Podcast Summary: Woman of Influence

Host: Julie Solomon

Guest: Samantha Skelly

Episode: Stop Trying to Prove Yourself to Everyone Else (+ the 1 Shift You Need to Lead with Presence)

Date: October 8, 2025

Overview of the Episode’s Main Theme

Julie Solomon is joined by Samantha Skelly, founder of Pause Breathwork, to discuss the evolving journey of women entrepreneurs, the spiritual and emotional evolution within business, and the profound shift from proving oneself to others to leading with embodied presence. The episode explores themes of personal and business evolution, reframing ambition, authentic alignment, the power of receptivity, integrating faith, and leveraging breathwork as a tool for deep recalibration and self-trust.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Business as a Spiritual Assignment and Living Entity

[03:25] Samantha Skelly:

• Sees business as a “spiritual assignment” for personal evolution, artistry, and service.
• The pains and challenges in business aren’t failures, but lessons to foster greater freedom and self-liberation.
• “The soul intention of Pause Breathwork is for my evolution first… every trigger that comes from that company, it’s to show me where I’m not yet free.”

[06:00] Samantha Skelly:

• Compares business evolution to cycles of dying and rebirth: “We need to constantly kill things that are not aligned and let go of people who are no longer an energetic fit.”
• Emphasizes that business has its own “consciousness” and must be honored collaboratively, not forced by ego.

2. The Shift from the “Boss Babe” Era to Authentic Alignment

[07:00] Samantha Skelly:

• Critiques old models of hyper-masculine, 16-hour days and “scaling for scaling’s sake.”
• Encourages regularly asking: “Does this still feel aligned?”
• Rising trend among women leaders to shed what no longer fits and release performative hustle.

3. Navigating Change and “Ego Death” in Business

[09:34] Samantha Skelly:

• Shares a personal reckoning: high revenue but low fulfillment, overcomplicated teams, loss of joy.
• The process wasn’t about burning it all down, but loving the part that felt unworthy unless achieving (“the little girl inside of me”).
• “All those inner child pieces will run our business if they’re not checked, if they’re not loved, if they’re not attuned to.”
• Healing requires feeling and attending to deep-rooted personal narratives, often from childhood and formative experiences.

[12:30] Samantha Skelly:

• Describes the importance of loving herself regardless of external metrics, and not needing to prove.
• “I’m so worthy and full of love and so perfect without anything. I don’t need to prove anything. I could stop right now. I got the T-shirt. I did it. It’s all good.”

4. Creating a New Vision and Making Room for Support

[14:34] Samantha Skelly:

• Advocates for having a strong, aligned vision: “Let your belief guide you.”
• Vision (and belief) shifts your brain’s neuroplasticity, creating excitement and capacity to handle change.
• Created a “vision manifesto” she reads daily describing her ideal team size, profit, and creative flow.

[18:26] Samantha Skelly:

• On learning to receive support: previously resisted help, micromanaged; now allows things to be “good enough.”
• Quote: “80% done by someone else is 100% good.” — message from her mentor, Dan Martel.
• Describes practicing receptivity first in marriage (“I can just receive without reciprocating… it’s not transactional”) then bringing that into business.

[20:41] Samantha Skelly:

• Learning to extract more profit for self-care, and “soak in the receptivity”—not just reinvest or over-function.

5. The Power of Faith and Returning to God

[22:28] Samantha Skelly:

• Letting God be on her business “board of directors.”
• After years of “new age” spirituality, returned to her Christian roots—found the most groundedness and clarity by focusing her faith.
• Quote: “I began to remember, like, how my parents raised me, you know, to be a woman of faith and to have a relationship with God and to center God in our marriage.”

[28:37] Julie Solomon:

• Shares a similar return to faith after years of using “universe/creator/source” because she feared offending people.
• Realized self-abandonment occurs when hiding faith or people-pleasing.

[33:38] Samantha Skelly:

• Describes her desire to “bring breathwork into churches,” emphasizing breathwork’s agnostic and spiritually connective nature.
• “When I breathe, it’s like a direct… phone line to God.”

6. Breathwork as a Vehicle for Self-Trust, Worthiness, and Nervous System Recalibration

[36:24] Samantha Skelly:

• Breathwork quickly moves clients from self-doubt or “fractured” states back to bliss and inner knowing.
• “Whenever I am at work and I feel that trigger of imposter syndrome, I take a moment, I come to my breath.”
• Explains the neuroscience: “Continual conscious breathwork mitigates the amygdala—the center for emotional control and protection. When we suppress that, what arises is the part of us that has more perception and perspective.”
• Breathwork outpaces mindset work: “If you’re feeling like a bag of balls and you’re like 'I’m worthy,' it’s a lose-lose. The biological response will always win… but with breath, you make space for truth and higher self.”

7. Embodying a New Standard Across Life and Business

[43:21] Julie Solomon:

• “Whatever we're willing to tolerate, that will always be met. … If there’s something that just keeps being that spiritual sandpaper for you, you’ve got to really ask yourself, what am I tolerating here? And just simply put, raise the standard.”

[42:12] Samantha Skelly:

• Shifts to a CEO archetype that is “slower, more intentional, more creative, and more patient.”
• “I feel alive again for the first time in a long time.”

8. The Power and Privilege of Aligned Partnership

[42:12] Samantha Skelly:

• Reflects on the “alchemical portal” of marriage and having a deeply supportive husband.
• “He’s just been, he’s been so amazing. And the portal of marriage has been alchemical for us.”

9. Defining Influence and Soul-Led Living

[44:32] Samantha Skelly:

• “Living a life that is deeply aligned with my soul and not making any compromises on that whatsoever. Even if it doesn’t make sense to the outside world, even if it doesn’t make sense to me at the time, which it often doesn’t.”

[45:48] Samantha Skelly (on being a woman of influence):

• “There’s a deeper level of soul attunement that we all get to step into that is going to free us all and liberate us all. And alchemizing the fear that comes along with doing that is being influential.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Business is a spiritual assignment above everything else.”
  — Samantha Skelly [03:25]
• “The business needs to be constantly evolving… constantly dying and constantly rebirthing.”
  — Samantha Skelly [04:00]
• “We don’t have to work like men.”
  — Samantha Skelly [06:55]
• “When those parts (inner child) calm down and get the love they require… our healthy aligned woman comes online and then she can make decisions.”
  — Samantha Skelly [12:30]
• “If you are in anything other than bliss, you’re in a fractured part of yourself.”
  — Samantha Skelly [36:24]
• “Energy is everything in business. … It’s magnetic.”
  — Samantha Skelly [20:00]
• “Let your belief guide you. … That belief is a biological advantage.”
  — Samantha Skelly [14:34]
• “I let myself receive. … I remember lying there (at the spa) thinking, I deserve this. I don’t have to give this back.”
  — Samantha Skelly [20:53]
• “I began to remember, like, how my parents raised me, to be a woman of faith and to have a relationship with God and to center God in our marriage.”
  — Samantha Skelly [27:00]
• “Whatever we're willing to tolerate, that will always be met.”
  — Julie Solomon [43:21]
• “Living a life that is deeply aligned with my soul and not making any compromises on that whatsoever. … And alchemizing the fear that comes along with doing that is being influential.”
  — Samantha Skelly [44:32]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:25] Business as a spiritual assignment and evolution
• [06:55] Moving beyond the “Boss Babe” hustle culture
• [09:34] Reckoning with ambition and the ego’s role
• [14:34] Visioning and energetic identity; daily vision practice
• [18:26] Learning receptivity in marriage and business
• [22:28] Inviting God into business decisions; returning to faith
• [33:38] Breathwork in Christian contexts and overcoming religious barriers
• [36:24] Breathwork as medicine—science and application
• [42:12] Reclaiming aliveness and aligned CEO presence
• [43:21] Raising personal standards and their interconnectedness
• [44:32] Defining woman of influence as soul-led living

Episode Flow & Tone

• Warm, deeply personal, and unapologetic in examining both the beauty and messiness of growth.
• Brings humor and candor, especially around letting go of perfectionist, people-pleasing tendencies.
• Explores spiritual themes with respect for different backgrounds while embracing the hosts’ and guests’ return to explicit faith.
• Uplifting, encouraging leaders to trust themselves, receive support, and be honest about what no longer fits.

Useful Links and Calls to Action

• Pause Breathwork: pawsbreathwork.com/wealth
  Use code JULIE25 for $25 off the Nov. event mentioned.
• Samantha Skelly’s social media and podcast
• Julie Solomon’s website, book, and platforms

For listeners seeking permission to slow down, recalibrate, reclaim spiritual roots, and lead with embodied presence, this episode is both a roadmap and a source of deep encouragement.