WHO IS DARLENE CROSS?

This story begins in what used to be called “The Rubber Capital of the World”-- Akron, Ohio.  I grew up witnessing a thriving city turn into a ghost town leaving no family unscathed in some way.  As I buried my face deep in my pillow trying to escape the foul stench of rubber on hot summer nights, little did I realize the passion and fascination being planted in my young and impressionable mind for how businesses affect people and how people affect businesses. That passion was to take me on a life-long journey that’s final destination is yet unknown. 

As a young person, I worked different clerical jobs believing them to be my only option until the day I walked into what would become my first of multiple General Electric businesses.  Again, I accepted a clerical position, but something felt very different this time.  I spent my first morning in Human Resources doing my new employee orientation and just knew HR was where I belonged.  With my newly found professional ambition in full gear, I was a supervisor in HR within nine months, part of HR management within a year, and a part-time college student attending night classes.  Excited about my rapid success, I went to my boss one day seeking approval to create and offer a career development workshop so I could share with other employees how to advance their careers the way I had learned to advance my own.  I volunteered to do the course on my own time and offer it on a Saturday when the business was closed so there would be no cost to the company.  My manager warned me that no one would come on their day off and for no pay, but I ultimately got the approval I sought.  To senior managements’ amazement, the first class was filled to capacity with several more classes scheduled to accommodate the demand.  My Human Resources career focus in training and development and my professional life's mission of working to help others to grow and develop was officially launched. 

My corporate life took me on an amazing journey that lasted over 17 years and included over a dozen progressively challenging assignments in multiple G.E. businesses in multiple cities (see resume).  As I eventually found myself becoming weary of corporate life and all it entailed, I also found myself falling in love with the Desert Southwest that is now my home.

In 1994, I waved good-bye to G.E., dumped suits for sweats and traded my briefcase for a book bag as I headed to graduate school for my Masters in Counseling and then secured my license as a Marriage & Family Therapist.  Studying and learning Family Systems Therapy immediately gave me a new perspective as to how people relate that I had never considered in all my HR training.  My dual training and careers have blended both my professions and experiences in a way that truly makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.  I have been providing both counseling and business coaching services in my own businesses since 1997, loving the experience of small business after life in the Fortune 500 world.  And now the next generation is joining me as my youngest son and I bought and opened a franchise business in 2006 and can boast the fastest growing new business in the chain out of 121 locations as of this writing. 

I am not a mental health professional offering life and business coaching; I am a business professional who is also skilled as a mental health professional in one of the most successful fee-for-service practice in the state of Nevada.  I go to work every day to help individuals and couples with personal problems, especially grief, loss and trauma issues, and I provide mentoring and business coaching to individuals and businesses.  I love what I do and look forward to going to work every day, still sharing the lessons I have learned along the way and seeing them make a difference one person and one business at a time.