Michelle is an author, leader, change consultant, mindset expert, thinking partner, and special advisor to clients who play a big game and are serious about creating a huge impact in the world. Her clients include leaders who are led by their integrity, vision, and purpose. Her bold, fierce approach to coaching supports the kind of clients whom you may not believe would need to change their thinking.
Michelle Margaret Marques, Change Consultant and Mindset Expert
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
I am Michelle Margaret Marques. I have three grown sons, a daughter, and a granddaughter. I was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. It was a rough journey, there was a culture of violence in the streets, and I was taught to stand up for myself and never back down, which forms a lot of my character today. I grew up in a loving family, but there wasn't a lot of money to spare, and I believe this made me very entrepreneurial from a young age. I was always finding a way to make my own money. With the lessons I gained in the streets of Glasgow and life after that, I have become a powerful independent woman with a hunger for life and a big dream. My life looks very different now; I live in Barbados with my daughter, I'm an author, I run a successful life design consultancy, and I'm passionate about making a difference in the world. My hobbies are horse riding, archery and ocean kayaking, and I love the beach; the sea makes me feel so at peace.
What is your business name, and how do you help your clients?
Michelle Margaret Marques Global is the name of my business. I could sit here and tell you I help female entrepreneurs achieve more impact and income and step into who they were born to be. I'd much rather tell you about one of my current clients Yvette. When Yvette contacted me, she was already successful with an incredible story, but she was stuck. She knew she wanted more impact and income inside of her. Yvette raised two daughters alone after a tragic accident took the lives of her husband and her eldest daughter. She has the drive to go further and be an inspiration to her daughters. Yvette was hiding her potential from the world, staying behind the scenes, not wanting to be known as a powerful woman. The first thing we did together was to create an expansive vision, a vision that seemed impossible at the moment, some of which she hadn't acknowledged or realised she wanted, but when she stepped into that vision, she could see how possible it all is. Yvette then got clear on who she needed to be to get to where she wanted and committed to stepping into that person from that moment on and dancing more and more into that person who is comfortable being seen. Yvette is creating more impact and income, she's helping more people, and she has even begun to write her book, which she's been avoiding for years. She is creating a life that fits her, and I am proud to be part of her journey. I love my clients fiercely, but I get them to dig deep and look at the stories and the blocks that hold them back. They commit to working harder on their life than they ever have before and then take action, tiny steps upon tiny steps, and they keep digging deep and moving forward.
How did you feel when you received the announcement that you are a Crea Global Award Winner, alongside some of the biggest names in the industry?
Oh my goodness, before I tell you how I felt. I want to share a funny story. I didn't know I was in the running, and I almost missed the announcement. I was clearing out my junk folder, and just as I was about to delete the email, I realised it was something important. When I opened the email, my initial thought was that I was on the list of candidates, then as I read on, I realised I was on the honouree list. I was so surprised, and I felt very proud. Then I saw the list of other names, such as Richard Branson, whose journey has always been an inspiration, and Brene Brown, a mind-blowing powerhouse in my industry. Not to mention many more names next to my name and my bio, I felt humbled to be included in such an esteemed list of influential people.
What are your current goals for your business?
In the following year, I want to have impacted one million women. I want one million women to know my name and to have an experience of who I am. That's a bold statement, and it sounds arrogant, I know. I am being brave; I have to be because I want women to hear my story so that they can see themselves in my story and can know without a shadow of a doubt that they can do anything that they put their mind to, as my mum used to tell me when I was growing up. I can guarantee you it's true. My book Rebel Woman, Bearing my Battle Wounds and Learning to Love the Scars, was written with a massive vision in mind. This vision is that women will pass the book on to each other and write a note to the woman they want to impact. Each book gets passed on so often that they become tattered and worn. The blank pages I created for the notes will get filled, and more messages will get stapled inside. The book takes on a life of its own and becomes a female love letter of support, encouragement and co-elevation. You see, it's not really about my story. It's bigger than me; it's about all the women who read it and see themselves in their story and realise how incredible and powerful they are.
What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future?
World domination. I know that sounds a little crazy, but anyone who wants to impact one billion women and change the world has to be a little crazy, right? All joking aside, my mission is to influence and help change the lives of one billion women on this planet. Reach women with my books, programs, summits and interviews like this. Women who are starving to be known for who they are and what they can do for their families. Women like me. Who are not to be taken for guaranteed or the impact they can have on the world. I want to help them create lives that fit them, run businesses that generate one million plus in income, and change their lives, their families lives and the world around them.
Create a not-for-profit arm of my business named Project Elise, focusing on helping women and girls. Work with communities that need support to end the culture of child marriage. Work with organisations and the government to collapse sex trafficking and forced labour. Help female sex workers find a way out and create the life they deserve. Build schools for girls focusing on leadership, business, finance and mindset.
Keep striving to be the best version of myself that I can be, live the life that fits me, create a better future for my family and know that I did everything I came here to do.
Who inspires you to be the best that you can be?
My children, first and foremost, my mum, my first hero; she taught me to believe in myself, always told me that I could do anything I put my mind to and that I am meant for bigger things. My grandmother always supported me and made me feel seen and heard. Both sadly passed much too early. My clients, the women I am helping, and I am yet to help. However, no matter how strong that inspiration is when the going gets tough, and it does, there is only one person who can keep that inspiration in my heart and the flame burning high, and that person is me. No one but you can keep choosing to go after life. No one but you can compete against the best version of yourself. Get inspired by everyone, be inspired by life, and be inspired by yourself.
What is your work inspired by?
My life experiences inspire my work; I have learned to use the dark chapters of my life as fuel. I was sexually abused as a young girl and caused myself a lot of pain in my life as a result. I learned to love myself, stop hiding from who I am and create a life that fits me. I am obsessed with helping women to do the same; my driving force is to make a difference in this world. I had two of the most incredible female role models anyone could hope to have. Despite their passing early in my life and almost everyone else telling me I couldn't achieve my dreams, and that people like me who come from where I come from don't do incredible things. Those two amazing women helped shape who I am today. What they gave me in encouragement and love is enough to last a lifetime, and I want to do that for other women. Not only do I want to help women control their life, but I also want women to see they have got to quit being in problem-solving mode like I was for most of my life and start living into their future by creating the life they truly want.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
There's been quite a few of those, but the one moment that changed everything for me was when I went to prison. The details of why aren't important here, and it's all in Rebel Woman for those who want to or need to know. It was a huge wake-up call for me to stop living at half my potential, and I believe that was also my call to step into who I am here to be, to stop hiding from the gift I had inside of me.
Let me explain what I mean; I realised that going to prison at that specific time happened for me, not to me. It was an experience I needed to have, what I did while there, and the women I was meant to meet. I sat for days thinking at first and telling myself my mother didn't put me on this earth to waste one day of my life, and I sure as heck wasn't going to either. I began to read everything I could on personal development and self-help, I had been previously, but now I had a fire so intense, I was obsessed. I decided by the time I was able to leave that place. I was going to be a different person; I decided that I was going to go after life with everything I had inside of me, and I began to realise what I had inside of me was greatness; it was powerful. I decided I was going to go after all my wildest dreams. I didn't know at that point what I was here to do, well, not at least until I met Z, my cellmate. She is such an incredible person from Africa, and she has gone through some of the most unspeakable experiences. We bonded immediately, she had health issues, and they put me with her to support her, I didn't understand it at the time, but I do now. I helped her fill out her appeal paperwork, read what she had been through, listened, supported her, and cared. Pretty soon, I was helping other women in similar situations. Some other women on the wing didn't like this, and I became a target. They told me I had too much of a presence; I wasn't one of them; I didn't belong there. I stood up for myself and didn't give in to the negativity, as I have always done. I had always been told you think you're someone you're not, and I knew there was always something bigger inside of me, but I was only accessing half of that before. I found myself stepping more into my presence and more into my sense of self, my sense of power, even after being punched and having hot coffee thrown in my face. I decided I would be all of myself and never deny who I was again. It took a while to get clear, but I finally realised I am here to help women create better lives.
