We were lucky to catch up with Melissa Bauknight recently and have shared our conversation below.

Melissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

What I do differently than the industry standard is I take a whole-woman approach to business coaching. I combine soul + science + strategy! What’s happening in our personal lives is not separate from our businesses, yet we are conditioned to believe we “should” keep ourselves segmented. Most business coaches focus solely on a business’s strategy, which is obviously important. It leaves out the most critical part of the business – the owner’s or employee’s soul.

So many women I encounter feel disconnected from their true selves and desire more meaningful work. They no longer want to work solely for money or status. They are burnt out, overwhelmed, and deeply desiring a different way of doing life and business. I help them connect to the truth of who they are and what they want separate from other people’s expectations. Once they have a solid foundation of self, we clarify their highest business and whole life vision. The business actions they take are therefore aligned with their truth, the lifestyle they desire, and a more integrated feminine way of doing business. I guide them to trust themselves, surrender to the process, and find joy in the journey while simultaneously creating heart-centered impactful businesses!!

Melissa, 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?

I didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur. I thought I would eventually climb the corporate ladder and become upper management. However, life had other plans for me. My corporate journey was unintentionally derailed when I began personal growth work in 2015. I started asking myself significant questions like: What’s the difference I’m here to make? Am I truly happy? What would it be if I could do something other than what I’m doing and still have financial success? Am I living with integrity with my values, and what’s my bigger vision for my life?

I asked myself those questions and got VERY honest about the answers.

I liked my life and career but wasn’t connected to a higher purpose. I could feel myself getting called to answer that “made for more” voice inside of me through my new-found obsession for personal and spiritual growth. I identified that I desired to give women a voice by discovering my own. This led me down a healing journey and spiritual awakening I could never have predicted. The journey home to oneself is designed to be unpredictable, nonlinear, super uncomfortable, and unconventional – that’s the point!

After becoming a mom in 2017 and getting completely rocked by that experience, I did something critical. I created a bigger vision for my life and our family. Then I decided to figure out how to bring that vision to life because I deserved everything I dreamed of. I had been a hobbyist as a consultant with Beautycounter, a mission-based direct sales company, and decided to give it everything I had. I decided to make part of my vision to reach the top of the company, and that would be my permission to leave my career in medical device sales. It took me 4 years to get there, but I did it!!

I courageously and with fear of the unknown left my corporate career in 2019 to begin the full-time entrepreneurial journey. I found the satisfaction of that achievement fleeting, and shortly thereafter, that made for more calling started yelling at me again. I knew that it was time to do what scared me the most: integrate ALL the parts of my personal and professional journey and launch the business that had been in my heart for years…thus, The Ripple Connection community and coaching business was born.

Now I get to be a business alignment coach who liberates women from the boxes they unconsciously got put in. I ignite their life forces into action around the most authentic lives and businesses they desire to create. My approach blends soul with strategy while providing a safe space for women to trust themselves and claim their soul’s work. I collaborate with my “soul squad, ” the team of personal and professional growth experts who supported me along my journey. They provide resources and expertise to the women I coach. Every single piece of this business is infused with my lived experience.

Building community has become a central theme to the growth of my business. In 2023 we are launching The Ripple Rels.  The Ripple Rebels is a global community of strong, soul-centered female leaders who are not your typical successful businesswomen. They break free from societal expectations and shatter glass ceilings while infusing heart and wholeness into everything they do. The founder understands the yearning for something more and the desire for a safe community to come as you are and to pursue big dreams in a way that honors you. The Rebels challenge the status quo and aim to shift the paradigm of how women have been conditioned to do life and business.

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

When I think about stories of resilience, I think of about 1,000 from over the years. Being a professional sales rep for 18 years certainly asks that of you! One of my most profound stories of resilience occurred a couple of years ago. I spent 6 years building a rather large business with Beautycounter and for years my heart and soul were 100% in it…until they weren’t. I promised myself after I left corporate that I would never build something for someone else again and would build my own dreams rather than someone else’s. I had a realization that although I had worked my ass off to build this business, and collectively we were changing the beauty industry for the better, it still didn’t truly belong to me. I had done it again – I had built someone else’s dreams.

It felt like a hard pill to swallow when I got honest with myself but it had been the bridge to give me the skills, confidence, and resources to truly go out and build my own business from scratch. It’s been a massive learning experience figuring out how to do online marketing, having my website built 3 times in 3 years, building an online course, building a group mastermind from scratch, and creating all my content from my soul. It requires resilience daily to be honest. My business now is built on the deepest most vulnerable parts of myself. This requires a level of resilience I never thought possible!

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

I used to believe that certain parts of myself were unlovable, and this caused me decades of anxiety. I know now this is incredibly common, but it felt very shameful at the time. I grew up in a very loving midwestern household with a conservative Christian foundation. When I started to explore my individuality and branch outside of my conditioned belief set, I decided that I would not be loved if I were to be my true self. I would think, “if they only knew who I actually am, they wouldn’t love me anymore.” On paper, I was a wonderful child – a 4.0 student, captain of my sports teams, got a college scholarship, etc. And I was a curious teenager who secretly pushed boundaries and rebelled on the side.

Again, super common, but as human beings, we need belonging, and when that feels like that’s at risk, it causes a feeling that “who I am being isn’t safe, and it’s going to cause me to lose my belonging.” I believe this was at the core of my feeling anxious for decades. I have done a lot of healing over the last eight years, in group and one on one programs, and now I know that my whole self is lovable and that I am safe bursting out of the boxes I had been put in as a child. My inner rebel is here to be liberated and to show other women that it’s safe to be their authentic selves too!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therippleconnection.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therippleconnection
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.bauknight7
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-bauknight-trc
• Other: https://www.innerrebelpodcast.com

Image Credits
Jordan Quinn Jennifer MacNiven