Professor Dreams Big Life Coaching Career
By Kurt Wagner
Waiting in line at 4 a.m. with thousands of strangers in a Kohl's parking lot, professor Clint Pardoe had a moment of clarity. He had made the 6-hour drive to Los Angeles at the encouragement of his wife to pitch the idea for a television show that he had developed over many years as both a college professor and certified life coach.
After waiting for close to seven hours, Pardoe made his 30-second pitch to the producers of "Oprah's ‘Your OWN Show' Contest" in a room full of other hopeful candidates. The next day, he was standing in the offices of Mark Burnett, the producer of "Survivor."
While Pardoe's show had promise, the idea was eventually turned down. But that 4 a.m. epiphany convinced Pardoe that having his own network TV show was just one potential medium for his message.
"The Oprah experience of going down there really opened me up," he said. "That's why I was so humbled standing in line realizing how many people she has touched through her medium and how many students I could reach if they were interested in what I was doing."
Pardoe dreams of providing college students with a safe space to ask life's toughest questions. As a certified life coach, a process that took three years of training, Pardoe has worked with clients ranging from freshman in college to small business owners to CEOs.
His passion for a TV show — where Pardoe would coach college students in the areas of relationships, career aspirations, setting goals and self-care — has not diminished. It's merely taken on a new form.
Pardoe plans to film open-forums where he answers student questions about life and then share the videos online. His goal is to create a website with "episodes" featuring different issues that students need advice on and make the content available to young adults.
"There is a desire among students to have those conversations and I don't know that they're happening as often as students might want them to," said Pardoe. "I'm looking to create with this forum if you will, an environment where it can be cool to get support."
Pardoe will be hosting his first coaching event open to Santa Clara students on March 7 as a way to kick-off his new found website project. The open-forum discussion, which will be free to all students, is meant to provide an opportunity to ask questions about college life to a certified coach who believes he can relate to his audience.
The event will be closed to everyone except Santa Clara students in an attempt to create an environment where people can speak freely.
College students tend to avoid parental advice and going to peers isn't always smart considering they are often going through the same life changes, said Pardoe. And although counseling is valuable, Pardoe believes that there can be a stigma attached to receiving professional help.
Alexis Loevenich-Lee, a 2006 graduate of West Valley College, first began working with Pardoe as an undergrad. After receiving his help in small groups and then individually, Loevenich-Lee was trained by Pardoe and is now a certified life coach herself as well as a fitness professional in the San Jose area.
"Clint (Pardoe) helped me realize my value as a young woman and skills such as self-care and time management," said Loevenich-Lee in email. "But I would say most greatly he helped me get clear on a career path and discover my life purpose when I was drifting."
Many students may have already experienced some of Pardoe's life coaching techniques in their classes. A part-time professor in the Communication Department, Pardoe tries to incorporate as much life coaching into his courses on public speaking and interpersonal communications as possible without going outside the boundaries set by the material.
Five years down the road, Pardoe hopes to still be teaching at Santa Clara while using the school as a home-base for his website and speaking engagements. Hosting forums, like the March 7 event, around the globe would be Pardoe's dream come true.
Contact Kurt Wagner at jwagner@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4849.