Melissa Deally
Melissa, an Integrative Mind-Body Health Practitioner, NLP and Hypnotherapy Trainer, and Master Practitioner in Time Line Therapy®, is dedicated to guiding individuals toward their best lives. As an international speaker and five-time best-selling author, she’s honored on the 2022 CREA Global Award list and a two-time recipient of the 2022 & 2021 Quality Care Award by Businesses From The Heart. Melissa hosts the impactful “Don’t Wait For Your Wake Up Call!” podcast, offering concise, practical advice for health and mindset, embodying her commitment to holistic well-being. Melissa is also the co-founder of Girls Matter, educating girls and reducing teenage marriages.
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before starting your corporate journey/venture/initiative.
I was born in Australia, the oldest child, and my brother is 2 years younger. We moved to Japan due to my Dad’s job when I was 6 and he was 4 years old. My 2 sisters were born in Tokyo, they are 8 and 10 years younger than me. I went to the International School of the Sacred Heart, was a good student, loved sports, especially swimming, at which I competed in 12 Junior Olympics and the Pan Pacific School Games. My father died suddenly when I was 13 years old, so I became the second parent, helping my Mom look after my siblings as she had to get a job. My youngest sister was only 3 after all. We were able to stay in Japan for 2 more years after my Dad passed and then we moved back to Australia where I completed grade 11 and 12 and went on to University to complete a Commerce Degree. After that I took off travelling around the world, heading back to Japan to make money, teaching English, then spent about 18 months visiing Vancouver and then travelling the East Coast of the US, then on to 4 months Europe, followed by 2 months in Africa, back to London to work for a while before arriving in Canada again in October 1990. By then I had decided that I’d like to work for hotels, seeing as I loved to travel and I had a visa to work in Canada, however I couldn’t get a job in Vancouver as they didn’t want to hire and train me and then I’d have to leave when my visa expired. So I moved to Whistler and got a job at Whistler Mountain for the winter season, and when the season was over and they laid me off, I walked across the square to the Delta Hotel and asked for a job in accounting – they had 3 positions open and I started right away. I was also their Japanese interpreter and they were able to help me secure a work visa to continue working there for another year and then I was able to apply for permanent residency. I loved my hotel career and in1995 I joined the sales team, travelling to Japan and Australia annually as they were my markets. Then in 2000 I was promoted to National sales handling all inbound Asia business to all 40+ hotels. In 2015 Marriott purchased Delta Hotels and I was let go and given an hour to clear out my desk and no word of thanks for 24 years of service at Delta. At that point I knew I would never work for anyone else again, and that whatever I did next had to be more of service to humanity and the planet and that I had no idea what that would be, however I was open to being guided and I was then guided into health and wellness, through my 2 daughters getting concussions 2 months apart, while I wasn’t working…so I guided their healing journey and thus my 2nd career began. I have also been able to start my non-profit, Girls Matter since being let go as well -as my personal growth gave me the tools to launch that.
Tell us something about your initiative/business. What is it about and how is it helpful for people?
Girls Matter is all about educating girls to empower them to be able to stand on their own two feet.
Girls Matter Mission:
Celebrate girls and increase their access to High School and / post secondary education in developing countries.
Girls Matter Vision:
Girls Matter’s vision is to support education of girls in developing countries, to increase the respect, visibility and equality for girls in their communities.
Girls Matter’s mission is to increase access to financial support for girls’ high school and / or post secondary education in developing countries.
3 key program areas:
Educate girls to complete high school. In select cases, consider educating girls to complete University.
Support girls to attend classes all year long, by providing menstrual pads (currently they regularly miss 1 week of classes / month).
Through education, reduce the # of teenage marriages / teenage Moms.
While the global pandemic of COVID-19 is associated primarily with adversities, it has also brought about a true boom in startups, with successful entrepreneurship in many countries. The pandemic has impacted all of us in one way or another. Would you like to share your experience on a personal and professional level?
So many blessings – firstly my work is all done on zoom and this became the “norm” during the pandemic and I was able to network with people all over the world over zoom instead of just my local town with in person meetings. This opened up my customer base and helped my business grow and also connected me with many people who want to support my work in Girls Matter.
What has been the response of the users/consumers towards your venture?
I have received fabulous support and response to my business, which can be seen by these awards and accolades I have received in the last few years: Melissa is an international speaker, five time best-selling author, and has been named to the 2022 CREA Global Award list, and the winner of the Alignable 2023 & 2022 Local Business Person Of The Year Award for Whistler. She is also the recipient of the 2022 & 2021 Quality Care Award by Businesses From The Heart. Melissa is the host of the “Don’t Wait For Your Wake Up Call!” podcast, a podcast offering practical education around health, which ranked in the top 5% of Global podcasts by Listen Notes in the first 3 months of launching.
In regards to Girls Matter, I constantly have people thanking me for the work that I do, these are not the recipients, they are simply other people who realize there is a need and they appreciate me creating this non-profit. I am very proud that we’ve had 1 girl graduate from University already with 2 more graduating in Dec 2023 and another in June 2024. We are literally changing their lives and therefore the lives of those around them in a very positive way. Our motto is that we “break the poverty cycle, one girl, one family, one village at a time”
How has your life changed because of your initiative/venture?
I am healthier as a result of all my health and wellness training and I am meeting so many incredible people as a result of Girls Matter – other people running non-profits, and others who want to support my work and the more I share what I’m doing, the more the Universe provides the resources for me to continue to support our girls.
Do you have anyone who is the biggest support system in your life? Please let us know.
My husband, David. He has always allowed me to follow my dreams, build my business, build my non-profit and I truly appreciate that. As many people would have felt that was too risky and that I should get a new job, after losing my previous job.
Would you like to share with our young budding women entrepreneurs the change you would like to see in the world if given an opportunity? OR Share a motivational message for the audience/women who are reading this.
I would like to see ALL girls have access to education, it should be a right, not a privilege and that is why I started Girls Matter.
Get in touch with her.
https://yourguidedhealthjourney.com
My Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/yourguidedhealthjourney