Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amanda Muhammad. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Amanda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

Before I started my company full-time, I was an educator. Occasionally, I would leave my campus early and support other organizations as a facilitator for their training and development content. Well, one day, I was subbing for another facilitator and the Principal on that campus stopped me halfway through and said, “I’m sorry, but do you have any idea how good you are at what you do?” I thanked him, and went back to facilitating. A few minutes later he stopped me again and said, “No, I need you to understand how gifted you are. I have never had a facilitator engage my staff and deliver content the way that you are.”

I ended up meeting with this principal for coffee and sharing my idea of facilitating my own content and he really helped me to have the confidence to know that I could do it. A few months later I ended up quitting my job and starting my company full-time. That principal even went on to refer me to other leaders in the district which ended up being the conduit to me working with our state education agency and a number of districts across the state. To this day I connect with him, grab coffee, and share how grateful I am for his belief in my dream.

Looking back, it really was a lesson on how you never know the depth of foundation that is being laid in your everyday experiences. I wasn’t supposed to be on that campus that day but someone called in sick. So many of my contracts till this day are a result of me showing up on that campus that day. The people that I’ve met along the way have continued opening doors for me. The other thing I can confidently say is that relationships matter! Over the years I’ve taken people up on coffee, lunch, zoom calls, etc. not even looking for anything. Later down the road oftentimes those end up being the very people that have tapped me when they’ve had a need that aligned with my work.

Amanda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Amanda Muhammad and I’m a Psychological Safety Consultant in Dallas, TX.
I studied Management, Leadership and HR in undergrad and went on to receive my Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership. I knew that when I graduated, I wanted to climb the corporate ladder and work in Human Resources for an amazing company. When I got into corporate, I saw pretty quickly that many of the people around me were stressed and what I now understand is that they also lacked Psychological Safety. In an effort to progress my career, I made a move to a small private company and recognized the exact same thing – the wellbeing of employees wasn’t being heavily considered. And eventually, when I left that company and stumbled into education, I saw the same thing and that broke my heart. I recognized that this was a universal issue and something that, along the way, I collected the knowledge and tools to support.

Throughout my professional career, I became certified in yoga, mindfulness, compassion fatigue and married that with my love of Business Psychology. I began sharing practices with my students, teachers, and even taking time off to facilitate training in schools across Dallas and I loved it! I also knew and received deeply affirming feedback that I was really gifted in delivering this content.

When I was working at the school, my niece had her first recital and I remember having to ask permission to take off and attend it. Something came over me at that moment and I realized that I never wanted to put my ability to be present for my loved ones in the hands of someone else. I made the official decision then that I was going to take a chance on my gifts and begin running this company full time. That was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

My company Mako Mindfulness is a boutique professional development company supporting schools and organizations globally. We serve employees with the tools and training necessary to better manage their stress and create psychological safety at work. One way we do that is by training/speaking engagements, this may be a one-off or a series of trainings centered around the topic of psychological safety. We also have a variety of resources, like our Inbox Coaching programs, which are weekly lessons delivered straight to an employee’s inbox and designed to help them implement actionable strategies that are reflective of our training content.

Recently, we’ve expanded into some licensing opportunities as well as developing professional development resources for other companies which has been an exciting avenue to explore.

I just hit seven years as a full-time entrepreneur and I have really enjoyed this journey. I’ve especially loved the woman I’ve become, the personal and professional growth, the experiences, and the amazing community I’ve created along the way.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

In the early years of launching my company I would spend a lot of late nights and early mornings just throwing stuff at the wall, seeing what stuck, and relentlessly doing whatever it took to keep my head above water. As I was putting in so much effort to teach as many people as I could about mindfulness and psychological safety, I was also burning myself out. Eventually I did, and had to take a nice little road to recovery.

What I noticed was that I would work myself so hard, reach a breaking point, have to take a full stop, and then when I was ready to come back – I felt like I was starting from scratch. I began noticing this in other areas of my life and business as well. For example, I’d take breaks from posting on social media which has historically been the number one lead generator for my business. When I’d come back, I’d have to build my social engagement and momentum from scratch. Another example would be taking a vacation. Once I returned, I’d have more on my desk, and would feel overwhelmed and this feeling like I was starting over again.

I had to realize that I was working in a way that was clearly unsustainable. It was like a train going full speed and then coming to a screeching halt, making everything fall out of place. On one hand, that grind is what built my company. On the other hand, that rest is what gave me the energy to keep going. So I had to find ways that allowed me to have a healthy relationship with both.

As I started slowing down, I began asking for help (hiring), using systems that automated my work, and sticking with the things that made a difference day to day (personally & professionally). Things got easier. And the screeching halts were more like… pauses.

I’m definitely still learning, but now I know to look at consistency rather than intensity. I can catch myself and ask if I am consistently doing the things that will position me for the outcomes I desire? Am I consistently taking care of myself in ways that resonate with me? Am I consistently tending to my relationships and showing up in ways that matter?

The thing about consistency is that once a week, every week is consistent. minutes a day, every day, is consistent. Once a quarter, every quarter, is consistent. So the ultimate goal and overarching lesson is to stay in motion, even if that means taking it down a couple notches.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The first time someone hired me to facilitate a training and add some stress-management tips, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I looked up some typical stress management approaches which consisted of things like getting 8 hours of sleep and taking yoga classes. I incorporated it into my trainings and was just as bored facilitating the content as the audience seemed to be while receiving it! What I quickly realized was that although the tips and approaches were helpful, they weren’t always practical. My main audiences at the time were educators and care-professionals and I’ll never forget when a participant in the audience inquired about how to implement these strategies when they were care-taking, in grad school, and had a number of other things on their plate. That marked my pivot.

I began to shift my content focus to quick, actionable things that people could do throughout the day to take care of themselves and better manage their stress. Specifically, practices that were evidence-based and proven to change the way they process and perceive the stressful experiences they are navigating. This really helped me to build out a framework of practices that we would focus on and introduce our audiences to. It also helped me to develop way more engaging trainings and supportive content for the audiences I served.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.makomindfulness.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makomindfulness/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandamuhammad
• Twitter: twitter,com/makomindfulness
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@makomindfulness