The Wake-Up Call That Changed Everything Then came cancer. A health crisis that stripped everything to its essence and forced me into clarity. Healing meant far more than recovering from surgery. It meant confronting a quiet truth I’d ignored for years: I had built a life that looked good — but didn’t feel true. Letting go of the identity I had so carefully constructed didn’t happen overnight. It took rest. It took therapy. It took community.
Most of all, it took radical honesty. What emerged wasn’t a reinvention.
It was a return — to what energised me. To meaningful coaching conversations. To human connection. To holding space where others could stop performing and start becoming. A Portfolio Life with Purpose That’s how my portfolio career came to life — not as a backup, but as a bold, intentional path. Like the deliberate choices I’ve made in rebuilding financial health, reclaiming mental wellbeing, and — most recently — prioritising physical vitality in 2025.
Today, I still lead in corporate as an HR Director, and this time in a people-first organisation. And I also coach high-capacity professionals through Mary Vaz Coaching, helping them move from exhaustion
to alignment, from surviving to burning bright. From Perfection to Presence: How I Lead Now My story isn’t about bouncing back. It’s about rebuilding differently. I stopped measuring my worth by how much I could carry. And started honouring how much I could feel. I redefined leadership — not as performance, but as presence. As a woman of influence, I no longer lead to please. I lead to transform. I coach leaders to stay lit, even when the world tries to dim their spark. Because I know what it feels like to fade. And I also know what it takes to come home to yourself.
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