Today we’d like to introduce you to John Marshall.
Hi John, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’m from humble beginnings in a small town outside of Pittsburgh, PA, called New Kensington. It’s not much relative to the cities around the world I’ve experienced as an adult, yet there’s much beauty in simplicity, a core value I continue to cherish. It’s part of what helps me feel grounded amongst chaos. It let me step back from the daily stresses of climbing the corporate ladder because I always knew my family and friends would be in my corner regardless of accomplishments or accolades. Big problems and stress are all relative in the grand scheme of things.
I’ve always had bigger dreams than the influences surrounding me. There was always an internal, destiny type feeling beyond acquiring wealth. Coupled with this drive, there were a lot of people and programs that have helped me along the way to becoming who I am today. Let’s start with college.
In high school, I met a man at an information session presenting on degrees at the frontier of the energy industry offered at the Penn State. The degree that piqued my interest was Energy Engineering, a major that focused on emerging power generation technologies. My enthusiastic interest intrigued him, and we continued the conversation in a smaller group. I mentioned that I loved Penn State after visiting with my girlfriend at the time, yet it was too expensive for my family and I, so I would likely follow a football scholarship or another cost-effective option. This conversation put me in the process. With my credentials where they were, I received a call from him a few months later saying I had been accepted into the Bunton Waller Fellowship Program, an academic scholarship program that paid for full tuition and room and board for 4 years. A dream come true. My mom needed to see it in writing to believe it.
I took full advantage of this opportunity and packed 2 bachelor’s degrees and 1 minor (Energy Engineering, Energy Business & Finance, and Environmental Engineering respectively) into 4.5 years with 3 internship experiences (GE Energy, Hess Corporation, and Samsung C&T America). Then I finally had made it. I landed a career in sales and business development with a company that had rode the top of the fortune 500 for years, ExxonMobil. This move brought me to the great state of Texas, where I’ve been for nearly 7 years.
I had no idea what to expect. No one close to me ever had a corporate job like this. To give you an image, I was wearing pleated pants to work when I started at 22! These are things you learn the embarrassing way. One of my foreign coworkers said, “just buy a copy of GQ, and go from there.” I was subscribed the next day. Then I thought about how many people let me walk around like that at my summer internships!
From there, I put my head down and did what I do best when I’m committed to something, perform to the highest level, and have fun. About 3 years into my career with ExxonMobil, something was missing. Leaving that income was never an option that crossed my mind, and I was blessed with challenging work, with incredible people and experiences, so I followed that calling on my own time. It started with another passion of mine, being of service to the community. I started to get involved where I could with different organizations, until I met another gentleman that shared a similar passion. We had one meeting, and I was on the board of his startup nonprofit organization, The Millennial Community. We spent a couple of years building an organization that brought millennials together to network with the shared purpose of giving back to local Houston communities. That venture served a lot of need at the time, both in the community and our lives. I discovered my next passion outside of my career towards the end of that venture.
I was finally dragged to my first Yoga class ever at Houston’s BIG Power Yoga where I teach today. I took my first class in January 2017, and I taught my first class as a Registered Yoga Teacher in January 2018. When I love something, I’m all in. This was my life now. My career at ExxonMobil, teaching Yoga and meditation, and looking for the next thing to learn. I had no idea how these two paths could merge until I put the philosophy into practice.
I taught Yoga at the ExxonMobil campus wellness center as my very first teaching gig until my last day with the company. Sure, it made for some hasty sprints to the wellness center after long days at the office, but I loved it. I loved being able to provide an experience for others that made such a profound difference in my life. It’s a way of life, a philosophy. My mindset and self-awareness derived from the practice spilled into my presence in the workplace and my overall satisfaction with life and work. It was noticeable enough for my students to nominate me for the annual TED style forum we had at the company, EMtalks. In 2019, I’d get on stage to talk about the power of mindfulness and self-reflection, and the difference it’s made for me, both personally and professionally.
The responses and impact from that 15-minute talk, “Spend Your Energy Like Currency”, gave me the confidence I needed to pursue the dream of building my company, Humessence. Where we’d bring the human essence back to the modern workplace through individual and organizational coaching and consulting. I knew there was a way to improve lives, teams, and organizations based on my experience. Professional coaching psychology education and training was my medium to create it. Humessence became that latest culmination of my story, where I chose to invest my energy, and a huge step in my journey.
While formed in 2018 and operating in the background, it took a lot of planning, testing, education, research, and courage to get to the point of launching Humessence publicly in February of 2021. It quickly became more than a side project, and I left ExxonMobil to pursue my dream full time in May. It was a strange transition, taking the leap from security, and I know it’s the right path for me and the clients we serve. It took a lot of twists and turns, ups and downs, to get to my purpose driven life. Now I’m committed to helping other individuals and businesses find theirs. Each day is centered around helping my clients lead their best lives, and helping organizations create environments for their people to thrive.
I’m currently a Life and Career Coach, Speaker, and Business Consultant through Humessence, I teach weekly at Houston’s BIG Power Yoga, and I’m a regular publisher on the global platform for meditation and mindfulness, Insight Timer. I am a Certified Life Coach through the Life Purpose Institute, and projected to be a Certified Health and Wellness Coach through the Wellcoaches School of Coaching by the end of the year. I’m committed to continuing to learn as my business grows and continuing to give back to the community through my business by helping local nonprofits through coaching, workshops, speaking engagements, and other consulting services. I’m excited for where this path leads, and not attached to any particular outcome. I’m focused on learning and adapting to continue making a measurable sustainable difference for our clients.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
My mom had me when she was 21 years old and my father was never in the picture. She always did whatever she had to do to make ends meet, and make sure that I was able to get to school, play sports, and most importantly be loved and supported. She takes hard work and compassion to a new level and has a great sense of the things that are truly important in life that keeps her grounded. All that to say, it wasn’t a cake walk for us, but the example that is my mother, set up the foundation of my work ethic and values.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Our mission is to promote whole-human personal and professional development through coaching, training, and consulting at both the individual and organizational levels. We provide everything from long-term 1-on-1 coaching support to workplace intensive experiences. All programs are tailored to the individual needs of each person or organization, because we know that one size fits one. We’re committed to creating customized solutions that meet you where you’re at so you can excel.
How We Help Individuals:
– Crystallize your life and career goals. Develop achievable action plans and drive accountability to bring your dreams to life, one bold step at a time.
– Beat burnout and combat overwhelm by learning key tools and techniques to instill better balance in your outer world and greater equilibrium in your inner world.
– Discover the deeper fulfillment you’ve been craving so you can live a life that feels exciting, expansive, and energizing—one that’s worth waking up for every morning.
– Experience greater confidence and ease as you navigate your day-to-day experiences. Develop self-mastery and emotional sovereignty to remain resilient through life’s challenges.
How We Help Organizations:
– Motivate and inspire your workforce by investing in personal and professional development at every level.
– Improve workplace wellness and retention by demonstrating a deep personal investment in the lives of individual employees.
– Preempt employee burnout and attrition by nurturing and supporting your workforce both in and out of the office.
– Develop effective, trusted leaders who empower their people while proactively solving problems and closing gaps.
– Build better teams with stronger relationships, yielding higher engagement and superior performance.
– Equip your employees with proven tools to more efficiently manage their time and energy both in and out of the workplace.
Awareness, acknowledgment, and action: the three things required to achieve lasting change. These are the founding principles of our signature framework, which fuses mindfulness with neuroscience to create powerful shifts at the individual and collective levels.
Extensive research, training, and personal experience have taught us that if you want to drive meaningful change, you can’t have one without the others. That’s why this framework is the foundation of every program we facilitate, from 1-on-1 coaching to group training and workshops. It’s what sets us apart—and why our methods are successful when so many others fail to deliver.
1. Acknowledgement – What Needs to Change?
The crucial first step is to acknowledge that something needs to change. This is where we become conscious of the old patterns, habits, or behaviors that no longer serve us . This is true both individually and collectively—until you have a deep understanding of what’s no longer working and why, it’s impossible to know how to change it. First, we’ll peel back layers and bring clarity to your current state. We’ll examine what’s happening now and where you’d like to be, then set tangible goals and build action plans to set you on a new trajectory.
2. Awareness – How And When Is This Showing Up?
Now it’s time to bring awareness to the precise moment in which an action or behavior occurs. It’s about seeing and intercepting things as they come up. This is the real-time application where you experience the habits and behaviors you’ve become conscious of as they occur. Our coaching and training programs help you bridge the gap between acknowledgement and awareness so you can understand growth opportunities both conceptually and in practice. The idea is to begin recognizing old habits or patterns as they’re happening or just before they happen— this empowers you to make different decisions, which is the third step in our process.
3. Action – What Different Decisions Can Be Made?
Once you’ve developed awareness and acknowledged real-time opportunities for change, you can begin taking decisive action. The third and final step of our signature method—action—is the catalyst you need. We’ll guide you through a series of in-the-moment decisions you can make each day to support your individual or organizational goals, empowering you to form constructive new habits.
The key is to take small, achievable action steps that build upon one another—this is the only way to make sustainable change. Our longer-term programs provide built-in accountability and support from your coach to help you continually implement the tools and knowledge you’ve developed. Workshops, seminars, and other programs will leave you with tangible next steps to develop accountability and support networks of your own.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
My initial thought and feeling towards risk taking is, you’ll never hit the jackpot if you never play the lottery. I believe that life is the sum total of your experiences, and the truth that the primitive parts of our brain love safety and consistency (repeat experience), it takes a higher level of thinking and courage to take a risk or choose a new unknown path, anywhere from love to business.
The biggest risk I’ve taken in my life so far is making the jump from a very secure and successful career with ExxonMobil to starting my own professional coaching business. It took a lot of courage to give notice when I chose to leave, yet the fear of failure was far inferior to the fear of never pursuing my vision at all. It was the right time, and I’ve never regretted the decision for a moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.humessence.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humessence/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humessence/
- Other: https://insighttimer.com/johnmarshall
Image Credits
Jamie Lim
