Welcome to Layer by Layer
Digging into the layers we construct, are given, wear, and shed
A semi-monthly newsletter with insights, resources, and community to support navigating working parenthood, leadership, entrepreneurship, and mid-career transitions.
Supporting Layer by Layer
I’m thrilled to have you here! My intent is to share valuable stories and tidbits that get you to pause, reflect, think or act differently, and look after yourself. I’d love to hear from you along the way:
What impacted you the most?
Least?
Any new sparks flying?
What else are you reading?
Where else are you feeling inspired?
Reply to any email to let me know!
This publication is reader-supported. If it’s provoking curiosity, providing joy, or catalyzing action, please consider a paid subscription (includes access to all posts and the full archives + a complimentary coaching session for founding members), which helps with:
Writing and producing this newsletter, full of helpful and digestible anecdotes, insights, and resources
Building a supportive community of folks stepping into themselves
Producing an upcoming podcast (stay tuned!)
Supporting a sliding coaching scale for underserved women and working parents
More to come!
Every new post is sent directly to your email inbox. For a mobile reading experience plus audio and community features, get the Substack app.
Hi there.
I’m Nicole Lenzen, a coach, facilitator, consultant, and mother.
I support women in navigating working parenthood, leadership, entrepreneurship, and mid-career transitions in their own ways, with nourishment and strength rather than fatigue and breakdown.
My Story
I began my career in computer science—one of a handful of women pursuing that degree at the time—and was quickly made to feel small by the egos in Silicon Valley. After switching gears and becoming a custom couture fashion designer, I was wooed by a potential investor whose intentions turned out to be toward me rather than my company.
These and many other failed attempts to find my place in a world not designed for me were exhausting, but I kept pushing along.
In my late 30s, I was flying around the world leading intense innovation projects for a prestigious consulting firm, often enduring toxic environments. Seemingly out of nowhere, my vision became blurry, the clearly-formed sentences in my brain started coming out as an incomprehensible jumble, and I barely had the energy to walk. A decade-and-a-half of chronic stress from trying to fit my square peg into the round hole of society had caught up with me, and my body broke down.
I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes–a forever auto-immune disease–as an adult. Staying alive now required constant monitoring, insulin delivery, and insane diligence. The diagnosis thrust me into a deep depression and identity crisis.
Getting this disease also sparked a crucial transformation.
I awoke from my trance, and realized that all my striving and over-work had made me ill. It was time to find my own way of being in the world.
Since then, I’ve come to recognize that I don’t have to swim against the current. Through my healing journey, I gained access to my body and its insights, learned how to calm and restore my nervous system, and began investing my energy in what really matters.
Today, I’m a single mom by design, raising a curious young adventurer who is the love of my life. My sense of self has expanded far beyond societal limitations. My constant seeking has been replaced by embracing parenthood and career as I define and live them.
I partner with organizations committed to cultivating cultures of growth, connection, and positive impact, even when the road there has yet to be created.
I coach women to expand into truer versions of themselves and confidently navigate their own paths. I help working parents own their integrated identities, with increased confidence, self-advocacy, continued advancement, and self-care.
We discover deep self-trust, we write our own rules, we attune to our hearts and bodies, and we thrive in living our values.
My Experience
Single Mom by Design
of a joyful and inquisitive 2-year-old daughter
20+ Years Empowering Women & Girls
through coaching, leadership, creating custom womenswear, mentoring underserved students and professionals through Girls Who Code and Built by Girls, and advising on Unconform's women-centric design framework
Significant Leadership & Consulting Experience
with Fortune 500 companies, startups, and nonprofits in innovation, technology, fashion, and social impact
Certified Coach
Certified integral coach through New Ventures West and certified RETAIN parental leave coach through the Center for Parental Leave Leadership (CPLL)
Human-Centered Design
20+ years of practicing design thinking and applying a human-centered approach to problem-solving
Seasoned Entrepreneur
comfortable navigating the unknown, with heaps of learnings to share
Community Builder
Passionate and action-oriented people-connecter and community builder
First-hand Experience
with stress-induced chronic illness and techniques to regulate your nervous system including breathwork, meditation, and somatic awareness
My Nourishment
In addition to guiding women to their full potential, I enjoy being silly with my daughter, urban exploring by 🚴♀️ bike, learning every day, sharing yummy meals with loved ones, conversing in (long-ago acquired but rapidly declining) French, carving backcountry tree runs on my 🏂 snowboard and remote ⛺ camping and hiking. [Check out my Google Maps Local Guide profile for travel recommendations]. Previously, I performed as a solo jazz + swing dancer, and played 🎹 keyboards + sang in the psychedelic rock/shoegaze band Sidewalk TV.
Supporting Layer by Layer
Layer by Layer is reader-supported. If it’s provoking curiosity, providing joy, or catalyzing action, please consider a paid subscription (includes access to all posts and the full archives + a complimentary coaching session for founding members), which helps with:
Writing and producing this newsletter, full of helpful and digestible anecdotes, insights, and resources
Building a supportive community of folks stepping into themselves
Producing an upcoming podcast (stay tuned!)
Supporting a sliding coaching scale for underserved women and working parents
More to come!
