no idea what I did want, but I knew that I wanted something different.
So I said goodbye to the spotlight, so to speak… and instead I worked in NYC and LA as an Executive in both theater and television on projects such as GREASE LIVE!, AVENUE Q, Without A Trace, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and The Unit.
But no matter how great my career and my life looked to everyone on the outside, I had this perpetual internal feeling that something was missing.
Sometimes that stuck feeling waned, but it never went away. I knew there was something more out there for me but I had no idea what it was. That confident 8th grader with an incredible sense of self and inner knowing was GONE. Caput. Nowhere to be found.
I was constantly worried about what everyone else thought of me. I was terrified of failure. I felt like I couldn’t do anything unless it was perfect. I was always second guessing myself, wondering what it was that all of my friends had that I didn’t. I felt like there was something wrong with me.
I felt lucky that I had such amazing friends who had their shit together -so I ended up playing the perpetual sidekick to everyone else’s leading lady.
One day, I woke up and I knew that something needed to change. I knew there was more inside of me - but I didn’t know how to get there on my own. I needed help.
That started my journey. And as I learned that it wasn’t “just the way I am” - that I could actually change my thoughts, I started to change my life.
I started slowly taking more risks. I experienced failures and discovered that they didn’t ruin my life.
I finally recognized that I couldn’t possibly get where I wanted if I wasn’t willing to make mistakes and learn along the way.
When I started talking about what I was figuring out, I discovered that I wasn’t alone. So many of these women - who looked like they had their shit together - had the dream job, the dream boyfriend, the dream life…
They were questioning themselves on a daily basis, living this shiny life on the outside, faking it and feeling stuck. And they were exhausted.
My story became my purpose. To help women just like me to get out of their own way and see that there IS another path forward. We all just need some help mapping it out. (And permission to ask for help doesn’t hurt either!)
You don’t have to pretend or perfect or compare or second guess anymore.
You can own your special sauce and bring it to EVERYTHING you do - and when you do that, you change the conversation for yourself- and for generations of women to come.
Ready to get messy and dive in?
And here’s the (obligatory) professional bio.
Michelle Pollack is a Leadership Coach and the Creator of The Art of Compassionate Command.
She works with high-achieving women to get out of their own way and empower themselves to live and lead on their own terms. She’s a sought-after speaker and workshop facilitator.
Michelle is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) from the Co-Active Training Institute and a graduate of their internationally acclaimed Co-Active Leadership Program. She’s studied with Tara Mohr, Shirzad Chamine, and Marcus Buckingham. She is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coach Federation, the global governing body of coaching.
Prior to her career as a coach, Michelle worked as an executive in both theater and television on such projects as GREASE, LIVE!, AVENUE Q, Baz Luhrmann’s LA BOHEME, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Without A Trace and The Unit. She is graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Speech.
Fun facts: Michelle can stick her entire fist in her mouth. And, oh yeah, she’s best known for starting flash mobs in cities around the world. Because why not?