Marisa Santoro

CEO and Founder of In Our Shoes

You were an IT Executive on Wall Street, why did you exit and pivot to Leadership and Professional Development?

To answer this question, it’s probably best that I share with you a defining moment that brought me to where I am today and taught me how to no longer give away my personal authority and design a career and life that fulfills me.

I grew up in Brooklyn. I went to university in downtown Manhattan and landed jobs where the placements were at the time - a few streets down from campus, on Wall Street. The defining moment in my life took place when I was swapping in and out of the shoes from balancing a career, family and home on what felt like steroids. I wore the shoes of an tech leader in an abrasive securities trading environment. I survived desperate economic periods in Financial Services, lost my father in hospice care, and divorced with two young children. I suppressed a knee-jerk reaction to spiral into fear mode.

I looked back at all I was most proud of and repackaged myself, reinvented myself and took on more challenging roles giving me new leadership opportunities I never would have attracted had I not changed my mindset. It was also at that time that I began coaching others to help them either keep or find new jobs quickly and found I discovered a new expertise I never knew I had and which I absolutely embraced, for being able to motivate others. I followed my gut and exited to begin a professional and leadership development practice.

Marisa Santoro women's leadership motivational keynote speaker for corporate events NYC

I applied a series of essential practice-building steps that had always worked for me in business, taking a Gutsy Leadership® approach. Since developing this system, I’ve worked with professionals ranging from midcareer and senior leaders, consultants, emerging leaders, physicians, sales leaders, small business owners, coaches and many more. I've spoken in front of groups inside companies, motivating and teaching the steps on how to increase influence, be confident taking risks, make better decisions, become clear on your value so you can communicate those results naturally with your authentic personality.

I never saw this work in my future, but when it came knocking I listened to my gut, found the courage to shift in a new career direction and never looked back. When you pull out a mirror and commit to investing in yourself, affirming your bigger vision, that's when others invest in you too. You're no longer settling by taking a "wait and see" approach. You have the tough conversations you need and recognize any fear showing up which you can embrace and more importantly trust to help you grow.

I figured out the system to consistently achieve the things that you want with ease. There wasn’t a secret sauce. I had cracked the code on how to move ahead, ask for what you want and receive, exit the day job gracefully to embrace entrepreneurship; and it didn’t have to be stressful or take years. I have since made a commitment to empowering professionals, showing them how they too can design fulfilling careers that give them the freedom they deserve.

It takes seconds to convince yourself that something isn’t going to work for you. That you’re not good enough. That if it hasn’t happened yet, it never will. Clarity is power. When you're clear so is everyone else around you. People will feel it the minute you walk into that room; the beauty is you don't even have to say a word, that's how strong your energy becomes.

Marisa Santoro is an honoree of the "Women of Influence" award by New York Business Journals, for her years of heart-centered mentoring and leadership programs for professionals in the workplace.

The Harvard Club, New York City

Marisa Santoro is a former IT executive with a 21 year corporate career on Wall Street, a TEDx Speaker, corporate leadership trainer, career coach and national career columnist for American City Business Journals with articles publised in 43 cities across the US.

She is the creator of Gutsy Leadership Academy (GLA) and founder of In Our Shoes, a professional and leadership development practice which promotes a global community for professionals to share their same struggles in a trusted safe environment.

She is also the author of "Own Your Authority" (McGraw Hill), a business management toolkit to take charge of your career to move ahead.

Marisa is a Success Principles trainer of Jack Canfield's, teaching a life transformational step-by-step blueprint on how professionals can achieve success across all areas in their lives. These success principles are the same personal development principles which continues to help hundreds of thousands of people achieve success in their lives.

Photo Credit: NYC Department of Transportation.

Marisa has served as a founding member of the Leadership Advisory Council for Forbes’ top-ranked Swedish firm Qlikview, sat on the board of directors for the Manhattan chapter of the National Association for Female Executives, has obtained the sponsorship of New York University’s Women’s Initiative programs leading events for their alumni and worked with organizations helping them kick off their leadership curriculum such as New York Life Insurance , UBS, Allianz Global Investors, global law firm Salans LLP at their UK headquarters and Consulting magazine’s top ranked firm to work for in the US: Slalom Consulting and many more organizations making strides to elevate their talent.

TED talk Resilience: "Speaking without Apology"

“I have worn the shoes of being challenged as a woman in technology, working on Wall Street, as a committed working mother, surrounded by mainly male colleagues, surviving every financial services layoff cycle and economic downturn as a single mom and only breadwinner. Don‘t strive for perfection. Roll up your sleeves, push forward and go with your gut, even if you don’t know exactly the “how”, you’ll find a way.”

— Marisa Santoro

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Our Mission

To empower and motivate professionals to own their authority and increase their impact and influence in their careers.

In Our Shoes is a corporate leadership training and coaching practice helping professionals navigate their careers and maximize their personal performance for success.

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