We were lucky to catch up with Lee Ann De Reus recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lee Ann, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

At the age of 54, after a 20-year career, I left my job as a tenured university professor to start over. My husband and I took the leap together. We went from a large house to a small apartment, a car culture to public transportation, a rural setting to a big city, a very politically conservative, majority white community to a highly progressive and diverse metropolitan area where we had no family or friends. We turned our lives upside down and some days I seriously questioned our judgement. But I needed a challenge – of mind, body, and spirit – or I was going to slip into stagnation and a small world filled with regret. After seven successful, but unpredictable years leading nonprofits as an executive director in the Washington, DC area, I reinvented myself yet again, to pursue my long-held vision for Badass University. I knew, at the age of 61, that it was time – to challenge myself in new ways and translate my decades of skills, experiences, and knowledge, into agency for women. “Starting BU wasn’t the safe move, it was the soul move.” I officially launched BU one year ago on International Women’s Day, 2025. Through BU one-on-one coaching, workshops, and retreats, I inspire and guide women to build a badass life by owning their power, practicing integrity, and rising together.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I founded Badass University to help women build a badass life – by owning their power, practicing integrity, and rising together.

As a university professor turned nonprofit executive turned entrepreneur, my work has always been dedicated to advancing women’s agency in service to a more just and equitable world — a commitment anchored by a question from poet Mary Oliver: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

My definition of what it means to be a badass is this: she owns her power unapologetically. She knows her worth, embraces her strengths, and refuses to let fear of judgment or the need for approval dictate her choices. She takes ownership of her actions and understands that power is most effective when used with, not over, others. Rooted in love and abundance — not fear or scarcity — she pursues bold personal growth that becomes a catalyst for positive change in her community and beyond.

Reclaiming the word “badass” matters. It names a form of power rooted in integrity rather than ego. Further, Badass University is built on the belief that when we rise together, we pave the way for others. That is what sets BU apart.

Through individual coaching, workshops, and structured programs, I guide women in putting these principles into practice in their daily lives.

My coaching clients are accomplished, determined, capable women of all ages and backgrounds: the promising young professional navigating imposter syndrome; the exhausted working mother who has lost track of herself and her dreams; the seasoned leader struggling to imagine or transition into her next fulfilling chapter. Our work together brings clarity, alignment, integrity, and confidence — closing the gap between the life she lives and the unlived life within her.

Eight years ago, I made my own badass power move — leaving a successful twenty-year academic career to start over in the nonprofit sector. I had vision, enthusiasm, and a plan, but the shift in professional identity and the unpredictability that followed were stressful. Stepping into the unknown hit hard. My confidence wavered. I second-guessed my choices, played small, and gave away my power. Something had to change.

Badass University is the result of taking my own advice. I reframed setbacks, aligned my daily life more intentionally with my values, asked for help, took long walks, owned my superpowers, and embraced my “why.” It is the same approach I now use with my clients.

When we own our power, we deepen self-awareness, set boundaries, take responsibility, and move through fear. When we practice integrity, we align our actions with our values, needs, strengths, and wisdom. When we rise together, we pave the way for others.

I am most proud of my badass clients and the transformation we co-create. We aren’t broken or in need of fixing. We are becoming.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

We often laud the notion of being “life long learners.” But sometimes our growth is in the practice of unlearning. As a privileged, educated, white, middle-class, cis-gender, able-bodied woman, I have biases I must keep in check and recognize that my life experiences are not the same as others. For example, my privilege makes it easier for me to speak first, stand up to authority, assume leadership without invitation, and use systems to my advantage. The habit of centering myself must be unlearned and replaced with practices such as listening, collaboration, using power with, co-creation, and centering others. This is especially true in coaching. To be effective and support women in their journey, I must continually decenter my own narrative, resist projecting my path onto theirs, and remain accountable to the realities they inhabit — especially when those realities include barriers I have not personally faced. My role is not to replicate my story in someone else’s life, but to help them discern what integrity and agency look like in their context.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In my most recent nonprofit Executive Director role, I was hired to grow an international development organization and consider alternative business models. What emerged from my analysis was a difficult truth. The most responsible course of action was to localize operations, programming, authority, and resources with our sister organization in Africa. They were closest to the communities we served and fully capable of leading the work. The U.S. entity had become redundant and was no longer a prudent use of resources.

Recommending this to the board meant dismantling the very organization I had been hired to build. Once the decision was made, it became my responsibility to transfer assets, lay off U.S. staff, and legally close the organization. My own role ended twelve months after it began.

It was heartbreaking to put talented people — and myself — out of a job. There was uncertainty, stress, and real consequences. Resilience meant remaining anchored in the conviction that this was the most principled and strategically sound path forward. It required leading with care and precision while navigating my own disappointment and fear about what would come next.

Once this role ended, I faced another choice: go back on the job market or build something aligned with my values. I chose to take the risk of launching Badass University. That experience clarified for me that resilience is not simply endurance. It is the willingness to act in integrity, even when it costs you, and to trust that alignment creates its own path forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.badassuniversity.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badass_university/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leeanndereus/
• Other: https://badassuniversity.substack.com/