Joni D. Goodman is a Houston-based leadership catalyst, international speaker, and author of the award-winning book Repel: Breakthrough to a Better You. With more than 25 years of experience in leadership development, training, and coaching, Joni helps people move from fear to freedom and from impostor syndrome to empowerment, especially women navigating career transitions, burnout, and the desire for more authentic connection.

Originally from Indiana, Joni’s path began in biochemistry, but her passion for working with people pulled her from the lab into the world of learning, facilitation, and leadership development. She built her career in the healthcare space, blending science-minded clarity with a coach’s heart for human growth. A recovering perfectionist who understands performance-based worth firsthand, Joni openly shares how vulnerability work and personal development helped her break the cycle of anxiety and “hustling for approval,” and step into a life led by purpose instead of pressure.

Her signature framework was inspired by a bold charity challenge: rappelling 15 stories down a building in the rain, an experience that became the foundation for her five-step method for courageous, values-driven growth: Reflect, Relate, Reason, Recognize, and Rejoice. Through her keynote, workshops, and coaching, Joni teaches others how to regulate their nervous system, build self-trust, strengthen connection, and create breakthroughs again and again.

Joni is also a certified Dare to Lead facilitator, trained by Dr. Brené Brown, and the founder of the Encounter You Luxury Women’s Experience, a powerful year-long, hybrid community designed to support women in STEM leadership through deep growth, sisterhood, and lasting transformation. Known for her grounded presence and encouraging style, Joni’s message is both bold and empowering: never say never, keep breaking through, and remember you are worthy of more than one breakthrough.