For a long time, I pushed through.
Did more than what was expected.
Performed well.
Built a life and career that looked pretty great on the outside.

Until I hit a transition that I couldn’t seem to get through.

It felt harder than in the past. I wasn’t just bored. I felt broken.

I left the job.
Left the title.
Left the version of me I had worked so hard to build.

I went to interfaith seminary, not because I was religious, but because I needed to find a deeper truth.
A bigger story.
Something beneath all the noise.

That season cracked me open.
It led me into chaplaincy.
Into hospice work.
Into years of spiritual and personal development that didn’t just change my path but changed my relationship to life itself.

When I tell people I work in hospice, the first thing I usually hear is, “Oh, that must be so sad.” Some days it is, but I know what truly makes me sad now.

Sitting alongside amazing women while they grieve the realization that they chose to live small. They chose fear over their true self.

And now they are dying with their dreams still inside of them.

That’s why I work with women.
Because I believe we’ve been conditioned to wait, to shrink, and to second-guess.
And the world is starving for women who are done with all of that.

Especially women in midlife.
Women who have lived enough to know what matters.
Women who can be elders, mentors, and anchors in a culture obsessed with youth and speed.

I believe when a woman begins to trust her inner knowing, she changes everything.
Her life. Her relationships. Her leadership. Her legacy.
And that is the medicine the world needs right now.

Amanda Byrd

Founder of Women’s Wisdom School and Creator of Courage Circles

Amanda Byrd is a former high-performing sales executive who became an interfaith minister, certified executive coach, and hospice chaplain. She holds a master’s degree in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University and extensive training in trauma-informed care. Her work blends proven change science with the emotional and spiritual depth beneath the urge to evolve.

After years in corporate leadership, Amanda found herself in what looked like midlife depression but was actually a dark night of the soul. She followed that unraveling into seminary, into chaplaincy, and into her own deep remembering. What she discovered is that midlife is not a breakdown. It is an invitation to live courageously.

Women’s Wisdom School was born from that realization. It is a place for women to reconnect with their inner knowing and reclaim the wisdom that was always there. Courage Circles is the first offering within the school. It is a ten-week journey for women ready to ask deeper questions and name what comes next. Rooted in community, each circle becomes a sacred and supportive container where women are witnessed, encouraged, and reminded they’re not alone.

While Amanda is trained as a chaplain and minister, she is not religious. Her approach is rooted in presence, meaning-making, and inner wisdom. She has walked alongside people of all backgrounds during life’s most tender transitions and brings that same depth and compassion to her work with women in midlife.

Amanda’s work is soulful and practical. Equal parts chaplain and coach, she creates environments that are not only safe, but transformational.