3 Courageous Leaps To Full Life
Embracing risk and finding freedom outside your comfort zone
Courage to:
Embrace a Life Beyond Achievement:
, a former Fortune 500 executive and seasoned entrepreneur, dared to step off the relentless treadmill of overachievement and into a life of true fulfillment. She traded boardrooms for vibrant kitchens, corporate ladders for creative exploration, and external validation for inner peace.Rediscover Joy and Purpose: Maria inspires you to reclaim your life and discover the joy and purpose that lie beyond the traditional measures of success. She shows you how to break free from the "always-on" mentality and create a life that nourishes your soul, not just your resume.
Build a Life You Love: Through her Substack newsletter, "Full Life Collective," and her lifestyle brand, Lipari Living, Maria provides a roadmap for crafting a life filled with meaningful connections, creative expression, and a deep sense of belonging. She empowers you to design a life that truly reflects who you are and what you value.
Meet:
Q: Tell us a bit about your background.
I am a proud native New Yorker; and the founder of Lipari Living (LL), a lifestyle brand and Substack newsletter, Full Life Collective, designed to guide high achievers toward purpose, joy, and balance beyond their careers.
With more than twenty years of experience as a Fortune 500 executive managing global businesses valued at over $100 million, Maria has deep expertise in leading teams and businesses across Asia, Australia, Europe, and more.
Before LL, I founded NMS Communications, a coaching and training company, and authored four transformative books, including Healing the Corporate World: How Value-Based Leadership Gets Results from the Inside Out, Values-Based Leadership for Dummie, Gratitude Journal and The Resiliency Journal. I’ve spoken on large stages and small stages with some of the top political and transformational leaders around. Today, I am still considered a subject matter expert on Values-Based Leadership.
Lipari Living is my passion. I realized what many of my over-achieving clients wanted a better life. I became focused on helping them reclaim their lives and thrive by finding joy, purpose, and balance through self-discovery, meaningful connections, and creativity. Here I am creating a lifestyle brand based on four key pillars – Gather, Grow, Create & Connect.
It was important to me, because this has been my own journey. From overworking, and overachieving at all costs. But my life was out of balance. I wasn’t unhappy. I was just exhausted. Even at a short glance I’m sure your readers can identify one or more areas that are “missing” in their lives. That’s why our Substack newsletter “Full Life Collective” is more than a publication—it’s a supportive community focused on transformation, resilience, and living well beyond the traditional measures of success. Because, there is more to life than just working.
Q: If you had to choose an SEO keyword for your life, what would it be?
Creative or Adventurous
Q: What are your hobbies, passions, obsessions, or what excites or inspires you? What sets your soul on fire?
I’m an amateur chef. I love to cook and entertain. This has been a passion since I was very young. I was always fascinated by the people are our table when I was young. They were so interesting. And still today, I believe that’s why no matter who we invite, they are the most fascinating people. The conversation is always lively and reciprocal.
What inspires me – Art. Paintings. Music and a few really amazing Podcasts. My inspiration comes from rhythm and beat. It probably sounds a bit corny, but it’s true. It puts my brain in a space where I can be very creative. My playlist included the Killers, Counting Crows, The Struts, and a lot of classic rock and a bit of jazz.
I’m obsessed with texture in my home. I’m always looking for ways to put more into what is currently a more sleek, modern, and clean space. Currently, I am working on making accent walls more enticing with color and framing. Look out, there may be some posts or articles on molding and panels! Ha!
Q: What is the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?
There are 3, and each of the 3 have the same theme - Moving:
Moving to England for part of my degree
Moving to Australia to work on a 1 year contract that turned into 5 years.
Moving to Richmond, Virginia from NYC a few years ago.
Each were about taking a risk and stepping into the big unknown. I knew little to no people in each move. But I did it anyway. From these moves, some of the most amazing experiences occurred. More importantly, I learned a lot about myself every time.
I learned how strong I am. Even though, at my core, I’m an introvert, but I can harness extravert characteristics when it’s required. I learned that in loneliness there is space for me to examine myself and recognize changes that needed to be made. Sometimes that’s exactly why the space is there in the first place. To explore inside and outside.
I also learned that people are the same everywhere. We have so many preconceived ideas of others. But at the core, we are all the same. We can about the same things – our families, food on the table, safety, and security. We all have wacky families and gatherings.
I also owe my expansive palette and spice cabinet to these and many other travels in the world.
Fortunately, this last move, from New York City to Richmond, Virginia (RVA) was done with my husband. It was really scary in some ways. But in other ways, it just felt like the next leg of an exciting journey. I will always love NYC. It’s my hometown. But we are so happy in RVA – the risk was worth the reward.
Q: Why do you write on Substack?
I tried all the other platforms, never feeling like I fit. After coming from big brands in corporate America, the way people marketing make me feel icky and gross. I didn’t just hate it, it made my skin crawl. So while I was present on social media, that is not how I found my clients. Those were through relationships and networking.
Substack is different. I can share with the readers differently. While practical information is always useful. Sharing lessons and patterns through storytelling is far more sticky than listicles and the hard selling I see elsewhere. Here, we build community through shared experiences. We support one anothers writing. And we network. This building relationships piece is critical to success here and in business, period.
What’s even more freeing is that this is the frontier of anti-niching. So while I can share about mindset, changing careers and alignment in all aspects of your life – I can also share recipes. I love sharing recipes! Even if they aren’t mine – I will share it and give the original author credit. And I can share about creating your home as a sanctuary too. I’m considering delving into more of the home aspect, but, it’s baby steps. The brand will evolve into a full lifestyle brand. Having worked for Ralph Lauren many years ago, made me see, how important a well-rounded concept can be.
Q: What are your values as a writer/creator/leader?
Truth. Transparency, Relatability, and Acceptance are my values as a writer. In all things shared with the reader, I want them to feel seen – like “I know what she’s talking about, I feel the same.” The only way, in my opinion, to get that connection is to be truthful and transparent. I’m a very private person – so it takes a lot for me to share some of the more personal items. I always want them to read the joy in the journey, even it it’s hard.
I’ve led a lot of teams in my corporate career. I would add Fairness and Creativity. Having worked in a creative industry one would think that’s a given, but it’s not. My focus has always been finding the nuances of creativity in solutions, dialog, and even in spreadsheets. Additionally, I always want people to be treated fairly. I’ve ruffled a lot of feathers in my lifetime when I question the fairness of some decisions or actions. I would say “Is it fair, moral, and ethical?” or “who does this really benefit?”
Q: How do you connect with your readers/team?
At my core, I am a storyteller. Storytelling is the ability to take the reader on a journey with me. Can you see the central theme in my life? It’s pretty funny how patterns appear – for me it’s movement and journeys. I’ve learned a lot about storytelling from Michael Thompson. His writing showed me how important a strongly laid-out story can be. Stories stick. Stats don’t.
I particularly enjoy when a reader comments and shares part of their story or journey. It makes for great conversation. I am not shy about my emotions when I read something that truly moves me. Needless to say, in the past month or so I’ve gone through a lot of mascara as I read peoples truths in response to a story or a tiny note I’ve posted. I want the reader to know it’s me, not a bot, responding to them and their genuine humanness.
I will be moving more toward live teaching again. It’s been a while since I’ve hosted in this format. So that will be another way I can connect in and with the Substack community.
Q: Why did you join the Courages Voices project, and how do you find it so far?
First, there’s always more to learn about Substack! The platform is a reflection of us – ever evolving. It’s helpful to have Magdalena, as a guide. I can get myself unstuck faster!
But mostly it’s the people inside the community that are so supportive that make it a great place to learn and grow from one another. The networking is amazing.
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Thank you so much for this lovely piece. I appreciate all you do for the community.