Iona Holloway

Iona Holloway is an author, coach, and speaker -- but most importantly, she’s a recovering “perfection addict” who put her mind, body, and spirit through the wringer to maintain a superhuman level of success.

Her mission is to help high achieving struggling women stop shrinking their bodies, worth, and power. How? Vulnerability, creativity, and breathwork. Why? Because everyone loses when brilliant women play small. This world needs your gifts.

Iona’s new book, Ghost is a brutal, haunting, vulnerable piece of work that explores the intersection of high-performing perfectionism, food and body, and imposter syndrome. She teaches women how to break the cycle and begin the hard work of letting go of “perfect.”

I’m so excited for you to connect with Iona, check out her work and new book, and follow along as she continues to help high-achieving struggling women stop shrinking their worth and their power.

I'd love it if you'd introduce yourself, what you do, and what you're working on.

I am Iona first, and a coach, writer, and speaker second. I am the author of Ghost - Why Perfect Women Shrink, and the creator ofThe Blacklight Method, my signature coaching framework. I’m also the proud mum of a shiba inu and a strawberry blonde cat. I’m originally from Scotland, but I moved to the US in 2009 and live in Boston with my partner Sean.

I created my business so I could work with high-functioning struggling women; the women who grew up ‘talented’ and ‘strong’ and ‘independent’ who throughout their lives got snared, trampled, and dehumanized by the assumption that their gifts made them immune to any kind of struggle. I call these women ‘Ghost Women’, or ‘the women who hide in plain sight.’

I take a creative, vulnerable, and body-based approach to the work I do with my clients. The purpose is not to only ‘heal’. The purpose of this work is to move through what hurts so that my clients can stop shrinking in their lives, and start honouring their true gifts.

How did you get started?

I didn’t choose to get started, I had to get started. I spent my whole life as a high-achieving woman struggling invisibly with deep fear of being discovered a fraud. On the outside, I was successful, but on the inside I felt broken. I spent nearly 20 years of my life screaming this invisible pain by viciously dieting and trying to shrink my body.

There are so many brilliant women trapped under the spell of ‘perfect’ and being crushed by the inhuman expectations they place on themselves, and their bodies.

Once I started my healing journey and grew to understand the reasons why I tried to shrink my body for so many years, I came back home to myself.

All the gifts I’d starved away flooded back, and I poured my heart and creative energy into growing my coaching business and writingGhostto help women like me get free.

What inspired the work that you're doing?

When I wrote Ghost and created The Blacklight Method my mission was simple: create the curriculum I wish was available when I felt invisible. I wanted to create a body of work that was bold, honest, transparent, inclusive, realistic, embodied, creative, and playful. No fluff, no snake oil, no normative, exclusive, or flowery language, and no over-promising. It had to be powerful. It had to feel human. It had to reconnect the mind to the body and soul.

The Blacklight Method is grounded in vulnerability, creativity, and embodiment. These are skills all women must relearn. I worked as a creative director for most of my twenties so I love to pull the creative process, imagination, and visualization into the work I do with my clients. I’m also deeply influenced by body-based connection, including breathwork, meditation, and movement.

I often say that the coaching I offer is not therapy, but a reclamation. I believe that women learning how to be comfortable being themselves in this world is activism.

What is your biggest passion? Do you feel like you're living your passion and purpose?

I love using creativity to share messages that matter. The current expression of that is helping women break up with ‘perfect.’ But I don’t think we have one passion or purpose in this world. I think we’re channels and have gifts that can be used for many reasons, in different phases of our lives. I love what I do now, but I’m not attached to it always being this way.

What is your joy blueprint? What lights you up, brings you joy, and makes you feel the most alive?

I don’t have a formal blueprint or set of things I do everyday; I like to avoid dogma! But I do guard and preserve time blocks for things that I know support me. Time with my partner and pets is very important. Space for myself to move my body and breath deeply in the morning is a non-negotiable. Connection to the real world is a must. I don’t care how cold it is. I’m outside breathing the air!

As a creative person, making stuff consistently keeps my energy moving, whether that’s writing a book, or creating beautiful and powerful resources for my clients. I love travelling, and like to visit Scotland often to keep my connection with my roots.

And sleep. Lots of sleep!

How do you live intentionally? Are there tools/resources/practices that you rely on to help you stay mindful and grounded?

I like to move with intention in my life, and not get too attached to ‘the way things should be.’ That being said, I drink the same cold coffee everyday. The first few hours are my own. I always nap on the weekends. I always go to bed before 10pm and wake up at 6am. I practice movement, breathwork, and internal connection when needed, which is often because I’m human! I like to stand rather than sit. I wear clothes that I like; I don’t follow trends. And I always try to stay connected to the child inside; she keeps me colourful, playful, and silly. We all need more of that.

What would your younger self think about what you're doing now?

She’d be so happy that I wrote a book and probably completely shocked by what I wrote about! She’d be happy about the amount of yellow in my life and that after so many years of avoidance, I am now more than happy to eat macaroni cheese and chicken nuggets!

Do you have a go-to mantra or affirmation?

I don’t have a mantra, but I have an anchoring question which is, “Can I be braver?” Bravery allows me to make moves before I’m ready, stretch a little beyond what is comfortable, and connect with, and be supported by, other people. Vulnerability is a practice. Bravery gives me endless opportunities to lean in.

What is your biggest dream?

My dream is for all high achieving women to stop hunting for perfection, embrace their humanity, become masterful observers of their lived experiences, and recognize the stories and belief systems that silently drive their lives so they can started shifting, healing, and transforming.

The urgency of the work I do with women is clear. This world doesn’t need well-behaved perfect little women who have outsourced their worth to their body, their work, their partners, and society’s expectations of what is appropriate. This world doesn’t need women who are so scared to be wrong that they never take risks on their real gifts. We don’t need more unworthiness. We don’t need more fear. We don’t need more self-hatred. We don’t need more women resigning to be a cog in a machine.

This world needs its women brilliant, embodied, and empowered. I want to live in a world where all women experience the liberation I’ve had the honour of living through.

To learn more and connect with Iona visit her website https://www.ionaholloway.com/ via email info@ionaholloway.com and on Instagram @Ionaholloway and you can find her book Ghost - Why Perfect Women Shrink here

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Iona Holloway - Author, Ghost - Why Perfect Women Shrink