About
Merritt brings over 20 years in business, education, social justice, and the arts to her coaching and training practice, Master of One Coaching. She was born in Northern California to a family with a lineage of entrepreneurs where she grew up studying the world through both a business and a creative lens.
She began her career in New York City as a performer, producer, and director, and quickly realized her passion for sharing inspiration with others by teaching arts-based strategies to kids and adults. After years of working with underserved communities through the arts, her interests pivoted into social justice work and leadership development with young leaders, and then into the corporate, education, public service, government, and nonprofit sectors working with adults from all walks of life. Since then she has developed and implemented a wide array of coaching and leadership programming in venues ranging from private corporations, government agencies, schools and districts, and nonprofit organizations.
Throughout her diverse professional career, as well as in her personal experiences as a cancer widow and adoptive mom of kids with special needs, Merritt may not have seen it all, but she has come close. She credits her experience with trauma, loss, and rebuilding with proving her the perspective that truly anything is possible by enacting hope, perseverance, and crystal clear vision.
A highly trained and experienced educator, speaker, and facilitator, Merritt holds a BFA in Acting from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, a Masters in Humanistic/Multicultural Education from SUNY New Paltz, and is a proud graduate of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). She is an active member of the International Coaching Federation, the world leader and standard-bearer in the industry.
Dedicated to her community, Merritt is a member of the 2018 class of Leadership Dutchess, the region’s premier leadership program, as well as active in the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce, the New Paltz Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the New Paltz chapter of Business Network International. She has served on several nonprofit boards and enjoys giving her time in service of others most recently as a Fellow for the 2018 Hudson Valley Future Summit at SUNY New Paltz, on the Professional Development Committee for the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce, and as Chair of the Environmental Education Committee for the local PTA.
Merritt shares her life with her remarkable husband, their three vibrant boys, and a menagerie of critters. She is delighted to call the idyllic Hudson Valley her home after years in New York City, Seattle, the Monterey Penninsula, Western NY, and two short-term stays in the UK. Also a published writer, she is an avid live music fan, a voracious devourer of books, joyful traveler, and calls anywhere near the ocean her happy place. Above all, she enjoys facilitating inspiration and positive change and is thrilled to now be in a position to support others who are hungry for growth and transformation.
Master of One Coaching is the latest incarnation of Merritt’s dream come true.
