Why Authenticity Is the Best Strategy for Women Founders

Emma Maidment is a wellness entrepreneur, international speaker, business mentor, podcast host, and author of Find Your Flow. Her work and story have been featured in leading publications globally. She helps leaders build magnetic personal brands and flow-based businesses that expand impact, income, and freedom. Co-founder of Flow States Collective & Flow OS, she mentors soul-led entrepreneurs to scale sustainably. Follow along at @emmamaidment_ for more.

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A modern framework for building trust visibility and influence without pretending.

Over a decade ago, I was in Greece for a yin yoga training. I couldn’t tell you a single thing I learned except for one phrase the teacher repeated: “Be who you are.” It embedded itself in me and eventually became the foundation of my work. Because the more I’ve built my business’, the more I’ve seen how rare that simple instruction truly is.

The Online Space Is Noisy, And Women Are The Ones

Changing the Game

Right now, everyone is trying to be magnetic online.

Stand out. Be relatable. Show authority. Promote their offers. Stay consistent. Keep up with trends. It’s as exhausting as it sounds.

All while AI influencers are rising and perfectly engineered personas flood the feed.

But something interesting is happening. Women founders are leading a shift away from polished performance and toward authentic authority, where values, vulnerability, and vision matter more than filters.

This isn’t a branding trend. It’s a cultural correction.

Let me take away some of the jargon and illustrate this with a real world example...

You’re deep in your pilates and matcha era. You go to a reformer class and the teacher is everything. You leave buzzing. The next week, you return. New teacher. Same room, same sequence, same playlist… and you cannot wait to get out of the room.

The difference wasn’t the class. It was the person teaching it. You felt her energy. You were either drawn in or quietly repelled. That is magnetism. And whether you realise it or not, it’s the foundation of your personal brand.

Pretending to be someone you’re not is exhausting. It might work for a moment, but it’s not sustainable. Anyone can read a script for a reel, but can you hold that energy in a live workshop? On a podcast? In a sales conversation? When you’re performing, the cracks always show.

In a world becoming more artificial by the day, your humanity is the competitive advantage.

So, What IS Authenticity?

Let’s start by breaking down what it’s not.

Authenticity is not oversharing.

It is not trauma dumping. It is not broadcasting raw wounds for engagement.

What’s genuinely authentic to you, won’t be the same for others. My book opens with, “This is a story about me being full of shit, physically and literally.” Is that an overshare? For some. But for me, it’s an integrated story I chose intentionally to illustrate a truth.

Never share from the wound. Share from the wisdom. If you aren’t in a place with something that you’re navigating personally that you can handle people critiquing - it’s not the time to share it. Let yourself go through the healing process offline and share the wisdom you gained.

Your audience is not entitled to your life. They are invited into your world.

Authenticity without strategy is chaos. Strategy without authenticity is hollow. You need both.

Know Yourself. Know Your Message. Know Your Lane.

When you are clear on three things:

• Who you are

• What you help people with

• What you want to be known for

Everything else aligns.

Your boundaries become clear. Your message becomes potent. Your energy becomes magnetic.

The reason we are seeing such a rise in founder lead brands (and the reason it’s working) is because your story sells. Your embodied experience sells. Your clarity sells. And it sells much faster than a pretty logo because as humans we are hardwired for connection, growth and belonging. We naturally seek to connect with others.

In the end, people don’t buy your offer. They buy you within the offer.

Introducing: The Authentic Authority Method™

We all love a good quick and sharp takeaway, so add this one to your notion file and refine your brand against it.

This is a simple, powerful framework to build a brand that is both strategic and unmistakably you.

1. Truth

Get radically honest about who you are, what you stand for, and what your work actually does. No performing. No pretending. Pure truth.

2. Translation

Turn that truth into a clear message people can understand, remember, and repeat. This is where your values meet your voice.

3. Transmission

Share it consistently across platforms in a way that feels aligned with your energy. This is where presence compounds.

4. Trust

As your message becomes familiar, your authority deepens. Your audience feels like they know you. And trust converts. This is how you build a brand that grows with you, not one that traps you.

The most strategic thing you can be right now is yourself. Not a polished version. Not a filtered persona. Not someone engineered to appeal to the masses.

Just you.

You, expressed with vision and intention.

You, anchored in your values.

You, choosing truth over performance.

Authenticity is not a risk, it’s the pathway to true authority. And the moment you choose to show up as who you are, your brand becomes unforgettable.