S profile STANDING IN YOUR POWER Whether she’s speaking to an audience or working one - on - one with a client , Maria Grande draws on her own experiences to help everyone she works with realize their own power through honest self - examination . by MADELEINE MACCAR fter denying her own sense of self - worth for ceptable to society or certain groups , ” she ex - most of her life , Maria Grande wants every - plains . “ We try to hide those aspects that we’re em - one to know how the personal liberation of barrassed of or feel aren’t good enough . … You don’t A learning to love yourself leads to realizing your own have to put a perfect self forward all the time . The power and potential . process is helping you unleash the weakness as well It’s a personal understanding that begins with as the greatness . It’s saying , ‘ I don’t have to be per - two difficult but necessary tasks : unlearning years of fect all the time in order to be worthy of love . ’ ” diligently built - up defense mechanisms , and being Bringing this to light for people empowers them completely honest with and accountable to yourself . in all areas of life , enabling them to be successful in mindfully living in the moment . “ Everything I do revolves around self - awareness : communication , both in their personal life as well “ I am vulnerable on there , I tell people where I’ve I teach people how to self - observe , ” says Grande , a as in the workplace . Arriving at the core of com - been and what I’ve been through , ” Grande says of personal power speaker and coach . “ We’re taught munication breakdown is what separates Grande’s her podcast . “ It’s about accepting yourself right where by society and conditioning factors to judge and ob - leadership training apart from others . It’s what helps you are instead of focusing on what you’re not and serve others , we’re never really looking deep with - make her an in - demand corporate trainer , keynote what you don’t have . It’s just about finding your worth in ourselves . … If we’re focused on other people and speaker , and one - on - one empowerment coach even though your worth has always been there . ” what they’re doing , we are wasting our energy on who focuses especially on helping women rediscover And knowing that she can help people embrace things we cannot control , which leaves us powerless . their worth . their authentic selves by showing them how to begin What I’ve learned is that you have to call yourself out Using her experiences , vulnerability and sense unlearning unhealthy coping mechanisms is exactly on your hypocrisy : It’s not fair to judge yourself by of humor to connect with her audiences , Grande why Grande is so passionate about what she does . your intentions but everyone else by their actions . ” demonstrates that it might seem daunting to strip “ Nothing warms my heart more than all of the away a lifetime of learned responses and defenses , grateful emails from clients , telling me that they’ve but the payoff of “ overcoming obstacles , both self - applied what I taught them and they’re seeing huge imposed and external ” is more than worth the effort . changes in their lives . ” she says . “ We are sometimes “ The unlearning process is the hardest part , ” taught that self - love and self - care are selfish and that Grande says . “ When I started calling myself out on is untrue . The best thing I could ever hear from a client my own cr * p , that’s when I started changing things . is that they’re learning to love themselves . ” ? One of the best things I ever learned in my life was to laugh at myself , to laugh at my imperfections rather than judge myself for them . ” One of the major themes Grande focuses on is letting go of the impulse to harshly judge not only oneself but also others . She’s found that it’s crucial for women to realize the overall positive impact that comes from learning how to celebrate and lift up oth - er women , which is why reaching out to and em - powering girls early on is also a significant part of her work . “ It’s very important for women to support oth - er women , ” she affirms . “ A lot of times , we don’t see that , whether it’s societal expectations that create ten - sion between us or just our own issues and inse - curities . I talk to women about what is holding them Grande knows exactly how hard these concepts back , and what I really focus on is guilt and shame , are to struggle with because overcoming them because they’re two of the things that can hold us marked the beginning of her own transformative jour - back from moving forward with whatever it is that ney to overcome her “ shadow self ” — a pale ap - we desire . ” proximation of who someone really is that obscures As a continuation of her efforts to help women the full breadth of their personality because they as - take back their power , Grande also hosts the pod - sume it’s incompatible with others ’ expectations — cast Worth in Progress , the second season of which Maria Grande , Personal through “ the real and raw process of personal de - she just began recording . It’s where she practices what Power Speaker and Coach velopment . ” she preaches , uses real - life examples to illustrate her | ( 609 ) 780 - 7270 MariaGrandeLLC.com “ We can’t be our authentic selves when we’re points and interviews guest experts while taking a trying to hide the things that we think are not ac - deep dive into topics like moving on , letting go and SUBURBANFAMILYMAG.COM volume 13 issue 6 SUBURBAN FAMILY 17