Marissa Warren On How We Can Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management
An Interview With Vanessa Ogle
More flexible working hours. For many women, they are mothers and having flexible working hours can help them to be more present with their children and available for when needed. Flexible working hours to also allow women to work in with their cycles and adjusting energy levels throughout the month.
Despite strides towards equality, women remain underrepresented in leadership and management roles across various sectors. In this series, we would like to discuss the barriers to female advancement in these areas and explore actionable strategies for change. We are talking with accomplished women leaders, executives, and pioneers who have navigated these challenges successfully, to hear their experiences, tactics, and advice to inspire and guide the next generation of women toward achieving their full potential in leadership and management roles. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Marissa Warren.
Marissa is a globally renowned hypnotherapist and transformational consultant working with RTT — Rapid Transformational Therapy, QHHT — Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique, Somatic and Tantric embodiment, breathwork and sound healing.
Marissa embodies these modalities in her life and has used these to heal trauma, make major changes, create transformations and align to her soul’s and life’s purpose.
For those ready to reclaim inner freedom, break free from past limitations, step into their best life, take action, are ready to uplevel and elevate their life, want to achieve true transformations, and realign with their souls’ purpose and align to their own unique authenticity and sovereignty — Marissa is the transformational consultant to help!
Leaving you feeling empowered, living from infinite inner power and potential and stepping into the life and level of success you desire. Marissa will help you tap into your inner magic and utilise your inner resources to step up and shine.
Marissa has a phenomenal ability to tap deeply into people’s subconscious to help them break free from internal limitations, negative patterns and behaviours and allow them to move into living their dream life and soul’s purpose.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Throughout the many experiences in my life, I feel like my journey has been an all-roads lead to the right path and it is due to my extensive skills and experience that helps me to deeply tap into and access the parts of my clients that are needed for deep healing, shifts and uplevels.
When I was younger, I had a trauma occur that was a sliding doors moment for me. It led to a series of decisions, actions, beliefs and behaviours that became embedded in me for a lifetime. I had pushed that event down so deep and it was so far removed from my conscious memory, but my subconscious remembered and was playing this out through false stories and narratives for so long and causing me to repeat behaviours that were not aligned to me living my best life.
Then four years ago, I experienced a life defining moment with the passing of my father which led me to make major changes in my life. I went on a soul journey and my life has never been the same since. I implemented all the tools and resources that I do with my clients, I did the deep inner work and transformed my life — stepping into the role of being a master creator, designer and manifester of my life, being able to achieve amazing shifts and transformations in a short period of time.
By working through a deep trauma, overcoming burnout and facing a few major life events, these have all been catalysts for moving me into alignment with my soul’s passion and purpose. It is through these experiences and my life journey that helps me to be able to understand my clients on a deeper level.
It is my passion to help others to elevate themselves to achieve more in life, break free from past experiences and limitations and step into living the life they truly desire. Seeing the transformations that my clients experience is what lights my soul on fire.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The most interesting story that has happened since I’ve started my career has been the rapid and accelerated results and success I’ve experienced in my own business and life. It has been next level quantum leaping!
While this isn’t my first business I’ve had, I feel like the previous ones were the training ground for this one. In my earlier days in business, I had a lot of inner work to do and a lot of layers to peel back and move through. There is nothing like being visible on a larger scale to expose your inner vulnerabilities! I had to face my inner fears of imposter syndrome, fear of success and how my life would change, adequate levels of worthiness, being comfortable with being uncomfortable and showing up and being visible.
I learnt that it is the becoming of who you evolve into along the journey. There are no failures, only course corrections and to never give up!
Sometimes, it’s not until you reach a point later in your life that you can look back from a different perspective and see how interconnected everything is. Because of one event, it led to an action, which led to another path and direction or decision, but no matter how winding the road, it will always lead to the right place.
Through these learnings and personal evolution and the embodiment of the work I do, I have been able to hold more space — energetically and physically for my clients to help them to tap into deeper parts of themselves to break free and live life on their own terms.
The biggest and most valuable lesson that I have learnt — is to embody the work I do, to always live life in alignment with my authenticity and sovereignty, to define life and success by my own terms and to take aligned action daily to move me closer to my goals.
This all helps me to live in flow and bliss every day. It has been through the past lessons and learnings and doing the deep inner work that has helped me to align to my soul’s purpose and live a life of passion.
When you are super clear on your why and your internal drivers and motivators, it is so much easier to continue to elevate, rise up and shine and never give up.
Can you share a pivotal moment in your career that significantly influenced your path to leadership?
A pivotal moment in my career that significantly influenced my path to leadership was with the succession training that I provided my teams. Many went on to own their own successful business and credit the start that they had in their career to the training, guidance and support that I provided them.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
The success that I have achieved throughout my career has been received from many people. One in particular was a manager that I had that provided me training, guidance and support and helped me with a promotion into a management position. This manager also introduced me to the world of personal development and Tony Robbins. It was because of her that I attended Tony Robbins events and then went on to crew at his events. This was truly a life changing experience.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
There have been so many books that have impacted my life and my way of thinking. I am a bookworm and love to read! My go to choice is normally a Hay House book as I really resonate with these genres and authors. Two books that made a significant impact on me are Super Attractor by Gabby Bernstein and Get Rich Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield Thomas. In both of these books, it helped me to identify my own internal blocks and move from where I was to where I wanted to be in an easy and simple way.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?
My favourite life lesson quote is “Make Change Easy” Often with my clients they are looking for big, drastic instant changes, but change comes from change, it’s the small incremental micro shifts over time that add up to big changes. If you are in a state of overwhelm and the to-do list Is never ending, then to make a change or take a different action can feel overwhelming and too hard. But when you choose to make change easy, you are choosing to make change easy with the micro daily shifts to bring a different level of attention and awareness to what you are already doing, but to deliver a different result.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Yes! I have used my success to make the world a better place. I donate to charities to help support people and the conservation of our natural resources. It is important to me to give back and to make a positive impact on the world.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this report, only about 31.7% of top executive positions across industries are held by women. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from leadership and management?
In my opinion and experience elements that are holding women back from leadership and management positions can include; inflexible work hours and high work demands which take time away from being a primary caregiver. Depending on the industry, this industry may not have as many females in the workplace and while this is slowly changing, it is the ripple effect of the overflow to catch up with this, with women being available to step into leadership roles.
This might be intuitive to you but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become leaders and managers?
More women should become leaders and managers because they offer a unique skill set of not only experience, knowledge and expertise, but also a high level of empathy, kindness and compassion that is crucial to leading teams and building high performing teams. When you can tap into the drivers of each team member, it is easy to achieve results and as women and inquisitive and caring, we tend to ask more questions and become invested on a personal level understanding of people.
Can you please share “5 Things We Need To Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management?”
1 . More flexible working hours. For many women, they are mothers and having flexible working hours can help them to be more present with their children and available for when needed. Flexible working hours to also allow women to work in with their cycles and adjusting energy levels throughout the month.
2 . Equal salaries. In some cases there is still a disparity in wages for the same position.
3 . Additional training and support can be provided to help women upskill to step into new roles and positions.
4 . Creating support networks. When women come together to support other women, it helps to create a stronger support network and encourages women to rise together.
5 . Investing in leadership research and best practices. By investing into research on women’s leadership experiences and best practices, this can provide valuable insights and information on how to improve the workplace, increase inclusivity and gender diversity.
In your opinion, what systemic changes are needed to facilitate more equitable access for women to leadership roles?
While systemic changes are organisation dependent, a change that could facilitate more equitable access for women to leadership roles could be supportive infrastructure that can assist with affordable childcare and healthcare services. Leadership development programs are also beneficial to support women in leadership roles.
What strategies have you found most effective in mentoring and supporting other women to pursue leadership positions?
The strategies that I have found the most effective in mentoring and supporting other women to pursue leadership positions is strong succession planning. This is implementing a strong training and support plan and future growth direction. With regular reviews and ongoing training, this ensures individual success.
How would you advise a woman leader about how to navigate the challenges of being a woman in a leadership role within a male-dominated industry?
The advice that I would provide to a woman leader to navigate the challenges of being a woman in a leadership role in a male dominated industry is to stay true to you! Stay in alignment with your authenticity and sovereignty and do not let the harsh inner critic or imposter syndrome take over. You are in this position for a reason and what you have to say and the work you are providing is of value.
How do you balance the demand for authoritative leadership with the stereotypical expectations of female behavior in professional settings?
I balance the demand for authoritative leadership with the stereotypical expectations of female behaviour in a professional setting by operating with professionalism and staying in alignment with my authenticity and sovereignty. By working in alignment to my zone of genius and strengths it helps me to deliver the best possible quality work to help positively impact as many people as possible.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
If I could inspire a movement to bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people it would be that change comes from change. By one person doing the inner work to transform their life and make changes, it creates a ripple effect to the global consciousness. If one person is changing their inner world and releasing internal blocks and limitations, then they will show up to the world in a different way and then the people around them will benefit from these changes and then they have different interactions with those around them and so the cycle continues.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
https://www.marissawarren.com/
https://www.instagram.com/marissawarren_/
https://www.facebook.com/marissa.warren.transformational
https://www.youtube.com/@MarissaWarren_
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissawarren-hypnotherapist-transformationalconsultant/
https://www.tiktok.com/@marissawarren
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
About The Interviewer: Vanessa Ogle is a mom, entrepreneur, inventor, writer, and singer/songwriter. Vanessa’s talent in building world-class leadership teams focused on diversity, a culture of service, and innovation through inclusion allowed her to be one of the most acclaimed Latina CEO’s in the last 30 years. She collaborated with the world’s leading technology and content companies such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Broadcom to bring innovative solutions to travelers and hotels around the world. Vanessa is the lead inventor on 120+ U.S. Patents. Accolades include: FAST 100, Entrepreneur 360 Best Companies, Inc. 500 and then another six times on the Inc. 5000. Vanessa was personally honored with Inc. 100 Female Founder’s Award, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Enterprising Women of the Year among others. Vanessa now spends her time sharing stories to inspire and give hope through articles, speaking engagements and music. In her spare time she writes and plays music in the Amazon best selling new band HigherHill, teaches surfing clinics, trains dogs, and cheers on her children.
Please connect with Vanessa here on linkedin and subscribe to her newsletter Unplugged as well as follow her on Substack, Instagram, Facebook, and X and of course on her website VanessaOgle.
