Kim Lysik Di Santi is a wife, mother, sister, daughter, pet owner, friend, confidante and cheerleader to her clients, executive coach and president of Total Strategy. She provides coaching to clients around the country.

Kim launched her executive coaching business from her home office in Reston, Va., in 1999, after spending 19 years in sales and marketing. She held management positions at the Newspaper Advertising Bureau and served as sales director at Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive.

A graduate of Coach University, Kim is an authority on the administration and analysis of behavioral assessments. She is a certified professional behavioral analyst and a certified professional values analyst. She works with small business owners, entrepreneurs, executives and sales professionals to help them increase their revenue. Sixty-five percent to 70 percent of Kim's clients are women.

At age 43, Kim found herself--pleasantly and unexpectedly--pregnant with her first child. Son Zachary, now 4 ½, is her pride and joy. He also turned her life upside down. She had always been a focused, organized career woman. Kim's challenge was to adapt herself at mid-career to having a young child, wanting to enjoy her time with him and keep her business going. Several of her clients have faced the same challenges of becoming new moms in mid-career. This true-life experience is the basis for her column, The Mother Lode.