Paige Hall Smith, PhD, BCC

I grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, in a rural community known mostly for music and moonshine.  I was the first in my family to receive a college degree. After college I went to Washington DC  to “save the world“ — not so sure how that worked out but I do try to follow my mother’s advice to make the world a better place.  I went to graduate school in public health and, much to my surprise, found myself back in my hometown as director of the local domestic violence and rape crisis program.  This experience led me to focus my doctoral work and early research career around gender violence. In 1995 I joined the faculty in Public Health Education, and just over 9 months later became a mother. This timeline indicates that I have been navigating the life of a “working mother” since joining the faculty.  Becoming a mother and its shifting sands was a significant life transitions for me, and I expanded my research program to incorporate women’s experiences with motherhood and breastfeeding. Along the way I navigated breast cancer, became an “empty-nester” ,  became more of a caregiver to aging parents, and experienced the deaths of my sister and mother.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become increasingly interested in creatively engaging with people as they grow in awareness about their own life and explore their own transitions. I have been planning for my own retirement by following my interests in life coaching and yoga education. I enjoy engaging with friends and family, cooking, travel, parties, reading, biking, walking, yoga, and being at the beach.   I bring an evidence-based, wholistic and contextualized approach to life transition and wellness coaching.