Peak Performance Institute

Joan Komer is the CEO of the Peak Performance Institute Inc. She is an educator, self-esteem coach, seminar speaker, author, and a researcher. With Dr. Larry Komer, they have shared their Be Menopositive! seminar on womens health and well-being to over 35,000 people. As Joan reflects, I was youngest of three and a baby boomer, with two boys before... me. I was the girl my parents so badly wanted. I was a youngest child, but because I was 6 and 7 years younger than my brothers, I have characteristics of an only child too. I always loved crafts. When I was in high school, I was in the academic stream so I was only allowed to take Home Economics for the first year. Devastated, I arranged with the sewing teacher to audit all the daily sewing classes for the next three years. After school, she would show me what had been taught that day and I would go home, do it and bring back the finished project, crafts and sewing, the very next day. Eventually, I made all my own clothes and sewed for my mother as well. I planned to take a degree in Home Economics, but changed my mind in Grade 13, as I wanted my passion to be a hobby and not a vocation. I loved high school. I was a cheer leader, in the choir and played second saxophone in the band. I was in musicals. I won the Grade 13 music award for the highest marks in music. I was winning my campaign for President of Student Council in the 12th grade when I became very sick with mononucleosis and ended up spending the next 4 months in bed. Against my doctors wishes, I went back to school in the fall for my Grade 13 year. There was no way was I going to miss moving on with my friends. I attended about half of the classes because I was so tired, but I did graduate as an Ontario Scholar. Doing well academically was expected. I did, but I never felt as if I did, because I was always comparing myself to my older brother, David, who was an academic phoneme. As a result, I developed a fear of speaking up in class, lest they find out the truth that I knew that I really was a fraud, ...Read More