Leadership Coaching for Women Ready to Rise

Helping emerging and mid-level women leaders build the confidence, presence, and self-trust to step into bigger roles, lead with conviction, and deliver high-impact results

Trust Your Voice

Lead With Confidence

Protect Your Energy

You Know You're Capable of More.
So Why Does It Still Feel So Hard to be Seen?

You work hard. You care deeply. You bring valuable ideas to the table.
Yet somehow you're still questioning yourself, holding back, or wondering why your confidence hasn't caught up with your capability.

Being Seen

You wonder why others keep getting opportunities when you're just as (or more) qualified.

Speaking Up

You leave meetings wishing you had said what you were really thinking.

Trusting Yourself

You're tired of second-guessing your decisions and questioning your value.

Headshot Tess Hobson, CEO of The Story Within - wearing earrings, a light green blazer, and a beige dress, smiling while seated against a beige background.

Hi, I’m Tess

Leadership Coach for Women Ready to Rise

You don't need to become someone else to be an influential leader.

As a Certified Narrative Leadership Coach, facilitator, and educator, I help women uncover what's holding them back, reconnect with their values, and lead from a place of confidence, clarity, and self-trust.

My approach is grounded in the belief that lasting confidence doesn't come from external validation. It comes from understanding your story, owning your gifts, and recognizing the unique value you bring to every room you enter.

How I Help Women Become More Confident and Influential Leaders

Lead from who you are, not who you think you're expected to be.

Many leadership programs focus on teaching more skills, more frameworks, or more strategies.

While those things can be helpful, they don't solve the deeper challenge.

When you constantly question yourself, worry about how you're being perceived, or feel pressure to prove your worth, no amount of external validation will create the confidence you're looking for.

Together, we'll take an inside-out approach to leadership development. We'll explore the stories and experiences that have shaped you, identify patterns that are holding you back, and strengthen the mindset and presence needed to lead with confidence and influence.

Whether we're working together through private coaching, a group program, or a customized leadership development experience, the goal is the same: helping you lead from a place of self-trust rather than self-doubt.

  • Trust your voice and ideas without rehearsing, overexplaining, or second-guessing.

  • Walk into rooms with calm confidence and a stronger sense of belonging.

  • Speak with clarity and conviction in high-stakes conversations.

  • Set boundaries that protect your energy without guilt.

  • Become respected for who you are, not how little space you take up.

“My biggest area of transformation has been my growth in personal leadership through confidence and understanding that my opinions matter. I’ve learned to be truly comfortable with speaking up without thinking about what others think about me. Realizing that my voice has value has changed how I show up, allowing me to lead with authenticity and ownership.”

Yubisela Toledo, Doctor of Optometry and Clinic Partner

How We Work Together

It all starts with a leadership clarity call. From there, we'll uncover what's holding you back, strengthen your confidence and presence, and help you step into new opportunities with greater clarity, influence, and conviction

1

Explore the stories, beliefs, and experiences shaping how you see yourself and how you lead

Discover

2

Build the confidence and leadership presence to show up with greater clarity and conviction

Strengthen

3

Step into new opportunities and lead with influence, purpose, and self-trust

Rise