Rachelle Tanguay is one of the coaches that we found this month and we did a little interview with her. She impressed us with her expertise and professionalism.
She spent more than 20 years serving in the Canadian federal government, working closely with senior leaders as a Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor, where she developed a deep understanding of leadership dynamics and human behavior.
She helps executives and professionals uncover the hidden belief systems and internal narratives that quietly influence their decisions, emotions, and patterns of behavior in both life and leadership.
She guides clients beyond surface level mindset work into deep self awareness, where real transformation happens through understanding rather than forcing change. Here is what she said…
Meet Life Coach Rachelle Tanguay:
Name: Rachelle Tanguay
Pillar: The Spirit, The Mind, The Heart
Who is this coach for: Senior professionals, executives, and leaders who want to break through limiting internal narratives and operate from a clearer, more conscious mindset.
How they can help: By using visualization techniques, values and belief identification frameworks, and structured breathwork to regulate the nervous system and support deeper awareness and transformation.They help clients uncover and reframe deep rooted belief systems, regulate emotional responses, and develop lasting clarity and stability in decision making.
First of all, how are you and your family doing in these “crazy” times?
My family and I are doing very well, despite the state of affairs around the world.
The way we manage this is mostly by limiting our exposure to things we cannot control.
Before social media, people living in one part of the world were aware of local, regional, and national news, and occasionally of larger global crises.
Now we have immediate access to information about tragedies and traumatic situations across the globe through our phones, not just issues that directly impact us.
While there are many international events that do affect us in some way, such as supply chains, the economy, and gas prices, we can control what kind of media and information we consume through the mindful use of technology.
It is a conscious choice for my family to limit our exposure and enjoy a happier day to day life.
How did the coronavirus pandemic affect your clients? Did it affect you at all?
I was a public servant during the pandemic.
I held a senior position and was at the forefront of managing massive change across a large government organization.
The immediate shift to virtual work introduced entirely new ways of working and required new processes and systems to be established.
This experience gave me valuable insight into how to guide a large organization through significant change.
Personally, the greatest transformation for me was realizing the potential of working virtually and the many benefits it could bring to both me and my family.
The Origin:
Tell us about you, your career, how you started with your coaching career?
After I graduated from university, I started my career as a public servant in Canada, working for the federal government.
I spent 23 years as a public servant, with the second half of my career focused on working with senior leaders as a Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor.
The formal shift to coaching happened a few years ago when I realized how much I enjoyed the private conversations I was having with senior leaders, whether through mentoring or informal coaching.
Even without formal training, I was naturally engaging in these types of conversations.
That realization inspired me to earn my coaching certification and make the leap to becoming a full time coach and consultant.
What was your biggest obstacle that you had to overcome in your life that made you who you are today?
The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was my own personal narrative and inner programming.
I could answer this question by naming the traumas and difficult situations I experienced and describing those external events as the challenges I survived.
Ultimately, we all experience difficult situations that shape who we become.
However, I believe the greatest hurdle anyone can overcome is their own inner doubt and conditioning.
Think about the belief system you inherited from your parents and your culture.
Think about the values you adopted from your community early in life.
Think about the programming that taught you what your limitations were at a young age.
Think about the careless comments that left lasting marks on your sense of identity.
All of that programming limits us, and it limited me as well.
My greatest obstacle was overcoming my own narrative, challenging my self limiting beliefs, and transforming my inner dialogue.
What are the biggest lessons that you learned overcoming your greatest obstacle?
The biggest lesson I learned was the value of sitting with discomfort and facing the darker parts of myself that I had always avoided.
People naturally avoid discomfort.
We prefer what feels safe and predictable, even when it is not good for us.
Working with a coach helped me move through that discomfort and continue toward self actualization.
The Coaching Style:
How do you innovate with coaching your clients?
Most leadership coaching starts with behavior.
I have found that this rarely creates lasting change because behavior is the result of a belief system that the client has not yet examined.
That is why I built my entire approach around helping clients develop source awareness first.
What’s unique about your coaching approach?
Most mindset work stays on the surface through affirmations, reframing, and new habits.
Those methods can certainly help, but they often do not create lasting change because they are built on top of patterns that have never been examined.
What makes my approach different is that I work at the root.
Before we try to change anything, we become curious about where the pattern came from, what story was written, how it developed, and why it made sense at the time.
Once a client truly sees that story, its hold begins to loosen in a way that repetition alone can never achieve.
I aim to guide clients from self intellectualization to self actualization.
The transformation becomes lasting because it is not forced.
It is understood.
What benefits do your clients get after working with you?
Clients leave with much more than new skills or strategies.
They leave with a fundamentally different relationship with their own thinking.
They can recognize when an old pattern is influencing their decisions before it creates problems.
They begin making decisions based on their own values and judgment instead of inherited beliefs.
Their leadership becomes more consistent because it comes from a stable internal foundation rather than emotional reactions.
The changes they experience tend to last because they understand why they were stuck, not simply that they were stuck.
They also begin to recognize that control is often an illusion.
Do you use any specific tools to be efficient with your clients?
I sometimes use visualizations to help clients see beyond their fears and limiting beliefs.
I also use tools that quickly identify personal values and core beliefs, helping people move forward in their thinking.
I firmly believe in regulating the nervous system through breathwork.
When a memory or thought triggers an emotional or physical response during a session, I may guide the client through structured breathing so they can calm their body and continue working through the experience.
The Impact:
If you had a super megaphone that, when you speak into, the whole world will hear your message, what would you say?
You are not the voice inside your head. When awareness leads, transformation follows.
What is the greatest lesson you have learned in your life?
The greatest lesson I have learned is that I can only control my own reactions and responses in every situation.
Every other form of control is an illusion and is often the source of suffering.
Your final thoughts?
I love working with people.
I have come to believe that real change is not something you force upon yourself.
It is something you uncover.
The clients I am most proud of are not the ones who simply tried harder.
They are the ones who became curious enough to ask why they were stuck in the first place.
That is the kind of work I want more people to experience.
It is not about adding another technique on top of everything else.
It is about finally discovering the story underneath.
If you are carrying a narrative that is quietly shaping your decisions, know that it can be seen.
Once it is seen, it begins to lose its hold.
That is where I want to continue focusing my energy.
Where Can You Find Rachelle Tanguay?
If you liked this interview and if you would love to see how Coach Rachelle can help you attain more awareness and break free from the stories that hold you back, go to rachelletanguay.com and explore the services that she offers.
If you’d like to peak a glimpse into her coaching, follow her Instagram account.
You can find more about her founder story by watching this video:
And if you’d like to connect with her more personally, you can do that through LinkedIn or by sending her a direct message on her Email [email protected]. It was an honor having this interview with her.