Welcome to the Power of Authority Spotlight. I'm your host, Michelle Prince, founder and CEO of Performance Publishing Group, making a Difference. One story at a time, we'll be shining the light on successful founders, entrepreneurs, business owners, and leaders that are getting results and making a difference. We'll talk about how they built their businesses are creating movements and leveraging the power of authority in their. Own lives. Be sure to stick around to the end of the show and we'll reveal how you can be our next guest. Let's get started. Hey everybody and welcome to the Power of Authority Spotlight, where we shine the light on rock stars leaders, people that are doing awesome things, they're telling their stories. And our guest today, Amanda Ey, is, fits that description perfectly. In fact, she is a bestselling author, internationally certified expansion and empowerment coach. Speaker and thought leader dedicated to helping ambitious women turn their boldest dreams into reality. Drawing on 18 years of corporate experience, a deep passion for mindset mastery, and the lessons learned from scaling her own business. Amanda specializes in guiding women to create transformational events, write and launch their own books, make courageous career moves, and bring their visions to life without burnout. Burnout easy for me to say or sacrificing who they are. Her debut book, unleashing You Quickly became a bestseller and serves as a rallying cry for women ready to stop waiting for permission and start creating success on their own terms. Through her writing, coaching, and retreats, Amanda empowers women to trust her intuition, owned their brilliance, and take bold align action toward the lives they were meant to lead. She also hosts the Unleashing You with Amanda Riffy podcast, where she shares candid insights. Inspiration for women stepping into their next level. She's a wife and a mom of two based in Colorado. Amanda believes deeply in the power of community and collaboration. Her mission is simple. When women open doors for one another, there's room for all of us at the top, and I couldn't agree more. Welcome to the show, Amanda. Thank you so much for having me. Oh my gosh. This is, this is gonna be so much fun. I know because you and I met, I'm trying to remember when exactly that was. A mutual friend of ours introduced us, um, and we started down, yeah, I think it was last fall. Was it last fall? Yeah. So Leslie, yes. Connected us. And that was such a great connection because, you were. Just beginning your journey of writing your book, I believe, or maybe you were you, I know we were talking about it. I know, I think you had already started writing or maybe that, that Rick, that initiated the writing process, but you went from idea to published book to bestselling author in a very, very short period of time and so congratulations. Thank you. Thank you so much, and just thank you to you and your team. I mean, you guys were amazing to work with and just really helped me make that a reality. I love it. Well, and we've talked offline. You are so good at, at it. It's one thing to write a book, it's another thing to actually leverage the book. And I'm, I'm, I'm I, one of the things that I have noticed with you is how good you are at that whole process, you know? So talk about that. First, we are gonna get to the book and I wanna dive into the specifics of what people are, are gonna get when they read this book. 'cause they must read it. But what was that whole process like for you? Writing the book, but also what kind of brought you to the point where you wanted to tell your story? Hmm. Great question. So for me, yes, the. Well, I think it's important to start is that, so one of my favorite things and, and I do host retreats, so I'm a little biased here, but I had the idea to write my book. It came out of a visioning exercise that I did on a retreat in Greece last summer, and I'm a coach, so I am very familiar with visioning work and, and future self work and meditations and all of those things. And it was the last day of the retreat and we sat down and we did a visualization and it was, you know, our future self. And I saw a vision that I had seen many times before and it was me on a stage in a white power suit. And you know, I was speaking to a room full of women. But this time there was a book behind me. There was a book cover behind me and it was white with the black lettering and it said, unleashing you. And I was like, came out of that meditation. I was like. Oh my gosh, like that's never happened before. And so I went straight to my journal, I wrote it all down, and then I shared that vision with everybody that was at that retreat and something in me just shifted where I felt like I knew that it was no longer gonna be on my someday day list. It needed to be on my right now list and I still had, did not know exactly what I was gonna write about or all of the things. And that stuff came as, you know, I went through, through a framework and through a process. But I would say I was almost just as excited when I got that idea for the book was to launch the book. Like my idea of doing a book tour and events across the country came. Before I had even written the book, I knew exactly how I wanted to launch it and 'cause that to me is a lot of the fun. Yeah. Getting to celebrate whatever it comes out. Well, and not everybody loves that part, but so the fact meaning like some people get so into the book and then they hope and pray that, that people will buy it. And that's one of the things I love about it. 'cause it just doesn't happen. I mean, you, you have to have that strategy in the plan and you do it so well, but you do look like you're having so much fun while you're doing it. I love all the pictures and the support and, and it, it is just so, so inspiring and like I am just so excited for you. Oh, thank you. but I'm actually even more excited for the people that are benefiting from your coaching and the, the book itself, because I think there's so much in your book about, first of all, helping people just unleash, you know, like whatever's holding them back, whether it's posture syndrome or, or fear or whatever, whatever. 'cause we can all relate to all that, but, giving people that permission to kind of step out and. And just be who they are. Right. It's just super crazy. So let's talk about the book. And by the way, the fact that your vision and your cover, like in real life are your like, like you took your vision Yes. And made it. The cover is, I love it because, yeah. And I should also add for the Denver, so I'm based in Denver and I did book tour events in St. Louis where I grew up in Atlanta, where a lot of my corporate career was based. And then in Denver. which was also symbolic because it followed my story. So it followed the story of the book too. Started in St. Louis and then went to Atlanta. And now most of my entrepreneurial journey has been here in Denver. but when I worked with my friend and client and stylist, I told her about that vision. And so we said, well, we've gotta bring the white power suit here somewhere. So for the Denver event, that's what I wore was the white power suit. And I've never worn a full. White suit before then, and it was, it just added that whole next level of really bringing that from dream to reality to see like, oh my gosh, like I am sitting here in front of these women in that outfit with, and I shared this even at the event because I, you know, I saw women with like the book in their lap and like all of those things. And I looked out and literally there was somebody sitting right there in the front row with their book in their lap, and I was just like. This, this is what we can create when we say yes to our dreams and when we actually take action to follow those up. Like it would've been so easy for me to just leave that as a really cool idea and a really cool experience of like, oh, I had this, I had this vision, and it felt really cool afterwards. And then just leave it. Yeah. But instead, I added in the accountability. I added in the action, and you know, that was the end of June last year, and I turned in my manuscript to you all in the middle of December. It's so crazy how fast it went. Really. Yeah, yeah. You know, and walk for, for people who haven't read the book yet, and tell a little bit about your journey. Like how, how did you get to the place? What, what to do, what you're doing today? I mean, you work with women, you empower women, coaching, retreats, all of these things. So talk a little bit about what you do, but then also how you got there. Yeah. So I say like, uh. My story's not very different from many people's story, and I actually love that because I'm like, if I could do it, you can do it. Yes. And that's what I all the time. Years in a corp in my corporate career. So as you mentioned in my bio, I, I've spent 18 years in corporate and what I think is interesting about that is it's 18 years in corporate and 17 of those years were with the same company. Wow. So. I started in like a contract to hire front desk type of position. And you know, I interviewed and they're like, you know, this is what you'd be doing a lot of admin work and you know, we're not even sure if we'll be able to hire you on fully after, you know, six months. And I was like, that's okay. I could do it. You know, I, I just, I really felt like it was the, the right opportunity and. I did that for about six months, and then I moved into a different role and into a different role, and I just kept literally climbing the corporate ladder for 17 years. And when, so if we fast forward then to like, I think it was September of 2022, I was feeling that itch of like, okay, what's next? What's the next thing? And. I had never dreamed of going anywhere else outside of that company because every time I had gotten that itch, there was always that next promotion or that next opportunity that I could take. And this time it felt different, like nothing felt right. Like I was like, I don't think I really want my boss's job this time. I guess I could move to this team or this department. But nothing felt 100% right like it had before, and. There was this little whisper and I, you'll hear me talk about this little whisper in the back of my head. 'cause that's how my, I now I know that's how my intuition speaks to me. For everybody else, it's a little bit different. Might be a gut feeling or you know, something like that. But for me it's like this tiny little whisper of an idea and it was like, well, if your job's going really well right now. What if you created something on the side? What if you created another stream of income for yourself? Like, let's, let's just let this be easy for a little bit. Yeah. And let's create something, you know, that, that feels really cool and good, that you could use for extra cash flow. and so I didn't wanna just go get a part-time job. I wanted to create something that would be fun and fulfilling. But I had no idea what that was. And I was, over a learning and development team at the time in corporate. And I, and I love this, sharing this story 'cause I think this is an exercise and I share this in my book too. Mm. Um, and the exercise that we can all do. So for me, I live and breathe by my calendar. Yes. So I just went to my calendar. And I said, okay, what are the things in my day that I actually look forward to? Mm. And what are the things in my day that I'm secretly hoping get canceled? Right? Like those meetings that I'm hoping turn into an email, right? Yep. And what are the projects I'm working on? All of that. And so what came out of that exercise for me was I loved my one-on-ones with my team. I looked forward to those conversations. I looked forward to the aha moments, the career growth conversations, helping them reach their next level, the safe environment that we created, all of that. Um, and I also really loved, literally anything that had anything to do with like personal growth, professional development. You know, I, I was in all of those groups. I was doing all the extra classes, like all the things I could do. And so that's what came out of that for me. And I was like, okay, cool. But like, what do I do with this? How do I make this into a job? I have no idea. So then I just went, I went to Google. If I went now, I'd go to chat. GPT, of course, yes. But at the time, I went to Google and I was like, okay, here's what I figured out. You know, what, what can I do with this? And so I just followed every curiosity, every rabbit hole, everything clicked. You know, this might spur this idea. And then I click on this and um, I just did days of internet research and. Then one of those searches, one of those clicks brought me to a, a posting for a coach and. The more I learned about coaching, the more I started researching. I was like, oh my gosh, like I think I found the thing. This could check all the boxes. I can work with people one-on-one. We could talk about personal growth, all of that. I can do this on the side while I keep my corporate track just here. I literally was like, I could have one to two clients here or there every once in a while when we're looking for some extra cash for vacations or whatever, and. So I went to my husband and I said, I don't know where this is gonna go. I know it's gonna feel outta left field, but I just feel like I wanna follow this and see what happens. Yeah. I think I wanna get certified as a coach. And so he, luckily, he supports all my wild and crazy dreams like, you're gonna do whatever you're gonna do. I know you are. So just go do it. And so I enrolled in a coaching certification and. I kid you not like that was the first time. Not only was I learning coaching tools, yeah, but I was also getting coached myself for the first time in my life and. It took not even three months of being immersed in coaching. Mm-hmm. To completely change the trajectory of my career and what I dreamed of for myself. Because what I realized was that I was putting myself in a box of really thinking like, I can do this or I can do that, and. What I think coaching is so beautiful at is it brings out the answers from within yourself and it also helps you take off some of those blinders that you might not even realize are there. Yep. And start to just dream so much bigger for yourself. Mm-hmm. I started to see a world where I could. Speak on stages where I could have a podcast where I could one day write a book. Right. All of those things and I started just dreaming so much bigger. Yeah. And so now that was, again, that was September of 2022 when I enrolled in the coaching program and I opened up my LLC. C, and here we are in Wow, 2025. And now I am a full-time coach. I host retreats, have a podcast, obviously a bestselling author. You know, all of these things that, again, you would've asked me two and a half years ago. Oh. I would've been like, you're crazy that we'd be doing that. You're nuts. Like, what are you talking about? And that's, I mean, that, it's just amazing the stuff we can do. I know. And that's what makes you such a great coach too, because you've done it right. It's not theory. It's not, oh, I learned this and I'm just gonna teach you like you're literally. The inspiration to a lot of the people. I bet you coach because they're like, Ooh, I wanna be like Amanda. I wanna, I wanna write a book, or I wanna do a podcast, or I maybe wanna be a coach. So what, who is an ideal? I know you, you really love working with women, so what, what is, what is that ideal woman like, what is, who is she and, and what is she looking for? Ooh, I love that. Um, I mean, I, I always say like me a couple years ago, honestly. Yeah. but to put that in something maybe people would understand a little bit better. I would say ambitious career-driven women. Women who are. Maybe they've worked to a certain point and because I know I was like this where, you know, I always had that end goal, that thing I was trying to reach. Yeah. And I mean, I'm 40 and I got to a point where I was like, is this what it's supposed to feel like? Like is this what success feels like? Yep. It still felt like there was something missing. Like I had to sacrifice so much. You there's, especially if you read my book, you'll learn. There was definitely a period of time where I. Gave too much to my career and you know, I have kids and all these things because I felt like that was what I needed to do in order to be successful, was I had to sacrifice all of this stuff. And so I work with women who, whether they're entrepreneurs or they just wanna create a career for themselves, that feels really freaking good. Yep. That feels just as good as it looks. Yeah. And I always listen for. Those moments in a conversation where somebody's like, oh, I wish I could have done that, or, oh, I'd love to do that someday because that's actually the golden ticket. Yes. Those things that we say we wish we could do or that we'd love to do someday. Those dreams are planted in your heart for a reason. They're absolutely. And so that's what I actually really love to bring out of people and reflect back to them. It's like, did you hear what you just said there? Yes, yes. You know, we can actually do that. You can create that. And so I just love helping women figure out a way to create success and create the dreams that they sometimes secretly dream of. Whether it's hosting their own events or speaking on stages, or writing a book, or, you know, just creating their own career path. That just feels really, really good. I love it. Gosh, there's, as you talk, it just, there's so many things, my gosh, we have so much in common really in terms of like our background and our story, and I know we've talked before and we figured that out, but yeah. You know, even just something you said, I remember, so I started my, my career outside of corporate in 2009, but I remember it was in 2008 and I was at a conference and I was just like, you very. Another friend of mine puts it miserably successful, you know, like good at what you do, but just knowing there's more to you kind of thing. And I remember meeting somebody at this conference and they gave me their business card and it said, author, speaker, coach, and I rem and I sent it out loud and I'm like. Oh my gosh. Like that is my dream title. And that was 2008. It was 2009. I wrote my book and it was, you know, 2010, nine, 2000 that I actually was like, oh my gosh, like I am here now. And to your point, like the dr, those things that light you up that make you like, oh, you know, I've always wanted to write a book, or I've always wanted to speak, or whatever. Those are clues. And frankly, life's too short to just. Why not go for it? Uh, it's scary, right? You know, two and a half years ago Oh my gosh. Terrifying. Yeah. I remember when I started and, and, and telling my husband I was gonna do it too. And I, I remember making a comment along the ways, I'm just gonna jump and pray that the wings grow on the way down because I love that. You know, what else am I gonna do? Stay in my cubicle and mm-hmm. You know, so I just love it. And you bring so much energy and fun to the whole thing and. So, real quick, 'cause I wanna make sure that we get everyone your information. Um, acr professional coaching.com is your website. Yes. And I definitely wanna send people to Instagram so they can see those great photos of you in your white suit. Yes. Holding your book and your book signings. Um, and that's Amanda Riffy Coaching is the Instagram. but let's talk a little bit before we wrap up some other things that you're working on. So you're doing coaching, you're helping these women, what else are you doing? Yeah, so I, I am always dreaming bigger. Like I am always 10 xing to the next, to the next vision and the next level. And one of the things that. Became apparent to me as I was going through the process of writing my own book was number one, I really wanna do this alongside other women. Yeah. And you know, I took myself on solo writing retreats. I had the idea for my book when I was on a retreat, um, and all of these things. And I was like, I just, I wanna do this. Together with other women who wanna do the same thing. And so I created the Unleash Your Story Writer's Retreat and Collective. And that's exactly what we're doing is we're starting out in person in the mountains in Colorado to start writing our books together. and then continuing that for. Seven months together for accountability, for introductions to people like yourself for different publishing paths to help actually support and launch your book. Because to your point, you know, a lot of times we might have that passion to write the book, but we don't know what we're, what we're selling into with that, or where we're gonna go with that, or how it's gonna help. Provide another stream of income. Yeah. Or open doors or opportunities for ourselves. And so that's a big focus of it too, is, is really creating their custom launch strategy. Yeah. For their book as well. I've also partnered with my friend, um, I. Who is my own personal videographer and visual storyteller. And so everyone in that collective is also gonna be getting more visuals, photographs, videos, all the things that you're gonna see on my Instagram for themselves to really embody that bestselling author era that they're stepping into. Um, and I say we, because. I plan to write my second book alongside them. So we're gonna be doing this together. But you know, really working through that framework of how to create a really strong outline so that then when you get to chapter six, you already know what Chapter six is. Yeah. It's just pulling together the stories and, and filling in the blanks. But you're never starting with just that cursor on a blank page right when you're writing your book. So I love it. I always thought it was fun and easy, and that's what I'm bringing to other women as well. Well, and I love it because, you know, writing can be lonely. It's, you know, the, the inspiration to write happens really fast and it's exciting, but then going through the process sometimes becomes a little daunting. That's usually when fear sets in. you know, if I had a, a nickel for every conversation I've had, like, what am I doing? Should I even do this? Because you do start to self-doubt. So a community of people to support and, and then determine your right publishing path. 'cause path. 'cause I am a firm believer. I mean, we obviously, and we work with you to publish your book, but I'm also a firm believer that there are multiple roads to the same destination. You know, so maybe your Bright road is self-publishing, or maybe you have a huge platform and traditional publishing might be the route you wanna go. Yeah. More than likely, it's somewhere in between, right? You know that, that hybrid, but at the same time to have people on board with you. So I love it. Again, you and I share so many of the same passions and um, you know, everyone has a story and every story matters, and it's just a matter of getting it out there into the world. So that. So your story can make an impact for somebody else. That's what it's all about. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's what our stories are for, right? Yes, yes. So I love it. Okay, well one more time, give everyone your information how they can get ahold of you. I know Instagram is your, your, your go-to, but anything else? Yeah, I'd say where I hang out the most is definitely Instagram. So if you're an Instagram person, let's just connect there 'cause it's so much fun. So again, that's at Amanda EY coaching. Um, and then of course you can always go to my website that's gonna have everything linked. And that's acr professional coaching.com. Awesome. Well, I, I could not be more excited for you, truly. You are a trailblazer. You're a rockstar. You're doing great things. This is just the beginning. and, and I, I joke about it, but it's true. Once you write one book, you just can't stop. So I imagine we will be talking again on a podcast, right? And we're gonna be talking about your fifth 10th book down the line. So I just can't wait for it. And so happy for you and can't wait to see what you're gonna do next. Thank you so much. You are so welcome. Alright everyone, so before we wrap up, just a couple quick things. Obviously so much packed into that, that, her Amanda's story, it's so good. But one thing I love that she said, and this is for all of us to do, is the exercise of looking at your calendar. I think that is brilliant because. Everything that we're meant to do in life. Those clues are there. They're there, right? Our passions are there. So looking at your calendar, what do you most look forward to? What do you hope gets canceled? That I think is awesome. That's brilliant because it does, it is a clue to where you should be, um, focusing. And then also just the fact that, you know, with Amanda's story, a lot started with curiosity and curiosity of what else is out there and, and what is there for me? Is this it? And so I just wanna encourage everyone to, to follow that passion. Follow the curiosity because I assure you that when you look, you will find it and definitely grab Amanda's book. You can get it off of her website, Amazon, all the places, but Unleash, unleashing you, right? Unleashing, yep. Sorry I said that wrong the first time. Unleashing you and it's super good. And so definitely check it out and grab that copy. And that's it for this episode. We'll see you next time on the Power of Authority Spotlight. Thanks everybody. Thanks so much for listening to the Power of Authority Spotlight. If you are a successful founder, entrepreneur, business owner, or leader that's getting results and making a difference, and you'd like to be on this program, please visit performance publishing group.com/podcast to apply. That's performance publishing group.com/podcast. Also, if you got. So out of this interview, please share this episode. Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend or post it on the socials. If you know someone that would be a great guest, tag them on social media to let them know about the show and include the hashtag, the Power of Authority Spotlight. I love seeing your posts and guest suggestion. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content, so make sure you don't miss any episodes by subscribing your thumbs up. Ratings and reviews go a long way to help. Promote the show and mean a lot to me and my team. Wanna know more? Go to our websites performance publishing group.com or michelle prince.com and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you next time.