Coming Home to My Voice: What Reinvention Taught Me About Authentic Leadership

If someone had suggested that I’d have returned to The Humphrey Group, I probably would have questioned it. I used to believe that once you moved on from something – even something you loved – you couldn’t go back. That moving forward means closing a door, taking the lesson, and not looking back. It’s not because I didn’t love working at THG, but because I had this idea that once you close a door, you take the lesson, and you have to move on to the next thing.

But I’ve learned something about the stories we tell ourselves: sometimes they help us grow, and sometimes they hold us back. So, when a persistent intuition began nudging me to reconnect, I questioned it. That isn’t my typical inclination.

The nudge didn’t go away. I started to recognize that this wasn’t about returning to my past but returning with everything I’d learned since I left. There are times when a return to a familiar place – as a person with different experience and perspective – is a powerful way to move forward.

Leaving, Searching, and the Pandemic Reset

When I left THG in 2021 during the pandemic, it wasn’t because I didn’t love the work. It was because the world was shifting, and so was I. We were all in that strange period where routines dissolved overnight. We went from jam-packed calendars to full days with nothing but a laptop and uncertainty about what would come next.

That space opened something in me. I realized I wanted to try something new, so I went off to build my own thing. But I found that building a business from scratch can take you away from the parts of the work you love most. I wasn’t creating or coaching, and the spark I knew I could feel just wasn’t there.

However, what was there was a pull toward something I didn’t anticipate: deeper inner work.

Moving Into Intuition and Healing Work

That unexpected chapter cracked something open in me: a quiet but persistent clarity I couldn’t ignore. What began as curiosity turned into a deeper knowing, and that knowing became a compass. It opened up within me a kind of clarity and intuition that grew stronger over time.

That inner shift eventually led me to work with awakening women: women questioning long-held identities, unpacking old beliefs, and exploring who they wanted to become. Supporting them through that process lit me up in a way that felt both grounding and energizing.

The Two Tracks Were Never Separate

I used to think I was walking two different paths: communications coaching on one side, and beliefs, healing, and mindset on the other. Turns out, the voice you use in the boardroom is shaped by the stories you carry far beneath it.

For a while, I thought I’d have to choose. But over the past few years, something became undeniable: these two tracks are not competing. Leaders who came to me for communication support were struggling with the same limiting beliefs as the women I supported in my healing work. The language was different, but the root was the same.

You can’t communicate clearly if you’re hiding a part of yourself. You can’t speak with conviction if you don’t believe you belong. And you can’t lead if your inner fears are the ones doing the talking. This is where everything I was learning, and unlearning, came together.

How This Journey Shapes the Way I Coach Now

One major through-line in my work now is emotional intelligence, not as a soft skill, but as a strategic advantage. I help leaders understand their emotional architecture so they can lead from clarity, rather than reactivity.

This is the work that unlocks authentic communication from the inside out. Whether I’m coaching established executives or supporting emerging leaders, my approach is shaped by everything this journey revealed about myself, my beliefs, and about what aligns with THG’s work on authentic, values-driven communication:

Authenticity is not a performance

Authenticity isn’t about being the most polished version of yourself. It’s about aligning what you truly believe and value with how you show up.

My own journey taught me this long before I had the language for it. I spent years adjusting myself to what I thought people needed, and it left me feeling disconnected. It wasn’t until I understood what I valued and what I believed about myself that I could show up in a way that felt grounded and consistent. That’s the moment authenticity stopped being a performance and started to come into real alignment.

This is the sweet spot of THG’s authentic leadership work. It’s the place where your identity intersects with your audience’s needs, because authenticity is not static. It has to be dynamic and relational.

Communication starts with beliefs

At THG, we emphasize that leadership communication goes beyond simply being about clarity of message. The foundation for this is clarity of belief. In the Leader’s Script, the heart of any persuasive communication is your message, and that message is always rooted in a belief.

But if you don’t believe in yourself, the structure can’t save you. I’ve seen this in leaders again and again, and I experienced it myself. You can organize your ideas beautifully, you can rehearse every line, you can polish your delivery, but if your beliefs are working against you, your voice won’t land with the conviction you intend.

Intuition matters

Intuition isn’t just a bonus skill. It’s a missing piece in how many leaders listen, connect, and lead. The more I trust mine, the more grounded and effective I become. And I see it in others, too. When we invite our inner knowing to sit at the table, we make decisions with more clarity and communicate with deeper resonance.

THG teaches that leaders should communicate in a way that is audience-centered, emotionally attuned, and grounded in presence. When we teach audience-centred communication, we focus on physical, mental, and emotional listening. Intuition naturally belongs alongside these skills.

As my own intuition strengthened, I realized it was something essential. When leaders learn to tune into their internal signals, their presence becomes steadier, and they show up with greater empathy and more clarity. That shift directly strengthens their ability to communicate with influence.

People want to be inspired, not impressed

One of the core principles in the Leader’s Mindset is that strong leadership communication comes from conviction. Information alone doesn’t move people; ideas do. And ideas only resonate when they’re delivered with belief, courage, and intention.

When I began integrating my own values, intuition, and self-understanding into how I communicated, everything shifted. The leaders I coach feel this too: the moment they stop trying to “impress” and start trying to inspire, their message becomes more human, relatable, and powerful.

An Invitation: Your Voice Is Already Yours

If there’s one thing this whole nonlinear adventure has taught me, it’s this: your voice isn’t something you create. Your voice has always been there, and it’s ready for you to uncover.

Leadership becomes clearer when you stop trying to sound like a leader and start listening to your own signal. The steadiness people respond to, that magnetic quality, doesn’t come from strategy. It comes from alignment. And when your voice reflects that alignment, people don’t just hear you. They feel you.

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