What vulnerability looks like as a feminine coach

It’s been about 13 years since I first learnt the concept of vulnerability. I was in the university counselling office sharing some relational stressors and the counsellor suggested I be more vulnerable and sent me a link to watch Brene Browns famous tedtalk on vulnerability. Watching this talk was one of those light bulb moments. That to connect requires vulnerability and that vulnerability is courage, allowing ourselves to be seen.

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity.”

But what does vulnerability actually look like when you’re holding space for others?

Sharing your process, not just your polished moments.
You don’t pretend to have it all figured out. You let your community see you in the becoming, maybe you talk about the wobble before a launch, or how you recalibrate your energy during a tough season.

Holding space for others, without fixing.
You create safety for clients to feel, cry, or question without rushing in to rescue.

Naming the messy middle
You speak openly about transitions, doubts, or discomfort when you're in them—this builds deep connection and trust.

Honoring your own needs and boundaries.
Say no when something doesn’t align, take time off to rest, or design your business to nourish you too. Being vulnerable doesn’t mean stretching yourself or oversharing. Vulnerability is very much about boundaries and understanding why you want to share what you do and with whom.

Celebrating your own humanness.
You let yourself be yourself and hold space for your own emotional terrain - grief, rage, joy, confusion. This may or may not be shared with anyone. It is naming where you are at any given point.

Leading intuitively.
You trust your body, your energy, and your own timing. You show your clients that business can be cyclical.

All this being said, I actually find vulnerability can be misused in the business world. Or perhaps the term is misunderstood. Vulnerability is as we discussed above about courage and connection, however in the current business world, vulnerability has become a buzzword for marketing and money making.

Vulnerability has been repackaged into an aesthetic, an instagram about burnout posted alongside a polished selfie. Or using a personal story to pitch a sale. None of this is inherently wrong, but it can feel manipulative if it is not sincere.

We want to build trust, not manufacture it through performative vulnerability. Its looking at why were sharing and with whom. Vulnerability is not a strategy. It’s a way of being.

We can reclaim vulnerability for its true sense of the word by practising integrity, holding space for ourselves first, refuse to use all parts of our lives as content, and create safe space where vulnerability is about connection first and foremost.