We had the good fortune of connecting with Erinn Cottman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erinn, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I’ve always been fairly calculated when it has come to my career. When I decided to leave my job of 11 years to pursue entrepreneurship, while I weighed all of the risks, I took a bet on my expertise, knowledge, and hustle. As the saying goes, there is no reward in life without risk. As I close the chapter on my first year of full-time entrepreneurship, risk has allowed me to increase my impact in the education space, as well as live a fuller life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I should be on a plane right now. Literally. As you’re reading this I’m probably checking flights. I don’t even like planes, but I love to travel. As a kid, I spent summers traveling with my family. That’s where my wanderlust came from, and probably my interest in cultural education too. 15+ countries later and I haven’t stopped traveling yet.

Oh, and it didn’t matter what day it was, I always had my nose in a book. Still do actually (If you’ve read ‘Seven Days in June’ recently, we need to chat asap). I’ve always been the creative, expressive type; always entertaining my family (didn’t you take dance classes 4 days a week too?), and never not looking for a reason to interact with anyone with a pulse.

Somewhere between Hampton University and starting a family, I became a teacher.

And then an Assistant Principal. Through my experience in and out of the classroom I realized: educators have waaaay more of an impact on tiny humans than most of us realize (or maybe even care to admit)!

It was important to me that my teaching style propelled my students forward in life, not just the classroom. I knew that it all started with me, as an educator, not just a school employee not-so-patiently waiting for summer break to start (although that is a dynamic perk, btw).

I developed and honed my teaching style under the influence of a strong instructional coach.
Because of the direct impact my own professional development began to have on my students, I decided becoming a coach for teachers like me was the next step in my educational journey. Today, I am a School Leadership Coach and Education Consultant.

As an educator, understanding students better means getting through to them easier. But that understanding means meeting them where they are, not where you wish they would just hurry up and get to already. It means having the cultural knowledge, wherewithal and resilience to really get the job done.

Now, as a native of Upstate NY and Harrisburg, PA, you might imagine that I’m a little no-nonsense when it comes to leading the next generation to greatness, but our children deserve the best in their educators, so it just comes with the territory.

Working with educators to help identify their teaching superpowers and then using them to ignite their student’s unique gifts is what I was born to do. I help educators build confidence in their craft, and ultimately themselves so that our beautiful black and brown youngins can be profoundly impacted in ways that no one would have ever imagined.

On this journey, I have learned to bet on myself ALWAYS. At the same time, I’ve learned to delegate, outsource and hire experts. I believe that good leaders keep a coach. Investing in yourself is must.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
For a trip to the “A” I’d be sure to hop around the beltline for drinks! Rumi’s Kitchen or Marcel’s are a must for an amazing dinner. Bar Vegan will always give you the turn-up that you’re searching for.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have to offer immense gratitude and shoutouts to my girl gang of powerful women who showered me with affirmations and knowledge! Special shout-out to my mentor Dr. Kelly Gunn who saw all of my potential many, many years before I did!

Website: www.erinncottman.com

Instagram: @erinncottman

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqf1FNEx7-DMn0R6XAb1B1g

Image Credits
Kelley Raye

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