Voices of Influence: The Podcast with Criss Madrigal

What does it look like to rebuild your life when everything you thought you knew about yourself has been dismantled?

In this Speaker Spotlight, I sit down with Maria Lloyd — licensed marriage and family therapist of 24+ years, certified coach, and one of our featured voices at Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment. Maria specializes in helping women heal from narcissistic abuse and complex trauma, and she’s doing it in a way that’s unlike anything else out there: blending deep therapeutic roots with forward-moving coaching to help women not just process the past, but actually build the life they want.

We talk about:

* Why healing from narcissistic abuse requires more than trauma processing and what it actually takes to move forward

* How Maria merged 24 years of clinical expertise with coaching to create a model that truly meets women where they are

* The moment she knew it was time to stop shrinking and start speaking

* Why your hesitation might be the very thing keeping you small — and what to do about it

Maria’s message is simple and powerful: the women who need you most can’t find you if you stay quiet.

This is a conversation for the woman who has survived something hard and is ready — even if she’s not sure how — to step into what comes next.

🎙️ Maria Lloyd is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Intuitive Coach specializing in narcissistic abuse recovery. She is the host of the Catalyst for Healing podcast and leads group coaching programs focused on rebuilding life after leaving.

✨ Ready for your own midyear realignment?

Join us at Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment — a FREE virtual event and your midyear realignment happening June 15–19 featuring 30+ women leading in health, wealth, love, and personal power. This is your invitation to step into the second half of the year with clarity, alignment, and a community of women rising together.

🔗 Register here: https://www.crissmadrigal.com/top-50-voi-experience

We’re halfway through 2026.

Pause for a second. Take a breath. And ask yourself honestly — are you still aligned with the goals, the vision, the desires you set in January? Are you moving in the direction of the life you actually want? Or have the months quietly slipped by and those dreams have found their way to the back burner?

If you started the year strong — with a word of the year, a vision board, a list of intentions — and now you’re somewhere between exhausted and questioning whether you’re even on the right path, I want you to know: that is not failure. That is a very human experience. And it is also a signal.

Your life is asking you to pause and realign.

This Is Why I Created Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment

I know what it feels like to look successful on the outside while feeling completely disconnected on the inside. I lived in survival mode for over a decade. Overgiving. Overworking. Overthinking. Overriding every signal my body was sending me, until it couldn’t be ignored anymore.

That survival mode led to an autoimmune condition that took years for me to understand. And when I finally received the right holistic support and had the mindset shift I needed, everything changed. In less than six months, I was healed. Not just physically, but in how I was choosing to live, receive, lead, and show up.

That experience is exactly why I became someone who preaches realignment.

You don’t have to wait until you’re completely falling apart to pause. You don’t have to wait for a breakdown to give yourself permission to come back to yourself.

You can realign now. And I want to help you do exactly that.

What Is This Event?

Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment is a free, 5-day virtual experience happening June 15–19, 2026 — and it was built with one woman in mind: you.

Not the version of you performing, proving, or pushing through. The version of you who is ready to stop moving on autopilot and start living from a place of alignment.

This is a mid-year realignment experience — not your typical virtual event where you show up, consume information, and forget about it by Monday. This is intentional. Guided. And designed around you and where you are right now.

Over the course of the week, you’ll hear from 30+ women leaders, coaches, healers, mentors, and experts across four pillars of aligned living:

Monday, June 15 — Health Because your body has been carrying the cost of overgiving, overworking, and being ignored. It’s time to listen.

Tuesday, June 16 — Wealth Because your relationship with money is deeply connected to your alignment. Wealth expands differently when you stop trying to prove your worth and start knowing it.

Wednesday, June 17 — Love Because love — self-love, relationships, connection, the way you give and receive — is one of the deepest mirrors of where you are and where you’re still healing.

Thursday, June 18 — Personal Power Because your voice, your truth, your boundaries, and your choices all come together here. This is for the woman who is no longer available to disappear inside her own life.

Friday — Live Closing with VIP Guests Because you deserve to end the week activated, connected, and ready to move into the second half of 2026 differently.

You Don’t Have to Tune In Every Day

Here’s what I love about this event — it’s designed to meet you exactly where you are.

When you register (for free), you immediately receive access to the Alignment Audit — a simple, powerful reflection tool that takes less than 10 minutes. It will show you clearly which areas of your life are out of balance and which pillar is calling for your attention right now.

That audit becomes your guide for the week. Maybe you think the problem is your business, but the truth is you’re just exhausted. Maybe you think you need more discipline, but really you need more love and support. The audit helps you see what’s actually there, so you can show up to the day and the speakers that are calling you most.

You might come for one day. You might come for all five. Either way, I promise you — if you follow your intuition and tune into what’s calling you, you’re going to hear something that changes how you move for the rest of 2026.

This Is for You If…

You’ve been carrying a lot and you’re ready to put some of it down. You’re tired of living in survival mode. You want to expand your wealth without abandoning yourself. You’re craving deeper love — with yourself and others. You know something in your life needs to shift, even if you can’t fully name it yet.

And most of all, if some part of you knows you’re being called to more, but you keep waiting for the right moment?

This is the moment.

Grab Your Free Ticket

Come exactly as you are. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to be willing to pause, listen, and receive.

Register for free and get immediate access to your Alignment Audit at: www.crissmadrigal.com/top-50-voi-experience

And if you have any questions, send me a DM. I love connecting with women in this community and I cannot wait to see you inside this experience.

The second half of 2026 can look and feel completely different. It starts with one decision — to come back to yourself.

I’ll see you there. 💛

— Criss Madrigal

In this Top 50 Voices of Influence Speaker Series, Criss Madrigal sits down with Thyra Newby, bestselling author, speaker, transformational life coach, and board-certified clinical hypnotherapist, for a powerful conversation on breaking generational patterns, releasing the roles we were placed in, and using our voice as a path to healing, visibility, and legacy.

Thyra shares how saying yes to sharing her story opened new stages, new opportunities, deeper confidence, and a greater mission to reach the women who are still suffering in silence. This episode is a reminder that growth may feel uncomfortable at first, but on the other side of that discomfort is freedom.

As we reach the midpoint of the year, this is your invitation to realign with the woman you are deep inside.

Join us for Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment, happening virtually June 15–19.

It’s a free women’s event designed as a midyear alignment reset around the four areas that shape so much of our lives: health, wealth, love, and personal power.

The intention is for you to pause, reflect, and identify where you’re being called back into alignment before moving into the second half of the year.

You’ll hear from incredible women leaders, receive powerful teachings, and walk away with more clarity around what needs your attention, what no longer feels aligned, and direct support to step into your next season.

Grab your free ticket and get immediate access to the Alignment Audit to help guide you throughout the week.

Reserve your spot for the virtual experience and join us June 15–19 for the biggest women’s alignment event of the summer.

In this Top 50 Voices of Influence Speaker Spotlight, I had the honor of introducing Anita Karadalian-Girgis, one of our keynote speakers for Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment, happening June 15–19, 2026. Anita is a somatic mindset coach who helps women come back into their bodies, expand their nervous system capacity, and reconnect with the version of themselves who is ready to live, lead, and receive expansively.

We dove into the power and transformation that happens when a woman decides her voice is no longer something to hide, soften, or delay.

Owning the Voice After Years of Suppression

One of the first things Anita shared was how deeply aligned Top 50 Voices of Influence felt because of the way it centers women, their voices, and their gifts.

She spoke about the pivotal moment women are in right now, where they’re stepping into their power. Where more women are beginning to own who they are. And yet, for so many, their voice is still one of the hardest places to reclaim.

For women who grew up in people-pleasing, expectation, silence, or self-protection, using their voice can feel unfamiliar. It can even feel unsafe. Anita named this with so much clarity: the voice becomes activated through use. Every opportunity to speak, share, and express becomes part of the art of becoming more fully seen.

That is part of what drew her to Top 50 Voices of Influence. It was not just the visibility. It was the opportunity to use her voice in service of activating other women to use theirs.

The Body as the Place Where Alignment Begins

Anita’s work is rooted in helping women reconnect with their bodies.

As a somatic mindset coach, she supports women in expanding their nervous system capacity so they can hold the lives they say they desire. She shared how many women, especially high-performing women, are deeply disconnected from their bodies without even realizing it. And I couldn’t agree more, because I was once there too.

We keep going, we push, we perform, we override. We’ve operated from fight, freeze, or survival patterns and call it ambition, discipline, or responsibility.

Anita described the work as a return to center. A return to the breath and to presence. For her, presence and awareness are what allow women to move into a new state of alignment and flow.

This is especially powerful because Anita does not speak about embodiment as a concept. She speaks about it as someone who has lived the disconnection herself. She shared that her own default pattern was freeze. When something happened, she would shut down, lose access to her words, and struggle to express what she was feeling.

That is why voice activation matters so deeply to her. Because for Anita, the voice is connected to the body. The ability to speak is connected to the ability to feel. And the ability to feel is connected to the ability to lead from wholeness.

Saying Yes to Visibility Before It Feels Comfortable

When Anita saw Top 50 Voices of Influence, she was already in a season of intentional expansion.

She had made a decision that this year, she wanted to impact at least 200 women. That number was only the beginning, but it represented something important: her desire to be in front of more women, share her work, and allow her message to move beyond one-on-one spaces.

She also shared that speaking was part of her next identity shift.

In the past, she was the woman who would have avoided the stage. She would have worried about messing up, being judged, or not being received the way she hoped. But in this season of her business and life, she realized that getting in front of the right women was part of the impact she was here to make.

That is what made Top 50 feel aligned for Anita. It gave her a platform to speak to women who are hungry for growth, healing, embodiment, and expansion.

And in her words, when she took herself out of the equation and focused on what her message could do for others, the decision became much clearer and it’s reason you want to grab a front row seat to experience Anita live in Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment.

Why She Chose the Keynote Experience

Anita did not only say yes to being part of the event. She said yes to stepping in as a keynote speaker.

For her, that decision was directly connected to impact.

She shared that a shorter talk would have felt more comfortable. But the keynote opportunity invited her into a deeper stretch: a 45-minute live keynote, streamed during the week of the event, with the opportunity for her message to reach women beyond the room.

What anchored the yes was the knowing that her work matters.

Her message around somatic healing, coming back home to the body, and nervous system expansion has the power to support women who do not even know this kind of work exists yet. Anita believes that some of our most empowered leaders will be the ones who are willing to work with their nervous systems, become more embodied, and lead from a deeper internal foundation.

The keynote opportunity gave her a way to put her voice, her essence, and her body of work in front of more women. Not for performance. For service. And to impact over 200 women in just one event.

Impact Above Fear

One of the most powerful themes Anita returned to was impact.

She shared that it can be easy to talk yourself out of a decision, especially when that decision stretches you. But what helped her stay anchored was the ripple effect. The question became less about, “Am I nervous?” and more about, “Who could this serve?”

Her work is rooted in helping women feel rejuvenated, return to themselves, and feel excited about life again. She knows what it feels like to be disconnected for so long that you forget what aliveness feels like. And she also knows the power of feeling the wires come back on.

That is the energy she is bringing to the Top 50 VOI stage.

A Message for the Woman Who Does Not Feel Ready

When asked what she would say to the woman who feels the call but has not said yes yet, Anita offered a beautiful challenge.

She invited women to question whether they are truly not ready, or whether the belief of not being ready has become the thing delaying their progress.

Her perspective was clear: if there is a call in your heart, you have to honor it, even when it feels scary. Growth lives on the other side of that edge.

She also spoke about checking in with the body. What does the opportunity bring up? Where does the fear live? Is it anxiety, or is it the nervous system recognizing the magnitude of the impact available?

That distinction matters.

Because sometimes what we label as fear is actually our next level speaking through the body.

Your Invitation to Join Us June 15–19

This conversation with Anita is exactly why Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment was created.

This event is for the woman who is ready to live, lead, heal, expand, and be witnessed in her next level of alignment. Across the week, we will be gathering around the pillars of health, wealth, love, and personal power, with powerful speakers sharing the wisdom, stories, practices, and activations that support women in becoming more aligned with the life and leadership they are here to embody.

Join us June 15–19 for Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment.

This is your invitation to be in the room, receive the wisdom, and experience what becomes possible when women gather around voice, visibility, alignment, and legacy.

For the Woman Who Knows Her Voice Belongs on This Stage

There are still a few speaker spots available for women leading in the areas of health, wealth, love, or personal power.

If you have a message, a body of work, a story, or a framework that is meant to support women in living more aligned, this may be your invitation to step forward.

Top 50 Voices of Influence is a visibility and legacy platform created for women whose voices are ready to be heard, amplified, and remembered.

Join the speaker line up for Top 50 Voices of Influence.

In this episode of Voices of Influence, I sat down with Shannon Hernandez, one of our speakers for Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment, for a conversation that moved through health, self-advocacy, functional medicine, and the deeper reason our voices matter.

Shannon is a nurse practitioner based in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and she is currently building a virtual functional medicine practice. Her work focuses on helping people understand what is happening inside their bodies instead of simply accepting labels, diagnoses, or medications without deeper answers. She spoke about the importance of getting to the root cause, helping people ask better questions, and reminding them that their future health should not be completely placed in someone else’s hands.

What I loved most about this conversation is that Shannon’s work is not only clinical. It is deeply human. She is passionate about helping people feel heard, especially those who have felt dismissed, rushed, or treated like a number in traditional medical settings. She believes people deserve individualized care because no two people experience the same symptoms, the same body, or the same future vision in the exact same way.

And this is why her voice belongs on the Top 50 Voices of Influence stage.

Join us for the Top 50 Voices of Influence Speaker Spotlight Series inside Voices of Influence Podcast and Publication!

Shannon said yes to this experience because she understands the power of sharing your story. She knows she is not the only woman who has experienced brain fog, struggled to lose weight, questioned what was happening in her body, or wondered if there was another way. For her, speaking is a way to help someone else hear, “That sounds like me,” and begin to believe there is hope.

That is the heart of this event.

Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment was created for women who are living, leading, and sharing from a place of alignment in the areas of health, wealth, love, and personal power. It is a space where your message gets to expand, where visibility meets purpose, and where your voice has the opportunity to become part of something much bigger than one conversation.

In our conversation, Shannon shared that what made this feel aligned was the genuine energy behind the event. She did not experience it as just another business opportunity or speaking project. She felt the heart behind it. She felt the intention to bring women together with different backgrounds, different bodies of work, and different messages, all connected by a shared desire to contribute to the betterment of humanity.

That is what I want every woman who joins this stage to feel.

This is not about being the most polished speaker in the room, or having the perfect talk, the perfect delivery, or years of experience on stages. This is about choosing yourself first. It is about recognizing that the wisdom you carry, the story you have lived, and the work you are here to share may be exactly what someone else needs to hear.

Shannon said it beautifully when she reminded women that they do not have to be “stage ready” to say yes. Your voice does not need to sound rehearsed to be powerful. Sometimes the most impactful messages are the ones that come from real experience, real care, and a real desire to help someone feel less alone.

That is what influence truly is. It is presence and truth carried through your voice.

This conversation with Shannon is a reminder that when a woman uses her voice in service of others, her message becomes more than information. It becomes medicine. It becomes a bridge. It becomes the moment someone else realizes they have options, they have agency, and they are not alone.

And this is the invitation inside Top 50 Voices of Influence.

If you are a woman leading in alignment in health, wealth, love, or personal power, and you know your message is meant to reach more people, this is your time to step forward.

Speaker spots are still open for Top 50 Voices of Influence: Women in Alignment.

Come share your voice, your story, and be part of a stage where your message does not end when the talk is over.

This is where your voice becomes legacy.

What happens when you stop waiting to feel ready… and choose yourself anyway?

In this episode of Voices of Influence, Criss Madrigal sits down with Joyce Ayers, Divorce Strategist, for a real, unfiltered conversation about alignment, identity, and the courage it takes to use your voice—especially when it feels uncomfortable.

This isn’t a conversation about having it all figured out.It’s about what happens when you decide to show up anyway.

Joyce shares her personal journey from silence to self-expression, the internal battles many women face between who they are in their work versus their personal lives, and the moment she realized it was time to stop playing small and step into a bigger level of visibility.

Together, Criss and Joyce explore what it truly means to be in alignment—and why your next level often requires you to move before you feel ready.

In This Episode, We Talk About

* The difference between being in alignment… and actually showing up in it

* Why so many women feel confident in business but shrink in their personal lives

* The identity shifts required to step into your voice

* Letting go of perfection and embracing real, human expression

* The power of saying yes before your mind talks you out of it

* How intuition often gives you the answer in a split second—and what happens when you trust it

Continue the Conversation

This episode is part of our Top 50 Voices of Influence Speaker Spotlight Series, where we highlight the women who are choosing to lead, speak, and expand their impact.

✨ Read the full companion article featuring Joyce Ayers - Divorce Coach on Substack:“Saying Yes Before You’re Ready”

✨ Ready to step into your next level of visibility and share your voice?

Explore opportunities to be featured inside Top 50 Voices of Influence.

Because in this new era, we don’t build alone. We rise together.

To hear more, visit

This first episode of Voices of Influence inside Substack marks more than the launch of a podcast, it represents a shift.

A shift in how we connect, how we build, and a shift in how we choose to be seen.

In this opening conversation, I share the intention behind this space, the evolution of my work, and what it means to move from building alone into collaboration in community.

This is the beginning of something deeper.

From Audience to Community

One of the biggest realizations that led to this space was the difference between having an audience… and building a community.

For a long time, many of us have been taught to grow numbers, expand reach, and focus on visibility. But visibility without connection feels empty.

What we’re craving now is something more meaningful. These are spaces where we’re not just seen, but felt. Where we’re not just consuming, but participating.

This is about moving beyond surface-level interactions and into real connection, and that’s what you’ll find here.

This podcast is rooted in alignment. The kind that feels true within.

The conversations inside Voices of Influence center around five core areas:

* Health

* Wealth

* Relationships

* Spirituality

* Personal Power

Because midlife invites a deeper level of reflection. And it asks you to look at what’s working, and what’s not. What feels aligned and what no longer does. And from that place, to begin making different choices.

The Shift from Individualism to Collaboration

There is a collective shift happening.

For years, success has been tied to independence—doing it on your own, building in isolation, proving your worth through output. But what’s emerging now is something different.

A return to collaboration, to co-creation, and a return to building in community.

This isn’t about losing your individuality, it’s about expanding it through connection with others. Because when people gather in aligned spaces, the impact multiplies.

This is the foundation of everything I’m creating: Collaboration in community is the new currency.

Stories as a Path to Legacy

Another theme that will continue throughout this podcast is the power of your story.

In this episode, I share that I’ll be opening up about the different chapters I’ve written as a 5x international bestselling author, and not just the stories themselves, but the meaning behind them.

These are moments that shaped me. The lessons that transformed me. The experiences that brought me back into alignment. And a reminder that your story is not just something that happened.

It holds wisdom. It holds power. And it has the ability to impact someone else in ways you may not even realize.

Voices of Influence is about the collective voices.

This space will spotlight women who are leading in alignment through Top 50 Voices of Influence, as well as members inside The Collaboration Room.

Women who are ready to share their message. Members who are ready to be seen.People who are ready to step into their next level of visibility.

Because this is more than a podcast. It’s a platform for collective elevation.

We are in a time where more women are waking up to the realization that the way they’ve been living, leading, and building no longer feels aligned. And yet, many are trying to navigate that shift alone.

This space exists to remind you that you don’t have to do anything alone. That there is another way.

A way rooted in connection. In collaboration. In authentic expression. A way that allows you to be fully seen, without losing yourself in the process.

As you listen to this episode, I invite you to reflect:

Where in your life are you craving more alignment?Where are you being called to connect more deeply… or to stop doing it alone?

This is an ongoing conversation, and you are a part of it.

If this resonated, let’s stay connected.

Subscribe to Voices of Influence on Substack so you don’t miss upcoming episodes, including the next series where I’ll be sharing the chapters of my story and the lessons that shaped them.

And if you feel called to be in a space where collaboration and connection are real, I invite you to explore The Collaboration Room.

✨ Ready to step into your next level of visibility and share your voice?

Explore opportunities to be featured inside Top 50 Voices of Influence.

Because in this new era…

We don’t build alone. We rise together.

There was something powerful about this kickoff.

It was the transition of The Collaboration Room into Substack, and it signaled something deeper. This is not simply a shift in platform. It is a shift in how we connect, how we collaborate, and how we expand our voices—together.

This moment represents the beginning of a new way of being in community. A way that is intentional. A way that is aligned. A way that allows your voice to not only exist, but to be witnessed, supported, and amplified in the right rooms.

Why This Space Exists

The Collaboration Room was created from a truth that many of us have felt but not always named:

We are not meant to build, create, and grow alone.

So many women are doing meaningful work—writing, speaking, creating, leading—but doing so in isolation. And while your voice can grow on its own, it expands differently when it is held inside a space that is designed for connection and collaboration.

This space exists to move you out of doing everything on your own and into co-creation with aligned members. It is a place where your voice is not competing for attention, but is supported in its natural expansion.

Because when you are in the right rooms, your voice doesn’t just grow—it multiplies.

Join The Collaboration Room - The space where collaboration in community becomes currency.

Why Substack Changes the Game

Bringing The Collaboration Room into Substack was a deeply intentional decision.

Substack is one of the few platforms where organic visibility still exists. It allows your voice to reach beyond your current audience and into spaces where new connections can organically form. More importantly, every subscriber becomes part of your ecosystem—creating a direct line of communication that you own.

What makes this even more powerful is how seamlessly content can evolve within this space.

One piece of content can expand into multiple forms:

* A live conversation

* A podcast episode

* A written article

* Content shared across other platforms

This is not about doing more. It is about allowing what you are already creating to have a greater impact.

Inside Substack, your voice is no longer limited to one format or one moment. It becomes something that continues to live, expand, and reach others in meaningful ways.

More Than Content—This Is Community

The Collaboration Room is not just a place to publish or promote your work.

It is a space where you are witnessed. Where your voice is not only shared, but supported by others who are also committed to growth, alignment, and expansion.

This is where collaboration becomes a lived experience.

Because when you are part of a community that is rooted in intention, support looks different. Engagement looks different. Growth looks different.

This is where the philosophy becomes real:

Collaboration in community is the new currency.

Not in a transactional sense, but in a deeply aligned way where:

* You support others because their message resonates

* You engage because something genuinely moved you

* You share because you believe their voice deserves to be heard

And in doing so, your voice is naturally amplified as well.

How The Collaboration Room Works

The structure of The Collaboration Room is simple, yet powerful.

Each month, we gather intentionally. These are not passive calls. They are spaces designed for connection, collaboration, and support.

Inside this space, you will experience:

* Monthly live calls focused on connection and collaboration

* Opportunities for member spotlights, where you can share your work and vision

* A private chat space, where conversations, ideas, and opportunities unfold in real time

These elements work together to create a living, breathing ecosystem—one where you are not just consuming, but actively participating.

Because visibility is not created by staying hidden. It is created by allowing yourself to be seen and supported.

Co-Creation Over Competition

One of the foundational beliefs of this space is that competition is not the path forward.

There is room for all of us.

You can be doing similar work, serving similar audiences, and still have your own people. Your voice, your energy, and your way of expressing your message are uniquely yours.

This is why collaboration works.

Because you are not losing anything by sharing space with others. You are expanding what is possible for everyone involved.

Co-creation allows each voice to stand fully in its truth, while also benefiting from the collective energy of the room.

Visibility Through Alignment

Not every connection will be meant to turn into collaboration—and that is by design.

This space invites you to move with intention. To connect with those who feel aligned. To build relationships that energize and expand you.

Visibility through alignment means:

* You follow what genuinely resonates

* You collaborate where there is natural connection

* You trust what feels expansive, not forced

Because the goal is not to collaborate with everyone.The goal is to collaborate with the right people.

The ones where conversations flow easily, ideas build naturally, and you leave feeling more energized than when you arrived.

A New Way to Amplify Your Voice

As part of this evolution, the Voices of Influence Podcast is launching within this ecosystem.

Members of The Collaboration Room will be the first invited into this space, creating a powerful opportunity for co-creation and visibility.

Each feature includes:

* A podcast conversation

* Distribution across major platforms

* A collaborative Substack article expanding on the conversation

This creates a ripple effect where one conversation becomes multiple points of connection and visibility.

This is the essence of what The Collaboration Room was created for—expansion through collaboration.

The Power of Being Seen As You Are

There is a deeper layer to this work that goes beyond strategy.

You do not need to be perfect to be visible. You do not need to be polished to be powerful. People are no longer looking for perfection. They are looking for truth. For real conversations. For authentic voices.

When you allow yourself to be seen in that way, something shifts. Because people do not connect to perfection. They connect to presence.

And this space is designed to hold that.

This Is a Space You Step Into

The Collaboration Room is not something you watch from the outside.

It is something you step into.

It grows through participation. It expands through connection. It becomes more powerful as each member brings their voice, their work, and their presence into the space.

This is where:

* Opportunities are shared

* Collaborations are created

* Voices are amplified—together

And over time, this becomes more than a room. It becomes an ecosystem of aligned visibility and support.

An Invitation Forward

If you are here, it is because your voice is ready for more.

The Collaboration Room is where your voice is supported, nurtured, and expanded through aligned community. And for those who feel ready to take that expansion even further…

There is another stage available to you.

Top 50 Voices of Influence is where your message reaches beyond this space and into a broader audience. It is where your voice meets visibility at a different level and where the collaborations that begin here can extend even further.

This is the virtual stage that takes you on t.v. and you become a part of the upcoming Voices of Influence TV show streaming on Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV.

This is just the beginning.

And if something in you felt activated while reading this, trust that.

Your voice is ready.The space exists.And the expansion is already in motion.

This message came through in real time, and I chose not to wait to share it. What I spoke about on a global stage last week didn’t feel complete until it was brought into a space like this—because legacy is not built on stages alone. It is built in rooms.

In the video above, I share a deeper truth that shifted everything for me: standing out is often the very thing that keeps us disconnected from our voice. When we focus on being seen, we can easily fall into performance—adjusting, measuring, and questioning ourselves in ways that slowly pull us away from who we truly are. Over time, that performance creates exhaustion, and eventually, disconnection.

What I came to understand through my own journey—especially after years in corporate where I learned how to lead, perform, and be recognized—is that what I was truly craving was not visibility, but belonging. A place where I could show up fully, without needing to prove or position myself.

That shift changed everything.

Because belonging is not something a room gives you. It is something you decide before you walk in. And when you anchor into that, your voice carries a different frequency. It becomes clear, grounded, and felt. It no longer needs to compete for attention because it naturally resonates.

This is why The Collaboration Room exists.

Not as another place to post or consume, but as a space where voices expand through connection. A space where women support each other, amplify each other, and invite each other into aligned opportunities. Because this is how legacy actually grows—in community, in proximity, and through shared visibility.

If you watched the video and felt something activate within you, trust that. That pull is not random.

We’ll be gathering for our kickoff call on Monday, April 13th at 10amPT / 1pm ET, and this is your invitation to step into the room—not to stand out, but to belong.

Because we don’t build legacy by trying to be seen.

We build it by choosing the rooms where we can fully be ourselves—and allowing our voice to expand from there.

Join The Collaboration Room and step into community, connection and visibility.

Welcome. I’m really glad you’re here.

The Collaboration Room was created for people who believe that meaningful collaboration, thoughtful connection, and mutual support are some of the most powerful ways we expand our work and our impact.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with incredible leaders, coaches, experts, and creators who are doing important work in the world. Yet one thing I’ve observed again and again is that many of these people are building their work in isolation. At the same time, many of the opportunities that change the trajectory of our work come through connection.

A podcast conversation.A joint event.A collaboration that introduces your work to an entirely new audience.

The Collaboration Room exists to make those kinds of connections easier, more intentional, and more aligned.

Inside this space, the intention is simple. This is a place where thoughtful leaders and creators come together to support one another’s visibility, ideas, and growth through collaboration. You’ll find opportunities to connect with others, share what you’re building, and discover collaborations that expand your reach while building meaningful relationships along the way.

One of the unique aspects of this room is that we are also intentionally supporting one another’s growth here on Substack. When someone publishes something that resonates with you, I encourage you to subscribe to their publication, leave thoughtful comments, and restack posts that feel aligned with your audience. These small actions create real momentum and help great work reach more readers.

This space isn’t meant to be a loud networking environment where everyone is simply dropping links. The culture here is about thoughtful collaboration and contribution. When people enter a space asking not only what they can share, but also who they can support, something really powerful begins to unfold.

If you’ve just joined, I would love to invite you to introduce yourself in the comments below.

Share a little about:

* The work you do

* The topics you write or speak about

* The types of collaborations that feel exciting to you.

You’re also welcome to include the link to your Substack publication so others in the room can discover your work, subscribe, and support what you’re building.

This is one of the ways we begin to build momentum together.

If you believe in collaboration, thoughtful leadership, and supporting one another’s voices, you’re in the right place.

Welcome to The Collaboration Room.