Life Well LED offers professional development, personal coaching


FIU family and friends have an opportunity to lead a better life through Life Well LED – a series of programs launched in January through University College and Continuing and Professional Education. Under the direction of certified and accredited professional coach Monique Catoggio, Life Well LED aims to make better leaders through a whole-person model.

“Your career should not be separated from your health, relationships, fun-and-enjoyment, or spirituality,” Catoggio says. “It’s all interconnected.”

Monique Catoggio is a certified and accredited professional coach and director of FIU's Life Well LED programs.

Monique Catoggio is a certified and accredited professional coach and director of FIU’s Life Well LED programs.

Anyone from a high-level executive, or professional in the business world, to a stay-at-home mother looking to re-invent herself can benefit from these programs, the first of their kind at FIU.

“It really excites me to be able to give the FIU community a place to come back and really focus on being the best possible leaders of their lives,” Catoggio says.  “FIU has recognized the desire of its constituents to be supported in this way, and is delivering on this idea of personal and whole-life leadership training and coaching. We want to support the life-long development of our alumni and professionals.”

Joseph Sinicrope, a recently retired Military Intelligence Officer who served in the US Marine Corps for more than 22 years, was part of the first group to be coached by Catoggio this year. As part of Sinicrope’s transition plan from military to civilian workforce, he enrolled in FIU’s Executive MBA program for senior, seasoned practitioners.

“We are all proven performers and leaders in our own right, and Monique really has captured the attention and respect of my cohort,” Sinicrope says. “This is a true testament to her exemplary abilities.”

Finding her path, strength

Catoggio began offering her coaching and teaching as part of FIU’s College of Business’ Executive MBA  and Healthcare MBA programs.

“That’s really when my practice got started,” she says.

Catoggio has been involved with FIU since 1999, when she started working in communications and marketing for the College of Business. She launched key external initiatives, events and partnerships for the College and created its Office of Alumni Relations.

“While working for the College, I realized how much I loved working with people and developing deep, meaningful partnerships,” she says. “I truly enjoyed being able to connect them with something that could help them in their lives. From there, I knew I had to focus on training and coaching.”

Catoggio hired her own coach at the time to help her find her next path. When she discovered what she wanted to do, the next part was all about achieving it.

“I really feel that we all have our moments of awakening, and this was definitely mine,” she says. “Becoming a personal leadership coach would not only be beneficial for me, but I also felt that it really aligned with my strengths.”

Catoggio helps program participants discover their strengths using Gallup’s Clifton Strengths Finder. She says this tool allows you to connect with whom you are at your core. Knowing your talents helps you develop them and use them on a daily basis. According to Gallup, the chance of two people having the same exact arrangement of strengths is one in 33 million.

“I want to help more individuals create strengths-based teams and organizations, Catoggio adds. “When you allow others to bring out their best each day, engagement, productivity and happiness become a non-issue.”

Catoggio says one of her strengths is that she is a learner.

“I am a learner – not just of myself – but of other people, and what makes them unique and how best they operate,” she says. “This is a part of what I love doing. Through my coaching, day-long course, and the help of Strengths Finder, you will learn what are the nuances – the unique patterns – that make you who you are.”

Another tool Catoggio offers through Life Well LED is the Leadership Circle Profile 360.

“This is a great tool that clues us into our leadership tendencies and patterns and what drives them. It also allows others to share with you their perception of your leadership,” Catoggio says. “The goal of this program is for you to go from being a reactive leader to a creative leader, where transformation happens!”

There are so many traits, behaviors and actions that combine to make a great leader, and according to Catoggio, you can identify which ones to hone in on and master through the Leadership Circle Profile 360.

“Together with strengths identification, the Profile 360 really drives the idea of transformational leadership, both for the leader and his/her ‘followers.’”

There is one Leadership Circle Profile 360 offered through Life Well LED aimed specifically for executives and another for managers who are just beginning on their leadership path.

“I also have a program called Energy Leadership,” Catoggio adds. “That one is the first program I started using as part of my coaching practice with our MBA students. It’s a life-long personal leadership model. This tool changes my life daily and keeps me aware and accountable – things you must have as a leader.”

“Monique has taught us about positivity,” Sinicrope says. “She has an innate way of igniting action in others that brings out the best in people.”

For more information about Life Well LED and on how you can become develop your self-leader, visit Life Well LED. Along with these programs, assessment and coaching combo packages and annual coaching memberships are also available. For a full list, visit FIU’s University College.

– Leoncio Alvarez