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Published on:

18th Mar 2024

How Audacious Courage Makes You a Trusted Leader w/ Mark Travis Rivera

Join me, Amy Lynn Durham with Mark Travis Rivera, The Professional Storyteller, Founder, and Consultant, in this 2 part podcast as he shares his story dating back to early childhood leading to him being the storyteller he is today. He shares where he got his courage and bravery and how he implements it in many aspects of his life, including his experiences in the corporate space. We talk about what it's like to show up as your authentic self in the workplace, spirituality, inclusion and so much more! Today on Create Magic At Work®:

  • How to use fear as a compass

  • Ways to show up as your full authentic self

  • Transforming your fate into destiny

  • Religion in the workplace

Telling stories is at the core of Mark Travis Rivera's purpose in life. He is an award-winning creative– founder + lead storyteller + consultant of The Professional Storyteller.


As a writer, Rivera's bylines include The Bergen Record, Herald News, The Star-Ledger, Fox News Latino, and The Huffington Post. He was also a contributing author in the anthology, Crisis and Care: Queer Activist Responses to a Global Pandemic (PM Press, 2022), edited by Adrian Shanker. His debut collection, Drafts: An Imperfect Collection of Writing, was published in August 2017. He was also a contributing writer for Imagining: A Gibney Journal, where he shared his experience as a disabled choreographer and dancer. Connect with Mark:


Quote "Every day I get up and choose to be myself in any space I enter, whether I'm dressed up in fully femme gender conforming makeup, dress heels or I'm dressed down in yoga pants and a t-shirt with no makeup. I show up as myself and something that I've had to interrogate over the last couple of years, especially in the workplace, is yes, I show up at my full self all the time, but that's going to cost me opportunities. That's going to cost me not to be invited to certain boardrooms or meetings or companies to speak at because they don't like what I'm serving. Guess what? If you don't like what I'm serving, there's plenty of tea out there. If you don't like the tea that I'm spilling, they don't take a sip of it." - Mark Travis Rivera


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About the Podcast

Create Magic At Work®
Spiritual Intelligence, Conscious Leadership, and the Future of Work
Create Magic At Work® is a leadership podcast exploring spiritual intelligence, conscious leadership, and the future of work. Through conversations with visionary leaders, coaches, authors, and entrepreneurs, the show examines how leaders can navigate uncertainty, cultivate self awareness, and create workplaces that are both high performing and deeply human.

Many episodes explore themes such as transformational leadership, intuition in decision making, organizational change, and the inner work required to lead well. The show also introduces frameworks rooted in spiritual intelligence, including SQ21, the Archetypes of Change, and the Edgewalker philosophy. These perspectives help listeners understand how people respond to transformation and support leaders in walking the edge into quantum leadership, where business decisions ripple outward for the greater good.

Listeners of Create Magic At Work® are leaders who want to edgewalk rather than sleepwalk through their work and life. They want to bring their full selves into the spaces they inhabit, including their spirituality from a faith neutral lens. Many are founders, coaches, and professionals seeking deeper meaning in their work and lives.

If you care about leadership that blends strategy, spiritual intelligence, and the courage to walk the edge during times of change, you're in the right place.

About your host

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Amy Lynn Durham

Amy Lynn Durham is the founder of the executive coaching firm Create Magic At Work® and Magic Thread Media™, a curated boutique podcast network of conscious voices. She is an executive coach and leadership advisor who works with senior leaders and organizations navigating complex change.

A former corporate executive turned executive coach, Amy blends grounded business experience with a deeper exploration of spiritual intelligence and quantum leadership. Her work helps leaders expand beyond traditional leadership models to consider the ripple effects of their decisions on people, culture, and the future.

Amy believes magic at work is not a metaphor. It emerges when leaders go beyond emotional intelligence and cultivate spiritual intelligence, learning to lead from their higher selves rather than from their ego. Through her work, she helps leaders develop the awareness and presence needed to make wise, compassionate decisions even when under pressure while maintaining inner peace.

She is the host of the globally recognized Create Magic At Work® podcast, where she interviews visionary leaders, authors, and change makers exploring spiritual intelligence, conscious leadership, and the future of work. The show often features what Amy calls “voices from the edge” — leaders and thinkers who challenge conventional ideas about leadership and human potential.

Amy is also the author of Create Magic At Work® and Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal, and is a sought-after speaker and podcast guest known for bridging modern business challenges with spiritual intelligence, relational wisdom, and practical leadership insight.

Across all of her work, Amy’s mission is to help leaders make wise, compassionate decisions even under stress while envisioning workplaces where people and performance thrive together.

UC Berkeley Certified Executive Coach • ICF Certified Coach • Certified Spiritual Intelligence Coach (SQ21) • Archetypes of Change Facilitator • Edgewalker Facilitator