Becoming the Woman My Inner Child Always Imagined
There are moments in life when everything suddenly comes into focus—when you realize the thing you’re doing right now was quietly choosing you long before you ever chose it. Sitting in the hot seat this week, I (Mariah) felt that truth settle into my bones. Josephine’s Bridal wasn’t just a business idea; it was the adult expression of the girl who once spent hours dressing her Barbies and dreaming in color. Somehow, without force or striving, I stepped into a life that feels like home.
But this season has also invited a new kind of surrender—the kind where the medicine isn’t hustle or clarity or even confidence, but spaciousness. I’m learning to embrace the “open door” era of motherhood, where the girls are becoming themselves and I’m becoming someone new too. I’m learning to rest without an agenda, to trust the timing of my life, and to let joy—not pressure—be the compass. And maybe that’s the real heart of it all: the dream wasn’t just the business… it was the ease that finally found me.
“It wasn’t the wrong timing. This business came together exactly when I was ready.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 — Sitting in the Hot Seat
02:00 — One Year of Josephine’s Bridal
04:50 — Week-by-Week Living vs. Wedding Industry Timelines
07:15 — The Power of Experience Over Sales
11:00 — Multigenerational Moments & Unreasonable Hospitality
13:40 — The Barbie Dreamhouse Revelation
16:00 — Finding the Zone of Genius
20:10 — What’s Next for the Business
22:35 — The Full-Circle Manifestation of Hayley Paige
26:10 — The Open Door Phase
32:00 — The Opposite Is the Medicine
37:00 — Allowing Spacious Rest
41:40 — What I Need from My People
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
Have you ever had a moment where your entire life suddenly makes sense—like every detour, every heartbreak, every risk, every strange childhood obsession finally clicks into place? That’s what happened to me this year… and it caught me completely off guard.
This episode was my turn in the hot seat—something we make all our Heart & Soul Mastermind women do every single month. And honestly? It felt both vulnerable and energizing to share what’s been unfolding in my world.
This year has been one of the biggest shifts I’ve experienced in a long time. I hit the one-year anniversary of Josephine’s Bridal—my latest business venture—and what started as a whisper of a dream has become one of the most aligned, ease-filled experiences of my life. I’ve never felt so sure about something, and that alone has been both grounding and exhilarating.
But the past year hasn’t just been about dresses and business. It’s been about identity, motherhood transitions, rediscovery, and the wildly unexpected realization that… I am literally living out my childhood Barbie Dreamhouse fantasy. Yep. That happened.
And because nothing in my life unfolds in one tidy little theme, I’ve also been sitting with a deeper lesson—the idea that sometimes the medicine for your burnout, overwhelm, or stress is hidden in its opposite. And for me? That opposite looks like doing absolutely nothing. No timeframes. No expectations. Just open space.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
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