Tara Sage - International Women’s Day

For International Women’s Day this year, I reached out to a handful of women I deeply respect.

This is in no way a “top list.” I know so many extraordinary women - and there are countless more I don’t yet know.

These women come from different industries, backgrounds, seasons of life. Coaches. Writers. Leaders. Career women. Creatives.

I asked them a few powerful questions about leadership, success, unlearning, and becoming.

And today, I want to introduce you to Tara.

If you asked her at dinner what she does, she’d say:

“I help people break unhelpful patterns - and embody who they truly are.”

Tara works with high-capacity individuals who look successful on paper but feel misaligned in their bodies. She helps them realize they’re not stuck - they’re patterned. And patterns can be broken. By breaking these brules (or “bullsh*t rules”), any goal is possible.

Her work blends psychology, behavior modification, coaching, and what she calls “a little cosmic insight.” She illuminates the invisible dynamics keeping people small, helps them shift quickly and sustainably, establish new supportive habits, and take bold, grounded action aligned with their version of success.

And she’s clear about one thing:

“I don’t do hype. This is real, applicable strategy and soul.”

There’s a through-line in Tara and her answers: sovereignty.

Part of her credentials includes a Master’s degree in Holistic Leadership. But what that taught her - and what she lives - is that leadership is not synonymous with hierarchy. It isn’t command and control. It isn’t dominance. Leadership can look like attunement. Emotional regulation. Holding a room so steadily that everyone rises.

“And the more women understand they don’t need to mimic masculine-coded models to be powerful, the more the entire paradigm shifts.”

As a woman in business and life, she’s had to unlearn something many of us quietly carry.

“I had to unlearn the idea that if others say I’m ‘too much,’ it means I actually am. What that really signals is their capacity - or willingness - to hold me.”

At 50, she no longer shrinks. She no longer negotiates with misalignment. She doesn’t tone down to make others comfortable. She doesn’t negotiate with misalignment.

When I asked what success feels like in her body these days, she didn’t list achievements.

“Success feels like clean boundaries. Aligned money. Saying no without a hint of guilt. It feels like sleeping well. Joy that isn’t dependent on outcomes. Expansion without dysregulation.”

Saying no without a hint of guilt.

Somewhere, a thousand women just exhaled.

There’s something powerful about that - expansion without dysregulation.

And when I asked what she wishes more women believed about themselves, her answer was simple and piercing:

“I wish more women truly believed that they can’t be too… anything.”

I’ll leave you with her full answer to this final question: “Fill in the blank: I am a woman who…”

“I am a woman who trusts herself, left the script and wrote her own, and builds her life from alignment, not approval. I do not negotiate with misalignment. I govern my own becoming, hold boundaries without holding grudges, and elevate - or exit. I treat growth like oxygen, outgrow old selves without apology, and don’t just heal… I integrate. I teach what I’ve embodied, welcome pleasure, and say yes to what expands me. I don’t betray myself to belong. I choose alignment over attachment, build higher standards and live inside them, and turn self-awareness into self-leadership. I allow intimacy, honor chemistry, but choose character. I desire deeply and stay sovereign. I say yes to the life I once thought impossible. I create fiercely, expand relentlessly, and live unapologetically on my own terms.”

There are so many extraordinary women in my world — and so many more beyond it — who aren’t represented in this small series.

Consider this a celebration of them, too.

And in Tara’s words:

Don’t betray yourself to belong.

Where to find Tara online

You can find Tara Sage tagged here on Instagram, or over on her website www.tarasagecoaching.com