
Sonya Stattmann
~ Personal Development Coach, Speaker & Podcaster ~
This is me in a nutshell:
This is me in a nutshell: I’m a constant learner, lifetime entrepreneur, personal development coach, corporate speaker & trainer, a passionate podcaster, and your average philosopher…I am also a mother, wife, world traveler & coffee enthusiast.

What would you like to know?
Choose your own adventure

My Bio &
Career Highlights

My Story & What
Makes Me Tick

My Philosophy &
Unique Perspective

Media &
Podcasts

My Bio &
Career Highlights

My Story & What
Makes Me Tick

My Philosophy &
Unique Perspective

Media &
Podcasts
My Bio & Career Highlights
How I became a personal development coach, speaker & podcaster…
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, business owners & individuals worldwide. She learned what makes people tick, what moves people, and what changes the world. She has three podcasts, the latest called Reclaiming Ourselves, and a TEDx talk called Moving Beyond #Empowerment. Sonya is an expert in personal development, business & emotional intelligence and tackles topics like intention & manifestation, grounded spirituality, self-compassion & worthiness, and personal energy management. Her public & private podcasts are inspirational, educational, and transformational. Sonya is a full-time podcaster, speaker, and trainer focused on personal growth & development. 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. My work resides in the intersection between personal & systemic transformation, and personal development is at the heart of this transformation. This is where we can start! When we embrace our humanity, our innate gifts, our internal wisdom & our power, we have the capacity to change the world. We also increase our capacity to navigate our new world of uncertainty & change. Education & awareness is key, and is at the core of all of my podcasts and speaking. We need to be more educated about our humanity, its limitations & superpowers. I have spent my lifetime studying psychology, human behavior, human potential, leadership, business, and so much more so that I could help people access their full potential. This is what I am here for!
~ From Psychology Major to Podcaster & Personal Development Coach~
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, and mental health. I live & breathe these topics, talking about them in casual conversation & working with them professionally.
Then I took a deep dive into business, branding & marketing.
In college, I realized I didn’t just want to be a psychologist or a teacher and fell into my passion for business, branding & marketing. I graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Journalism, Advertising, and Marketing. 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 four years worth of work & a stack of awards. I loved the psychology of business and decided to leave the big agency to start a business of my own at the age of 25. I have had my own business ever since and have spent most of my career helping businesses work better.
I have been professionally coaching, training & speaking since 2000.
Speaking is not just a new path for me, it is something I have been doing since I began my entrepreneurial journey. 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, pieces of training & 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. Everything 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 male-dominated industries, the standard was still bikinied women & beer. In 2007, I started a business called The Feminine Way, teaching women how to use the power of emotions in their marketing and emotional intelligence in their operations. 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 have lived & breathed personal development in every aspect of my life.
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 individuals & companies all over the world. Long before the pandemic, I had to navigate how to spark interest online, how to keep people engaged virtually, and how to work with remote teams. That experience paid off. Now I am well ahead of the virtual curve. I learned to educate and transform through audio courses & offered a new platform for learning.
I started podcasting in 2016 & have 3 podcasts & 260 episodes under my belt.
I have a strong voice & perspective plus 22 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 public 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 learned to take my podcasting platform into audio courses and have been able to provide a powerful learning platform for personal development.
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 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 embrace my grief and navigate my mother’s death with grace. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am thankful for that amazing opportunity.
I have worked with thousands of people from all different walks of life.
My broad and extensive background has crafted my content. Having worked with thousands of people from different walks of life, I have seen the common denominators that accelerate personal growth & lead to transformation. I will let you in on the secret: the success of both individuals and businesses is rooted in understanding ourselves & raising our emotional intelligence.
Last year I wrapped up individual coaching (after 20 years) & stepped full-time into podcasting, speaking & training.
I loved one-on-one coaching, and it allowed me the opportunity to test my content hands-on with thousands of people. But over the years, I came to love podcasting, speaking & training even more! So after decades of working with people one-on-one through coaching, I said goodbye so I could focus 100% on my work as a podcaster, speaker & trainer.
I am a certified trauma-informed trainer and it couldn’t be more relevant to the work I do now.
To truly improve ourselves & accelerate personal growth, we need to understand our trauma, both individual and collective. Reacting to trauma is normal. When something impacts our nervous system causing harm, shock or surprise – as humans we respond to it. A normal reaction creates flight, fight or freeze “momentarily” and after the impact is over we begin to process the information and integrate the trauma so we can move back into a calm and responsive nervous system. But in today’s world, not only do we not understand how to work with our nervous systems and integrate trauma, we are bombarded by more and more trauma. Integrating trauma requires psychological and physical safety. Trauma has a huge impact on our personal growth & development. Being trauma-informed means I can provide education that builds psychological safety, doesn’t create more harm, and empowers all people.

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 personal development 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 the people I serve. I understand what it takes to integrate and become more whole.
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 educate & present 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 personal development 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 the people I serve. I understand what it takes to integrate and become more whole.
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 personal development coaching unique…
You are worthy just by breathing
There is nothing you need to do or be to be worthy – just your existence is a testament to your worth. So much of the personal development industry plays off the idea that you are not good enough. If you just do x, y, or z, you will achieve your potential. If you just learn to do x, y, or z, you will be worthy of love, success, or money. Often underneath our desire for personal growth is a desire to be worthy, but my work starts with the foundation that you are innately worthy. When you KNOW that, personal growth becomes a removal process (see below) and personal development becomes about reclaiming who you already are.
Real growth is a removal process NOT another thing on our to-do list
I have helped thousands of individuals 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”. Growth is our nature & the path of growth is about removing what is in the way of our innate process to integrate, heal and become whole. Education & self-awareness helps you to discern what is helpful or harmful to your growth and what accelerates your innate development. This is the foundation for my work.
The answer to ALL transformation is more “feeling”
My mission is to help people increase their capacity to feel because feeling is the key to change in ourselves, in our relationships & in the world. We have been taught to disconnect from our feeling nature, and our survival strategies, although useful, have conditioned us to dissociate from what we know, what we feel, and the truth of what is both inside and around us. When we reconnect to our natural feeling state, we heal, integrate, and thrive. There are a lot of personal development perspectives that still use a “thinking” lens and this inhibits us from real transformation. When we increase our capacity to feel, growth just happens. My goal is to reconnect our mind and our body.
Real change happens from the inside out
What do you want to change? How have you been trying to change it? So often, when we want something to change, we roll up our sleeves and get to work on it from the outside. We take action, we try to manipulate circumstances or people, or we physically move things around. When we want more money, we get to work creating more clients or finding another job. When we want our partner to respect our boundaries, we work hard to express & enforce our boundaries. Nothing is wrong with these methods, but they are not as effective as changing ourselves first. Transformation happens from the inside out. Often the first step is self-awareness: what part are we playing in this situation, and what embodied habits and practices do we have that are causing conflict or keeping us in a situation we don’t want to be in? This awareness is not about blame, but about taking back responsibility and power. Once we have transformed on the inside, things automatically shift on the outside and our actions and steps become more clear, easy & effective. All of my work is built from the inside out.
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. Understanding racism, sexism, privilege, and an individual’s lived experience in a greater social context is an important part of personal development work. Personal development & social change have to work together. Understanding this intersection is an important part of my life’s work & informs my podcasts and training.

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