About

About Kathy Santini, principal of Savvy About Success

I consider myself lucky in that I’ve been surrounded by successful people my whole life. You might even say that being successful is in my DNA. My Dad, Gary Santini, started Vancouver’s Parklane Homes in the 1980s and went on to become Western Canada’s largest single family home builder and president of the Canadian Home Builders Association. My success and entrepreneurial education began at an early age, as I spent every weekend of my childhood “checking out,” show home traffic with Dad.

I’ve been incorporating many of those lessons learned at Dad’s knee and at the family dinner table ever since. At 13, I started a babysitting bureau; I asked for and got a percentage of my friends’ earnings for acting as their agent and getting babysitting jobs for them.

My Mentors And Teachers

For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated with people, what makes them tick and the psychology of success. Insatiably curious – I guess that’s why I became a journalist – I’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars learning about these subjects, from some of the foremost educators in the world! In short, I’ve learned from the best, as you can see from the following list of my teachers and mentors!

Some of the people and/or organizations I have studied with, either in person or via courses, masterminds and books include: Tony Robbins; Jim Britt, who worked with Jim Rohn, Dr. Maxwell Maltz and Denis Waitley and who is well known for giving Tony Robbins one of his first jobs in the human potential field; marketing mentor Adam Urbanski; T. Harv Eker of Peak Potentials; The Coaches Training Institute’s founders Henry and Karen Kimsey-House; Steve Mitten, former president of the International Coach Federation; Dr. Norm Shealy; best selling author Carolyn Myss; Laura Day and Sonia Choquette, EFT expert Carol Look, and speaking mentor James Malinchak.

It’s Important To Go After What You Want – Your Past Doesn’t Have To Predict Your Future

My experiences and education with these incredibly successful leaders guide and inform my thinking and the way I live my life. I’m a big believer and have an impressive track record of going after what you want, whether its education, resources, experiences, or relationships. My message is this: life is short, none of us know what’s just around the corner and it’s absolutely ludicrous not to make the most of your life.

Here’s what I find incredibly sad: many people settle for what they think they can have, based on their past experiences, or limitations that they or others have placed on them. As Tony Robbins says, our culture erroneously believes that we are our past, the past predicts the future and that biography is destiny. But here’s what’s important, it’s just not true!

Deciding what you want is the ultimate power. It is your right and responsibility to go after what you want and to become the most successful you! My mission and great passion is to help others become more successful in their lives. I do this by combining my skills as a journalist and coach in sharing and using the latest, most up to date information from the human potential field when I’m speaking, teaching or coaching clients.

My Formal Education

I received a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Arts in Journalism from the University of Arizona. I received my coach training from The Coaches Training Institute, am a graduate of their leadership development program and am certified as a professional coach by the International Coach Federation.

What Motivates Me To Do The Work That I Do – I’m A Cancer Survivor And Believe That Life Is Short

The defining moment in my life was 1999. That was the year I was diagnosed with cancer and the same month that my Mom learned that her cancer had metastasized and that she had about 18 months left to live. Talk about shock and awe!  Faced with my Mom’s pending morality and possibly my own, I made a pivotal decision about how I wanted to spend the rest of what could be a very short or very long life.

I decided that whenever my life ended, I didn’t want to have any regrets about the things I didn’t do. I became incredibly determined to create the happiest, most successful life I could and to show others how to do the same.

A Little Known Fact About Me

As I already said, I’m a big believer in going after what you want. One of the items on my bucket list was to work as a reporter in a war zone. So faster than you can say Kabul, Afghanistan, I found myself living and working as a civilian editor on a military base there in 2005. It was one of the more interesting and fascinating experiences in what has inarguably been a fascinating life. What an adventure it was, to name a few: covering Afghanistan’s first parliamentary elections in 25 years; spending five hours in a bunker after a rocket just missed the base, and attending an Afghan wedding.

My Idea of Fun

For fun I love sailing, cycling, hiking, travelling, listening to the CBC and reading. My addiction to travelling has me looking for a 12-step program for people who travel too much. If you find one, let me know, will you?