Grounded and Centered Leadership
Michelle Greenfield is co-owner and former CEO of Third Sun Solar. Now 21 years old, Third Sun, one of the Midwest’s largest solar companies, is a Certified B Corporation – committed to people, planet, and profit. Prior to Third Sun, Michelle was a Rural Action VISTA volunteer, and chartered the Appalachian Development Federal Credit Union (ADFCU). While managing the credit union, she worked with several small business development and finance non-profits. Michelle also participates in a number of boards including Clean Energy Credit Union, Green Energy Ohio, Athens Area Chamber of Commerce and APAC. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Miami University and a master’s degree in International Affairs from Ohio University.
Attending graduate school at Ohio University, Michelle came to Athens in 1993 and never left. When she isn’t teaching yoga and mindfulness, Michelle loves to spend time in the forests and mountains, whether on a mountain bike, snowboard, or just her two hiking boots. A mother of two amazing young men, she loves to travel, read, and spend time with her partner in life, business, and adventure, Geoff. The accomplishment she is most proud of is being an organizer and director of two federally chartered credit unions – one of which served the low income and “unbanked” community of Southeast Ohio, and another which lends only for clean energy projects like solar, energy efficient upgrades, and electric vehicles.
In her session, “Grounded and Centered Leadership,” Michelle will offer ways for participants to identify, learn, and practice leading themselves from stress to stability. Studies show that women leaders experience more stress and burnout than male counterparts. Leading from a place of burnout, exhaustion, and feeling overwhelmed doesn’t feel good and doesn’t produce great results. Michelle addresses the question, “How can we shift to a more grounded and centered place amid the myriad of responsibilities and work that we do?” While there are hundreds of options out there for self-care, many focus on things external to ourselves. Cultivating balance within our own being through mindfulness, movement, and reconnection with breath have been studied and proven to shift people from frazzled and on edge, to grounded and centered. As a yoga and mindfulness teacher, Michelle has witnessed how short sessions of movement, mindfulness and breath work can shift a person out of internal chaos to internal stability. In this session, folks will practice tools, discover why they work, and take home ways to rebalance themselves from the inside out.