Open the present™ to live your best life.

Bringing hope alive

A published author, retreat leader, speaker, facilitator, and soul care guide, I delight in nature, horizon views, and discovering authenticity and beauty in ordinary life through deep listening and presence with someone or a group, through the lens of a camera, or in the power of words.

I value substance and transparency, poetry and rhythm, stories of courage, humor, wilderness, and the human spirit.

Adventurous and creative, I trust the unknown, and know through tough personal experiences that there is always a reason to hope … no matter what.

Communications

In the years of 2011-2022, as first a communications specialist, then the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District director of communications, community, and government relations, I described my role as a strategic storyteller. Whether pitching stories or responding to media, crisis communication, or celebrating what is right in public education in 42 diverse schools, the intense daily work life often included strategic thinking and problem solving—the heart of a good story. In those 11 years, I sought the story elements to bring solutions and deliver delight to individuals and organizations, create content and oversee school and district digital platforms, engage in meaningful communications with students and publics, offer communications workshops to school administrators and state educational leaders, and advocate with community partners and legislators about all things instructional and non-instructional in K-12 education.

Retreats and more

Teens and college students inspire me. For dozens of years in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, I led retreats, leadership programs, taught in a spiritual direction program, and accompanied people and groups through deep listening and presence in order to assist meaning making, healing, and hope from whatever life brings.

The global pandemic brought a pause to the practicum portion of professional certification in transformational leadership coaching and facilitation training, which I’m now finishing through The Institute for Women-Centered Coaching, Training & Leadership. This training adds to the tool bag of spiritual director certification completed in 1997, Restorative Justice facilitation, and numerous other trainings, certifications, and learning.

Alaska called in 2007

My Labrador Retriever and I are building an amazing life along the banks of the Kenai River in Soldotna, Alaska, where we live at my new adventure that started in 2021, at the River Raven Sanctuary Lodge. For 13 years I lived in the woods of Kasilof, in a cozy spot I affectionately named my Zen house in the woods, with a phenomenal view of the Kenai Mountain Range that caught my attention, every day. The Alaska landscape provided a powerful space to heal me from deep grief and loss.

 I hope to connect with you through retreats, coaching or soul friending, my blog, books, social circles, and a soon to come podcast. Together we can explore the gift of the present, and the challenge and invitation it may evoke in you for your next best steps!

Note: Nature images and writing throughout this website is copyrighted and attributed to Pegge Erkeneff unless otherwise indicated. Creative Puppy snapped the images of Pegge. Open The Present ™ is in the federal trademarking process.