After downsizing wiped out her $80K salary, Jane was having trouble finding work. Just released from jail, 22-year old Marie didn't know how she was going to provide for her four kids. Frustrated and frightened, both women needed "a hand up" to help them take charge of their lives and move forward.

Luckily, for Jane, Marie, and countless others from all walks of life, Taylor Hunt's dream had come true. She had dreamed of creating a nonprofit organization to bring the power of coaching to low-income women. And when she mentioned she had started A Hand UP Coaching during a teleclass. It sparked the interest of Michelle Payne. "I called Taylor and asked to be part of that dream," says Payne. "It all started from there." Started in February of 2001, Michelle jumped on board in April of that same year. A Hand UP Coaching is a non-profit program designed to help women establish and reach their own professional goals.

Gail Nape volunteered to coach for A Hand UP Coaching after hearing about it through her own coach. "I liked the idea of championing women," she says. "There were times in my life when I couldn't have afforded a coach, so I know how valuable a gift like this is. It would have eliminated my having to do it the hard way."

Nape says the challenges of working with participants in the program depend on where they are and what their experiences have been. "The most important point is initially, the clients don't know what to expect," she says. "They think I'm just going to give them a set of goals. I try to give us a chance to get to know and trust each other. I get them to trust me so they can learn what coaching is all about."

It didn't take long for Claudia McNeil to find that out herself. She was hoping to gain some insight into how to successfully switch jobs, when she signed up for A Hand UP Coaching. It became much more than that. "I was at a crossroad, and Gail asked me for my story," says McNeil. "I had dated a superior at work, and the relationship didn't work out. Soon afterwards, I was fired. I had to sell my house, and the only job I could find paid about a third of what I had made before. I began to ask myself a lot of questions about what I would do for the rest of my life.

"Gail showed me how to take responsibility for my own behavior and set boundaries with people. She taught me about envisioning what you want. Instead of just getting career coaching, I ended up learning life skills."

Nape says the reason they were successful was because McNeil put the ideas they talked about into practice. "It was a joyful experience to support her," says Nape. "She was willing to do everything we talked about. That made all the difference. We could have come up with all kinds of ideas, but without her follow through, nothing would have happened."