In my early 20s I got a job working for a cosmetics manufacturer. I’d studied a Business, Banking, Finance and International Trade degree and joined the sales team, developing our clients’ brands.

I loved my coworkers but the company was completely entrenched in the masculine way of business – pushing, forcing, DOing. Even though I became their top account manager, I found myself constantly fighting to justify my worth, and I couldn’t get past the feeling that selling more eyeliner wasn’t fulfilling my true potential or life’s purpose. I worked outrageous hours and spent the weekends partying to burn off the constant adrenaline. I was overweight, disconnected and deeply unfulfilled.

To the outside world, my life seemed glamorous, making beautiful products and traveling to Italy and throughout Asia. But one night in China after visiting one of our factories, I sat around a table where we each had our own ashtray (yup, I smoked), drinking beer and eating chicken that looked more like a shrivelled rat, and I thought, “My God, something has to change”.

Looking back, I had such poor self-awareness and self-worth. I would do anything to distract myself from the constant feelings of disempowerment, overwhelm and distress – the reality of my life. I looked for other jobs but nothing resonated. I felt trapped.

One day a lifeline came. My mother invited me to a business conference in India, and on that trip I had an epiphany. My life, my soul, my destiny was SO much bigger than this.

When I returned to Melbourne, everything seemed so grey. I realised how miserable I was. And so when two dear friends announced their move to Byron Bay, I jumped aboard and didn’t look back.

I thought my savings would last six months, but in only two months they were gone. Ever resourceful, I put together a CV and cover letter to see if I could help local businesses and boom – my own small business was born! I got my first client, being paid $25 per hour to do data entry. I was so frickin’ desperate, I took it.

And I built that business up to 5 figure months with a team of four but it was all grunt. I found myself once again working crazy hours and trading time for money. So, when I finally met my soul mate, things got messy; he wasn’t coping with my constant masculine state of control, stress and overwork. What manly man wants to date a man-woman? Not my partner! Who could blame him?

I realised I needed to move from my zone of excellence to my zone of genius.

I enrolled in Marie Forleo’s B-School, which is all about creating a business and life you love. I realised I did NOT love my business. So I created a new business I DID love. Make Space, Allow Grace was a coaching and personal development business, all about connecting to our divine feminine from a place of self-care and self-love. It was guided intuitively. I allowed myself to go deep into my feminine and creative sides.

I built a great brand and thousands of followers online. I put huge pressure on myself to create and sell coaching programs and gave myself deadlines for success. But my launches failed. Deep down I was still hiding. I was terrified to admit the truth. To go ALL in. And I still didn’t get the true value of my work. I could barely pay my bills or contribute towards the life goals my partner and I had set together. I felt like a failure.

Something had to change. I had to change. Take a leap. A risk. A total frickin’ 180.

I enrolled in a course that cost me $8K. It was the most I had EVER invested in my own development. It felt exhilarating. And totally terrifying. And when my partner found out, we had a fight so big I moved out for three months.

I needed a cocoon. I needed to transform, deeply heal and change the way I showed up in this world. I was done with playing small. I was done with waiting for permission. I knew I was on the right track. And as much as our separation deeply pained me, I knew I was doing the right thing for the future of my own life and my relationship.

I grew. And soon after the bud of Women Of Impact bloomed within me like a lotus flower. I just KNEW that THIS was my soul’s work. I had always been amazing at helping people make more money and impact in an easier way – just not MYSELF. What if I could do BOTH?!

I changed many things about the way I worked. It was so much LESS about DOING and MORE about BEING. I became magnetic, earning more by delivering more VALUE in less time. I stepped up as a leader… in a way that integrated my masculine AND my feminine, in my business and across my life.

And I now wholly and soully know that my gift is to tune into the deepest value of a woman’s soul and help her translate and ground that into a real world business that becomes the vehicle for her personal and global expression of power, prosperity and transformation.

In such a short-time my life has changed. I have never felt so happy and complete in my business and life. My clients are such DIVINE women that I adore and they are creating outrageously successful results. My partner and I are happily together once again and on track to our big plans for the future. And even though I hold space for so much and so many, I feel more ease and grace than ever before.