Raphaela — Practical philosopher, applied ethicist, and transformational coach (CPC)
I’ve lived many lives in one lifetime so far. Each breaking, each pivot, and each new beginning has brought me deeper clarity about who I am — and that is what I now help others find.
How I got here
I grew up as the emotional caretaker — born into family grief and mental illness, hyper-attuned to other people’s moods. I was the good girl keeping peace, managing big emotions, and caretaking for the caretakers. I learned to be invisible, small, silent, and convenient — patterns that once tried to keep me safe, but slowly pulled me away from myself.
At 16, everything shattered. My parents could not really be there for me and my brother amid their own crises. Overnight, I became parent, homemaker, and therapist — roles that were never meant to be mine — all while finishing school, navigating adolescence, and trying to hold myself together. From there, family chaos kept cycling: crisis, emotional abuse, loss, and trauma.
By 22, after years of just keeping going, I reached a breaking point. Depression, suicidal thoughts, and intense anxiety took over. I dropped my studies, had no job, and needed medication just to get through each day. I was exhausted and barely holding on.
With the support of my now-husband, I made the life-changing decision to leave. I moved to Vienna, started building something real, and slowly began to heal. I worked, made friends, and started waking up again. Ready for the next leap, I quit my job and returned to university.
Philosophy became my lifeline and my teacher. During my master’s studies, it challenged the way I thought about reality, beliefs, values, and everything I had accepted as fact. It gave me language for the questions that mattered most: Who am I? What do I believe? What is true for me? It changed the way I saw myself and the world — making me more reflective, analytical, and resilient.
But life did not stop testing me. Right around graduation came family crisis, job loss, and my husband’s health challenges. In that uncertainty, I learned to trust something deeper: that the unknown can hold possibility. We made another life-changing decision and followed our hearts to the U.S., selling everything, renovating a house along the way, and crossing an ocean with two suitcases and two backpacks.
That move felt like a threshold. For the first time, I could step fully into my calling: combining philosophical practice with coaching. Here in the U.S., I completed formal professional coach training (CPC) and began building this practice.
Now I’m building from scratch again — living through another season of transformation myself: identity, career change, entrepreneurship, marriage, and relationships. Still showing up, tools in hand, for the aligned life I know is possible.
Create a life that feels aligned, meaningful, and truly your own.
Why this matters for you
I’ve navigated identity rupture — childhood conditioning, family implosion, mental health collapse, relocation, and more — and emerged with tools that actually work.
I know the vigilance of emotional caretaking. I’ve rebuilt from clinical depression. I’ve questioned everything through philosophy. And I continue to do that work in real time.
This isn’t theory. It’s lived transformation. I hold space with curiosity, steadiness, and zero judgment — because I’ve needed that exact space myself, many times.
If you’re in transition — gentle or seismic — you are not alone. I’m here to support you on your journey back to yourself and toward a life that feels aligned, meaningful, and truly yours. yourself, and toward a life that feels aligned, meaningful, and truly yours.
