Lucy Reynolds Isn’t Your Guru—She’s the Woman Helping You Become Your Own

by Frank Roller

At Places of Healing, we’re honored to sit down with Lucy Reynolds—a powerhouse of presence, insight, and authenticity. As the founder of The Murmuration Collective, Lucy creates transformative spaces where women can connect more deeply with themselves, each other, and the natural world around them.

Her path is anything but linear. Transitioning from a high-level advertising career with global brands like Nike and adidas to a purpose-driven life as a leadership coach, Lucy brings a rare combination of clarity, vulnerability, and humor to everything she does. Whether guiding a retreat in Spain, coaching professionals navigating life’s pivots, or hosting her Collective Wisdom podcast, she leads with grounded compassion and radical honesty.

In our conversation, Lucy opens up about the experience that shifted her path entirely, the powerful role of intuition, and why women gathering in community has never been more urgent. We explore what it means to lead from wholeness, how to nurture inner wisdom, and what kind of future she’s helping to plant—one grounded in courage, connection, and care.

POH- FRANK : Was there a particular book, person, or event that first sparked your interest in your career path as a career and leadership coach? What was it about that moment that resonated with you?

LUCY: In 2013, while living as an expat in Moscow, I found myself feeling stuck, lost, and unsure about my career trajectory. I had previously built a successful marketing career with Leo Burnett, adidas, and Nike before we left the U.S. to live the expat life. Still, after years of traveling and living abroad with our two young children — first in Amsterdam, then Moscow — I realized that I no longer wanted to return to a career in marketing when we eventually moved back to Portland.

The question was: “What did I truly want to do next?” I was anxious and convinced that I should figure it out on my own.

A wise friend, Becca, suggested I meet her friend MJ, a “career coach,” via Skype. I was skeptical — I knew athletic coaches from my days playing collegiate basketball, but a career coach? That sounded unnecessary. Becca, perceptively, said, “No worries — once you figure it out on your own, let me know. Until then, let’s not discuss it further.”

Four weeks later, still stuck, I reached back out and asked for MJ’s contact information. Working with her changed everything.

In those sessions, I experienced the transformative power of someone asking powerful, curious questions, holding space for my self-discovery without needing to “fix” me. I gained clarity by aligning my strengths, preferred skills, and passions, and for the first time, I could see a new career path.

I realized I wanted and had the strengths and skills to evolve into a coach myself — to offer others the support and space that changed career (and life) trajectory. Over the next two years, I earned my professional coaching certification from the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI). Over a decade later, I’ve had the honor of coaching and facilitating hundreds of private and corporate clients, and from that journey, The Murmuration Collective was born.

POH- FRANK : What was the most profound ‘aha’ moment you experienced that changed your perspective on life or your practice?

LUCY: There have been many key lessons that guided me, and I share them with my clients, including the knowledge that the person is naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. I firmly believe what psychologist Viktor Frankl wrote, “Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

I’ve also learned that “shoulds” often reflect someone else’s values, while “want to” and “get to” are far better guides to living more on purpose. I believe every person is a leader, and with leadership comes the responsibility to be aware of and own one’s impact.

Additionally, the teachings of The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz have offered life-changing wisdom in both my personal and professional journey. Finally, I believe that each of us is responsible for creating our best life.

POH- FRANK : Would you consider yourself a “Healer, Coach, Consultant”?

LUCY:. I am not a consultant. I am a coach. A coach holds space. I know that within my clients, they already have the answers they need. My role as a coach is to help slow them down and give them a chance to pause. I love the word pause—to take a deep inhale, to gain clarity—so they can slow their nervous system enough to find the right chemical balance in their prefrontal cortex. That allows them to see the path forward, not the one they should take, but the one they want to take.

POH- FRANK : And I think that’s a skill—just finding the right words. Words are very powerful. I assume a lot is done with language? Or do you also include more somatic elements? 

LUCY: The Murmuration Collective (TMC) has many offerings for our clients, from 1:1 career and leadership coaching to in-person salon gatherings to our Collective Wisdom podcast. Our signature offering is our immersive retreat hosted in many places worldwide (Montana, Kenya, and Spain) with dynamic wellness partners supporting us. 

At these immersive retreats, we have three main pillars from which we design our retreat curriculum.

Pillar One is grounded in Inner Wisdom, which naturally incorporates somatic elements. As practitioners, we know the best ideas will emerge for our clients when they are grounded and fully connected to their body-wisdom. Each immersive incorporates our hosts’ unique personalities and the culture surrounding us. For example, when we are at our Spain immersive at En Casa de Gracia near the town of Trujillo we start each day inviting participants to take on the daily practice of our host, Gracia, who takes a teaspoon of coconut oil each morning and swishes it in her mouth while walking through her olive grove to ground herself as she sets her intention for the day ahead.

So, naturally, every guest has a lovely glass container of coconut oil and a teaspoon in her room with the invitation to start her day as Gracia does and ground herself while walking to the yoga room for our daily morning practice. In Kenya, we invite our participants to join us on a silent sunrise safari, yoga, followed by a healthy breakfast.

Pillar Two is set in Nature Wisdom, where we tune into the earth’s ancient rhythms to rediscover a more spacious sense of self.

Pillar Three is Collective Wisdom, where we discover belonging within a community cohort of women that ignites our participants’ inner strength.

POH—FRANK: I’m really fascinated by your mission to empower women. What do you think are some of the biggest systemic barriers that still prevent women from reaching leadership levels? 

LUCY: I could take this a couple of ways—let me think for a moment.

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is there aren’t enough women in leadership roles at any one company for women to feel they have a cohort of similarly minded women who are going through the same lived experiences to bounce ideas off of and feel supported around a number of areas impacting their roles and ability to thrive. 

Many of these women are navigating the construct of corporate life as the only female leader. She feels she is doing it alone and maneuvering herself through a system that does not fully value all that she has to offer, nor her leadership style, nor fully appreciates the many responsibilities she has in life while also leading the business forward.

This is why at TMC, we use a cohort model when career and life coaching women, especially on our immersive retreats. Women connect more deeply than their counterparts and do so relatively quickly. Women want to support and feel supported by a cohort of peers. The energetic transfer when we get a cohort of women together is palpable. You can instantly see it and feel it… especially when they gathered in person.

Women use their intuition and all their senses to collect data. This makes them more open to seeing what is truly happening in any given space. Combine this with their ability to nurture and to empathize, and you have an award-winning combination of what a human-centered leader looks like. This is what is missing tenfold in corporate culture. We lack truly brilliant leaders of people, leaders who have high emotional intelligence, able to unlock a workforce to their fullest potential to drive the business forward in a kind and empowering way. 

And let me say that what we offer through our coaching and immersive retreats is not just for career-minded (professional) women; we coach all women. Women who are navigating a big transition in their lives. Women who are craving more meaning, more clarity, more connection. Women who may not have the words for it yet, but who know they are ready for something more. 

POH- FRANK : There are obviously structural issues—but maybe also internal ones. Do you think some women still carry a belief that they can’t thrive in a masculine-dominated world? Like something is holding them back internally? 

LUCY:  I don’t want to speak too much in binaries. Let me reframe my answer to what I hear you are asking; I work with the whole person. If a woman has self-diminishing beliefs—or what we call the “inner enemy”—we help her work through this negative self-talk so she can regain her confidence to go after anything she puts her mind to or solve a problem with more clarity and confidence.

Our inner enemy usually exists to keep us safe. It’s primal. It’s the voice saying, “Stay here—this is known. Don’t leap into the unknown.” So, we work with that. We don’t tell it to “go away.” Instead, we redesign our relationship with it.

We coach our clients to regain trust or belief in themselves. Once she has remembered her brilliance, she can say to the saboteuring voice something like, “I’ve got this now. I’ve never let myself down. I know you’re trying to protect me, but I need you to let me lead myself forward.” 

POH- FRANK : And since you work with so many women—your clear expertise—do you ever integrate the perspective of men into your work? 

LUCY: The Murmuration Collective is fully dedicated to women. Our parent company, which I founded when I first started coaching and facilitating, Olerai Leadership, is where I coach all professionals. Just last week, I facilitated a leadership and team-building offsite for a wealth management team in New York—14 people.

No matter who I coach, my philosophy doesn’t change; it’s still about human-centered leadership and owning one’s impact. I help leaders connect with their leadership values. We awaken them to their strength, which helps to build confidence. We work on the leader’s ability to pause to gain clarity for what is needed in any given moment, so they can first pause and then respond, rather than react. 

We help teams understand each person’s workplace style and awaken to the styles of those they work with, so it sparks a deeper connection. The more curious people are about what lies beneath another person, the more powerful their connection will be, and the ripple effect will be that they support one another, which inevitably will have a positive impact on the business. We help leaders see an evolved, multi-dimensional way of leading people.

POH- FRANK :  There’s something about feminine energy—women create life, hold emotions, and stay present in ways men often can’t. Men are reacting left and right in strange, physical ways, while women hold a much wider capacity for space—something most men simply aren’t capable of.

LUCY: There is a lot in your statement that I could touch upon, and for this interview I will name this as women’s ability to nurture. The ability to support life. We tend to live things. We focus on sustainability. We consider what is needed for our children, our animals (our flock), our communities, our planet to thrive (or today we might say survive). We’re always thinking about what’s to come.

Last month on our Collective Wisdom podcast, I interviewed the beautiful author of In Her Own Right, Chelsea Madeline, and we talked about the current political climate and the role women can play. In the discussion, I asked her, “What matters most now?” And she said, “The job right now is for all of us to prepare for the repair.” 

I shared with Chelsea the story I had heard from a colleague in Kenya who used to work with Care International. She recently had the privilege of hearing the former Secretary General of Care International, Sofia Sprechmann, address a room of aid workers as they were being forced to leave Kenya because funding had been revoked. She reminded them: “We’ve been here before.” She spoke of a time in history when women gathered all the native seeds and hid them until such a time that the world was ready to be responsible stewards to care for the replanting. 

POH- FRANK : What do you hope to achieve through your work in the long term? What legacy would you like to leave behind?

LUCY: I believe the world urgently needs women who are the fullest expression of themselves — living authentically, leading with empathy, and creating positive change.

When women honor their true work, it creates profound ripple effects across communities and cultures.  Our goal at TMC is to empower as many women as possible to step fully into their power, passions, and purpose — changing not only their own lives but the world around them.

That’s the world we want to live in, and the legacy we hope to leave.

POH- FRANK : If you could offer one piece of wisdom to your younger self, what would it be?

LUCY: Trust your intuition. Follow what lights you up, not what you think you “should” do. “Shoulds” are someone else’s values, not yours. Get wildly curious. Embrace failure — it’s simply a sign you’re learning. Recognize fear as a signal you need more information, not a reason to stop.

Most importantly: Ask for help. You don’t have to do life alone. Surround yourself with wise, joyful, supportive people — they will lift you higher than you can imagine.

POH- FRANK : Lucy, people may call you a life coach—but I see you as a healer.

LUCY: Thank you. I’m healing myself along the way, too. I appreciate the term “life coach,” but I connect more deeply with leadership coach, because I believe every human has the ability to lead themselves forward to create their best and most fulfilling life possible, with help along the way.

POH- FRANK :
Thank you for the nice talk, and all the work you do!