Hidden Gems: Meet Melissa Bauknight of The Ripple Connection

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Bauknight.

Hi Melissa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I was always a very driven and successful young woman. I took a lot of pride in being a 4.0 student and excelling at athletics. I even played collegiate softball for 4 years at the University of Tampa and all of that helped me to land an incredible job right out of college. I share this to paint the picture that I expect success and cultivated an addiction to achievement at the highest levels from an early age.

From there I went on to be in the top 1-10% of my peers in my corporate medical device sales career. It felt great to earn recognition and felt proud of my accomplishments….yet all the while I had this growing sensation inside of me that I was made for more. I suffered from anxiety for decades so behind the facade of this confident successful woman was shame. The shame centered around a fear of being seen for who I “actually” was, fear of disappointing others, and an unsettling feeling that I didn’t belong. I later learned at the root of these fears is an opportunity for self-acceptance and self-love but I didn’t know it at the time.

I started to get curious about why I was this way and wondered if there was anything that I could do to not feel like an imposter all the time. This led me to Landmark Worldwide 8 years ago where I began doing personal growth work. When I started to shed some of these outdated internal narratives, I began showing up less anxious and more courageous. I became fascinated with why we are the way we are and the foundational pieces that connect each of us as human beings playing the game of the human experience.

My internal journey escalated 5 years ago when I became a mom and experienced some physical birth trauma. I began following the breadcrumbs back home to my true self and back into my body through a variety of modalities such as somatic movement, human design, EMDR therapy, Reiki, the divine feminine, and many more. It’s been the wildest journey I’ve ever been on and what it’s opened up for me is my purpose – to liberate myself and all women.

I courageously left my corporate career in 2019 to begin the full-time entrepreneurial journey at a mission-based network marketing company. I was able to work my way up to the top rank, and when I arrived there, I found myself feeling that made for more calling yet again. I knew I was meant to have a bigger impact that integrated ALL parts of my personal and professional journey…. and thus The Ripple Connection community and coaching business were born.

Now I am a business alignment coach who liberates women from the boxes they’ve allowed themselves to be put in and ignites their life forces into action around the lives and businesses their most authentic selves desire to create. My approach blends soul and strategy while creating a safe space for women to trust themselves and their soul’s work. This business allows me to be fully expressed and to infuse every piece of it with my lived experience. It’s my passion and my life’s work to help women build a solid foundation of self to do the important work they came here to do. I am excited to see where this winding road continues to lead me.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I laughed when I read that question – Absolutely not! I don’t believe it’s designed to be. I believe that our biggest struggles become our biggest gifts in service to others. As much as I did not enjoy being in the middle of my pain, I’m grateful for what it allows me to contribute to other people’s lives. I can’t even count on my fingers and toes all of the struggles I have faced. I’ll name some that are incredibly common on an entrepreneurial journey and a journey home to your true self.

I shed a few very important friendships as I got to know myself on a deeper level. I had a spiritual awakening and healed so much from my past being raised as a Christian woman. My husband and I had to learn to grow together as I was on this massive path of transformation. I healed ancestral trauma that was impacting how I showed up in my life and business. I quit my corporate career in 2016 and ended up going back with my tail between my legs 1.5 years later before I left again in 2019. My body was deeply wounded after birth and I spent 3 years physically and emotionally healing that trauma. I have made some great hires and some not-so-great ones as I expanded my team.

I went against my gut and learned the consequences of not trusting myself. I tried to fit my business in a box that works for other coaches and had a couple of launches that completely flopped. I have had to face my fears and my not enough story every single time I decided to invest in myself as I refuse to go this road alone. And this is not even a comprehensive list.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Ripple Connection provides collaborative in-person and virtual community gatherings along with group and 1 on 1 coaching for ambitious female solopreneurs and side hustlers to create and scale soul-led impactful businesses. We do this inside of a safe container by guiding the women to reconnect with their most authentic selves and break out of the box of who they were conditioned they “should be”.

Women work with me because everything I create and lead is founded on my lived experience. I know what it’s like to be crushing it on the outside and the inside, feeling anxious and knowing that I’m made for more. This is why I left my award-winning 15-year career in medical sales to become the top 1% in a direct sales company while coaching thousands of women over the last 7 years. Through this major life transition, I committed my entire life to heal myself and my body while simultaneously experiencing a spiritual awakening.

Inside my programs and community membership, I bring in many of the personal and professional growth guides I hired to help meet the women where they’re on their unique journey. I hold monthly free Ripple Community Connect calls on the first Wednesday of every month at noon where we have a guided conversation with networking – you can find these on eventbrite.com. I’m launching a lower-cost paid membership in a few months so stay tuned for details. I also do 1-on-1 coaching for women who want the most intimate support.

My pride and joy is the group mastermind with intimate mentorship that I lead once a year to 10 women called The Bridge Mastermind. This 9-month journey is for the female solopreneur or side-hustler who’s all in to answer her “made for more calling”. It’s a deep dive into herself as well as the activation of her gifts into massive action. We complete at an in-person retreat in Colorado and the women are left forever transformed. These women shift from operating their lives in a toxic masculine way and learn to soften into their strength and feminine leadership.

They learn to trust themselves and their intuition deeply. They start showing up as their whole selves and stop hiding parts of themselves that carried shame and learn to they execute their goals and visions in a fully aligned way. They get clarity on their niche and the most comfortable way they want to be in business and life. It’s pure magic!

If you want to get a taste of my teachings, you can download a free PDF to help you go from feeling overwhelmed to inflow – https://www.therippleconnection.com/living-in-flow

What are your plans for the future?
I have three significant shifts happening in 2023. One is to focus on community building in a big way. I LOVE connecting people and creating community and it made sense to expand my business from only having a high-ticket group mentorship program and 1-on-1 coaching to having a monthly networking call and membership offerings. This feels so aligned with who I am and what I love to do. I am planning on launching my paid membership in Q2 of 2023.

The second is infusing more sacred/spiritual work into my business. I have seen a miraculous shift in myself when I prioritize energetic alignment and integrating the sacred feminine, and I want to bring that into the community on a much more visible level.

The third is launching a podcast in early February with my friend Jessica Rose called Inner Rebel where we have tough, messy, unfiltered (but loving) conversations about what it takes to live a life that truly belongs to you. Pursuing your dreams, living authentically, and trusting in your inner knowing in today’s world are inherently rebellious and courageous acts… And rarely are we privy to the process.

What does it take to live bravely, to think outside the box, to be true to ourselves, to not just have a dream but have the courage and even audacity at times to see it all the way through? We will dive deep into conversations and interviews with inspiring dreamers, innovators, and creators across all industries who have followed their inner rebels to success.

Find out what they had to overcome to BECOME who they are today. We’ll dig deep into their hearts and ours, and we hope these conversations are stimulating, inspiring, and expansive for you as you embark on your journey of rebellion.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therippleconnection.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therippleconnection/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.bauknight7/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-bauknight-trc/
• Other: https://www.innerrebelpodcast.com/

Image Credits
Jordan Quinn and Jennifer MacNiven