Laura Reilly's Bio

Laura was born and raised in Victoria, BC and she moved to Vancouver, BC in 1987 in pursuit of higher education. She settled in Vancouver and studied Communications at Simon Fraser University, while taking on various jobs to finance her education. Quite by accident, in 1990, she landed a part time position at The Pacific Palisades Hotel in Vancouver, and thus began her career within the Hospitality Industry.

A part time position within the Front Office of The Pacific Palisades Hotel, quickly escalated to a full time management position with The Shangri-la Group of Hotels and Resorts, and Laura's career within Hospitality Management had set a course. Within her tenure with The Shangri-la Group, she was exposed to the various aspects of running a business. Although she worked within a large hotel, she quickly identified that each department is run like an independent business. Laura gained invaluable experience in the areas of: finance, hiring, conflict resolution, computer systems, marketing, market trends, customer relations and event management.

After seven years with the Shangri-la Group, Laura was approached by a smaller organization that was planning to open an independent boutique property within Vancouver. She jumped at the chance of being on the ground floor of such an exciting opportunity and welcomed the challenge to open, The Meridian at 910 Beach. Laura worked as the Operations Manager, and faced all of the challenges starting up and running a new business. The experienced gained was immeasurable.

In 1998, an opportunity was presented to Laura that seemed too good to be true. Laura was approached to join a Hospitality Consulting Company based out of Atlanta, GA., 2 Places At 1 Time. She worked several positions during her four years with the company, as a Client Relations Manager, Recruiting Consultant, and Implementation Specialist.

Working from her home based office in Vancouver, she tele-commuted with her colleagues, clients, and employees situated throughout North America. Often "on the road", three weeks out of a month working with her clients and employees, Laura wore many hats. From recruiting, hiring and training new hires, to writing training manuals and preparing marketing materials, presentations to existing and potential clients, nurturing existing client relationships and attending to their needs, implementing service to new clients, while managing up to 40 employees at a time. During her tenure, her client list included: 3 Com Corporation, Accenture, Arthur Andersen, Ceridian, El Paso Energy, Enron, Ernst & Young, Genentech, General Electric, McKinsey & Co., PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Scotiabank. From flying from New York City to Los Angeles, in one week and then onto Houston the next week, her time spent with 2 Places At 1 Time, was extremely challenging and rewarding, however, the demands over time became overwhelming.

After four years of constant travel, Laura realized that she needed to step back and re-evaluate what she wanted for her own life. After evaluating her years of work she recognized a pattern. She gave and gave to her various employers, and she began to notice that something was missing, she didn't have a life! Her identify was wrapped up in her positions. She was meeting her needs through her work, and it was time to stop. With some regret, she resigned from 2 Places At 1 Time, and set out to define what she wanted for herself.

Laura is currently receiving ongoing coaching training through Coach University, CoachVille, and Target Training International. Her own coaching experiences have given Laura the ability to create a positive impact on others in an enjoyable environment, while helping them break through to the next level. To help clients eliminate the daily distractions and tolerations in their lives, so they are able to reach a place where they can discover their true purpose, and live with passion and create continued abundance in all areas of their lives. Laura is an experienced member of the Leading Advisor team, who makes an invaluable contribution in key areas of the company.

In her free time, Laura enjoys cooking, cycling, working out, theater, reading, and traveling. She lives very happily with Simon in Vancouver, BC.

Laura can be reached at: lreilly@leadingadvisor.com