I am Dr. Dawn Comeau (pronounced KOH-moh), a leadership and executive coach who helps faculty and graduate students build thriving academic careers with clarity, confidence, and balance.

I am an academician who deeply understands the unique challenges of navigating academia—from dissertation struggles and imposter syndrome to leadership transitions and promotion pressures. My coaching takes a heart-centered approach to professions that tend to focus solely on the mind, and it is with this approach that I have seen the greatest breakthroughs in my clients' journeys. I also bring a focus on strategy and purpose, helping clients address very real challenges—writing productivity, advisor relationships, burnout, leadership identity—while building lives that reflect their deepest values.

Throughout my 20+ year career, I have cultivated expertise in coaching clients toward careers and lives that are rewarding and sustainable. This comes from my career focused on developing mentoring programs all over the world (Ethiopia, Cambodia, Nigeria, Vietnam, country of Georgia) that train mentors and mentees, build mentoring relationships, and increase organizational capacity. I understand firsthand that traditional academic training prepares you to be a scholar, but not how to thrive as a whole person—and that's where coaching fills the gap.

I help faculty and graduate students feel energized and fulfilled about their work and the impact they're making—even when setbacks, isolation, and institutional challenges arise.

Originally from the Boston area (go Red Sox), I come from a spicy family of seven children, which could possibly explain my love of adventure (escape), travel (escape), and mindfulness (escape)! I weave travel, adventure, and cultural learning into as much of my professional and personal world as possible.

In a past life, I was a television producer in LA for daytime talk and entertainment shows. In my current life, I am a mom to four college-aged children (hello UGA, Georgia Tech, and Mercer University). When I'm not working in academia or coaching others, I am traveling, eating at new restaurants, playing pickleball, or doing CrossFit!

I look forward to working together!