From model to monk to multimillionaire,
Christine Comaford-Lynch achieved enormous
success by playing the game her own way.
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Discover Your Own
enfoer les
RgInner Enatreprendeur es
adapted by barbara parus
To say that Christine Comaford-Lynch
is unique is both an obvious observation and a
huge understatement. She dropped out of her
California life at age 17 to study Buddhism in
San Diego and Los Angeles, where she spent
seven years as a monk. Although she lived and
worked in the world while retaining her vows,
Comaford-Lynch did a fair amount of fasting,
multi-hour meditations and other common ac-
tivities monks undertake. As Comaford-Lynch
says, “I did lots of extreme things to try to get
enlightened.”
She returned to American society at age 24,
realizing that she’d be more effective making a
difference in the world if she dove deeply into
it. Among other things, she was pretty clue-
less about all things “girly.” A self-proclaimed
geek, Comaford-Lynch needed some help pre-
senting her softer, feminine side. “I didn’t un-
derstand how to be a woman, especially after
being celibate for so long. Eventually I dated
a famous billionaire, got dumped, and didn’t
know why.”
Comaford-Lynch’s solution was to study the
way of the geisha and to start a business called
American Geisha, Inc. She learned that you
can’t use business to solve your personal prob-
lems, and she ditched her geisha plan after four
months. She reinvented herself as an executive
and entrepreneur and the rest, they say, is histo-
ry. Comaford-Lynch has worked with Bill Gates,
Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush on
