By: Olivia Smith
Women want to be seen. They want to be heard. They want to be fully expressed. Yet many spend years minimizing themselves, putting their desires aside, and seeking approval from everyone except the person whose opinion matters most, their own.
After more than three decades helping female executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals navigate leadership, life transitions, and personal transformation, Maryann Hesse has made it her mission to help women reconnect with their authentic power and become an unshakable presence in every area of their lives.
Hesse has developed a unique approach to leadership and personal transformation. As creator of the Authority Recalibration™ Method and Embodied Leadership™, Hesse combines decades of experience in coaching, subconscious release work, feminine presence training, and holistic wellness to help women become more confident, visible, and self-trusting.
Question: You Often Talk About Women Wanting To Be Seen, Heard, And Fully Expressed. Why Do You Think So Many Women Struggle With That?
Hesse: Many women have been conditioned to put everyone else’s needs ahead of their own. Over time, they stop trusting themselves and start looking outside themselves for approval. I see incredibly capable women holding back, making themselves smaller, and doubting their own voice. And here’s what I know: the body registers that disconnection long before the mind names it. My work helps them reconnect with their authentic power so they can be fully expressed in their lives and leadership.
Question: Was That Something You Experienced Personally?
Hesse: Absolutely. For much of my life, I was seeking approval, trying to please others, and putting everyone else’s needs ahead of my own. Looking back, much of that stemmed from my relationship with my mother. At the time, I was a teacher, my marriage was ending, and my life simply wasn’t working. I left Iowa for Arizona, hoping for a fresh start, not realizing it would change everything.
Question: What Happened After You Moved To Arizona?
Hesse: Shortly after I arrived, I experienced a health collapse that changed everything. One morning, I woke up and couldn’t stand upright. I literally had to crawl from room to room. That experience led me into nutrition, fitness, energy healing, and personal transformation work. More importantly, it confirmed something I now teach every woman I work with: the body knows before the mind does.
Question: Your Healing Journey Led You To Explore Many Different Paths. What Experiences Shaped The Perspective You Bring To Your Work Today?
Hesse: What began as a search for answers about my health turned into a lifelong exploration of healing, personal growth, and human potential. I studied nutrition and became a nutritional consultant, earned certifications in personal fitness training and Reiki, practiced Transcendental Meditation, and later trained in modalities including the Art of Feminine Presence®, Chakradance™, transformational coaching, and subconscious release work.
Along the way, I learned to trust my body’s wisdom and follow what felt like an authentic “yes.” A defining chapter was my decade with the Amazon Herb Company, where I partnered with the Shipibo people of Peru, helping bring plant-based wellness solutions to thousands worldwide while supporting conservation efforts that protected over a million acres of Amazon rainforest.
But what stayed with me most wasn’t the scale of the work. It was watching people who had never been taught to doubt themselves. The Shipibo lived in complete alignment with their environment, their community, and their own inner knowing. That’s exactly what I now help women rediscover, not as something new, but as something they never should have lost.
Question: You Spent Years Working With Indigenous Communities In Peru. What Did That Experience Teach You?
Hesse: The indigenous peoples I met had a deep connection to nature, each other, and themselves. I saw a level of presence and connection that stayed with me. It reinforced something I was already beginning to understand through my own healing journey. Wisdom doesn’t always come from doing more. Sometimes it comes from becoming still enough to hear what is already there.
Question: Was There A Moment From Those Experiences That Has Stayed With You?
Hesse: Standing at the top of Wayna Picchu, I heard the words, “I’ve got your back.” I started sobbing because I realized no one had ever truly had my back before. It was a profound moment in my life. Looking back, it was the beginning of understanding that real safety doesn’t come from other people. It comes from within.
Question: What Did That Moment Teach You About Yourself?
Hesse: It taught me that safety doesn’t come from other people, circumstances, or achievements. For years, I had been looking outside myself for approval and validation. Standing there, I realized that the security I had been searching for was never outside me. That understanding became one of the foundations of my work, and the reason I can now help other women find it too.
Question: How Did Those Experiences Eventually Lead To Embodied Leadership™?
Hesse: Over the years, I saw the same pattern again and again. Women who were capable, accomplished, and respected were still looking outside themselves for permission to trust what they already knew. Embodied Leadership™ was created to change that. To help women develop the kind of inner stability that doesn’t waver when in a high-stakes room.
Question: You Spoke At The Empower Your Potential Online Summit This Past June. What Did Women Comment That They Took Away From Your Presentation, Your Presence Is Your Power?
Hesse: They really “got” that they don’t have to perform, prove, or seek permission to be powerful. When a woman trusts herself and fully expresses who she is, her presence changes, and everything around her responds to that. The women left knowing their power isn’t something they have to earn, it’s something they can embody. Women need to be fully expressed to be fulfilled, and the world needs every woman’s gift.
To learn more about Maryann Hesse and her work helping women cultivate self-trust, inner stability, and unshakable presence, visit www.maryannhesse.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.
