Minette Riordan, Ph.D., Certified Parent Coach

Minette's passion for connecting people to each other is deeply rooted in her belief that it is our connection to spirit, to self and to others that is the foundation of true happiness. Over the years, Minette has found many unique ways of helping people to create both inner connection to their higher self and powerful connections to others around them. It is isolation and fear that cause disconnection, unhappiness and illness. Through Minette's work as a teacher, a writer, a speaker, a community volunteer and a business owner, she has educated thousands of people on the subjects of communication, commitment, and connection.

Minette is passionate about education as her own college history shows. She has a B.A. in Spanish from Texas A&M University and an M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. While in college, she traveled to Latin America and Europe. These experiences were instrumental in opening her to the potential for human interaction and connection across cultures. Minette used her personal experience to write an essay that was powerful enough to earn her a full scholarship and admission to a doctoral program in Spanish at Stanford University. While at Stanford, she won two travel scholarships to do research in Mexico City on contemporary women poets.

Minette has a Ph.D. From Stanford University focused on 20th Century Latin American Literature. She has taught college, high school and adult enrichment classes on a variety of subjects including Spanish language, literature, women's literature, world religions, nature writing and creative writing. Before attending Stanford, she worked for Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich as an editorial assistant helping to create high school textbooks for teaching Spanish.

Before launching her own business Minette taught at a private high school in northern California for troubled teens. While there, Minette won a National Endowment for the Humanities award for Spanish teachers, again based on her resume and written essay, and spent a summer studying at the University of Oregon.

After leaving her teaching position, Minette relocated to Estes Park, Colorado. While there she designed and taught a series of creative writing classes based on journaling, nature writing and spiritual growth.

By 2002, Minette and her family had relocated to Plano, Texas, following her husband's job in the telecommunications industry. In fall of 2002 Minette launched her company, Scissortail Publishing. In February of 2003, she printed the first issue of what would become North Texas Kids. In seven short years, she has grown her magazine from a small quarterly newspaper with a print run of 20,000 to a monthly magazine with an average print run of 50,000 magazines. Minette knew nothing about designing a magazine, selling advertising or print media when she launched her business but that did not stop her. She taught herself to use the design software, found a printer and joined her local Chamber of Commerce. She is a self-educated success story, and has quickly become the local expert on marketing to moms. After starting her business in her dining room with two young children in tow, Minette now has a large office and a staff of 10. Her company now hosts two large family expos annually and is set to launch a parenting talk show on a local radio station, hosted by Minette.

Education is a life-long pursuit for her and in 2006, Minette became certified as a Coach for Parents through the Academy for Parent Coaching International. Parent coaching is a popular and growing field of personal coaching that is getting a great deal of attention in the press. Minette quickly moved from trainee to trainer and now teaches the marketing course for ACPI and co-teaches the adolescent training with Academy founder Dr. Caron Goode. Through both private coaching, group work and speaking, Minette helps other parents pinpoint the challenges in their relationships with their children and find creative ways to improve communication and build connection. She is a popular and well-received public speaker with local mom's groups and business organizations. Minette is the kind of person that jumps into life with both feet. After launching her business in 2002, she quickly became involved in the Plano Chamber of Commerce and within two years was running the Women's Division, an active group of over 100 women. She also held leadership positions or board positions at several other networking organizations and charitable organizations. She recently launched her own networking group called WEBB - Women Engaged in Building Business, a networking and educational group for women business owners in the Dallas area. She is well known in her community of Plano, Texas for being the go-to person when someone needs information, resources or guidance. She has a sterling reputation and a well-established network of business owners, community leaders and individuals.

Recent Author Awards:

• 2007 - Altrusa Outstanding Women of Today award for her vision and commitment as a small business owner.
• 2005, 2006 - WOW! award from Plano Chamber of Commerce Women's Division for commitment to helping and mentoring other women business owners.

Author Affiliations:

• Training & certification ACPI Certified Coach® for Parents
• Training & certification in CRG Leader assessment tools
• Board Member, PTA at Saigling Elementary, Plano, TX
• Active member, Plano Chamber of Commerce
• Director, Women's Division ofThe Plano Chamber of Commerce Women's Division
• Chair, Women's Division Homecoming Gala
• 2nd Vice President, Frisco Business and Professional Women
• Co-leader, Networking for Kids
• Co-leader, TEAM Networking
• Board Member, The Classics Art & Theatre for Children
• Co-Chair, Fairy Tale Ball
• Member, Children First! Collin County Coalition
• Member, Speaker Coop, an active group for speakers in the DFW metroplex (www.speakercoop.com)
• Member, EWomen Network, includes access to 500,000 eWomen subscribers
• Founder, WEBB, Women Engaged in Building Business networking group