Female Founders: Rachel Fiori of Masters of Self University On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
I wish someone had told me about the power of Surrender. To surrender is to release all resistance so that what is meant to be created, can be created at the fastest speed and the most powerful level. The universe having your back is in full force when you’ve mastered the art of the spiritual definition of Surrender.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rachel Fiori.
Rachel Fiori MSOT, CEO of Masters of Self University, is a Mystical Therapist & Elite Coach for High Profile People & Couples. She is the lead Mystical Professor teaching the Mystical Life Coach Certification program.
With a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy, (specializing in mental, emotional, & behavioral health), a BA in Business/Corporate Communications, a Psychic-Intuitive-Empath, and as an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person), Rachel has spent the past 23 years empowering individuals, coaches, and high profile people across the world to heal their lives and relationships at the soul level.
Rachel masterfully utilizes the principles of Spiritual Psychology, as well as her gift of Divine Sight with her clients. She has the ability to perceive the unperceivable, and can see the deep truth of any situation which makes her the best in her field at doing “shadow work”. Her genius is the ability to “see” the root causes of all of your struggles. What she has the ability to see and show within a person or their relationship can change the consciousness of that person and elevate them to the status of fully healed, whole, and free.
Rachel’s wisdom of transformational healing, her methods, and her reputation is unprecedented. She is a Radical Spiritual Teacher here to lead us into the New Golden Age of Harmony, and someone the world desperately needs right now.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I have countless life experiences that led me to become what I am today and to everything I am creating at Masters of Self University. But one of those stories was regarding the first job I ever got hired for. It was the summer before going off to college and I applied for a server position at a country club. When I went into the restaurant for my “interview”, the owner told me to stand in front of him and slowly turn around. Completely confused at first, it sunk into my teenage brain what was happening as I was turning around. He took his sweet time checking out every inch of my body and then said, “Excellent. You’re hired.”. He never spoke of anything about the server position, nor even asked if I had ever held a job before. The only questions he asked were about what sports I played because he wanted to know what gave me such muscular legs.
When I went home I told my mom and stepdad what happened and that I obviously wasn’t working there. They told me I had to work there to teach me responsibility. Teach me responsibility? So, some misogynistic man in his fifties just sexually objectified the hell out of me, and I’m the one who needs to learn responsibility? Talk about parents teaching their teenage daughter to accept sexism, to suppress her voice, to tolerate being sexually objectified, and to allow myself to be hired and paid for my body over any skills or intelligence. This is disgusting and WE NEED TO DO BETTER!
It’s bad enough that I spent the summer working there. But it doesn’t end there. When I went off to college, I received a package in my campus mailbox. When I opened it there was a Penthouse magazine with a woman on the cover and in the centerfold with the same exact name as me. The letter with the magazine was from the same man who hired me for the server position. The letter said, “this made me think of you.” That’s not the only thing the letter said. But you can see the lengths this creepy, misogynistic asshole went to sexually harass a teenager. This is just one of the countless experiences that have led me to teach humans how to raise their level of consciousness. We need to be better humans. There is no excuse to continue to function in the old paradigm of inequality, sexism, and sexually objectifying others because you never learned to control and manage your own sexual energy, or learned what it means to be a person of integrity, harmlessness, or trustworthiness. Teenagers, women, people of color, and all humans should be able to trust that they are going to be treated with respect and dignity and be safe at their place of work. This can’t happen without individual humans transforming themselves from the inside out.
This experience is just one of the reasons why my corporation and how it’s run is based on the Universal Ways of Oneness™. These are the characteristics of enlightenment and even my departments represent and are titled after 5 of the 20 Universal Ways of Oneness™. These include The Department of Responsibility, The Department of Equality, The Department of Selfless-Service, The Department of Integrity, and The Department of Wisdom. It’s time for businesses to be run from a place of integrity. This is how we function at Masters of Self University and we even offer corporate coaching programs to help other businesses raise their level of corporate consciousness and learn to base their organization on the Ways of Oneness as well.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
I would say that the most interesting thing that has happened since I started Masters of Self University has been that, the more people that come to me as a spiritual teacher, healer, and coach, the more heightened and elevated my psychic and healing gifts become. It’s a fascinating thing to experience. It’s like, the more people that ask for my help, the more the Universe upgrades my abilities to use me as a vessel for others. What a remarkable way to be of divine service!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I think the funniest mistake I made was thinking I could jump on click funnels and learn that shit in an hour. What the holy hell was I thinking?! A psychic-intuitive that can read subtle energies and detect and heal old traumas and programs in people’s bodies, is not someone who’s going to master click funnels. I very quickly decided I just needed to make more money to hire a team of professionals to do that stuff for me. Lesson learned! I now have incredible people shining their genius at Masters of Self University. To work with such incredible people with such a level of divine unity is nothing short of amazing. I think more people need to dismantle the old paradigm that you must be a person that “does it all”. That toxic thinking only leads to stress and burnout. We need to learn what it means to function in unity with one another so everyone’s genius can shine.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I am so grateful for every person who ever treated me poorly. For every person who abandoned me. For every sexist who attempted to oppress me or keep me small. I am grateful for each and every one of them. I am grateful for them because they gave me the opportunity to choose to be disempowered and weak or to step into my power and grow my heart-centered Light. I am a force to be reckoned with because I learned the true power of loving, supporting, and nurturing myself by choosing power over victimhood from each of these experiences throughout my lifetime. These people challenged me to step into my true, divine power. How silly I used to be to categorize these “awful, terrible” people as negative parts of my life. When, they were only there to give me contrast to the power that I am, and the internal power that I needed to connect with.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience, what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
Soooo many answers to this question! But the one I’d like to focus on right now is this: women are so brainwashed to look to men to be leaders, they don’t see that their true, innate quality is in fact to be leaders themselves. Women need to heal themselves from their wounded feminine programming and step up and take charge of their own lives. They need to support and uplift other women who are leaders, spiritual teachers, and entrepreneurs and stop looking for daddy figures to approve of them and tell them what to do. They also need to heal the toxic masculinity within themselves and learn to lead from their innate divine leadership energy which is feminine energy. Women need to break free from the sexist conditioning that their roles in life are as sex symbols or baby factories. Once women choose to rise above these sexist programs that they carry within themselves, I believe you’ll see more and more women elevating themselves and starting businesses that will role model to other women what their true potential is.
It’s time for women to raise their level of consciousness and use their divine feminine nature to give birth to a corporation that changes the trajectory of humanity. How about you give birth to and nurture a way of life that doesn’t involve your “success” being based on motherhood or how much cleavage you expose? How about you give birth to an elevated level of consciousness compared to how your mother was raised or your grandmother before her? How about you birth a new way to function as an entrepreneurial woman and stop focusing on “getting to the top” through your makeup or product line that makes you more sexually appealing to men? And while we’re at it, stop with the insanity that every woman must get pregnant and give birth to more humans. You’re not a baby factory. You’re a divinely powerful being. Stop defining yourselves as less than that. And stop looking down upon other women who choose other paths in life other than procreation and raising children.
So, one of the biggest barriers that hold women back is other women. The women who continue to participate in and follow the rules of sexism are just as big of a roadblock for women as the sexist men who continue to hold leadership roles. Women who continue to stay in the job or corporation where sexism exists. Women who accept acting roles that sexually objectify instead of honor your true genius as an actor. Women who won’t walk away from “opportunities” when sexual harassment is present. Women who fail to see the genius and leadership of other women, and follow them are all part of the bigger problem. All of you make it harder for women to get ahead. And it makes it much harder for the young teenage girl to stand in her power when she is being sexually harassed, due to the lack of powerful women that should be teaching her to stand up, rise up, and have a zero-tolerance policy.
Women need to take the responsibility of healing themselves and then become founders of highly conscious businesses that help other women and men do the same thing. Sacred feminine energy is the wisdom and genius of transformational healing. Women need to look within themselves and to other women for healing, and then create the corporations around the globe that will invoke healing in all others. This sacred energy is the innate wisdom of what it means to be a ‘woman’. And this ancient intelligence has been lost for so many centuries that women today have no clue of their own powerful potential. Wake up, women. You’ve allowed yourselves to be slaves for far too long. When healed and tapped into your divine, internal power, there is nothing that you cannot rise above or overcome. So rise. It’s time for women to choose to rise and stop waiting for permission from unconscious men to allow them to.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
Absolutely! My corporation, Masters of Self University, has coaching programs to heal on an individual level, a group level with our master classes, and the one I just may love the most, our Corporate Harmony coaching program.
You must be willing to heal yourself. You must learn what it means to elevate to a higher level of consciousness and then make that your top priority. Everything else in life heals and falls into place when you do this. Life becomes so much simpler. Challenges become much easier to move through when you’re at the level of consciousness that allows you to move through them with grace. And achieving the highest levels of success becomes easier as well because you’re now powerful enough and resilient enough to handle it. I recommend everyone to take a look at our membership, our coaching programs, and our Corporate Harmony Coaching Program for your organizations. And finally, government officials, get our coaching!! You can’t change a system with the same level of consciousness that built the system! You must elevate from within, at the micro-level before changes can be truly made at the macro level. It always boils down to the individual. I created Masters of Self University to address these very issues, and we transform these subconscious, behavioral, and systemic programs better than anyone in the industry. So, join a coaching program with one of our amazing coaches, and better yet, sign your corporation up for our Corporate Harmony Coaching Program.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
Because women are natural-born leaders. They intuitively and naturally see the global perspective of everything. They know what should be done and why, what T’s need to be crossed, and what I’s need to be dotted. They are excellent at being able to take countless things into consideration before making a decision or moving forward compared to a plan that can only offer tunnel vision. The power of ‘woman’ is to consider short-term and long-term effects while simultaneously considering the impact that those decisions will make on everyone involved. Because they are innately connected to the divine energy of nurturing, they are much less inclined to make selfish, greedy decisions that only benefit themselves. Because of this, they make the best CEOs and the best candidates for positions of power.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
Two very common myths are that founders are lone rangers and bold risk-takers. I think these are absolutely ridiculous. Other than seeing the phenomenal results of clients that Masters of Self University offers coaching programs to, the next thing that probably brings me the most joy is seeing others in the company shine. I love when employees become skilled enough and confident enough to take on leadership roles and decision-making roles. Every single person has genius. I think part of a founder’s responsibility is to find out what her employees’ true geniuses are, and support them in every way possible so that they can shine. Unity is critical for a company to evolve into a highly conscious company. And unity is one of the things that we do exceptionally well. So I’m happy to expunge the myth that founders are lone rangers.
As far as being bold risk-takers, I see this as irresponsible, especially in the early years of a growing corporation. If my company fails, not only will people lose jobs and opportunities but our clients will no longer have access to the coaching, guidance, and healing of their emotional and mental suffering, or for their troubled relationships. Taking bold risks is a gamble I’m not willing to take. Too many people depend on me and on our corporation’s exceptional services. I simply wouldn’t risk that. As mentioned previously, true leadership energy stems from feminine energy. And feminine energy always considers the whole; the impact of everyone involved when making decisions. Now having said that, this doesn’t mean you should never take risks. Of course, you’re going to take risks sometimes. But it’s nonsensical to think a founder is a high-risk taker. Until your business has built an extremely solid foundation, taking too many risks or gambling on your company’s future is just irresponsible.
One myth that I hear a lot and want to mention here, not necessarily specific to founders, but about great leaders, is that they focus on mastering their mindset. This is a strategy that so many coaches, teachers, and entrepreneurs spew out to the world. And that myth is that your mindset is everything. There are so many damn coaches out there, especially business coaches, who try to teach about mindset and how to change it. Jesus Christ. There are founders and entrepreneurs who hire mindset coaches. Focusing on mindset keeps you trapped in mind. Trying to change your thoughts or your mindset is almost as idiotic as jumping off of a roof, flapping your arms, and trying to force yourself to fly. And yet this is the bandwagon that everyone has chosen to jump on. Sigh. . .
Instead of writing down your goals on a vision board, or focusing on what you want to accomplish or manifest, or becoming “mindful” so you can manifest an abundant business, learn what it means to drop into your heart. Focus on what it means to become a heart-centered being. Get out of your crazy, egoic mind. Set your goals on becoming a good person; the most magnificent version of yourself that you can achieve in this lifetime. When you live as a heart-centered being, the Universe sees you as a vessel to move through. Everything that the Universe wants to create and manifest, will be created and manifested through you. Life, and yes, even business or entrepreneurial life, is so much easier when you elevate yourself to a heart-centered being instead of a person who is addicted to mind. You can fill your left brain as much as you want to with knowledge and strategies. But knowledge and strategies aren’t wisdom. Why create a business based on the limitations of the mind when you can create a business based on the wisdom and guidance of the Universe? Stop trying to master your mind. Instead, open your heart and allow the secrets and wisdom of the universe to create through you.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
I love this question! And NO. The easy answer to this is no, of course not. This is like asking, “Is everyone cut out to be a neuroscientist?” Or, “is everyone cut out to be an Olympic gold medalist?” No. Of course not. Because we don’t need 7 billion Olympic gold medalists in the world. We don’t need 7 billion neuroscientists in the world. Just like we don’t need 7 billion founders. It doesn’t make sense. Everyone has their own unique genius. And the truth is, a founder has her unique genius. But so do each one of the employees that end up working with her and for her. And all of those skills, abilities, and geniuses are what make that particular business so wonderful. It’s the uniting of everyone’s talents and gifts that make a business thrive.
As a founder, I have powerful leadership abilities. I command and delegate and course correct when employees need some directions or guidance. Founders must have a selfless and global vision. They must have the ability to see the big picture while simultaneously measuring and calculating the next several steps that need to be taken before long-term goals can become a reality. Some of the absolute best types of employees are those who aren’t good at handling all of the decision-making that’s required when you’re in a leadership role. However, they can take direction well, complete tasks, follow up with the thousands of things that the founder doesn’t possibly have time for. Everyone is a piece of the same puzzle. It’s realizing that although each person has a different role to play, those roles are not superior or inferior to anyone else’s role. This is a divine definition of equality. Just because we each hold different positions in the corporation, doesn’t mean anyone is less important or less beneficial to the company. When we learn to realize the truth in this and hold this level of perspective at the corporate level, everyone will not only feel honored for what they bring to the table, but they will also honor others for what they bring to the table as well.
I think our society has promoted an individualistic and selfish perspective for far too long. Not everyone is born to be a leader that can found a global corporation that is changing the world. But many can be a priceless piece of that team that allows a corporation like Masters of Self University, (and others like it), to thrive. Every person at MSU is an incredible asset. All of us together are what makes this corporation so incredible. Every coach, assistant, creative specialist, or director that joins our team only makes us stronger and more successful at changing the level of consciousness of humanity. As I rise, they rise. We all rise together at Masters of Self University.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. I wish someone had told me about the power of Surrender. To surrender is to release all resistance so that what is meant to be created, can be created at the fastest speed and the most powerful level. The universe having your back is in full force when you’ve mastered the art of the spiritual definition of Surrender.
2. I wish someone had told me the true definition of ‘divine timing’. So many idiots out there are teaching people about the law of attraction. It’s so superficial and stems from ego. Learn how to manifest anything your heart desires simply because you can and you deserve it. What a crock of shit. When you focus on what kind of a person you are instead, and you focus on serving selflessly, then the success, the profit, the abundance, will come in divine time. Stop being greedy, selfish, and impatient, and learn to build a business based on integrity and selflessness. When you do this, in perfect divine time opportunities will flood to you that you never even could’ve dreamed of.
3. I wish someone would’ve told me how full of shit everyone is who teaches you that you must do it all. What a toxic thing to teach people. That you must master marketing. You must master social media. You must master sales. You must master the art of persuasion. And the list goes on. This is all a crock. Now, you can’t bury your head in the sand, learn nothing, and simply have a good idea and think you’ll blossom into a trillion-dollar company. But if you’re mastering sales, marketing, and social media, what the hell else do you have time for?! Uuummmm, nothing. Absolutely nothing. This is why having a great team is so essential. I am an absolute genius at what I do. I’m the best in the industry. But for me to offer my genius to clients, I can’t be wasting my time on every single aspect of the business. The people in those roles are the geniuses meant to be in those roles. We are meant to operate this corporation together as a team. That means everyone gets to shine. Everyone has some sense of flexibility and balance. And everyone wins with no one suffering from burnout.
4. I wish someone had told me how dirty, manipulative, and corrupt the sales and marketing industry truly was. It makes me sick. I don’t “sell” people. And I sure as hell don’t prey on people’s pain as a way to manipulate them to purchase our coaching services. I have zero tolerance for lies and manipulation. Trying to find sales and marketing people that didn’t do the same manipulative bullshit that everyone else does was like trying to find a pig that could fly. I never try to persuade or sell people who have free coaching consultations with me. Never. I simply offer them the facts. I give them the truth. The level of coaching that I and our programs offer at Masters of Self University are so far advanced compared to what anyone else in the entire world offers. You either want to elevate that high or you don’t. If you do, you’ll go with us. If you don’t, you’ll settle for someone else. It’s that simple. I honor and respect everyone’s decision in the end. But never, and I mean never, will my corporation use cheesy, untrustworthy sales and marketing tactics to sell our services.
5. Back when I first started, I wish someone would have told me how superficially addicted the masses were to quick fixes. In other words, how many people there are who aren’t willing to do what it takes to transform their lives, their relationships, or their businesses. People arrogantly and immaturely want it now. People stubbornly resist doing what it takes to heal. And those very same people are the ones bitching and complaining about their lives, businesses or relationships. It requires work to elevate. It takes effort, consistency, and sometimes sweat and tears. You don’t make it to the Olympics by sitting on your ass and watching other people practice. You must be willing to put the time in and devoted to doing what it takes. It’s no different when dealing with healing your depression, your relationship on the brink of divorce, or your business that is failing. You must be willing to get off your ass and work for it.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
100% My definition of success IS that I make this world a better place. Period. It’s not how much money I make. It’s not how many followers I have. It’s not about what kind of car I drive. None of that means anything if you’re a shitty person and you’re leaving the world and humanity worse off for being alive. My life means something because of who I choose to be and what I choose to do with my life with whatever time I have here on Earth. The people that I see transform in front of my eyes during a psychic-healing session, that is my definition of success. Empowering people by teaching them how to fully and truly heal themselves; that is my definition of success. Seeing my clients and students transform from victimhood, emotional suffering, and powerlessness to empowered, divine, unstoppable people who are emotionally free and no longer suffer; that is my definition of success. So with my definition of success, I’m one of the most successful people alive on the planet today. Yeah, I’d say I use my success to make the world a better place.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
One of my current movements is to coach companies into becoming highly conscious corporations through our Corporate Harmony Coaching Program. People can come to work and heal themselves. Separating mental and emotional health from work is like trying to keep the color of your skin separated from your body. It’s silly to think your place of work, where many people spend most of their time, shouldn’t be a place of healing. We’re changing that. We have an incredible program that elevates on the individual level, corporate level, and global level simultaneously. Imagine the success of your corporation if you turned the workplace into a place of mental and emotional healing. Instead of work being a major cause of stress, it was transformed into a safe haven where stress melts away… for good. That’s what our Corporate Harmony Coaching Program is all about. It’s changing the way corporations function from the inside out.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
The first person that comes to mind is actress Emma Thompson. I read at some point that she quit the animated film Luck after the company, Skydance, hired someone who left another company over sexual harassment allegations. This is exactly what women who are stepping into their power need to do. They need to quit. They need to walk away. They need to refuse to work for people who continue to pay salaries that allow sexism and sexual harassment to continue in our world. I wish I had her and this example to look up to when I got hired for my first job as a teenager. Having lunch with her would be an honor.
Jim Carrey is someone I would love to have lunch with! Not only is he hilarious and a great actor, but he didn’t allow his fame to prevent him from spiritually awakening. He would be capable of having a very deep, spiritual conversation with me. Because of that, I would love to spend an afternoon with him to see where the conversation takes us.
I think I’d kick myself if I didn’t mention Dave Chappelle. First of all: comedic fucking genius! And secondly, he walked away from $50 million dollars as a way to rise up and stand up for himself. You tell me how many people on this planet would do that. There are actual billionaires in this world who wouldn’t walk away from $50 million dollars. There are a lot of women who need to learn from him. Millions of women in the world can “#MeToo” all they want to. But if you’re not facing your fears and rising up, if you’re not using your voice and speaking up, NO MATTER THE CONSEQUENCE OR WHAT IT COSTS YOU, then you’re allowing sexism and misogyny to continue. Sexist, horribly unconscious men are not your fault, women. You are not being blamed for them or for their actions. But if you’re unwilling to take action, to walk away, to let go of “opportunities”, or you refuse to speak up, then you are a part of the problem, not the solution. Dave Chappelle, I admire the stand you took all those years ago. I applaud you for it. And I thank you for being a role model of what power looks like in action. So, when do you want to have lunch?
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Rachel Fiori of Masters of Self University On The Five Things You Need To Thrive… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.