I came to this work
the long way around.

The Origin

I did not trust my own heart for most of my early life.

I trusted what I could earn. What I could prove. What I could build with two hands and enough grit. And when that was not enough, I trusted what I could drink away, fake, or hide from.

I have been sober since 1981. That was the beginning of a different kind of listening. It taught me that the heart is not unreliable. It is only unfamiliar to women who have spent a lifetime being told to override it. Everything since has been a slow, open-hearted adventure.

The Real Estate Years

I walked into real estate at 40 years old. I had three children under the age of four, two suits (only one fit), and 90 days to make it work or go back to the restaurant.

My first financial goal was simple: pay myself what I was paying the nanny. Eighteen months later I received a certificate saying I was in the top 10% in the country. My first thought was: what are the other 90% doing? I had three kids. I had baby goop on my shoulder half the time. I was running drop-offs at three different schools before 9am in my sweats.

But here is what I learned, dropping those kids off: you cannot be one person at work and another person at home and call it a life.

At some point you stop performing and start being. And when you stop performing, something interesting happens. People see you. Really see you.

That was my first lesson in authenticity. Not the word. The practice.

I spent 28 years in real estate. I sat across from people at the biggest financial moment of their lives and learned to be genuinely useful to them. Not just strategically useful. Genuinely. There is a difference, and people can feel it in the first 30 seconds.

I served on boards. I trained agents. I became a managing broker for Coldwell Banker. I gave a TEDx talk. I kept showing up.

Underneath all of it, I was learning the same thing: clarity is the absence of drama. If you know who you are and what you are here to do, everything else gets simpler.

Who She Is

I am part Hawaiian. I feel like Pele — not because I am dramatic, but because everything I bring into a room is meant to create something new. Volcanic, yes. But nourishing. Everything that erupts makes new land.

I am a Realtor®. A Certified Career Development Trainer. A Certified Rewilding Coach. The founder of SWAG (Smart Women Aging Gracefully), a community for women who are done doing the dog and pony act just to feel good enough.

I am a mother. A grandmother. A woman who asked herself what she loved when her marriage ended and her map ran out.

I reclaimed my name, Sommerville, in 2024. It was not dramatic. It was just right.

How She Works

I am not a therapist. I am not a guru. I am not going to tell you what to do.

I am a way-pointer and a safe space. Someone who is in the room for you, not for the result.

"Before every session, I take a moment to remember my humanity. There is no experience that this person has that I cannot share with them, no fear that I cannot understand, no suffering that I cannot care about, because I too am human. No matter how deep the wound, they do not need to be ashamed in front of me. I too am vulnerable. And because of this, I am enough." — Carl Rogers

What She Believes

Some things she has come to know, the long way around.