After hitting rock bottom in 2010, Melissa Ambrosini embarked on a journey of self love and discovery. Today she has built a business based on soul principal of empowering women to love themselves. Now she is the best-selling author of Mastering Your Mean Girl and Open Wide, host of The Melissa Ambrosini Show podcast and dubbed as 'Self Help Guru' by Elle Magazine. It's only fair to say we were excited to sit down for a chat with this glowing goddess in celebration of International Women's Day!
Guest interview by: Sarah Lindsay.
Hi Melissa!
Thanks so much for having a chat with us today. As the bestselling author of Mastering Your Mean Girl and Open Wide, the host of The Melissa Ambrosini Show podcast, entrepreneur and all round boss lady, would you mind telling us a little about how this journey began?
It all began back in 2010, when I hit rock bottom and ended up in hospital after burning the candle at both ends. Before that, I was a professional dancer, actress and TV presenter. And although that may sound really glamorous — and although it may have looked like I had a great life on the outside — on the inside I was dying. My health was plummeting, my relationships were toxic, I no longer liked the work I was doing, plus I was dealing with anxiety, panic attacks, depression and an eating disorder. Once I ended up in hospital that was a huge wake up call for me, and that’s what sparked me to turn my whole life around and that is what got me on my true path.
From there, I wanted to get happy and healthy again so I made that my mission. I went on to study holistic nutrition and health and life coaching, and became a qualified yoga teacher. I learned how to meditate and studied Acu-energetics (energy healing work). But most importantly of all, I begin my inward journey to uncover the true me. From there, I started sharing what I was learning on this newfangled thing (that none of my family or friends had heard of) called a ‘blog’! I began sharing my lessons and learnings on my blog, in my ebooks, ecourses and talks. I knew I was onto something, because women were coming up to me in the street and saying, “Thank you so much for your honesty, I thought I was the only one who dealt with eating issues and a lack of self love.” Since 2010 I have stayed on my path and true to my mission, which is to inspire women to unlock their full potential and live the life of their dreams. Everything I do and create is with that intention in my mind and heart.
What has been the greatest piece of advice you have ever been given?
Be your own best friend. I don’t remember who said it to me but it’s honestly one of the best pieces of advice I have been given and something I think about often.
You have built a career from supporting women to realise their full potential. What have been some of the greatest highlights thus far?
Meeting everyone after my book tours who have been touched and inspired by my work. That’s seriously one of the biggest highlights for me. Also writing and launching both my books, launching my podcast but honestly the best part if meeting the women whom my work has inspired big shifts within them. I love hearing their stories and getting to hug them in person. It’s the best!
What are your top tips for mastering your Mean Girl and unleashing our female potential?
I have a 3 step Mastering Your Mean Girl process which goes like this…
Step 1: Practice awareness. Become aware of when your Mean Girl pops up and tells you that you’re not good enough, thin enough, whatever enough. Most times we are so unconscious and not present that we aren’t even aware of her internal dialogue, so bringing your awareness to her words is the first step. Because one you are aware of something and know it you can’t unknow it.
Step 2: Gently close the door on her. Once you are aware that she has popped up, you can now choose to gently close the door on her. It’s not about fighting her, or waging an inner battle — that’ll just cause more pain and suffering. Instead, it’s a gentle, grateful act that comes from a place of love.
Step 3: Choose love instead. In every moment you have one of two choices… love or fear. So once you have gently closed the door on her, choose to come back to your heart and choose love instead of fear. It’s so much more fulfilling when you do.
In terms of unleashing your full potential you must first master your inner Mean Girl and then allow yourself to show up as the best version of yourself. So we have to do the things that make you feel the best you. Fill yourself up, take yourself to your fav yoga class, get to bed early, nourish your temple, meditate, get outside in nature, do work you love and surround yourself with loving people. That’s a great place to start in order for you to be the best you so that you can unleash your full potential.
We love scrolling through your Instagram and seeing so many pics of your gorgeous girl gang - how have they impacted on your career and success?
Surrounding yourself with soul sisters who are your biggest cheerleaders is imperative. My gals light me up. We support each other and most importantly we celebrate each other often because that’s what we are here for and I treat my soul sisters the way I want to be treated. This is something I learned after high school and my early twenties and that is if you want more soul sisters in your life be the type of person you want to attract and they will come. They WILL find you but you must first be the soul sista you desire.
You are constantly chatting with super intelligent and successful individuals on your podcast, The Melissa Ambrosini Show. What has been the best piece of advice you have received from your guests?
There’s so many great pieces of advice and loads of common themes across the guests but some of my fav’s are…
- It all starts with self love
- Meditate meditate meditate
- Adopt an attitude of gratitude
- Treat your body like a temple
- You are your own best guru
- Listen to your intuition
- Listen to your heart
- Listen to your body
- Trust yourself
- Be your own best friend
With such busy schedules these days, how do you prioritise taking time out for yourself?
I schedule it in to my day every single day because if I don’t it won’t happen, ‘later’ will never come. So just like I book meetings with my team I book meeting with myself. I usually start the day with ‘me time’. My mornings are my scared goddess time where I fill myself up so that I can go out into the day as the best version of myself.
Before we let you go, would you mind sharing some of your favourite self-love practices for winding down after a hectic day of work?
Here are a few things I love to do to step out of work mode and into wife and muma mode after work:
- Divine in the ocean to wash about the day
- Barefoot walk along the water
- Having a goddess bath with essential oils and epsom salts
- Taking a shower to wash away the day and covering my body with coconut oil and essential oils to make me feel like a sexy goddess
- Dancing in the kitchen with my hubby
- Meditating whilst diffusing essential oils
