Honor Your Health
Achieve Your Goals

An accountability coaching program for chronically ill WOC and NBPOC who want to learn how to set goals and work on their goals in ways that honor their health and capacity.

How HM.A Works

Navigating known or unknown chronic health conditions and symptoms while hustling, "grinding until we shine right", and "fakin' it until we make it" is exhausting. Often we work on our goals, set more goals, meet the original goal, and set more, on repeat nonstop disregarding how we feel until our bodies force us to stop. While this mentality of choosing to "sleep when we are dead" helps us survive capitalism and build better lives for ourselves and our loved ones in the short-term, it is an unsustainable long-term method of survival for many or most after a certain age.

Think of yourself or people you know and love. So many are navigating difficult health issues and are barely making ends meet. Capitalism demands we prioritize our bills and whatever makes us money, over our health issues and bodies. It's an overwhelming way to exist.

Many of us are ready to learn how to navigate our everyday responsibilities and work on our goals in a way that doesn't leave us feeling like shit day in and day out. We are ready to work and achieve our goals in a way that allows us to actually enjoy our successes, time with ourselves and loved ones, better manage symptoms and heavy emotions, all while staying as strong and stable as possible.

Changing your mindset and lifestyle to priortize your health while you work requires a holistic accountability mindset. An accountability mindset practice that is gentle enough to consider all of the factors that led to and contribute to your health condition and unmet goals without judgements, comparisons, or fixed ideas. Judgement, comparison, and fixed idea-free so that there's space for you to create new ways for navigating your goals and health. It's a tough process as it may challenge the ways you and your loved ones have used to survive this far. It's tough, but not impossible and you are not alone. I've been there and I got you.

I created Hold Myself. Accountable (HM.A) to coach you to hold yourself accountable - to gently consider all of the factors that get in the way of or facilitate your ability to set and meet goals, and negatively affect your health, and hold yourself - to hold space for your health and tough emotions and thoughts that come up as you go through life.

You can't change your past actions that led to your health issues. You can, however, hold space for yourself and hold yourself accountable as you move forward in new, different ways that honor your health and make your goals more manageable.

HM.A is a 10-week accountability coaching program where I, Coach Ve, coach you build your own accountability lens, so you hold space for yourself, your blocks, and your new health capacities, and to hold yourself accountable through reflection and changing your current approach to your health, life, and goals.

In 10 weeks:

  • >> We use the HM.A systems engineering and situational awareness frameworks to holistically acknowledge the factors and blocks affecting your health and preventing you from achieving your goals.

  • >> We use S.M.A.R.T. goals to transform your goal into smaller, management tasks that allow you to honor your capacities while you make progress towards your goals.

  • >> You master practicing no judgements, no comparisons, and no fixed ideas so you are more gentle with yourself as you navigate the unexpected health and life events.


courses

Weekly Coachings

>>Create S.M.A.R.T. goals to transform your goal into a list of small, manageable weekly tasks

>>Use the HM.A systems engineering and situational awareness frameworks to holistically acknowledge the factors and blocks affecting your health and preventing you from achieving your goals.

>>Identify ways to reclaim your time and energy for yourself and your health and goals

courses

Accountability Check-Ins

>>Between weekly coaching sessions, Coach Ve will check-in with you on your progress and whether you need support, so you meet your weekly goals

>>Reminders to practice No Judgements, No Comparisons, and No Fixed Ideas



courses

Accountability Coworking Sessions

>>No more waiting for the "right time" and get stuff done now

>>Work on goals alongside your awesome, supportive accountability partners

>>Get in the habit of alotting dedicated time for you, your health, and your goals



No Judgements.
No Comparisons.
No Fixed Ideas.

About Coach Ve

My Mission

I am on a mission to coach Black, Latina/e, Indigenous women of color and nonbinary people of color to honor their health as they work on their goals and navigate their chronic health conditions.

A new medical diagnosis, like multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune conditions, can be life-changing and devastating. It can be extremely overwhelming to have to learn about a new chronic illness, live with it and manage your visible and invisible symptoms, decide on medications and treatment options, deal with finances and insurance coverage, teach loved ones about it, and grieve the life you thought you'd have before being diagnosed. All of this while managing work and responsibilities, relationship and family obligations, on top of your own personal goals is rough. It doesn't help that it feels like the world is on fire. It's tough but I promise you're not alone.

Many of us have been hustling, grinding until we "shine right", "fakin' it until we make it", choosing to "sleep when we're dead" etc to make ends meet and elevate our lives, and it's taken a toll on our bodies. This lifestyle certainly took a toll on mine.

While we can't reverse many chronic conditions (*hopefully some can be*), we can hold space for ourselves and our emotions, and hold ourselves accountable for our part in what led to our diagnosis while moving forward. We can choose to change our approach.

A chronic illness is what we live with and have to navigate while we work on our goals. It is a part of us but it does not define us or our goals. Our path towards our goals may look different than the path of someone without a chronic condition, but that is okay. You are still worthy. You are still capable. You'll still get there.

Reaching your goal may just require a different, unexpected path and I'm here to help you build an accountability mindset practice for holding space for yourself and your health and for holding yourself accountable, so that you are conscious of what may be holding you back and negatively affecting your health, and how to pivot as you carve out this new trail.

You can't change your past actions that led to your health issue(s).
You can, however, hold space for yourself and hold yourself accountable as you move forward in new, different ways that honor your health and make your goals more manageable. You can ask yourself:

  • (a) How did I get here? Which parts of my life and lifestyle may have contributed to this diagnosis?

  • (b) What am I going to do differently moving forward to stay strong and stable?

  • (c) What is my value in my relationships if my body can no longer do everything like before?

  • (d) How can I tend to my health and emotions, and still achieve my goals?

  • (e) Which of my goals feel like what I'm "supposed to" want? Which of my goals are to gain status, respect, and admiration? Which of my goals belong to others? Which of my goals truly fulfill me? Which of my goals are worth pursuing and in what order?

These are just some of the questions I used to hold myself and hold myself accountable while recovering from the flare up that led to my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) in spring of 2019. MS demanded that I make changes in my life, which I made and I've been relapse-free ever since.

About Me

Hello! I'm Vanessa (she/her), Ve for short, the creator and accountability coach of Hold Myself. Accountable (HM.A). I am a first-gen, queer, Latina, human-centered engineer with multiple sclerosis (MS) from Phoenix, AZ. I'm one of the first in my family to 1) graduate from high school, 2) obtain an AS in science, 3) obtain a B.S.E in electrical engineering, 4) obtain a M.S. and Ph.D candidacy in industrial engineering, and 5) get diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis in 2019 and stay relapse free ever since.

Right before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the spring of 2019, I'd placed at the Yale healthcare hackathon, published a first-author research paper, completed a research fellowship at the NIH and a summer UX research internship with Blue Cross Blue Shield, mentored undergraduate students of color, and was working on my dissertation research on making health information technology (IT) more inclusive and equitable for the LGBTQIA+ community. I used a systems engineering framework to holistically examine and propose evidence-based solutions for the lack of representation of LGBTQIA+ health issues in health IT. My life and career looked perfect on paper, but I was miserable.

I was beyond tired of proving myself to the people around me and feeling like I wasn't enough. My success was measured with metrics like how sleep deprived I felt and looked, how "white" I could sound, and how much I could achieve. My heart was heavy from supporting my peers as we endured abusive, racist, and exploitative learning and working conditions that repeatedly attempted to dim our gifts and inner geniuses. These experiences made me question whether I:

>> was a real engineer because I realized I couldn't care less about solving data problems but rather problems marginalized people faced in the systems they navigate?

>> could continue obsessing over achieving non-stop, under high amounts of stress and as my physical and mental health declined?

>> truly desired to be in STEM, a space that would financially sustain me but upholds racist, capitalistic, exploitative ideologies that directly hurt me and my BIPOC communities?

>> had pursued a STEM career thinking I wouldn't be enough otherwise and where this idea came from?

>> could create something to support motivated people navigating chronic illness(es) to overcome self-defeating ideas and habits often caused by their environments, so they don't have to struggle like I did and can achieve what they've always wanted without sacrificing their health, sense of self, and/or self-worth?


Many of these thoughts manifested themselves in my life as self-doubt, procrastination, and lack of motivation. As a result, my depression worsened and I contemplated ending my life or transforming the life I had into a life that truly honors my geniuses and holds space for my physical and mental health.

The gift of my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was being forced into pausing my entire life to heal from a 1.5 months of severe daily dizziness and blurry vision (a major MS episode), being exhausted of my toxic academic environment, and answer the above questions. This gift also encourged me to design and use the HM.A systems engineering framework, a holistic problem identifying framework I created based on the systems engineering framework (Holden et al., 2014) I used in my dissertation research, to change my approach to my health and goals moving foward.

We use the HM.A framework to gently identify our contributions to our health and how to approach our health and goals moving foward.

Are you ready to learn how to honor your health as you work on your goals?

Schedule a free call with Coach Ve to learn more

Coach Ve on Social

A human who wants you to be kind to your body
and share your magic with the world.

Accountability coach Ve
Ve (Vanessa) Martinez (She/Her)

Founder and Accountability Coach

author
Gaby L
Bilingual Educator & Entreprenuer | Joined HM.A in Jan 2021

"Before joining HM.A, I was all over the place with a laundry list of goals. I had too much on my mind and not sure where to start. Honestly, it was very overwhelming. HM.A helped me focus on one of the most important goals on my list. Coach Ve was able to guide me to the most important goal that called to my heart. I appreciate that guidance. I was able to break down the goal into manageable tasks. The accountability part was also something I never thought I needed. My wonderful accountability group was a safe space for me to share my goals without judgment. It felt refreshing to have that kind of support."

author
Carey A
Instructional Design Student & Entreprenuer | Joined HM.A in Jan 2021

"Coach Ve is one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever met and the HM.A group is a place where all the feels are embraced. Coach Ve and fellow HM.A friends motivated me to push myself and go for things I would have previously set aside--dismissed due to lack of confidence. But, having these people in my life and knowing that we were all rooting for each other gave me this sense of courage to move past my insecurities and apply for a job, take that ½ day to rest unapologetically, pursue a new professional field, and overall just believe in myself. Because after a while, it wasn’t just about my journey, it was about all of us in the HM.A group and our collective, supportive energy to all move forward together. It was one of the first groups of people that I felt I could lay so much of my personal pain out. It was a space where I could be vulnerable and empowered in the same breath."

author
Joceline B
Real Estate Broker Licensee & Entreprenuer | Joined HM.A in Nov 2020

"I have decided to go after everything that I want. Making goals, plans, and doing the work. I am most proud of not allowing my insecurities or anxiety take control of my path. I have practiced the HM.A mantra by not allowing myself to stay in a box. I know that society's standards are not for me."

author
Vanessa M
Social Work Undergraduate Student | Joined HM.A in Nov 2020

"HM.A has impacted me to really put myself first. To choose me and not feel guilty about it. It's different to be in a space where I allow myself to work and improve on myself. That has impacted me to set aside time, and write down my goals, and live my life the way that I want to, and be unapologetically myself, and have those boundaries. That was like a first and it's the best. It's liberating to feel those ways"

HM.A Pricing

A coaching program that fills your cup,
so you have capacity for yourself, your health, and your goals.

Ask me about pricing.
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I will support your financial situation.