Melissa Maloney, among many of her talents, is a speaker, and she’ll tell you the stage is the one place she never second-guesses herself. You can see it. Something clicks into place when she’s up there, like she found the exact spot she was built for. I have attended two of her events where that was so very clear to me. She radiates energy on stage!
What she doesn’t lead with, but you should know, is where that steadiness came from. She grew up in real chaos and decided to spend her life building calm for other people. I can relate to much of that. That’s the thing about Melissa. The command is real, and so is everything underneath it. I loved photographing her. Here she is, in her own words.
Anita
What does being a ‘maverick’ mean to you?
Being a maverick means knowing the rules well enough to know which ones are worth breaking, and then having the courage to do it out loud, not just in your head. It means building the table instead of waiting for a seat. I spent years watching talented people shrink to fit spaces that weren’t designed for them. At some point you stop asking permission and start designing something better.
Tell us about a time you felt powerful, proud, or truly yourself.
Every time I step on stage. There’s something that clicks into place when I’m up there, like that’s exactly where I’m supposed to be. It’s the one place I never second-guess myself.
What still catches me off guard is when someone stops me in a grocery store or slides into my DMs to tell me I changed something for them. I never quite know what to do with that. But I think that’s the point, the power was never about being recognized. It was about being real. When you stop performing and just show up as yourself, people feel it. That’s the only thing I know how to do.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome that shaped who you are today?
I grew up in an abusive home with a father whose alcoholism touched everything. I’m open about that on purpose, because pretending it didn’t happen helps no one. What comes with that kind of childhood doesn’t just disappear when you grow up. I live with CPTSD, and some days that’s loud, and some days it’s quiet, but it’s always there.
What it gave me, though, is awareness. I can read a room, feel what’s unspoken, and meet people in the hard places. It made me someone who doesn’t flinch at the messy, complicated parts of being human.
I’m not grateful for what happened. But I’m proud of what I built on top of it.
What’s something most people don’t know about you, but should?
I’m on social media because as a speaker, you have to be. But if you’ve ever noticed that my personal feed is full of workouts, meal prep, and places I’ve been, that’s not an accident. I’m giving you real, just not all of it.
The version of me on stage is completely genuine. But the parts of my life that are truly mine? I protect those. I’ve learned the hard way that not everything sacred needs an audience.
What legacy are you building or living?
Be a good human. That’s it. That’s the legacy.
Treat people well; at work, at home, in the hard conversations and the easy ones. Don’t be a dick to others, and don’t be a dick to yourself either. We’ve somehow convinced ourselves those two things are separate, but they’re not.
My legacy is the person who finally trusted themselves enough to speak up. The leader who stopped running their team into the ground. The organization that decided people actually matter.
And maybe most personally, proof that a kid who grew up in chaos can build something that creates calm for others.
What message would you share with other women who are still finding their voice or their confidence?
Stop waiting until you’re ready. You won’t be. Nobody is. Confidence isn’t something you find before you start, it’s something you build by starting anyway.
And here’s the thing about your voice, some people aren’t going to like it (it may even be a lot of people). Some people are going to have a lot of feelings about it. Cool. That’s usually a sign you’re doing something right.
Your voice doesn’t need to be perfect to be worth hearing. It just needs to be yours.
How did you feel seeing yourself in this portrait experience? What shifted for you?
I loved that we looked at the pics before they were edited. No smoothing, no fixing, no version of me that someone else decided looked better. Just me.
And what I saw was all of me. The woman who commands a stage. The one who’s still figuring things out. The one who’s been through it and is still standing. They were all there, and they were all real.
That’s the shift. I didn’t see something I wanted to change. I just thought, yep. That’s actually me. And that felt like enough.
If you could describe yourself in three words today, what would they be?
Authentic. Resilient. Intentional.
Find Melissa
Melissa is the co-founder and Executive Director of AWL Partners, the home of All Women LEAD, where she helps teams and leaders work with emotional intelligence instead of against it. She’s also an author. If she resonated with you, here’s where to find her.
- AWL Partners: awlpartners.com
- Herd Intelligence (her new offering): awlpartners.com/herd-intelligence.html
- Her book: happyleader.ca
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hire-melissa-maloney
Our collaborative partners:
- Makeup by: Samantha Blatnicky Makeup + Lash Artist · @samanthablatnicky · samanthablatnicky.com
Location: Anita Watkins Photography, London, Ontario
