Manifesting a Life Beyond Resilience
She’s been called the world’s leading voice on resilience, but this month, the GOSS Manifestation Issue invites you to meet the woman beyond the title. Dr. Taryn Marie is more than an international keynote speaker, #1 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) bestselling author, and former Nike executive—she is a living embodiment of reinvention, rising from the quiet storms of personal transformation to build an extraordinary life rooted in truth, freedom, and feminine power.
From navigating the raw realities of single motherhood to co-founding BodycareMD, an 8-figure company focused on health optimization and longevity, with her fiancé, Dr. Taryn Marie’s story is one of courage and conscious creation. She has mastered the delicate dance between ambition and alignment, crafting a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside.
In this exclusive GOSS cover feature, Dr. Taryn Marie opens the door to her inner world—sharing the soulful rituals, radical shifts, and unwavering beliefs that have shaped her path. She speaks of wealth not just as numbers, but as a holistic state of being; of leadership not as a role, but as an energy; and of manifestation as a daily practice in devotion to one’s highest timeline.
This is not resilience as you’ve read it before. This is the next evolution—a masterclass in manifesting abundance, influence, and impact, while staying anchored in love, truth, and self.
Tell us about yourself, especially the parts that aren’t seen online.
Most people know me for my work on resilience—my book entitled The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People: why some flourish when others fold, my keynotes, and my research on the qualities that enhance our resilience in leadership and life—but fewer know the quieter truths. I’m a deeply intuitive woman, attuned to what’s not being said, to the energy beneath the words. I’m a mother to two extraordinary boys, ages 11 and 13, who remind me daily of the magic of being human. I tend to be shy, and when I am not speaking on stages or being interviewed, I prefer not to be the center of attention. In fact, one of the areas where I’ve gotten to grow the most as an entrepreneur has been in my willingness to be seen, to be the visible face of my work, because my natural tendency is to be in the background, rather than on center stage. I believe in synchronicity and that there is no such thing as coincidence. I’ve lived lifetimes inside this one life—through grief, reinvention, and radical transformation, and I’d like to tell you a few of these stories in this article! I’m a truth-teller, a pattern-breaker, and these days, more than ever, a soul-led entrepreneur.
We’ve talked about you being a living embodiment of reinvention. How have you found the strength and courage to transform yourself?
I tend to be a person who naturally sees possibility. Anytime something doesn’t go the way I want it to, I’m always asking myself what I can learn and how I can harness the lessons to make myself, my work, my team, and my family better.
For many people, it’s easy to have a “once and for all” mindset, a mindset that once we commit to a relationship, start a job at a company, begin a degree program, etc., that we will stay in that relationship, company, program, etc., “once and for all.” I value commitment a great deal, yet oftentimes, believing that will continue to say and do and be the same person, forevermore, keeps a lot of people stuck. Change is scary. But not having the ability to evolve and grow? That’s really terrifying.
For me, every time I got to a high point in my career, that summit gave me the visibility to see other opportunities. For example, when I was a human capital consultant, working with Fortune 500 companies, those experiences showed me that I wanted to experience working inside of one organization, which led me to Nike. Then, it was my role at Nike, as Head of Executive Leadership Development and Talent Strategy, that showed me that there were opportunities beyond Nike, where I could work with more leaders and marquee athletes, which led me to found my own company, the Resilience Leadership Institute (RLI).
Of course, the personal and professional transformation to make each one of these transitions has been very far from smooth. In my first consulting role, one of the Managing Directors told me I would never be an inspirational keynote speaker. I talked about this experience in my book, The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People. The Managing Director’s opinion of me was an important career crossroads for me because I was faced with the decision about whether or not to believe in myself or believe in someone else’s opinion of me. Spoiler alert: I chose to believe in myself!
When it comes to manifesting the lives we desire and dream of, it’s easy to believe in other people’s opinions of us, to take stock in other people’s opinions of our lives. But the Universal Laws that govern manifestation tell us very clearly that each of us has the capacity to become and create what we envision. Very simply, this is the Law of Attraction, that tells us that like effects like in the sense that whatever energy, thoughts, or emotions you focus on, positive or negative, you will draw more of into your life.
This Managing Director’s opinion of me was incredibly hurtful, not just because she didn’t believe in the vision I had of myself as an inspirational keynote speaker, but also because I valued her opinion. So, the decision to believe in the capacity for me to create the vision I had for myself was very much a conscious choice to choose to focus on the energy, thoughts, and emotions that would allow me to make my dreams a reality. Today, publications like USA Today and NY Weekly Magazine consider me a leading authority in resilience, in leadership and life, and I get to speak about 50 times a year, to Fortune 500 companies, at conferences and summits, and retreats all over the world.
Was there a time when you’ve struggled with having a clear vision for your life or getting to the next step?
I talked earlier about my transitions often being very far from seamless. Probably the most difficult transition was from my executive role at Nike to founding and leading the Resilience Leadership Institute (RLI). Beginning any entrepreneurial venture is challenging, and the timing of my departure was partially tough because I stepped out of Nike and into my role as founder in February 2020.
I had reached out to my colleagues at other organizations to line up speaking, coaching, and consulting engagements that would initially replace my income, but I had been too busy, wrapping up my executive role at Nike, to get around to writing up contracts. When the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, within weeks, those “contracts” that I had closed with a hug or a handshake all evaporated, as training and development budgets were the first to be slashed as companies hunkered down on their expenses.
So, there I was, a single mom, with no income, a mortgage to pay, and my then five and seven year-old boys were sent home from school to learn online, which essentially required constant supervision from me. Since RLI did not have any income to show for prior years, I was not eligible for any of the government grants. It was truly one of the darkest and scariest moments of my life.
Being a founder with no capital was the pandemic descended across the globe wasn’t the first dark time I’d faced. What I had learned about dark moments is that no matter how hopeless it may seem, no matter how much you feel like your circumstances are backing up toward the edge of a cliff, these are the times when I need to be even more connected to my vision. The Universal Law of Correspondence tells us that our outer world reflects our inner world. So, if we want to shift our circumstances in the outer world, the best way to do that is by shifting our inner world, our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions.
Each morning, I would close my eyes and sit in silence for at least five minutes and envision my company being prosperous and in-demand. I would picture myself speaking on stage to thousands of people. I would imagine how my words spoke to their hearts and allowed them to see their experiences and circumstances in new ways. I closed those meditations with the words “ Thank you”, because I’ve learned that gratitude is the universal signature for something being done. We don’t often say thank you for something until we receive it, so by saying “thank you”, I was signaling to the Universe that my vision had already been granted, even if my current reality had not yet caught up to my envisioned future.
Then, I would get up from my meditation and expression of gratitude and get to work! Because I believe that vision and mindset are paramount, and I also believe in inspired and directive action as being a necessary key to realizing the goals and dreams that we hold within us.
What brought you into the field of healing and emotional intelligence?
In my first book, The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People, I talk about an experience with a stalker, over the course of the four years that I was in high school that profoundly impacted me because it led to being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for the better part of two decades. The fear, trauma, and feelings of being unsafe have become one of my greatest teachers. Although I would not wish for this experience to ever happen to another person, this difficult challenge formed me into the woman I am today. Many of my greatest qualities, including my empathy, gentleness, the way I love and protect myself, grew out of this series of experiences. In fact, I became interested in resilience and how people face their greatest challenges, initially, because I wanted to find better skills and tools for facing my own difficulties.
I’ve learned that the stories of what we experience typically informs a belief system we have about ourselves, our lives, what we’re worthy of, how loveable we are, and how other people will treat us. When we re-write those old stories into a more expansive narrative, we have the ability to not just retell a more productive story, but we also can shift our belief systems, along with how we see ourselves and the rest of the world. My work in emotional intelligence emerged from a desire to understand the deeper architecture of resilience—not just the psychology, but the soul work. I wanted to know what allows people to heal and fully rise up to meet their full potential without sacrificing their health, happiness, or sanity.
For a long time, self-bandonment was how I navigated the world by allowing the voices of the people around me to be the most important. I found myself wanting to make others happy and proud of me constantly, despite the fact that I was so disconnected from my inner self that I had no idea how I felt or what I wanted. Since I never feel good enough about myself, I used external achievement as a coping mechanism, a way to prove I was worthy. Eventually, I realized that external success without self-connection is hollow.
Initially, it was my own past experiences and desire to develop that brought me to this field, and today, I lead others on this path that I have traveled to help them discover their own self-love and worthiness.
What has been another catalyst for your deep healing and liberation?
There was a moment, almost a decade ago now, when I had everything I thought I wanted: the family, the executive role, the big house, the pool. But I was the farthest thing from happy. I realized I’d been living a script written for me by others. On the outside, it looked perfect; on the inside, I felt trapped and exhausted.
When I finally admitted this truth to myself, it cracked me wide open. Divorce became a doorway. Motherhood became a mirror. Building an 8-figure company while reclaiming my feminine power became the initiation. My growth came from contradictions—not pushing, but pausing. Not disconnecting from myself, but returning to myself more honestly than ever before.
What gets in the way of us manifesting the lives and experiences we dream about?
For me, there have been three significant shifts that have allowed me to create the lift I desire and dream about. These are:
- Clearly identifying what I would like to have: The first step in manifestation is to identify what you would like to have. I’ve found that a lot of people are very disconnected from themselves. They know they want a different life or a better life, but they are not sure what exactly that means. You can’t manifest what you can’t envision. So, the first step is to invest time with yourself outlining the life, experiences, and dreams you would like to create.
- Releasing myself from timelines: If I had to guess, holding myself to timelines in which I wanted to manifest this or that, and then getting frustrated that my vision had not arrived on my timeline is one of the aspects of my early practice of manifestation that likely held me back. Manifestation, by definition, is a communion with the universe, a collaboration with the divine. The universe and God operate on their own timeline, not on ours. I determine what I would like to have, and then I turn it over to powers higher than me to work out the particulars on their own timeline.
- Maintaining a positive mindset and energy: I believe your vibe not only attracts your tribe, it attracts the opportunities that come your way. By maintaining a positive mindset where you are in a state of love, peace, allowance, and gratitude are the surest way you align to the next great possibilities you desire. Everyone has low or difficult days, but I acknowledge those emotions and absorb those lessons so that I can return to a higher mental state to continue to create the lift I desire.
If your twelve-year-old self could see you now, what would make her proudest?
She’d be relieved to know life gets much better. She often felt confused, scared, and unseen. She’d be initially disappointed to learn she never became “cool”. Yet, when she realizes that never being cool means she puts much less emphasis on other people’s impressions of her, she’s grateful for it. Because never being cool meant she always followed her own inner wisdom. She never bought into the belief that others’ opinions define her. She’d be in awe that I built companies, spoke to thousands, and lived dreams she didn’t yet dare to imagine. She’d store all of this knowledge away for those darker days when she feels lonely and out of place, when life feels hopeless, and she’d know the best is still very much yet to come.
But what would make her proudest? I don’t think it would be my accomplishments, I think it would be my contributions. She’d love I’m present for my children the way she wanted a parent to be present for her. She’d love that I’ve ended intergenerational cycles of abuse so that she will not perpetrate the behaviors that were damaging to her. She’d love that I tell the truth and follow my intuition because she is very much figuring how to access her own truth and intuition. She’d love that I write books that help people understand themselves and make others feel less alone because right now, she feels very alone and is desperately trying to understand herself. She’d be proud that the contributions I‘ve made not only help her, but are also uplifting humanity.
Fast forward: Your dream life is here. What does a day look like?
I wake up in a light-filled home, maybe this home is by the ocean or in the mountains or with a lovely view of the city. My body feels strong, nourished, and healthy. My contributions: My writing, keynote speaking, executive coaching, and business leadership have the signature of clarity, intentionality, compassion, and wisdom. I work with and collaborate with business and thought leaders that I deeply respect and make me a better human. I laugh with my children, kiss my beloved, and have enough time and mental space so that I don’t feel rushed or anxious. My work flows from inspiration. My life is rich in time, trust, and truth. I feel grateful, grounded, lit up, and at peace.
What is your formula for a harmonious life?
Stay anchored in what’s real. It’s easy to lose track of what really matters. It might sound a bit morbid, but I am constantly asking myself what I’ll wish I had or hadn’t done on my death bed. The answers to what is real are surprisingly simple when I stop to listen to my own inner wisdom. Protect your peace—it’s sacred. Do the inner work so you love yourself first and feel that you are worthy to receive. Harmony isn’t about doing it all—it’s about doing what matters, with love and generosity of spirit.
Featured Brand Spotlight | BodycareMD
Co-founded by Dr. Taryn Marie and her fiancé, Mike Alden, BodyCareMD is a health optimization and longevity company on a mission to enhance our physical resilience by making life-changing medicine more accessible and affordable. From weight loss and hormone balance to energy, vitality, and cellular renewal, BodyCareMD helps people extend not just their lifespan—but their healthspan. Concierge care meets science-backed solutions, empowering people to live longer, feel better, and radiate from the inside out.
Visit BodyCareMD.com for more details.
Photography by Lindy Lin
