Meet Piper! Piper Harris is the founder and CEO of Sneakered Life Leadership Success Coaching for women and women-led organizations. Piper believes every woman is called to lead whether in their home, as an entrepreneur, or as a CEO managing a robust organization. She works with women looking to succeed in personal and professional leadership as well as with organizations looking to create an authentic corporate culture while maximizing profitability and increasing employee engagement. Piper is a proud member of the Global and Georgia chapter of the International Coaching Federation, a certified practitioner of the Global Leadership 360 assessment, and is heading a Sneakered Life Leadership Women’s Meet Up for Cherokee county. She will be completing her credentialing in January of 2020.
Throughout more than 15 years of counseling and coaching, she has worked with hundreds of individuals in a myriad of arenas. Recently, she has had the honor of coaching multiple women in gaining completely new careers with leadership positions within 6 months. She also worked with an organization to streamline learning and development while overseeing their staff and over 400 clientele. At the same time, she worked with this same organization to streamline their visions and goals using the Authentic Leadership Model.
Piper Harris has pursued her passion of “helping others” since she heard the calling in grade school. She has worked with individuals as a mental health counselor, business owner, nutrition coach, fitness coach, life coach, and organizational coach while authoring multiple books and feeding into her community through teaching at local high school. She has incredible support from her husband of 15 years and loves heading to football games and school events with her sons. You can always find her in a pair of red sneakers that she wears to represent her unique journey in life.
Piper, we’re excited to be on this journey with you and to see the good that you do multiply in our community!
Q: What inspired you or led you to your current career?
A: 1987 is when I heard the calling. I recognize I’m one of the few that heard a calling at such a young age, but I can honestly recall every detail of that day. I saw a little girl crying on the playground, so went and befriended her. Unfortunately, she was in a horrific situation and I helped her find safety. It was that sunny day on the playground that I heard my true calling: “You have to help people. This is something you have to do.”
That’s what I have pursued my whole life. I went to college to become a psychologist and earned my bachelor’s degree. One day, I will go back for more! During this time, I became a certified mental health counselor. I was focused on adolescent treatment—so I worked in various group homes and psychiatric units. This was heart-wrenching for me.
Eventually, I segued into non-profit management and absolutely loved it. Later, I met my husband who is originally from the Roswell area. He traipsed me around the US, and we eventually landed here!
As a mom of two young boys, I was looking to continue in my calling of helping with people. I ventured into cheffing for local gyms, and that led to so many fun opportunities including becoming a certified private chef and nutritionist. Another great time was when I partnered up with Mara Davis, an Atlanta icon, and worked with Tastemade. During this time, I ate my way through Woodstock and created “foodie” videos to draw the public to our amazing restaurants!
I also had lots of fun as a guest chef at the Leaning Ladder Olive Oil shop and enjoyed working under Chef Daniel Porubiansky at Century House Tavern. This eventually moved me into working as a private chef for Woodstock area residents. Through that position, I was able to create healthful lives for my clients who battled numerous metabolic diseases and dealt with other debilitating issues.
Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Woodstock, and what do you love there?
A: One of my favorites is the El Don taco truck! Fabulous tacos. They’re the best tacos I have ever had outside of my time in Texas! Do I have to choose one? I love to eat!
Q: How long have you lived or worked in Woodstock?
A: It’s going to be nine years in December.
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Woodstock? Who would you like to see nominated as a Face of Woodstock?
A: Charles at Kroger on Towne Lake. He’s the butcher and gives the best hugs! He really made an impact on my first year building my nutrition and cheffing business (my first business was an abysmal failure). I would always go to Charles very early in the morning to shop for ingredients and then I’d go cook for the whole day. Charles was always my favorite. I think what stood out for me was that if you give someone a chance and you truly listen, you learn wonderful things about them. It got to the point where if we went grocery shopping as a family, my boys would say “We have to go say hi to Mr. Charles!” He’s just a GOOD human being that lent me just the support I needed!
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? Why?
A: Right now, for our family, I think it’s just a matter of getting away and having family time. The boys are so active. I would want to go somewhere—preferably on the ocean—where we can have quality family time, relax, and unplug.
Q: What is your favorite movie OR what is the first movie you remember seeing in a theatre?
A: This is a funny one because this is one of my quirks. I’m addicted to Kung Fu. I grew up watching it with my dad, so my favorite movie is still Five Deadly Venoms. I remember watching it for the first time when I was maybe five or six. I still watch it! I’m not a chick-flick girl. It’s just not my thing, so any action movie makes me happy.
Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?
A: Action begets action. Keep moving.
Piper Harris
I think that so many times we get caught up in what’s holding us back like, “I can’t get there” or “What if?” or “I couldn’t do it before.” It paralyzes us because we’re so focused on the past and we’re so anxious about the future! What I’ve always told my clients is to act, because action begets action. We don’t know how it’s going to turn out but action is a forward movement. Everything else is a backward or a paralyzing movement, so take action no matter how small and how unimportant you think that action is. It’s going to produce a forward-moving momentum.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: The biggest thing for me is that I really want to finish writing my book. The book I am writing is on empowering every woman into leadership. When I ask, “How do you lead?” too many times I hear, “oh, I just stay at home” or “well, I guess the kids I teach” or “I just work in an office.” Every single woman is called to lead, and I want to empower them with the confidence of walking on their own and doing so successfully.
I have previously written five other books ranging from cookbooks to fitness to devotionals to life coaching all of which can be found on Amazon.
Q: What is your favorite music or which 3 bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?
A: It’s so hard. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, so it was all grunge and punk. It’s determined by my mood. I do love The Black Keys. You could just throw some Doc Martens on me and play Pearl Jam, and I would be content.
What’s really funny right now with our boys is that they love the classics. My youngest loves Queen and he’ll scream it at the top of his lungs. My eldest rocks out to AC/DC. It’s fun! It’s classic, and so our house listens to the classics a lot.
Q: What current/former local business makes you the most nostalgic about Woodstock?
A: I really do think there’s just a nostalgia in seeing everything grow and change. One of the Tastemade videos I made was in the old deli shop that was next to the old Maxwell’s
I’d go in there to video the employees and peek behind the cheese counter. It was very high energy. The nostalgia of seeing everything change and grow so quickly is fun and shocking how fast it’s gone!
Q: Choosing anyone alive with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? Where in Woodstock would you have lunch?
A: I’d want to have lunch with my brother. We’d go to Costco because it’s nostalgic! We used to go as kids on Sunday after church and eat our way through the samples!
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about Woodstock?
A: I love the walking trails. I love that there’s the opportunity to meet a friend downtown for coffee at the Copper Coin and then say, “You know what? I’m going to go for a jog.” I just love that there are opportunities for family fun and nightlife, but also that there are so many opportunities for health
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?
A: I see myself having a thriving coaching business and my husband can retire. This is my goal! Yes, retirement and traveling.
Q: What is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
A: I’m an introvert. I have a hard time in large crowds. I guess you could say I’m more of an ambivert. I can do both. I can do big groups and I love being in FRONT of crowds. I love teaching and coaching. I’m kind of a ham when it comes to being on TV or on stage! When it comes to networking groups or meeting a small group of new people, I have a very hard time. It makes me very nervous. My husband knows this about me and my best friend knows this about me, but for the most part people are like, “Oh, she’s so gregarious. She’s fine with this!” Nope! I’m scared to death on the inside, so I work very hard on that.
Q: What 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
A: Scott, Brody, and Colt. My family. That’s an easy one.
Q: If you were cast into a major motion picture and had your choice of anyone to be your co-star, who would you choose?
A: Angela Lansbury. I loved growing up and watching her on “Murder She Wrote,” and I think that she has had such a prolific acting career. The things that she’s seen! To learn from her would be amazing.
Q: If you had a full-time staff member that was fully paid for, who would you choose?
A: Oh, a housekeeper in a heartbeat. I’m super meticulous and it drives me crazy when I don’t get to those dusty blinds fast enough!
Piper in Community
To follow Piper or to find out how you can benefit from what she offers, visit her website. She is also on LinkedIn and Facebook, and we’re sure she’d love to hear from you!
