Mariana Macias on Life, Lessons & Legacy

Mariana Macias shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Mariana , it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What do you think is misunderstood about your business? 
I think there are a lot of myths around what is really coaching, and what is not. But mostly, I would say that people think coaching is mentoring, advising, and telling people what to do with their lives or with their businesses. While coaching is a space for questions to arise and unblock some of your most truthful and powerful answers, that have always lived within yourself.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I love to describe myself as a safe space creator, who helps top performing leaders to know themselves better and so, improve their performance while becoming safe spaces as well. So, my journey actually initiated around 9 years ago when I decided to go to Boston to pursue my Master’s degree”. I actually come from a Marketing and PR background, with some professional experience in HR, & headhunting. And it was until my internship in NYC when I discovered what coaching was and its impact.

Then, after a series of events, two years after from that I decided to go all in with the executive coaching career, so I invested years in education and certifications. I started creating and proving success through my own methodologies and techniques. Until I opened my own coaching services company called “MACOACHING Services”. We are not only the best at pure coaching, but we are all about performance!!! We offered a variety of trainings, sessions, programs, facilitations, off-sites, conferences, team buildings, retreats, and even cultural transformations!! All are based on tangible and emotional KPIs.

I always knew I wanted to impact and contribute to living in a better and kinder world. So, also, that’s when I knew I needed to coach the leaders of today!!!

I think what really sets me apart from others is the proven and impactful methodology that I use in my coaching processes. This methodology is based on pure coaching that involves transformative questions + tools and theory that covers what the real performance is. Hence, everything can be measured and certainly transformed in a sustainable way, always impacting the culture in organizations and the purpose of the person. And certainly. I need to say this, but MY ENERGY!!!

Today I am more focused on myself as well, being able to balance my social and personal life with my work travels and all of the experiences & trainings I am offering. I am also working on my second book, and in a big seminar that I will host, inviting other amazing colleagues. I am in a very exciting season of my life.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My relationship with God. One of the most powerful questions I love to offer to my clients is, “If you could see yourself from God’s eyes, how would you see yourself?”

This one to me, is a constant question and reminder that I always love to answer out loud. And shaping my relationship with God has been one of my biggest successes in life. When I accepted the truth that he is not only my loving heavenly father, but the GOD of the impossible who loves me as much as yesterday, today and tomorrow, I just felt so powerful, relieved, and full of love. And I started seeing myself as LOVE as well.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
I think I have three very significant wounds in my life.
1. The death of my grandma, I think is not about healing this one but accepting the fact that she is no longer in this physical world, but still feel her in my day-to-day. Her memory, her learnings, creating some rituals that help me feel close to her, and just the fact that I learnt to live my life honoring her.
2. The day I was kidnapped and physically assaulted. Wow! This one was a long healing process, which also transformed my heart as well. Part of this healing process was learning to forgive, let go, and being very much grounded in my spirituality. Family, friends, and finding purpose in life and work are also key elements for the healing to happen.
3. One of the biggest lies and betrayals I had ever experienced. I think in this one, I could call it as getting your heart broken and shattered, and the healing process needs to be super intentional and through self-love. Being able to forgive others, but mostly yourself to not being able to leave a place that was hurting you so much. Also, one of the biggest ways to heal this wound is through compassion. Being able to see yourself through empathy and love, as you are able to identify all of your darkest sides: fears, patterns, beliefs, toxic traits, and unlearn them so you can start learning to love yourself again, as defining your priorities and reconnecting with your most healed and healthy version of yourself, once again. I called this “coming back home”, the process of healing is so scary and confrontative, but part as well of keep going through it is being able to know two main things: 1. It’s ok to ask for help & 2. This shall pass. BIG reminders for me.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
YES!!! Or at least that’s what I like to think. You see, I have been told many times that I should have 2 public accounts: one as my personal, and the other one for clients and business purposes but I don’t want to do that because of the same answer I just gave, I like to think that I am as authentic in public as in private. Of course, there are some moments where I am not sharing LIVE about them, but you will notice me then absent in public. So, I really try to be as real as I can but also respecting my personal timing with the things I am dealing in real life. At the end of the day, I will share it publicly but within my timing. Respecting that, I think is also part of my authenticity and realness.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If you retired tomorrow, what would your customers miss most?
I think my energy and probably my questions!

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Claudio Carranza

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Highlighter Series
What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?

Coffee? Workouts? Hitting the snooze button 14 times? Everyone has their morning ritual and we

Highlighter Series
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?

Our deepest wounds often shape us as much as our greatest joys. The pain we

Highlighter Series
Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?

Culture, economic circumstances, family traditions, local customs and more can often influence us more than