Wade Brill
Bank Street School for Children '03
Bank Street has a very special place in my heart and my family’s heart. The hallways, the sights, the sounds, the tastes in the cafeteria, the teachers, and ways of learning are so much the fabric of my family’s being.
Wade Brill is a mindfulness coach, speaker, and facilitator in Seattle, Washington. She helps individuals and company culture create calm and clarity amid chaos so that people can thrive and be more present, productive, and energized. She specializes in helping busy professional women focus on their health and well-being and make themselves a priority in life. Wade’s educational journey began at the Bank Street Family Center and the School for Children. Her older siblings, Micah and Loren, were also students at the School for Children. She remembers learning life skills at Bank Street, and she says they remain at the core of her professional life.
Wade said, “In my business as a coach, the experiential learning that was so encouraged at Bank Street has been my approach—by just doing and experimenting and trying and playing and practicing not being afraid to ask for help. I definitely learned those ideas at a young age at Bank Street, and I’ve carried them with me as I teach mindfulness and resilience in my work with companies. I also love working with my one-on-one clients, as well as on my podcast.”
Her choice of career came out of the traumatic life events that happened during her college years. While studying in Buenos Aires through the University of Michigan, a terrifying cancer diagnosis cut short her junior year abroad. In addition to health challenges no 21-year-old dreams of facing, at the same moment, she experienced the devastating loss of her mother.
She said, “I wouldn’t wish cancer or grief from loss on anybody because they are horrible, painful aspects of our human experience, and, at the same time, I look back on those moments in my life and realize they were teachers for me of how to wake up and really savor life—not to take it for granted.”
Wade’s mother, Gail Koff, was also a member of the Bank Street Board of Trustees for 12 years, and when she passed, the family held her memorial at Bank Street.
Wade said, “Bank Street has a very special place in my heart and my family’s heart. The hallways, the sights, the sounds, the tastes in the cafeteria, the teachers, and ways of learning are so much the fabric of my family’s being,” Wade said.
Wade’s experiences attending the School for Children and later working as an assistant counselor for the Bank Street Summer Camp gave her the tools to accomplish her own goals as a life coach who uses what she’s learned to help others discover how they can live to their fullest potential. In her practice, Wade recommends a healthy lifestyle that includes nurturing childhood connections.
She said, “I remember learning how to lean on my community through Bank Street. It helped me to cope with losing my mom at such a young age. Some of my best friends from Bank Street really showed up for me when I was sick and when my mom passed. It’s so special to keep those relationships alive. Relationships take effort, but showing up to a reunion is such a beautiful way to reminisce and connect to old parts of ourselves that we can forget are there and remember what’s important to us—that inner child that’s in all of us.”
In 2023, Wade Brill is serving as a School for Children Class Delegate. Read more about Wade’s cherished Bank Street memories and learn about how School for Children alumni can attend the reunion during Bank Street’s upcoming Alumni Weekend in May.