Meet the coach

Matt achieved professional success in his roles, spanning nearly 20 years, as a corporate, M&A and tax attorney, chairperson leading his large regional law firm’s corporate and tax practice, in business having served in corporate director and officer roles, as well as other leadership roles. Through his professional experiences leading, coaching and mentoring senior lawyers, CEOs, corporate officers and directors as well as other leaders, Matt discovered his true passion and purpose – Coaching others to be the best versions of themselves.

Leaving a successful and lucrative legal and business practice wasn’t easy, but Matt knew that his unique gifts and achievements could be better utilized to give back –supporting and guiding others in realizing their personal power and potential to create truly amazing lives. Matt has a special ability to create profound and meaningful connections with people and facilitating his client’s journeys to achieving and creating what they desire.

Matt’s life was exponentially expanded and bettered by getting curious and learning about his own inner world and developing the courage to use his gifts to follow his passion and pursue his larger purpose in this world. Matt has experienced first hand the life altering changes that coaching and commitment to self-awareness and self-knowledge (emotional intelligence if you will). Matt is authentically and genuinely devoted to making a profound difference in the lives of his client’s by sharing these gifts and learnings as he guides and supports his clients in getting curious and passionate about understanding themselves, their self-imposed limits and their unique inner worlds.

Using his first hand learnings and self-development Matt has a unique and profound ability to guide and support others in their personal journeys toward self-awareness, emotional intelligence and discovery of their authentic selves. With this new awareness and knowledge client’s can set and exceed goals with grace and ease allowing them to take responsibility for their own lives and facilitating the intentional creation of the lives and businesses that they have always dreamed of but didn’t know how to achieve and create.

Matt’s Coaching process is to co-create coaching plans based on his client’s desired coaching outcomes to efficiently support and guide his clients in developing self-awareness, self-knowledge and self-coaching skills that will enable clients to become their own coaches over time. Allow his clients to decrease reliance on paid coaching services over-time. Matt's overarching goal and focus is your personal growth and development, not development of his own coaching practice. Matt’s primary goal is to support and guide you in learning and developing your own tools to manage life’s inevitable curve-balls and successes, not to create life-long client’s.

Matt is based out of La Paz, Mexico and Salt Lake City, Utah and works with client’s virtually. Matt provides coaching services in both English and Spanish.

Who Matt Coaches:

Matt coaches those that are willing to make coaching and their own inner work a priority in their life. Coaching is not a magic pill and what you get out of it is largely determined by what you put into it. Coaching takes consistency, curiosity, courage and dedication. If you are curious, willing to invest in yourself and able to commit to putting in the work, CookStar Coaching is for you. With consistency and dedication you will achieve true transformation and growth and develop the tools to intentionally create the career, company and life that you have always dreamed of.

Education, Training & Accreditation

- Brown University (School of Professional Studies)/ACT, Leadership & Performance Coaching
- Brown University (School of Professional Studies)/ACT; (Advanced) Next Level Leadership & Performance Coaching
- International Coaching Federation; Certified Professional Coach
- University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law; J.D. 2005 (William H. Leary Scholar)
- University of Minnesota; B.A. International Relations and Spanish 1999
- University of Salamanca; Salamanca, Spain (Fluent in Spanish)

Coaching is a broad and diverse field and the experience and skills vary widely among those holding themselves out as Coaches. For clients it can be extremely challenging to identify and engage a coach with all the claims, stories, testimonials and services touted by those who call themselves “coaches”. Unlike other professions, coaches are not required to meet educational requirements or certification standards to hold themselves out as coaches. Many of these coaches can do more harm than good and they tarnish the public’s perception of the Coaching profession.

I passionately believe in the value of and the potentially life changing results that can be achieved through the right Coaching relationship. While of course I believe in my skillset and the power of the coaching that I offer, I am more interested in you finding the right fit and connection to a credentialed and talented coach than I am in gaining you as a client. If I am not the right fit (that is why I offer the complementary exploratory intro call) I am connected to a network of talented coaches that I would be happy tomake introductions to.

Because of the breadth and diversity of the Coaching field – education, accreditation and experience are extremely important (if not indispensable) in discerning the capabilities of a particular coach. First, it is important that a coach receives education from a recognized and reputable educational institution. While a skilled Coach generally has substantial education and experiences in varying areas, coaching is an art and a science requiring formal training and practice to become skilled. While an exceptional coach could potentially be self-taught or studied coaching at a lesser known educational institution, the likelihood is lower and you would be taking a chance.

The main accrediting organization or body in coaching is the International Coaching Federation (ICF). To become a certified ICF coach, the coach must undergo rigorous study, training, practice, mentoring, evaluation and testing. ICF coaches must also continue their professional development with continued education in order to maintain their accreditation. While an exceptional coach could potentially be uncertified, why take the chance as the probability is very low indeed.

Lastly, the Coach’s experience and self-practice matter greatly. Coaching is an art and science that involves supporting and guiding clients. A coach is a guide, not a director, in the coaching process. It is very important that the Coach has worked on his/her own inner world, ego, limiting beliefs, blind-spots and unconscious thoughts and behaviors to ensure that the coach’s unconscious thoughts, behaviors, fears, insecurities and biases are not influencing or steering their coaching. An exceptional coach is neutral and doesn’t unconsciously or consciously dictate or steer the path of the Coaching. While a coach that hasn’t worked though the processes themselves and doesn’t continue to work on developing themselves and their personal growth could potentially be exceptional, the probability is very low.

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