My Story
Before the model, there was a life built on discipline, achievement, leadership, and the quiet cost of proving.
Military Veteran
Mechanical Engineer
HR Executive
Entrepreneur
Speaker
About Olivia
I know what it feels like to build a successful life and still feel unsafe inside it.
For years, I believed achievement would eventually bring the peace, confidence, and fulfillment I was searching for. What I discovered changed the course of my life and became the foundation of Unshakeable Model.
Book Olivia For SpeakingThe life everyone saw
I’m a military veteran, Mechanical Engineer, HR executive, entrepreneur, speaker, and human-centered growth strategist. I served as an Officer in the United States Coast Guard for over a decade, becoming one of the first Black female Engineer Officers in Coast Guard history. I earned my Mechanical Engineering degree from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
In just six years, I rose from entry-level to VP of human resources.
After leaving the military, I translated my leadership experience into a corporate career that spanned the medical device and private equity industries. In just six years, I rose from entry-level to VP of human resources. The speed in which I rose defied all odds, and nearly killed me. After achieving what I believed to be my dream job, I encountered a workplace so toxic it fueled my decision to retire, at 43, to Jamaica with my husband, Dan.
From the outside it looked as if I had won.
From the outside it looked as if I had won. I unsubscribed from the corporate rat race, found a beautiful beach house, in a sleepy fishing village on the southern coast of Jamaica. The dream was realized, so why did I feel so empty. Why did my mind still race, and why did I continue to operate as if my very existence depended on the next task. Jamaica offered me peace. Six months into what I can only describe as pure bliss, disaster struck.
The reckoning
When Hurricane Melissa tore through our home, taking most of what we owned and some of who I believed myself to be, I faced a profound reckoning.
That moment became the catalyst for a deep personal and spiritual transformation, one that reshaped my understanding of strength, love, community, and purpose.
Beneath achievement
From the outside, my life looked exactly as I hoped it would. I had built a successful career, led teams, made history, achieved financial independence and retired early.
By most measures, I was successful. Yet beneath the achievements was a feeling I could never quite explain. No matter how much I accomplished, the sense of peace I expected to arrive never stayed for long.
Every milestone was quickly replaced by another target. Every achievement created temporary relief before the pressure returned.
At the time, I thought the answer was more. More growth. More achievements. More proof that I was capable, worthy, and enough. I didn't realize it then, but I was living inside a cycle many high-achieving women know intimately. The belief that if I could just achieve a little more, I would finally feel safe, I could finally rest.
I thought the answer was more.
More growth. More achievements. More proof.
The belief that if I could just achieve a little more, I would finally feel safe.
The Birth Of Unshakeable Model
Once I understood what I was really searching for, I became obsessed with a question.
Why do so many intelligent, capable, successful women continue living from patterns that no longer serve them? The more I explored that question, the more I began to see a connection.
Our moments shape the narratives we tell ourselves. Those narratives influence the way we think, behave and move through the world (actions). And over time, those actions create the life we live (results). What once felt random started to make sense.
I began to see that perfectionism, overachievement, people-pleasing, and hyper-independence were not flaws. They were adaptations. They were strategies developed in response to moments that had long since passed. That understanding changed everything.
Because when you understand the narratives beneath the pattern, the pattern finally makes sense.
And when you change the narratives, everything downstream begins to change.
That exploration eventually became Unshakeable Model. A framework designed to help women understand the connection between their moments, narratives, actions, and results.
What began as a personal search for answers became a methodology for lasting transformation.
Take The AssessmentMoments
Narratives
Actions
Results
Proof
A life of leadership, service, transformation, and human-centered growth.
Veteran
United States Coast Guard Officer for over a decade.
Engineer
Mechanical Engineering degree from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Executive
Rose from entry-level to VP of Human Resources in six years.
Speaker
Human-centered growth strategist and creator of Unshakeable Model.
Philosophy
What I Believe
I believe most people are not struggling because they are broken. They are struggling because they are living from stories they learned long before they had the ability to question them.
I believe behavior always makes sense when you understand the need it was trying to meet. What looks like perfectionism, people-pleasing, or overachievement is often an intelligent adaptation that simply outlived its purpose.
I believe awareness is powerful, but awareness alone is rarely enough. Lasting change happens when insight becomes experience, and new beliefs are reinforced through the way we live, not just the way we think.
I believe worth is inherent. It is not something you earn through achievement, sacrifice, productivity, or performance. It exists before any accomplishment and remains after every mistake.
I believe sustainable success is built on safety, not pressure. Because when your value is no longer tied to proving yourself, success becomes something you get to enjoy rather than something you have to survive.
And I believe the goal of personal growth is not to become someone new. It is to return to who you were before the world convinced you that you had to earn your place in it.
Speaking
Looking for a speaker for your organization, event, podcast, or community?
Leaders are people. And people bring their stories to work.
When achievement becomes a substitute for safety, pressure becomes culture. Teams stop collaborating and start performing. Trust weakens. Innovation shrinks. Results suffer.
I speak on the hidden relationship between achievement and safety, the narratives driving perfectionism and overachievement, and how leaders can disrupt the patterns that exhaust teams and quietly erode culture.
Book Olivia For SpeakingIf any part of this story feels familiar, you’re not alone.
You may not need another achievement. You may simply need a different story.