Jeannie Cella is a Board-Certified Coach and a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, who has more than 35 years of experience working with populations who have been challenged by life circumstances. As CEO of Wellness House, a non-profit cancer support organization, for 20 years, she honed her skills in leadership, fundraising, donor relations, board management/engagement, strategic planning, program development, finance, developing community partnerships and change management. As a Board-Certified Coach, Jeannie has special designations as an Executive/Leadership, Positive Intelligence and Personal/Life Coach.
With her husband, Jeannie raised four smart, talented, funny, loving kids who are now collectively raising eight of their own. If you’ve been a child or have children of your own, you know why this is the first thing Jeannie wants you to know and why it is foundational to everything important that she’s learned in her life!
With her Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work in hand, Jeannie began her career as a juvenile probation officer working on the Southside of Chicago, where she learned how best to engage with young people and their families, as well as how our systems don’t work equitably for all communities.
After earning a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, Jeannie spent ten years developing and providing psychoeducational, supportive care programs to individuals and groups experiencing cancer. Some of her greatest teachers had bald heads, looked death in the eye, had no time for small stuff, lived with gratitude and cared deeply about others who were in the foxhole with them. As CEO of Wellness House (WH), Jeannie spent twenty years leading the effort to increase WH’s services, expand its footprint, reach underserved communities, and serve more people while raising millions of dollars through philanthropy to provide all services for free.
After retiring from Wellness House in 2019, Jeannie returned to the classroom and successfully met the professional standards in coaching. She is now a Board Certified Coach, with specialty designations as an Executive/Leadership, Positive Intelligence and Personal/Life Coach. Jeannie’s coaching philosophy is best defined as a partnership in which the client is the expert on him/herself, and the coach is an expert on the process of coaching and change. It is her belief that all people have gifts, talents, and strengths, that, when fully acknowledged, can propel them to do whatever they want to do. Through coaching, Jeannie helps people increase self-awareness, build on strengths, acknowledge and address areas for development, set goals, and identify obstacles to overcome which leads to growth and increased work/life satisfaction.
To quote Margaret Mead, ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only that that ever has.’ If you’re inspired, you can do anything!
