[I had the wonderful opportunity to interview my dear friend and colleague, Agnes Mura, via Zoom. We have provided a link to this interview and have also asked Agnes to provide a brief written narrative regarding her life richly lived. Agnes also provided some lovely pictures from her scrapbook. We are thankful for all of these offerings. William Bergquist, Co-Editor]

Audio Interview with Agnes Mura

A Brief Life Narrative

What premier coaches have in common is a broad and deeply rich well of experience and study. Multi-lingual executive coach Agnes Mura, MA, MCC, recounts her early (dangerously) bookish years behind the Iron Curtain, why she chose to study philosophy and how her formal as well as lived education (in academia and business) impacts her leadership work with clients today. You will hear an invitation to continue deliberately “changing your mind”.

A life’s journey. Having completed two years of university in Bucharest, Agnes felt a need to defect from Communist Romania, alone, in order to pursue English studies in the UK.

Her mother, Dusi Mura, a renowned piano professor, dropped her daughter off at a train station, unsure of whether or when she might see her again. A photo shows her rehearsing with a student, under a picture of Stalin on the wall.

Agnes in Scotland

Agnes made her way to Edinburgh University, where faculty and alumni helped the first ever Romanian student be accepted into second year English and German studies, with minors in philosophy and art history. Something about the loneliness of the refugee, the amazed big-city girl, as well as the deep search for new horizons is palpable in the photo of Agnes on the open Scottish highlands.

In Germany, Agnes completed her MA at the rigorous universities of Stuttgart and Cologne, having continued to focus on linguistics and philosophy, disciplines that she taught … until deciding to come to Los Angeles and work in international relations for the 1984 Olympics. By that time, her mother had established her studio in Santa Barbara and LA, teaching piano and chamber music master classes that ignited a broad artistic understanding in professionals and music lovers alike.