abetter

there’s always

way

We’ll be a good team if you are looking to improve your:

  • Creative Fulfillment

  • Self Expression

  • Social Impact

  • Community Engagement, or

  • Holistic Wellbeing

Hey ^_^

¡holis!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my coaching practice. If we haven’t met, call me Iris.


As a coach, I partner with people and groups ready to make meaningful and lasting changes
in their life and communities.


The motivation to make a change can be obvious and feel like ambition, drive, or eager
curiosity. Sometimes our motivation hides itself under feelings of being stuck, tired, burnt out,
confused, disorganized, or isolated. I help you flip your thoughts around, expand your
perspective, uncover your strengths and values, and make a plan that sticks, so you can relax,
focus, and do what matters most on your day-to-day.

/əˈbedər/

noun abetter, abettor


1. a person who helps on or urges another to act; an encourager or
supporter (of a plan of action)


2. someone who incites another person to do something "wrong"
or commit the crime of living healthy, well, and free.

As a Puerto Rican trans woman living in diaspora, I don’t take anything for granted, especially having access to
healthcare, living free to express myself at home and work, and being able to contribute to the wellbeing of my
community.


When being healthy, living well, loving your family and neighbors, and existing creatively make you a criminal, my role
as a coach is to aid and abet.


My coaching practice is rooted in the principles of mutual aid, justice and abolition.

I offer sliding scale ($50/hr – $250/hr) and alternative forms of trade based on equal time exchange.

Why “abetter way”

A coach is a partner who engages you in a creative and
 thought-provoking process that supports expanding your
own perspective, finding your own solutions, building your
own support, and unlocking in unimagined possibilities.


A coach offers profound, perceptive, kind, and curious
listening that invites you to challenge yourself with
compassion, organize your inner and outer worlds, and
become a master of your own life.


I recommend we meet weekly for one-hour sessions.


How it works

Coaching is not a tool to develop self-control,
but to cultivate self-governance. We look
beyond individual self-actualization, bringing
about revolutionary grassroots community
self-determination. I am part of the boricuir
 diaspora in Brooklyn, a recovering artist, a
sprouting organizer and community leader, a
staunch abolitionist, and a goofy dog mom. I
am drawn and open to all forms of wisdom
from worldwide cultures past, present, and
future. I find company in nature, inspiration in
art, solace in rituals, kindness in people, energy
in coffee, and power in dance.

Personal Philosophy

Recent Events

Holding Hopelessness

March 12, 2025

When there is no room for pain, what we get is
not joy, what we get is isolation.

Suicide prevention is a public health concern that impacts us all,

and it requires us to embrace a public health approach if we want

to effectively address it. Coaches have an ethical obligation to be well-
equipped to handle hard conversations, and we are uniquely equipped
to do so from a place of compassion and ease, maintaining a strong
connection while empowering our clients to creatively respond to crisis
without undermining their agency.


Made in collaboration with BNA Coaching, and building on the work of
MAD In America, this workshop introduces a new paradigm for coaches
and offers concrete ways to put skills into practice.

“As a trained pyschologist and coach, my issue with coaching has been an
unwillingness from coaches to tackle hard topics and get our hands dirty.
The fresh and brave perspective from this workshop is everything I had
been waiting to see in the field.”

A powerful question has no known answer – a client
must find or generate one on their own in a co-creative
process of cultivating insight and curiosity.


How to Unlock Powerful Questions

March 19, 2025

Client’s are often looking for new and expanded perspectives. Coaches
aren’t expert consultants or teachers that share their own, but instead
partners that support client’s ability to create their own new
perspectives. Inquiry is the principal tool we use to achieve this.


In this Wellcoaches Townhall, we demystify what makes questions
powerful, and center the importance of mindfulness, relationship,
silence, and listening – simultaneously inviting coaches to detach their
ego from forming powerful questions while offering practice exercises
that increase curiosity, skill, and confidence.

“Wow. Iris’ super-calm presence impacted me from ‘Moment One.’ I immediately sensed in my
body that it was okay to settle in – to Be. Her silence is filled with peace, allowing us to process her
questions and respond. In this way she demonstrated to me not only the how to hold space with a
client, but I experienced the power of its impact firsthand. I felt like could sit in a room with Iris in
silence and be comfortable, safe, and valued. Priceless!!”

Iris E. Fernández Valdés, PCC, NBC-HWC

(she/they)


Click to book a free exploratory call

email: iris@abetter.coach

linkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iris-fernandez/


Also available for group facilitation, training, & speaking.


Credentials:

2025 ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)

2024 Wellcoaches Certified Professional Health and Wellbeing Coach (CPHWC)

2020 National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC)


Contact Me

Areas of Expertise:


  • Trauma-Informed Mindfulness

  • Stress & Anxiety Management

  • Lifestyle and Holistic Wellbeing

  • Mental Health Coaching

  • Culturally Responsible Coaching

  • Creative and Artistic Fulfillment

  • Neurodivergent Care

  • Gender Affirming Care

  • Suicide Ideation Response