In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews transformation coach Marian Bacol-Uba. Marian shares her personal story of moving from a high‑achieving career to severe depression, PTSD, substance abuse, and an overdose at age 28, followed by a pivotal recovery that led her to relocate from Los Angeles to Miami and adopt holistic healing practices. She explains her coaching philosophy, emphasizing that no one is truly alone and that seeking mentors and coaches is essential for growth, whether in wellness or business. Marian details her personalized meditation system—starting with breathing, then grounding, and finally meditation—to help high‑performers quiet a racing mind. She identifies the key to happiness as an internal, self‑generated state rather than external achievements. When asked about books, she highlights Oprah’s The Wisdom of Sundays, a compilation of insights from various thought leaders, and shares her favorite quote from Mark Twain: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but it’s acting in spite of it.” The episode concludes with Marian’s online contact points: her website www.mariannebacoluba.com and Instagram @mbacoluba.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Marian Bakou Aouba, and she is a transformation coach that helps women transform trauma into triumph and thrive with clarity and confidence. So welcome to the show, Marian.
Thank you for having me, Tyler.
Of course. Thanks for joining us. We're excited to have you. And we will dive into the first question. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
The best story from my life is my own transformation. I went from living a double life of being, you know, a high achiever with a great career. But on the flip side, I actually was severely depressed, PTSD, drug and alcohol abuse. OD'd at 28, had a huge wake-up call, and started healing my life from after that. I moved from LA to Miami and started healing myself from the inside out with holistic healing, meditation, and that's how I became a transformation coach.
Thank you for sharing that story.
Pretty intense, but the underlying message is that we all have our story, but we can— we all have the choice to change our lives.
Awesome, and I will chime in here real quick. So I did not, I didn't realize you were actually in Miami. I actually live right in South Beach, the Venetian Causeway.
No way!
Yes, we'll have to grab coffee or something sometime. Yeah. Because I think we're probably pretty close if I had to guess.
I'm in downtown.
All right, very cool. Yeah, right over the bridge and I'm there, so very cool. Yeah. And the next question I have for you is, what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
With my expertise in industry being in holistic health and wellness and transformation and coaching is that you are not alone. People always think that they need to do everything on their own, but we're actually stronger when we ask for help. And that's why coaching is so valuable. When you think about all the greats, they always still have coaches and mentors throughout their lives. The best athletes, the best entrepreneurs, they always still have other people to help them.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
I would say the same thing as well, that no matter what business you're in, there's always more to learn and someone that you can learn from, you know, and that's why coaching and finding mentors is so valuable. I also still have coaches and mentors.
Yes, of course. And I think that's a huge point. Like, even like somebody like Tony Robbins or something, like, he would— he still has mentors, you know? Yeah, so it doesn't matter how big you are, you still need mentors at your table. And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Meditate.
Yes, I love it.
Yes.
And did you want to elaborate a little bit, or just like the one punchline, meditate?
Well, and that meditation isn't a one-size-fits-all, you know. Being the high achiever I was, I was like, okay, I tackled it in a more masculine energy. I was like, I'm going to meditate 10 minutes, sit down, and the moment I tried, my brain just went crazier. Anxiety was crazier. There's actually different ways to meditate, and I always tell people, if one thing doesn't work for you or one teacher, try something else. That's actually why I became certified as a meditation teacher, because I had a system instead of just diving right in, which some people can do, but for the most part, If you're used to your mind just going crazy and come from an entrepreneurial or corporate background, you can't quiet your mind that easily. So how I teach it is in steps. So I teach breathing techniques first and then grounding to get you into the body, and then you move into meditation. So that's how I learned, those small little steps instead of just diving right in.
That is awesome. Maybe we'll have to get you on for a longer one and we could go through it.
That would be so cool.
Yeah, yeah. And I'm excited for your answer on this one too. So in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
It's all within. Absolutely. It all starts with you. The key to happiness is knowing that no one else can make you happy but yourself. And I've tried this through— I've tried to find happiness in other people, relationships, career, money, you know, drugs, alcohol, everything. At the end of the day, what found me the most happiness and peace was when I started going inside myself.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
This is the hardest question because I love reading. I'm such a book nerd. Can I just ask what the recent book then? Because I just can't choose one.
That's fine. Okay.
My most recent book that I've actually loved is Oprah's The Wisdom of Sundays. And I think it's kind of a little cheating because it's basically a compilation of all her Super Soul Sundays. I don't know if you're familiar with Oprah's Super Soul Sunday. She brings in tons of amazing authors, entrepreneurs, from Eckhart Tolle to Deepak Chopra to Brené Brown. And this is basically a distillation of all their best, like, information, quotes, all in one book.
Oh wow, that's awesome. No, I was not aware of that. That's very cool.
Yeah, it's a little cheating. It's like all these authors and books all in one.
Yeah, yeah, it's like all in an all-in-one, just like ton of value. So it's awesome.
Yeah, and it's a beautiful book too.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote that I've actually been going to a lot and actually saying it to a lot of my clients is Mark Twain's quote, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but it's acting in spite of it." Thank you.
I love that quote. And thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
They can go on my website, www.mariannebacoluba.com, and I'm on Instagram a lot. So it's @mbacoluba. I post a lot. I'm addicted to IG stories.
I love it.
And from there you can just— I mean, my website has everything, links to my podcast, my YouTube channel, Facebook, everything. So, but yeah, catch me on Instagram.
Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us. There's a ton of value in a short amount of time and we really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
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