Nika Anwell, Ph.D., BCC, LPCC, NCC (she/they)

My Approach: Person-centered, structured, creative, educational, and data-informed, with heart at the center. I offer deep, steady support while honoring exactly where you are right now.

I didn’t start life with a roadmap for money, relationships, or personal growth. What I had instead was a deep desire to create something different.

As a first-generation college graduate, I grew up watching my parents work incredibly hard while struggling financially. I witnessed them go through bankruptcy twice and saw firsthand how financial stress can ripple through every area of life. Later, I found myself carrying more than $150,000 in student loan debt and facing my own questions about how to build a stable, meaningful future.

But money wasn’t the only challenge.

Like many people, I grew up in an environment where some of the habits, behaviors, and beliefs being modeled weren’t healthy or sustainable. I could see how those patterns shaped people’s choices, relationships, well-being, and opportunities. Even at a young age, I found myself wondering: Is there another way to live?

What I eventually learned is that most of us are doing the best we can with what we’ve been taught and the examples we’ve been given. The problem is that many of us were never taught the skills we need to manage money, navigate emotions, build healthy habits, set boundaries, communicate effectively, or create meaningful change in our lives.

Yet we often judge ourselves as if we should already know how.

That realization changed everything for me.

Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with me?” I started asking, “What am I missing?” I became fascinated by the roles that mindset, habits, environment, systems, and skill development play in shaping our lives. That curiosity led me to study psychology, mental health, behavior change, and program evaluation, not only to better understand myself, but to better understand how people grow and thrive.

Then in 2017, I discovered You Need a Budget (YNAB) and the financial independence (FIRE) movement. For the first time, I saw a framework that combined practical financial skills with intentional living. It wasn’t just about getting out of debt or accumulating wealth. It was about creating choices. It was about aligning your resources with your values and building a life that reflected what mattered most.

That philosophy continues to guide my work today.

With more than a decade of experience helping people navigate change, I don’t believe lasting transformation comes from dramatic overnight overhauls. Real change is usually quieter than that. It’s built through small, intentional decisions repeated consistently over time. The 1% shifts. The manageable habit. The conversation you’ve been avoiding. The budget you revisit week after week. The choice to try again after a setback.

Those moments compound.

My role isn’t to tell you what your life should look like. It’s to help you uncover what matters most to you. Together, we’ll explore your values, strengths, goals, obstacles, and the systems that support or hinder your progress. From there, we’ll create a realistic, sustainable path forward that fits your life, not someone else’s.

I bring deep compassion to this work because I know what it’s like to build a foundation while you’re standing on it. To learn skills you weren’t taught. To question old stories. To start over.

And I believe that no matter where you’re starting from, meaningful change is possible when you have the right tools, support, and space to grow.

Outside of Coaching: You can find me climbing rocks, hiking, traveling, leaning into quality time, reading a good book, or getting lost in a modern board game.