18. From the Antarctic to the Gifted Women’s Summit! Meet Erin Keeley

Mar 15

Erin Keeley has an inspiring life story of tenacity that began with studying climate change in Antarctica for her Master’s in Engineering and then took a sudden turn when her brother, also an engineer, took his own life in 2002. Instead of going on to complete her PhD, she decided to dedicate her life to understanding how our culture contributes to individual pain and suffering. She has since dedicated her life to human services that make cultural differences and create more life satisfaction for individuals.

Beyond her Master’s degree, Erin is a certified Authentic Relationship Coach and is trained in multiple methods of Executive Coaching and Organizational Health Consulting. She is trained in Polarity Management and also a Professional Secondary Teacher for the state of Colorado, trained in Experiential Learning Outward Bound and an ERYT-500 Yoga Teacher (Teacher Training credentialed). She is currently in training with The Gottman Institute (TGI) – “A research-based approach to relationships” in order to apply relationship therapy tools to workplaces and others that she coaches and is working on her Organizational Psychology degree online.

Over the years she has immersed herself in a multidisciplinary education that includes leadership, the sciences, business, psychology, relationships, yoga, women’s studies, gifted and talented struggles, culture and education. She is a public speaker for women’s leadership, yoga and interpersonal growth. Erin’s superpower is her keen ability to see blind-spots in organizations, teams and individuals. Once a blind-spot (an unconscious pattern that is sabotaging a goal) is identified, she creates the psychological safety for teams to fearlessly face their problems head-on and make powerful changes that stick. When Erin is on your team, look out! She doesn’t settle: She will make sure you meet your goals.

In her free time, you’ll find Erin reading books of all sort, outdoors adventuring, mentoring young women, traveling the world as a traditional rock-climber, doing Gyrotonics®, spending time with her family, traveling and generally savoring life in all it has to offer.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

There is a genetic component in neurodivergence
Some gifted facebook groups are mostly affluent white Christians
Unconscious biases and cultural stereotypes feed into who gets identified and accepted gifted and who not
If students knew about their giftedness, they might pick harder schools and/or a different degree
Gifted humans care about the planet and climate change issues deeply
Gifted people like to be (unconsciously) surrounded by other gifted people
Depressions and mental health issues are important topics in the gifted population as they are typically emotional sensitive
There are no smells and no colours in Antarctica
As a gifted person you usually learn on the job and on the go
Gifted people can burn out by the bureaucracy
Gifted people usually need to do multiple things, for example intellectual and embodiment
Gifted stay at home mums usually need intellectual stimulation
People stay at a job when they feel close to the people at work! Relationships are very important and it’s importance underestimated by companies.
Authentic relationships are key
Overexcitabilities are for example expressed by not liking tags on clothes
2e (Twice Exceptional) children and adults need special support
Parents learn about their own neurodivergence usually through their own kids
There are a lot of gifted women who literally think there is something wrong with them
People do not want to say they are gifted in public because it sounds elitist
Women with high empathy levels project it onto narcissistic people who do not have this heightened sense of empathy. This leaves them vulnerable to psychological abuse such as gaslighting