Sayen Gates Built Shadow Corner Life Coaching From Her Story

At an event called Showing Up: Perspectives on Cancer, Sayen Gates stood at the end of a line and waited. One by one, participants walked toward her, answering reflective questions about where they had been and how far they had come. When each person reached her, she said two words, “Welcome home,” and offered a hug. After the exercise ended, she sat down and cried. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she was operating fully in her giftings.

Sayen Gates is the founder and lead coach of Shadow Corner Life Coaching, where she guides people toward self-awareness, healthier relationships, and lasting personal change through shadow integration and mindset work. She hosts the Shadow Corner Podcast and co-hosts Pixel Sistas: Afro Gaming Podcast, a space celebrating gaming, anime, and Blerd culture. A member of The Entreprenista League, she believes we are all more than one title.

Her path to coaching started in a very different kind of room. Eight years in healthcare and a hard-won reckoning with her own story became a coaching practice. "I owed it to my younger self, little Ari, to use my voice, speak my truth, and never be silent again," Sayen says.

From phlebotomy to purpose

Before coaching, Sayen spent more than 8 years in the medical field as a certified medical assistant and phlebotomy technician. The work put her beside people in some of their most vulnerable moments, and it taught her something she carried into everything that followed. Healing reaches far beyond physical health.

The exercise that changed everything

Sayen had spent 2 years quietly learning, growing, and refining her coaching practice when she facilitated the Life Walk. Watching people leave with a deeper understanding of themselves moved her, and the tears afterward told her what she already knew. “In that moment, I knew I couldn’t ignore what I was being called to do,” she says. It was now or never, so she built Shadow Corner Life Coaching.

A story worth telling out loud

Sayen is a two-time best-selling author, most recently through the collaborative book Breaking the Silence: Voices of Survivors Vol. 3, where she shared 3 deeply personal stories. Speaking about her journey at the book launch became one of the most meaningful moments of her career. There was a time she never imagined becoming a writer.

“That accomplishment wasn’t just about making a bestseller list,” she says. “It was about choosing courage, healing, and purpose.”

Who she coaches

Her clients are first-time mothers and families adjusting to a new normal, along with entrepreneurs navigating burnout, decision fatigue, or career uncertainty. The goal is the same across both groups. She helps her clients reconnect with themselves so they can move forward with greater confidence, clarity, and intention.

Recognition and what comes next

In 2026, Influential Women Magazine named Sayen one of its Verified Influential Women. She is already looking toward the next chapter, hoping to expand into the doula and midwife space and, one day, open her own facility supporting mothers through the postpartum season.

Her advice for other founders? “Stay hungry, stay resilient, but always remember to give yourself grace on those hard days, because those are the days when you’re being shaped for your future self,” she says.

You can connect with Sayen on LinkedIn, learn about her coaching at shadowcornerlifecoaching.com, see her recognition at Influential Women, and follow her on Instagram.

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If Sayen's approach to healing through shadow work and honest storytelling resonates, the Entreprenista League is a community of women founders who value connection, shared experience, and practical business insight as they grow. Learn more about the Entreprenista League right here.