Ink of Inspiration: The Story Behind Coach Daonese Johnson-Colón's Tattoo
As Changemakers, we frequently strive to heal and support others within our communities. Becoming a certified coach adds a new level of commitment to this mission, requiring us to go beyond our external work and look within. In addition to changing the lives of those we serve, the personal growth and transformation experienced while becoming a coach are immeasurable.
For Coach Daonese Johnson-Colón, the journey was so profound that it’s now forever etched into her life in the form of a tattoo. Before becoming an ICF-certified coach, Daonese was a source of advice for many who believed she should start coaching. Unbeknownst to her, this moment was poised to become one of the most significant turning points in her personal and professional journey.
The Introduction to Holistic Coaching
While working with her first executive coach, she realized there was no space for healing. It left her leery about the idea of coaching, but a new coach held space for her to discuss all she had experienced to see what the practice could truly be.
“Between folks telling me that I’d be good at this [coaching] and having an awesome coaching experience with this amazing Black woman, it wasn’t about making me a better executive,” said Daonese. “What do you need to clear the pathway to being a better you? Because that’s going to bleed into you being a better executive, wife, mom, daughter, and sister. It was such a holistic approach, I was like that is what coaching should look like.”
A year passed and Daonese decided to revisit the conversation, leading to her coach’s referral to a program that would change her life forever. “She told me where she was trained, but if she could do it all again, she would train with Blooming Willow Coaching,” the Changemaker explained. “I signed up for one of the information sessions and I called Leslie, Conductor #1, Yoda. I told her I don’t know what I just experienced, but I need a lot more of that now! It was a no-brainer that I was signing up. It’s surprising to me that people walk away and think about it.”
Daonese made program history as a part of the inaugural Black Women Conductors Coaching Certification Program with 15 fellow Black Women Changemakers, led by ICF-certified Black Women coaches.
The Alignment of Life, Love, and Numerology
During each Blooming Willow Coaching Certification Cohort graduation, participants are assigned a Conductor number. For Daonese, her number was Conductor #143. This number held a deeper significance beyond Blooming Willow Coaching— it served as a powerful confirmation that she was exactly where she was supposed to be in life.
This full-circle moment started back in the beeper days when her husband, partner at the time, would message her “143”. Not considering herself a numbers person, she asked for the meaning, to which he replied, “I love you”.
When Daonese found herself receiving Conductor #143 at graduation, she went blank, in shock that this number was appearing once again in the most meaningful space. It was the moment that confirmed she was getting new ink.
“When I looked up the numbers 1-4-3, I wrote them down. 1 is the leader, 4 is the teacher, and 3 is the communicator. I do that in my life. I’m the COO of a nonprofit organization and an adjunct lecturer at John Jay College in NYC. Communication is critical to all of my work. It started as a simple ‘I love you’ at night from my husband, to sitting in this coaching training and a mentor saying numbers are important and don’t disregard that. It aligns with all I do.”
The holistic coach placed the tattoo, inked by Bux at Black Ink Brooklyn, on what she calls her “community arm”. On the inner left arm is a tattoo of her family and Conductor 143 is on the outside. It is her reminder that love is outward and in service of her community. “It has to live somewhere tangible and where it’s not always in my face. I have to turn my arm in a certain position to see it. So the universe is like turn your arm when you need it most to be grounded in who you are and your purpose,” she detailed.
“I got 143 [tatted] because it completes the circle of love. That’s the universe telling me something. It’s this journey wrapped in love,” she explained. “So many people have told me that I cannot build a business model that supports Black and Brown women. But I said God will make a way. He knows my heart and we need this space.”
Throughout the process of becoming a Conductor, Daonese kept an open mind to the connection with her ancestors. While on the journey, she purchased a hoodie that reads “Ready? — Harriet Tubman”. “When you think about a Conductor, you think about the Underground Railroad. I love the connections. Black women are always ready. We have to be ready; this world has made us have to be ready. Something about that resonates deeply with me, having the honor of even sharing a title similar to Harriet Tubman.”
The Impact of Becoming a Healing Centered Coach
When asked about future coaches and Conductors starting the journey, she advised, ”Be prepared to change as a part of this journey and process and not just in professional skills, but in your personal skills. Be willing to lean in and understand what’s coming up for you and what kind of support you need.”
Daonese stands firm in the opinion that humans cannot challenge others’ limiting beliefs, encouraging them to take actions that they would not take for themselves. “In order to hold space for someone you must know what that feels like. That’s the beauty of healing,” she expressed.
Inaugural Black Women Conductors Coaching Certification Cohort
“I would encourage everybody to go to Blooming Willow Coaching. I don’t say that because I was trained here, but because they honor the entire human, period. Most trainings are trying to make you sharp at whatever it is what you’re trying to be. That’s wonderful, but sometimes in your development, you have doubts and fears and there’s no space for that in traditional classrooms. Blooming Willow Coaching opens up space for all of that and understands they're training human beings,” she continued.
“The holistic view is what was really important to me. If not Blooming Willow, go somewhere that is going to train you as a whole coach, acknowledging you’re a human being impacting a human being. We learned all of that here. I also appreciated that all of my trainers were Black Women. I felt held in so many ways. I wanted to learn this process from women who looked like me. To have training from Black women who come from all walks of life, who are very different, with different coaching styles, and all very effective? It was wonderful and a beautiful experience.”
Daonese Johnson-Colón Headshot by Arpi Pap Photography
Cover Image Originally Photographed by Steve Selman
