#BEYOUROWN MEETS NADINE CHUMMAS

Meet Nadine Chummas, founder of The Life Director Trainings and life coaching events as well as the founder of SUPER  DOOPER Kids & Teens edutainment & personal development programs/camps.

Nadine is an ABH certified trainer of Hypnotherapy, Master Prac of NLP, Master Prac of Timeline Therapy(TM), Teacher of Theta healing, Certified Trainer in Points of-You(TM) and Certified Stage Hypnotist. Having started out as a professional singer, actress, and theatre director, Nadine worked in the field of production for more than 15 years during which she was teaching acting for kids and produced more than 250 Musical theatre Plays that were showcased during the DSF, DSS, and at DUCTAC theatre. We talk to Nadine about having a large passion for learning and how she brings innovative ideas and tools to help other people live a positive, healthy, and happy life.

Can you share a typical 24 hours with us, Nadine?

I wake up every day at 6:00 am and I sit in bed till 8:00am.During this time, I do my prayers and gratitude and I visualise my day over coffee with a light breakfast and some e-mails.

At 8:00 am, I’m on my mat I do my yoga/HIIT. By 9:30am -10: 00am, I’m ready to start my meetings, events and run errands. I usually have a lot of business lunches and take 2 hours to myself in the afternoon to plan, study or prepare my social media and videos. Before going home I like to go for a walk on the beach, detox my mind, refresh, meditate then later its dinner with my husband and kids.

You are known as the ‘Life Director, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background prior?

I have a BA in theatre directing & acting and after I graduated from university, I started producing musical theatre plays for children and also producing opening ceremonies for big events & concerts. I started the first theatre production company in Dubai with my 2 sisters for 10 years and in parallel, I was teaching acting for kids and opened an academy for arts in Dubai also.

Unfortunately after 10 years, my sisters had to leave Dubai and go back to Lebanon, my country, and I was already married at that time and had to stay with my husband and kids, so we decided to close our company in Dubai and relocate it to Lebanon.

It was a very difficult time for me to be on my own and I was constantly feeling down and as if my creativity had just stopped. I thought of enrolling in an NLP & Hypnosis course to figure out how I would move forward with my career independently.

Instantly I was hooked and I fell in love with it so much I took the Master practitioner course to gain a qualification. It’s now been more than 8 years and I haven’t stopped adding qualifications to my portfolio.

With my background in acting, singing and performing on stage, I really missed the part of “playing”  on stage in all those modalities.  So I thought of creating my own version of life coaching whereby I combined acting and life coaching together.

Ahh, that explains the play on words…

Yes, so it is the combination of life coaching meets theatre directing, hence life-directing, that’s why my title is: The Life Director.

As an NLP Life coach and mentor, what in-depth training did you undertake?

I am a trainer of Hypnotherapy from The America Board of Hypnotists, I obtained a Master Practitioner Certification in NLP and a further NLP Life Coaching For Excellence.

I Have also a Diploma in Stage Hypnosis from Las Vegas and a certification in Transformational Therapy. Additionally, I have participated and attended more than 25 worldwide workshops in Life coaching and Life Transformation.

You are known to be one of the Middle East’s leading figures in the area of positive change, training, and coaching, where can you see yourself expanding to next?

I see myself expanding by hopefully reaching out to more people who understand and share the concept of leading a positive lifestyle. I’m also working on my book: The Life Director and I hope that it can touch as many people who need to adjust the lens of their life camera. What I have also noticed is the importance of having a strong digital presence online, so I am mastering this to be able to expand internationally and spread positivity to throughout the world.

You also offer workshops & empowerment talks, what do you take away from each experience?

Each experience is different, I am known to do improvisations and few are the times that I followed the slides of my presentations. I like to entertain and engage people in giving them that chance to share their point of view or participating in an exercise.

The common feeling that I take is that I feel that adrenaline rush for hours and I feel supercharged positively and that I learned from the audience about me and about the topic that I’m talking about more by engaging them and building on their points of view.

We never stop learning from every situation in our life.

You have previously coached actors, presenters and singers to achieve their peak performance who has been the best client to have worked with so far?

My best clients are the young actors who made it to a Disney Channel.

How much additional research did you undertake prior to becoming a life coach and mentor to understand the market as best as you could?

My life coaching career started with the demand that I was receiving from people around me and also the few I shared my experiences during my certifications.

I was coaching all my friends and family and mostly anyone who would come to me and one day I came to realise that I was really good at what I was doing and I had noticed the effect my technique was having on other people. Then I decided that in order to take it to the next level, I had to think of coming up with a new concept.

What are you currently learning?

Every day I learn something new about the market and especially now with social media, I believe it’s very important that you become an expert in the digital world. I have a few companies that help me to spread my messages to the right audience and touch the right demographics.

What is your view on life’s perspective in terms of what you have created with The Life Director?

I believe that life puts each and every person in front of a two-way path, every single second. There could only be one way to go where we need to head; be aware of what is holding us back, know what we want to become and take the lead.

After juggling for several years between all the drama and life stories that were shaped for me and after perfectly playing numerous roles, I confronted a critical challenge. I came to a point where I found myself facing a life-changing situation with no script at hand. That’s when I decided to write  The Life Director, my new version of life coaching where I put people on the stage of their own life to audition and play the best roles of their lives, write the script of their future and direct their own life show from their director chair.

Any challenging times you have had to overcome? When were they and how did you learn to overcome them?

I’ve been through many challenges in my life when I was young the only tool I knew to overcome my pain was praying and crying.

Three years ago I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and for me it was devastating. I felt that after everything that I had learned and practiced in terms positive thinking and leading a positive lifestyle, all I had to show for it was that I was sick.

It was a huge turning point in my life. During that period I sat a lot by myself and focused on only myself, It was at that time that I learned that I needed to heal my past to build my future. So that is exactly what I did, for me it was a healing journey all the way from the inside. By enrolling myself in spiritual/energy healing modalities and adding now the part that I thought by ignoring it will be deleted from my system on its own, I had 2 choices: either to surrender and be depressed or to survive and fall in love with my life.

Of course, I decided to love my life, I played the role of the client and the life coach at the same time for myself and created a lifestyle that I personally followed step by step. By the way, this lifestyle is documented now and soon will be available on one of the coaching platforms. I firmly believe these tools work and I know that my story was an inspiration for a lot of women who all now believe in the power of positive thinking and in healing.

Have you ever had to deal with any doubts of contention or lack of support from relatives or friends? If so how did you push through?

When I started learning about NLP and positive thinking and that we attract what think and that is how we create our own life, it was a challenge for my family and friends to understand what I was talking about and they all had a hard time to understand why they need to listen to me.

I remember how my husband would reiterate to me before joining friends for dinner that I wasn’t to talk about my qualifications and certifications only unless I was asked, and even then I was only allowed to be brief in my explanations.

However, I never stopped talking! I felt the change in me and how my belief system had changed, had totally transformed me as a person. I had moved from one career as an actress/contralto singer to be a full-time self- motivated speaker and trainer. I know my husband is now my number one fan and supporter and my friends have no other choice than to support me because they saw how I overcame my breast cancer.

Have you ever had a mentor, and if so what have you learned?

I never had one particular mentor but I do take private consultations in different subjects in business from different mentors. I also attend many workshops and buy online courses and teach myself.

I have to say my most loyal mentor is my husband, he always listens and helps me to make decisions when I don’t have clarity. I have learned that without determination, commitment, passion, and self-motivation, your dreams will remain in your sleep.

What outlets do use to market yourself?

Online through my social media: Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.In

Dubai, I am widely recognised because I have a huge social presence through my network that I have built for the last 20 years. was it in organising and producing shows, or my own singing performances in the most prestigious venues and events and also my coaching events and positive talks. I’m also a member of many female empowerment associations, I am a Rotarian and I a member of the International Society of business leaders.

Which methods are you using to build your audience and expand your network?

I’m producing a series of self-help videos to be posted on my social media.

I’m also producing courses in positive lifestyle and how to renew your life and other topics all related to positivity, health, and happiness. I do have a permanent presence on different TV channels and online TV shows as well. Soon I will be on an online platform where people can book online sessions directly with me and I’m also working to integrate the same via my website.

What is the best piece of advice you have received to date?

My late mother used to tell me if it feels right, then it is right. I live by this advice and I trust my gut feeling and my intuition in everything that I do or say.

What would you tell your 18-year-old self?

We did it!

Which other female pioneers do you also admire and why?

I admire Audrey Hepburn and I really love her quotes.

What Youtube or online space channels are you watching currently?

I love cooking and fashion so I watch a lot of food bloggers and fashion bloggers

What is a good article or book you have read recently?

I have subscriptions from many websites and I receive articles every day about the power of the mind, preventive medicines, and healthy living. I bought a good book that I am currently reading now for Marshall Goldsmith when he visited Dubai: What Got you here, won’t get you there. This book shows you how the habits we have gained so far in our career are now delaying our progress.

What does success look like in your eyes?

Success is a state of mind, I see it in everything that I do. Success is not a destination, it is that feeling that will take you to whichever destination you want.

What does #BEYOUROWN mean to you?

I’m so honored to be part of BEYOUROWN and Id like to think by me being my own person, I am confident that the message I try to spread to my audience is going in the right direction and it is reaching like-minded people.

Lastly, what is next for you throughout 2018?

I’m mastering my skills in stage hypnosis, in yoga, and in video production. I’m still doing workshops and speaking at events and in summer I will be in Lebanon looking for opportunities to bring my knowledge to my home country.

Twitter: @thelifedirector | Instagram: @NadineChammas

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelifedirector/

Website: http://nadinechammas.com