About Selena

My name is Selena Delesie.

I’m as comfortable backcountry camping as I am in a ball gown doing a foxtrot.

Next to my statue of Jim Morrison from The Doors are books on sustainable living, leadership, software testing and development, fitness, and classic novels.

My playlist is varied and includes The Doors, Metric, Tibetan meditation music, various Salsa and Latin selections, big band music, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, and The Black Keys.

In short, I’m quirky with eclectic interests and tastes.

Want to know more?…

Business

I’ve held a variety of roles over 12 years in the high tech software industry. Software tester, department manager, project & program manager, team coach, and trainer. I started my IT coaching & consulting business in 2010 under Delesie Solutions Inc.

I work with individuals, teams, and management to build empowered teams that are founded on individual strengths and successes to achieve organizational missions. The best part – they have tons of fun! I’m also found giving talks and interactive workshops to inspire, teach, and bring insightful experiences to all levels of employees across business domains.

On the side, I’ve spent 4 years as a personal trainer and health coach, helping people find energy, better health, less pain, and more fun in each day.

I now say I’m a success enabler, as that’s what I do best – I help people achieve success.

 

Personal

People think I’m tall. At 5’11″, I might agree. Be forewarned that if you ask how tall I am, I might ask how short you are. Just sayin’.

Thirty-something, married, with a spirited delightful son. Currently live in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. I love warm weather, but I dislike cold. I plan to winter somewhere warm in future years. Despite having not-so-long-ago spent many weeks working 60-70 hours for unnamed employers, these days I now build my work around my life.

I have many interests and hobbies… In short?

• I love dancing – salsa, foxtrot, tango, swing,.. you name it, I probably do it.
• I enjoy hiking, camping, canoeing, cycling, and rock climbing. I don’t like swimming, but really want to scuba dive in one of the great reefs one day, so I better learn.
• I garden and love to cook. I am often found experimenting with ethnic cuisines.
• I own more than 70 board games and host board-game nights with family and friends. I also play video games, but not as much as my husband would like.
• I enjoy photography with my Nikon DSLR, particularly macro and nature.
• I’ve gone skydiving, ziplining, and flown a glider plane. One day I’ll learn to pilot a plane and a helicopter.
• I love to travel and experience new places and cultures. I plan to journey to every continent, then sometime later, every country.

 

My mottos are to live fully, laugh often, and love completely.

I actively seek inspiration and to inspire others, believe that anything is possible, and that achievement is just around the corner when you work for it. I used to live each day in my comfortable shell, but now push myself to new experiences and adventures.

Life is for living, not just existing! 

 

Health/Lifestyle

An advocate for natural eating and living. I love people, animals, and the earth. I try to make choices that support these loves in the healthiest way possible.

A long term vegetarian, as a child I despised eating meat. I’ve now been vegan for 3+ years (aside from a 3 week hiatus during a vacation to France & Belgium in 2011 – finding vegan meals in restaurants and family meals was near impossible). I feel more energetic and healthier eating this way. I feel worse when I eat processed foods. My achilles heel is wine, with beer a close second. Oh, and salty crunchy chips and crackers. Better add hummus to that too. I work hard at eating a diet predominant in whole fresh fruits and vegetables. Several times a year I cleanse and eat only raw vegan to help my body heal and rejuvenate.

After 6 years of serious weight lifting, I became certified as a personal trainer. I have used a variety of fitness approaches over the years including dancing, cycling, running, weights, plyometrics, and now yoga. Variety truly is the spice of life! It keeps my body guessing and in pretty good shape. I’m still doing cartwheels and splits!

I admit I’ve lost my way now and then, but I look at those times as opportunities to try something new and work it into my health toolkit.

I push forwards in achieving my goals and don’t fret about the mistakes, as they are experiences to learn from.

 

Beliefs

There are no best practices (one right answer), but an appropriate solution for each situation.

Finding the appropriate solution requires open-mindedness and learning about lots of things. Open minded means being open to different ideas and perspectives and being willing to explore them. Learning is important for the soul, for change, and for achieving amazing things in life. I’m a learning addict and have enough books to open a library. I also read lots of different interesting things online.

Human beings are not broken by default.

Most people truly want to be happy, healthy, and loved. We all came into our life innocent, without greed, without hate, without discrimination, without lies. But we are products of our experiences. Man-made rules and structures encourage greed, hatred, discrimination and lies, but we all have the choice to disavow them.

Work, health, life, and the world gets better as each person chooses love, compassion, and truth – for themselves, the people they care for, strangers, animals, and the environment.

All the wonderful things you can imagine are possible if you want them bad enough and work hard for them (and you don’t have to do harm unto people /places /animals /earth /things to get them).

Some may say I’m an idealist. Perhaps I am.

I just say that my experiences have shaped my world view.

I’m a big fan of bringing awesome into people’s lives.

 

Interested to hear more about my story and learn with me?

Then stick around!

I’m not your typical corporate-type. I’ve been there, done that. Didn’t like it much (though I loved most of the people I worked with and we had a blast achieving great things).

You’ll find I’m varied yet focused, fun and hard working, insightful and experiential, supportive and challenging.

If something I’ve said resonates for you, thanks in advance for joining in.

But if you don’t like what I share, then ‘thanks for coming out, bye for now’.

For those who stay, I look forward to connecting, creating, and evolving with you!