Hidden Gems: Meet Mirriam Knight of Destiny Connections

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mirriam Knight. 

Hi Mirriam, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
My parents were originally from Sri Lanka but were married in Kenya and I was born in Pretoria, South Africa. In 1988, after a two years of living in the United States while my parents attended Bible School, we moved as a family to Lesotho, a small country completely surrounded by South Africa, as missionaries. Over the years my parents would establish a Christian School, Medical center, and various other outreach facilities in three different locations. I was primarily homeschooled in the first few years of my life and was able to cover a lot of ground with the influence of my mother. She has been and continues to be a powerful force in my life and is the reason I am who I am today, always pushing me beyond my limits and creating opportunities for me to explore the world and my gifting. I completed high school at the age of 13 and began teaching at my parents’ school while I pursued my A-levels so I could get into the university in South Africa. There was a lot of pressure to be grown up both within the work and academic arena, as well as social settings. Most of my interactions and friendships were with people that were at least 5 years older than I was, if not more. It was not until later on in my life that I fully understood the impact of not really having a chance to be a child. I experienced some setbacks academically that made me more performance and achievement-driven, at the expense of my social and emotional development. I completed my first degree in Social Science at 18, my first Master’s at 21, and finally, after a long academic break, my doctorate in 2019. I started out as a teacher, but realized my passion was more for helping youth and children develop the emotional and social skills they needed to cope with life – that was my motivation for going into psychology. In a way, I think I was trying to provide for them what I felt I had not had throughout my life. There were several challenges growing up, as a minority in a foreign country, a pastor’s kid, the youngest, and various other challenges. However, it is my faith in God and those I was surrounded with that got me through. Over the years I had the opportunity of serving non-profit organizations such as World Vision International and UNICEF in helping my country alleviate poverty and create social protection systems as a team leader, monitoring and evaluation specialist, and consultant. I have also had the privilege of working with anti-human trafficking agencies serving as a consultant and therapist. All of the opportunities to serve have brought me back to the desire to help empower people to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to become the best version of themselves. Since moving the US in 2015, I have had the privilege of serving The Salvation Army and community mental health in working with under-resourced and disenfranchised communities. In 2017, my husband and I became John Maxwell Certified leadership and personal development speakers, trainers, and coaches. Right now, I serve as founder and CEO of Destiny Connections LLC, providing transformational coaching services to men and women across the globe. The approach I use integrates my background in clinical psychology (PsyD), Education (MScEd), and over 20 years of working with communities to create intervention programs, providing a wholistic approach to personal and leadership development addressing the spiritual, emotional, mental, psychological and physical elements that contribute to one’s long-term well-being and success. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been several challenges that includes navigating transitions through geographical relocations, relationship successes and failures, traumatic experiences including the loss of a child and parent and personal assaults, failures in academics and various endeavors, many starts and stops, setbacks in achieving goals, having to reinvent myself in various settings following these traumas and losses, navigating the internal processes that surrounded my identity and purpose including doubts and second-guessing what I brought to the table, finding and forging my own path even when it did not make sense to anyone else, several years of unemployment when my qualifications back home were not deemed good enough to get me a job in my field in the US, commuting between Cleveland and California for two and a half years to get my doctorate so that I could get back into doing what I love, health challenges, and so many more. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Destiny Connections LLC?
We are a faith-based company that provides transformational coaching that incorporates psychological, educational, as well as personal, and leadership development components to help you finding your optimal wellness through developing a deeper understanding of habits and lifestyle choices. We help you create a life balance that prioritizes your well-being and celebrates all aspects of your true God-given Destiny. 

As transformational coaches we create personalized and customized coaching programs that are designed to connect you with your purpose, passion, and destiny, we come alongside you to help overcome obstacles and challenges and maximize opportunities. 

Through proven methods and practices, that integrate spiritual, psychological and leadership development approaches, we work with you holistically to develop a customized plan for growth and development that you can replicate in other areas of your life as you live the life you were created for. 

What sets us apart from others is that we do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach, but believe that each person was created uniquely with a unique purpose. We also believe that even if individuals experiences the same obstacles, how one responds to those experiences is affected by layers of unique design that influence how one shows up in life. It is our desire to meet the client where they are and help them work with what they have, curating an experience that leverages their history and present to create the future they desire. We believe in empowering the client to a point where you are able to do for others what was done for you, in your own unique way. 

Based on scientific research and experience, we prefer building a long-term relationship with our clients that does not just address the symptoms but goes to the heart of the issue, that sets you up for long-term success not a temporary fix. As such, following the initial FREE consultation we provide coaching packages instead of individual coaching sessions that range from 12-weeks (3 months) to 24-weeks (6 months). We are also available for one-time speaking engagements or leadership and personal development training blocks for groups. All of these are customized to the needs of the group. 

We also host retreats, conferences, mini-retreats, and workshops. And provide resources such as e-courses, books, and merchandize that support the development of wholistic wellness and success. 

We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I am very transparent and share myself very openly with my clients as needed, so there is very little that they would be surprised about. What they may not know is that although my work has evolved to working with adults, it was never my intention. My initial goal was to stay away from working with adults completely, especially women, and focus on working with children and adolescents, but living through the pandemic and my own evolution has made me realize that this is a group that I am called to – because I am her/she. I am the woman that I seek to serve in each of my clients. I know their pain and their sorrows, the burdens they carry, the pressures they face, the traumas they have been through, the battles they face. I know this because I go through the same and my only hope is to provide for them the safe spaces and empowering platforms that I wish someone had created for me. 

Contact Info:

• Email: connect@destiny-connections.com
• Website: www.destiny-connections.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/destinyconnections17
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/destinyconnections17

Image Credits
India Burton