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~ Corporate Wellness Speaker ~

Sonya Stattmann

 

This is me in a nutshell:

I’m a constant learner, lifetime entrepreneur, corporate wellness speaker, somatic coach, passionate podcaster, emotional intelligence trainer, and your average philosopher…I am also a mother, wife, world traveler & coffee enthusiast.

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Choose your own adventure
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My Bio &
Career Highlights

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My Story & What
Makes Me Tick

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My Philosophy &
Unique Perspective

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Media &
Podcasts

Icon representing career path for corporate wellness speaker

My Bio &
Career Highlights

Icon with paper and pen to illustrate story of corporate wellness speaker

My Story & What
Makes Me Tick

Icon of head and brain activity to illustrate philosophy of corporate wellness speaker

My Philosophy &
Unique Perspective

Icon of microphone to represent media for corporate wellness speaker

Media &
Podcasts

My Bio & Career Highlights

How I became a corporate wellness speaker…

The official short bio: Sonya Stattmann has spent the last 23 years as an entrepreneur, trainer, coach, and speaker focused on personal & organizational transformation. She has worked hands-on with thousands of leaders worldwide, learning what makes them tick, what moves people, and what changes the world. She has three podcasts, the latest called Reclaiming Ourselves, & a TEDx talk called Moving Beyond #Empowerment. Sonya is an expert in emotional intelligence and tackles the roots of some of your toughest issues like employee burnout, conflict, and culture issues. Her talks are inspirational, educational, and transformational. Sonya is a full-time speaker and trainer focused on corporate wellness & organizational transformation. She also offers coaching programs for leaders & professionals. She currently travels around the world with her husband and two daughters.

My bottom line: I believe the world needs to change, and that we no longer can sustain the way we are operating (personally & organizationally).  My work resides in the intersection between personal & organizational transformation, and emotional intelligence is at the heart of this transformation. We need more emotionally intelligent leaders & organizations who can make sustainable decisions, communicate more effectively, and build diverse & inclusive cultures. We need to increase our capacity to navigate uncertainty & change. We need to be more educated about our humanity, its limitations & super powers. I have spent my lifetime studying psychology, human behavior, human potential, leadership, business, and so much more so that I could educate and inspire people to recognize their full potential. I became a corporate wellness speaker to have more impact and be part of a world that is on the cusp of change. Organizations that want to succeed have to start investing in their sustainability. They have to resource their people and raise emotionally intelligent leaders. I am here for that!

~ From Psychology Major to Corporate Wellness Speaker ~

Psychology & human behavior was ALWAYS my jam.

From the youngest age I can remember, I was interested in people: what made them tick & what was underneath the surface. I read my first self-development book at 9 and took college-level psychology courses in high school. I majored in psychology for years before I took a deep dive into business. Since then, I have spent my whole life studying psychology, human behavior, motivation, emotions & mental health.  

Then I took a deep dive into business, branding & marketing.

In college, I realized I didn’t want to be a psychologist or a teacher and fell in love with business, branding & marketing. I graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Journalism, Advertising, and Marketing in 1998. I had a knack for getting to the roots of a business and pulling out its mission & message. I landed my first “real” job at a big branding agency in 1999 and after only a few months had a stack of awards. In 2000, at the age of 25, I decided to leave the big agency to start a business of my own. I have been an entrepreneur ever since and have spent most of my career helping other businesses work better. 

I have been professionally coaching, training & speaking to organizations & leaders since 2000.

Speaking is not just a new path for me, it is something I have been doing since I began my career. In 2000, I started speaking to male-dominated industries about how to tap into emotions, spark motivation & market to women. Since then I have done more than a thousand events, trainings & workshops, both in-person and virtual. I began “coaching” businesses and leaders before coaching was even an industry. I have practiced and tested topics over and over again and watched how the topics I teach transform individuals, teams & businesses. Every event I offer is evidence-based and time-tested. 

I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit & a trailblazing attitude.

I have had multiple businesses over the years and each one was trailblazing new paths. In 2000 I helped shift the marketing world by highlighting the power of marketing to women. In 2007, I started a business called The Feminine Way, teaching businesses how to use emotional intelligence in their operations and the power of emotions in their marketing. In 2008, I created the first co-working space in Austin, Texas, and the first work/life balance center in the world where we offered business education, wellness services, yoga, and childcare. I taught about emotional intelligence & work/life balance before it was a popular trend.

I went virtual long before the pandemic, speaking to groups and organizations virtually since 2015.

I still speak in person, but I do more virtual events every year. I started a steady stream of virtual events in 2015 while living in Australia and working with companies all over the world. Long before the pandemic, I had to navigate how to work with remote teams, spark interest, and keep people engaged virtually. My experience paid off – now I am well ahead of the virtual curve. 

I started podcasting in 2016 & have 3 podcasts & 260 episodes under my belt.

I have a strong voice plus 23 years of hands-on experience to share. As it turned out, podcasting was my medium. I fell in love with podcasting in 2016 and over the last 6 years have created three podcasts with more than 260 episodes. My longest-running podcast, Women in the Business Arena, was in the top 2% of all business podcasts. I did a one-season show called The Feminine Lens and just started a brand new podcast in September of 2022, called Reclaiming Ourselves.  

I landed a TEDx talk in 2017 & it helped me deal with one of the hardest experiences in my life.

In 2017 I applied to be on the TEDx stage. After being selected over hundreds of applications and after multiple interviews, I was accepted to do a talk on women’s empowerment. On the day of my first meeting with the TEDx team, my mother abruptly passed away. My talk took a turn over the next few months to include my mother’s story. My experience on the TEDx stage helped me navigate my grief and deal with my mother’s death gracefully. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am thankful for that amazing opportunity.  

I have worked with thousands of leaders from almost every industry from tech to wellness.

My broad and extensive background has informed & elevated my content. Having worked with so many industries, I have seen the common denominators that transform individuals into leaders and organizations into success stories. I will let you in on the secret: the success of both individuals and organizations starts with raising emotional intelligence. 

I offer both speaking & coaching because they evolve each other.

Working hands-on with leaders through coaching has allowed me decades of education & understanding in personal & organizational transformation. Coaching informs every speaking event, workshop & training. It has allowed me to see the impact & results of what I teach. My corporate events are evidence-based. I have seen what emotional intelligence can do both within an individual & within a company. 

I am a certified trauma-informed trainer and it couldn’t be more relevant to the work I do now.

To shift some of our biggest workplace issues right now, we need to understand how they correlate & are affected by stress & trauma. Having reactions & emotions are normal. As humans, our biology is wired to react when we perceive harm, shock, or surprise. A normal reaction creates flight, fight, or freeze “momentarily” and re-balances shortly after impact. But in today’s world, we are bombarded by consistent stress & trauma, and most people are not equipped with the tools and education to navigate it effectively. Integrating both stress & trauma, and finding resiliency,  requires psychological and physical safety. Understanding trauma is an important part of dealing with burnout, DEI challenges & having effective leaders. Being trauma-informed means I provide solutions that build psychological safety, mitigate harm, and offer education & resources to empower all people. 

Picture of Sonya Stattmann corporate wellness outside in garden
What Makes me Tick

Here is a peek into my story & what shaped me…

At a very young age

I learned to navigate change >>

I was born in New York, raised in Texas, and have had the opportunity to travel around the world. I attended 13 different schools from kindergarten to 12th grade, and have lived in 40 different houses over my lifetime. I was raised by a single mom and learned to be on my own at a very young age while raising my younger sister. I have experienced both socio-economic privilege & have lived in poverty. In my early life, all I understood was instability and uncertainty. It was challenging, but it shaped my resilience.

I had a deep inner world at a young age. I had thoughts I didn’t feel I could express and understandings about people that were too dangerous to share. So at 6, I started journaling. It was the beginning of a lifetime journey to increasing my self-awareness and emotional intelligence. From there I started reading self-development books, took courses, and eventually taught self-development practices to others. My “free time” was always spent learning more about how we work, from education to conversations. And I have loved every minute of it.

<< At age 6

I started my self-development journey

I took a class in college that

changed my life forever >>

In college, I needed an extra physical education credit and fell into a class called Stress Reduction through Movement. This class shifted my personal healing journey and set the foundation for my life’s work. This class was rooted in somatics and an understanding of how the body keeps score, holds trauma, and impacts our emotions, behavior, and actions. I began to realize for the first time how I had “normalized” my trauma and how active my nervous system was – this affected my relationships, my health, and my experience of life. All the work I have done both personally and professionally has carried a thread of somatics & this is why my speaking and training work is so transformational

It is a fact that our world has been built for extroverts. We are all rewarded for being extroverts, go-getters, and achievers. If you ask most people their definition of success, you can see how their answers are biased toward extroverts. Introverts are consistently left out of avenues and opportunities for success, acceptance, and rewards. Being a business owner and speaker AND an introvert has been a life challenge. I had to learn to build my own lanes, operate differently, and accept myself in order to succeed. I had to honor my needs and balance my time in the limelight with my time alone. It has been a powerful & wonderful learning experience. 

<< I have been an introvert

in a world built for extroverts

I am a deep feeler &

emotions are my comfort zone >>

I have always been a deep feeler. Some people might call me an empath and I have spent my adult life learning to have more “feeling” boundaries, so I don’t take on too much. I can tackle anything in the emotional realm. Conflict is my playground and challenging relationships are my specialty. Being able to embrace so many emotions (both mine and others’) has allowed me the ability to hold space for individuals, teams, and organizations to transform.

I truly know what it feels like to have the rug pulled out from you, to have your life burn to the ground, and to rise from the ashes. I lost so much as a young child, but in my 20s, I experienced something even more challenging. My first husband was an addict and within a few short years of our marriage, my whole life fell apart – I was left without a home, bankrupt, and navigating life as a single parent. My first husband eventually took his own life and I was left to help my daughter pick up the pieces. Losing everything humbles you, and learning to build from nothing strengthens your resilience in ways I can’t describe. I became who I am today because of what I went through and I feel blessed.

<< I have lost everything

and gained even more

I am a constant observer & learner, but

I connect the dots differently >>

My nature is to observe and learn, but my real gift is in extrapolating what I have learned into new ways of thinking. To extrapolate is to be able to project, extend or expand known data into an area that is unknown. It has allowed me to be on the cutting edge of change and to be a leader in my field. The topics I teach are not new, but the way I present and educate them is different. I have had the opportunity to work with thousands of people testing my hypotheses, and refining and evolving my work to have more impact.

As much as I love my work and doing my work in the world, my greatest pleasure is in my ordinary, day-to-day moments. I love the way the sun comes in through the windows, my first sip of coffee in the morning, appreciating the way nature moves and never hurries, how a good book takes me to new places, or the way water feels on my skin. I have learned that being alive and feeling joy is about being in the present moment. This is how I strive to live my life.    

<< I find joy in the ordinary

and love the simple things in life

At a very young age

I learned to navigate change

I was born in New York, raised in Texas, and have had the opportunity to travel around the world. I attended 13 different schools from kindergarten to 12th grade, and have lived in 40 different houses over my lifetime. I was raised by a single mom and learned to be on my own at a very young age while raising my younger sister. I have experienced both socio-economic privilege & have lived in poverty. In my early life, all I understood was instability and uncertainty. It was challenging, but it shaped my resilience.

At age 6

I started my self-development journey

I had a deep inner world at a young age. I had thoughts I didn’t feel I could express and understandings about people that were too dangerous to share. So at 6, I started journaling. It was the beginning of a lifetime journey to increasing my self-awareness and emotional intelligence. From there I started reading self-development books, took courses, and eventually taught self-development practices to others. My “free time” was always spent learning more about how we work, from education to conversations. And I have loved every minute of it.

I took a class in college that

changed my life forever 

In college, I needed an extra physical education credit and fell into a class called Stress Reduction through Movement. This class shifted my personal healing journey and set the foundation for my life’s work. This class was rooted in somatics and an understanding of how the body keeps score, holds trauma, and impacts our emotions, behavior, and actions. I began to realize for the first time how I had “normalized” my trauma and how active my nervous system was – this affected my relationships, my health, and my experience of life. All the work I have done both personally and professionally has carried a thread of somatics & this is why my speaking and training work is so transformational

I have been an introvert

in a world built for extroverts

It is a fact that our world has been built for extroverts. We are all rewarded for being extroverts, go-getters, and achievers. If you ask most people their definition of success, you can see how their answers are biased toward extroverts. Introverts are consistently left out of avenues and opportunities for success, acceptance, and rewards. Being a business owner and speaker AND an introvert has been a life challenge. I had to learn to build my own lanes, operate differently, and accept myself in order to succeed. I had to honor my needs and balance my time in the limelight with my time alone. It has been a powerful & wonderful learning experience. 

I am a deep feeler &

emotions are my comfort zone 

I have always been a deep feeler. Some people might call me an empath and I have spent my adult life learning to have more “feeling” boundaries, so I don’t take on too much. I can tackle anything in the emotional realm. Conflict is my playground and challenging relationships are my specialty. Being able to embrace so many emotions (both mine and others’) has allowed me the ability to hold space for individuals, teams, and organizations to transform.

I have lost everything

and gained even more

I truly know what it feels like to have the rug pulled out from you, to have your life burn to the ground, and to rise from the ashes. I lost so much as a young child, but in my 20s, I experienced something even more challenging. My first husband was an addict and within a few short years of our marriage, my whole life fell apart – I was left without a home, bankrupt, and navigating life as a single parent. My first husband eventually took his own life and I was left to help my daughter pick up the pieces. Losing everything humbles you, and learning to build from nothing strengthens your resilience in ways I can’t describe. I became who I am today because of what I went through and I feel blessed.

I am a constant observer & learner, but

I connect the dots differently

My nature is to observe and learn, but my real gift is in extrapolating what I have learned into new ways of thinking. To extrapolate is to be able to project, extend or expand known data into an area that is unknown. It has allowed me to be on the cutting edge of change and to be a leader in my field. The topics I teach are not new, but the way I present and educate them is different. I have had the opportunity to work with thousands of people testing my hypotheses, and refining and evolving my work to have more impact.

I find joy in the ordinary

and love the simple things in life

As much as I love my work and doing my work in the world, my greatest pleasure is in my ordinary, day-to-day moments. I love the way the sun comes in through the windows, my first sip of coffee in the morning, appreciating the way nature moves and never hurries, how a good book takes me to new places, or the way water feels on my skin. I have learned that being alive and feeling joy is about being in the present moment. This is how I strive to live my life.    

To Know Me is to Know…

My Philosophy

And what makes my perspective unique…

The answer to ALL transformation is raising our emotional intelligence

Want to better navigate conflict? Raise emotional intelligence. Want to have better leadership or more culture cohesion? Raise emotional intelligence. Want to eliminate burnout? Raise emotional intelligence. Want to stop quiet quitting? Raise emotional intelligence. Want to stop climate change? Raise emotional intelligence. Want to stop crime, abuse & neglect? Raise emmotional intelligence. At the heart of all transformation is the need to raise self-awareness and empathy and that is the core work of emotional intelligence. 

Real growth is a removal process NOT another thing on our to-do list

I have helped thousands of individuals and businesses grow. What I learned over the last two decades is that growth is more of a removal process than another thing we need to “do”. The more layers we add on to our gifts & genius (individuals) or our core mission & vision (organizations), the more we stunt our growth. Letting go of what is no longer working, being discerning about what is aligned and what is not, and removing the things in the way of our growth is key to building a great life, a great team, or a great organization.  

Empathy & compassion are our nature & our inherent gifts

This is really important!!! So many trainers and teachers of emotional intelligence talk about empathy and compassion as something we need to learn. We don’t need to teach empathy & compassion because they are our nature, instead, we need to remove what is in the way of our innate capacity for empathy & compassion. My work begins with the idea that everyone already knows how to access compassion & empathy, they already have innate emotional intelligence – what needs to shift is the way their evolutionary biology is operating. In other words, their innate instinct to survive is hijacking their nervous system and getting in the way of their innate skills to honor themselves & work well with others. 

Restoring dignity, belonging, and safety is an important step

Dignity, belonging & safety are inherent needs, just like air, water, food & shelter. When we have been denied dignity, belonging, or safety, our instinct to survive kicks in and no amount of “reasoning” or control can overcome our evolutionary biology to survive. We are teaching emotional intelligence, DEI, and topics like burnout from the wrong lens. Before we can change the way we operate, we have to restore a sense of dignity, belonging, and safety in ourselves. Before an organization can ask their employees to change, they need to work to restore dignity, belonging, and safety in their environment. This is an important step missed in most change work. 

There is an intersection between individual & systemic change

We can’t fully transform as an individual without taking into consideration the broader social, economical and political systems that impact our individual experience. We also can’t engage in systemic change without taking into consideration the impact on the individual. Even within family systems or organizations, there is an intersection between individual change & systemic change. Let’s take something like reducing burnout – changing organizational systems is important to reducing burnout in your workforce, but without raising the self-awareness of the employee or manager to understand their capacity for stress or providing them with tools for navigating conflict or change, changing systems alone won’t get the job done. You also have to take into account systemic attitudes and unconscious bias that can influence the environment, culture & experience of the employees. Understanding this intersection is an important part of my work.  

Emotions are our superpower & we have to embrace them

Emotions get a bad rap & over the decades we have been taught to leave our emotions out of our workplace, our decisions, and our thinking. But emotions are an amazing part of our human experience. Emotions not only motivate us, but they also motivate others. Emotions provide information about ourselves and offer threads we can pull for growth & transformation. Emotions are at the core of compassion and empathy. Being more emotional is a benefit to every aspect of our lives. We don’t need to learn to control or suppress our emotions, we just need to learn to embrace them, honor them, and use them for good. Emotional intelligence isn’t about “managing” our emotions, but instead, it is about befriending them. This is a game changer for your organization & for the world.

corporate wellness speaker sonya stattmann interview
Media & Podcasts

Check out my interviews & favorite podcast episodes…

My Interviews

See my guest appearances below

Want to interview me? Download my one sheet or email media@sonyastattmann.com

My Favorite Podcast Episodes

From my 3 podcasts

I am not taking any guests at this time, but if you have a question about one of my podcasts, visit here or email podcasts@sonyastattmann.com