We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gabrielle Neal Friedman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gabrielle below.

Gabrielle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My mission is to help women, but really anyone who needs it, reconnect with themselves, build authentic, unshakeable confidence, identify & accept their self-worth, & let go of trauma, hurt, limiting beliefs, & insecurities that holds them back so that they can become boundary setting badasses who cut people off when needed, play big, date & prioritize themselves, & go for all their dreams.

This is my mission, because I’ve been there & it almost killed me. I left an abusive marriage at 20-years-old & I didn’t actually want to. He was my best friend & I was completely in love with him, but I knew if I wanted to stay safe, I had to leave. I left that marriage with no self-esteem, I didn’t feel worthy of anything good, I had absolutely no idea who I was anymore or who I wanted to be. Growing up I always wanted to be a wife (& mom, but I thank God that didn’t happen), now that I wasn’t anymore I felt so lost. I knew I didn’t want to be someone’s wife again for a long time if ever, but I had no idea who else I would become.

After a few months, I decided I wanted to feel confident in myself again, so I set out on a journey to do so, but I did it all wrong. Instead of actually healing & letting go of what I experienced, I drank. A LOT. I looked for my worth & confidence through validation from other people, especially men. I formed my likes, dislikes, even goals & dreams around what I thought would make other people like me. I didn’t really care for myself well or pour into my cup, because I didn’t actually feel like I deserved it. I was definition of “fake it till you make it.” I kept pretending I was healed & that I liked myself, but i didn’t.

Unfortunately, at the age of 21, I experienced another traumatic situation. Thankfully, I had decided to go to therapy for my marriage trauma about four months earlier, so I had an established relationship with her & was willing to immediately talk to her about it. This experience combined with my marriage, opened my eyes to showing me I would never heal or grow in the way I needed & wanted to if I didn’t leave my hometown. Instead of moving to another town, I moved from Kansas to Florida. I lived there for just over two years. I was away from everything & everyone I knew. I finished my degree while I was down there, which was huge, but ultimately it forced me to find my own interests. It forced me to learn how to pour into & date myself, which in turn helped me learn who I was now, what I liked, what I didn’t, what some goals & dreams of mine were. By the time I moved back to Kansas (not my hometown, because boundaries) I was in a much better place, not a 100% but I had a stable foundation. I continued to pour into myself, date myself, try new things, put myself out there, go for my goals, exercised my body each day, & ultimately realized I needed to switch up how I talked to/about myself, so I did & everything changed. I went from a 20-year-old divorcee who essentially hated herself, had no idea who she was anymore, people pleased like it was a sport, & sought constant outside validation to a 26-year-old woman who doesn’t give sh*t about what other people think of her, she couldn’t have been more confident in herself, she formed a deep connection with God, knew she was worthy of everything she dreamed of simply because I was here, & she squashed people pleasing, is a boundary setting badass, & plays big all the time. Still all true & accurate, except my goals are even bigger (;

That’s the story behind my mission. I do what I do, because I know I started the journey all wrong & it took me six years because I had no help, no guidance, no tools or resources, so I became that for others. We all deserve to be as confident in ourselves as we can be (including our flaws), know our worth, love our own company, & simply love ourselves so much that we can’t help but set boundaries or cut people off, we can’t help but use our voices & play big all the time, & we can’t help but to only care about our opinion when it comes to ourselves & our life. So I’m on a mission to make sure everyone gets to live their dream life feeling like this.

Gabrielle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Because I am so connected to myself when someone asks me to tell them about myself I always say I am an outgoing, unique, wonderfully, incredibly kind & feisty, oh so loving, spicy romance reading, good at cooking, God loving, country yet luxurious kind of woman who is also a wife, foster mama, daughter, sister, & CEO. It’s important to me that I answer that question as who I am not what I do & who I take care of. That’s a big part of my business as well.

The way I got into this is industry is kind of odd, 100% I say it was all God’s doing. I was working full-time at a DV non-profit & my two teenage boys were taking me away from it quite a bit & the place itself was starting to wear me down. I decided I wanted to look into a job I could work fully from home & preferably be my own boss. Life coaching popped into my head one day, so I took a six-week course & became a certified life coach. At this point I had no idea what type of life coach I wanted to be. One day I was on a walk & I heard God speak to me & He said “become a confidence coach. Help women connect to themselves & gain authentic confidence like you did.” I loved the idea, but I had no idea if confidence coaching was a thing, so I decided maybe I could start a podcast (I still haven’t done that), but I looked up confidence podcasts to see if that was a thing. It was. I listened to one of them & found out she actually taught & certified women to become confidence coaches, so I did the thing. It just felt right for me. Confidence & Self-Connection is my calling, my purpose.

Inside of my business I provide personalized 1:1 coaching programs. I will have a new offer dropping in late January 2025. This offer was created for those who aren’t sure if this is for them & they want a little taste at a price they can afford, before they decide if they want to invest in a mentor.

This answer is going to be a long one, because I solve multiple problems, I help some clients with all of them & some with only a few. I help solve the problem of:
Lack of confidence – feeling unsure about your ability/skills, doubting your worth, struggling to confidently make decisions or make decisions based on what’s best for you & not others.
Loss of identity – unsure of who you are, what your likes, dislikes, & interests are now at this point in your life, not sure who you want to be or where to even start if you did, Feeling disconnected from themselves after a life event (having a baby, getting married, getting divorced, losing their job, etc.) or feeling disconnected or lost in their role as a parent, partner/spouse, employee, CEO, etc. Not being comfortable with being alone with themselves for any long period of time.
Feeling stuck in life – stuck in self-doubt, imposter syndrome, fear, people-pleasing, or feeling like you live life on airplane mode & simply just go through the motions.
Struggles with boundaries – feeling overwhelmed, overcommitted, & even undervalued because of lack of boundaries.
Struggling with letting go of trauma, hurt, insecurities, &/or limiting beliefs – the damage, scars, or insecurities/limiting beliefs that were created keeping you from believing in yourself, keeping you from going for something you dream of, or simply keeping you from dreaming big at all.
Lack of self-care & rest – not prioritizing time to pour into your cup, not dating or spending time with yourself, not making time to rest & relax, feeling burnt out constantly, struggling with prioritizing own needs/want/desires.
Fear of Authentic Expression – Women holding back their true selves out of fear of judgment, embarrassment, or rejection.
Disconnect from faith or spirituality & purpose – not feeling connected to any higher power & inturn unsure of their life’s purpose.
Feeling uninspired – going through life without a sense of joy, excitement, or love for life.
Struggling with femininity & balance – feeling disconnected from their feminine energy or unable to balance being both powerful and soft.

What sets me apart from other coaches in this industry is my background, my story, & my approach. My story is the story behind my mission & it’s a long one, so I won’t rewrite the entire thing, but I know what it’s like to be divorced (& at a young age). I know what it’s like to experience abandonment, trauma, DV, SA, & alcoholism. I know what it’s like to use unhealthy coping mechanisms & actually thinking they’ll help. I know what it’s like to look in the mirror & hate what I see or feel so confused about who I am, where my life is, & where I’m going. I’m a country living, country loving girl who also loves elevated, luxurious things & way to live, I know what’s it like to have two opposite personality types & feed into both of them, so I stay true to myself. I know what it’s like to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, but so desperately wishing you could have someone who got it that would help you & guide you.
I have a background working in a domestic violence agency & working as a medical assistant in a mental health clinic. I’m trauma informed & know how to approach sensitive topics in a kind, but helpful way.

My approach is a kind, but blunt & authentic approach. I approach topics by being blunt & forward, but always in a kind, caring way. I don’t do it to be rude or to have my clients feel badly, ashamed, or guilty, but I approach it bluntly & kindly so they see it is an eye opening statement that they can tell is truly coming from my heart because I want to help them. I said above all of my coaching is personalized & I mean that. I take what I did to reconnect to myself & build authentic, unshakeable confidence, but I always fit it to my client in a way that aligns with them & who they are.

I am most proud of starting & not giving up even when it seems hard to get your name out there. I’m proud of the work I get to do & the transformations I get to help come to fruition. I want any potential client/follower/fan to know that with me you’ll always get me. You’ll always get my authenticity, my sass, & my humor. With me, you’ll be accepted no matter what. With me, whether coaching or on social media, you’ll always get a pick me up. I treat you like one of my friends, because that’s what you become. I truly do anything I can to make sure you get your transformation, but I like to add you have to do the work, too. With me your authentic, unshakeable confidence, your overflowing self-love, your dream identity, & your dream life are possible. Lastly, I want you to know that you are worthy, you are deserving, you are enough.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn the lesson of ‘I should play small so others feel comfortable’. I have a big ass personality & I shrunk it down for so long. I was really about it when I first started posting on social media as a business owner, because I was nervous about getting canceled before I even got started. Full transparency, I still struggle sometimes with showing up as my full self on social media, but that’s because I’m still getting comfortable with being in front of the camera in videos rather than selfies haha.

But I knew that people don’t buy your products, they buy you. How could they do that if I didn’t show me on my social media? I meditate every morning with my cup of coffee, as soon as I get up. I started doing guided meditations that helped me get out of my head & helped me breakthrough the fear. I did embodiment work. I spoke to my mentor & other women entrepreneurs I’m connected to about it. I even bought a course from Marie Wold called ‘Content Boss’. I did the work until I started seeing me coming through. Now my goal for 2025 is to shove my whole entire giant personality in that little phone screen so people really know who they’re getting.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’m going to start by saying I still have a small audience on social media, but when I first started my business (about a year ago) I didn’t even have a TikTok account.

I created one for my business & I didn’t post for a while, but now I have over 540 followers which feels really good since I started from scratch.

To build that audience (& gain more followers on Instagram), I simply show up. I post content that I actually like, I don’t just post to post. I engage. I follow other people. I’m currently working on getting better at filming parts of my day to really showcase what I do to keep my identity, confidence, & peace intact.

My advice for those just starting is show up as yourself. Don’t get in your head about ‘what if people don’t like it?’ ‘What if I don’t get good engagement or more followers?’ Some people won’t like it, some posts will flop. It’s just the name of the game. Don’t let your fears or what ifs stop you from showing up big. Post yourself, post your ideas, take inspiration from others, but don’t copy. You have a story that is unique to you & someone needs to hear it. Don’t let haters or unsupportive people (including those close to you) stop you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stan.store/gnfconfidenceco
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabrielleconfidencecoach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabby.m.neal/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-neal-7735401b0/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabrielleconfidencecoach

Image Credits

dihanahmphotography