We had the good fortune of connecting with Missy Lawrence-Johnston and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Missy, what makes you happy? Why?
What makes me happy? Being in alignment personally, organizationally, physically! And guiding others to find their alignment. There’s no such thing as “work-life” balance, but I’ve learned a proven 3-pronged approach to defining, designing, and deploying unique happiness: the P. O. P. Change Method.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
What’s P.O.P. Change? P. O. P. = Personal. Organizational. Physical. The 3 change spheres that must constantly be in alignment, not balanced, in order to address total wellbeing and continuous improvement. POP is a mindset. POP is a tool for checking in with yourself. POP is how I frame and prioritize my daily focus and hourly schedule. TransformMaven can help individuals find their POP Change Vision and Plan and help companies, teams, or individuals with any of the 3 POP Change spheres singularly. How did P.O.P. Change come about? I created the TransformMaven brand and founded P.O.P. Change late 2017 after a turning point in my corporate Organizational Change Management (OCM) career. I fortunately had a reputation as a “trailblazer” with a thriving professional and executive brand. I was recognized in Business First’s “40 Under 40 Young Professionals” for pioneering cultural/behavioral integration in Mergers & Acquisitions with leading Fortune 100 companies. My distinct capability in applying my Stanford Strategic Execution Framework, brain science, and Organizational Leadership and Change Management education to technology, HR, and product development methodologies based on Carnegie Mellon’s CMMI models made me an industry leader and agile evangelist sought after to re-engineer IT and business processes and relationships. Being certified in organizational change management with over 15 years of experience and passion in business transformations and executive performance coaching, I decided to apply key principles of behavioral change acquired in my leadership roles for other corporations to my own business in order to serve a greater number and more diverse demographic of people. TransformMaven now enthusiastically helps individuals, teams, and organizations reach their ideal future state within their desired time frames. Organic Relationships got TransformMaven to where it is today! In only a few months without advertising, executive clients referred junior members of their teams and other executives. Since I had been personal training and life coaching side of the OCM desk for over 12 years, naturally with the boom in social media and technology, my Physical Change clients started sharing how pleased they were with their results around the same time I started leading group fitness classes at Lifetime Athletic Dallas/Highland Park! Word of mouth from thrilled clients referring other people needing change contributed to this growth! An athlete and competitor at heart, I apply my same zeal, discipline, and tenacity to unique transformation needs that I applied as a year-round 3-sport-student-athlete, as a bikini competitor, and as a fitness model. It hasn’t been a smooth road at all! The irony of mentally getting out of your own way as a business owner versus a career employee for a corporation is similar to the irony of thinking that you can never fully recover from major physical surgery to be as fit or as athletic as you once were in life prior to your procedure. Or in my case, procedures (plural). As I grew in my professional career and achieved more accolades, I also grew in resilience and in redefining myself as well as reinventing my brand simultaneously while getting knocked out of commission physically with fibroids, ovarian cysts, miscarriages, ectopic ruptures, and a freak tera-toma (Greek for “Monster Tumor”) that ultimately led to having an emergency hysterectomy at a young age. While TransformMaven was an idea 10 years in the making, it was the gentle loving constant nudges of my life-long-learning partner, my husband, Bryant, that kept reframing my perspective saying, “this is just another experience God will use you to show other women that reinvention is always possible, and almost always critical for positive necessary change.” From his positive reinforcement, Bryant inspired the TransformMaven mantra: create positive and necessary change. TransformMaven customizes change management plans in 3 categories brining coaching to individuals or teams in: 1. Business/organizational change for teams, companies, and cultures 2. Performance coaching for professionals and life coaching for individuals 3. Mind+Body transformation customized for individuals and targeted groups Specializing in the science and art of all change in all ways in a 1 stop shop, TransformMaven is known best for marrying personal and physical change transformations in simultaneous sessions. Most proud of being the first to dominate the market niche with packages to help people change their body, lives, and professions with one single engagement plan and customized approach. What sets TransformMaven apart is the 1-Stop-Shop aspect. No change is outside of the TransformMaven purview. From kitchen and refrigerator makeovers to a closet and home consultations, to team building and organizational culture change, TransformMaven applies the same tried and true science to your unique needs like no other artist can! The industry changes I predicted would begin over the next decade are starting to take shape now! Being the only known trailblazer in this field by applying the science of strategic change to the art of behavioral change and customizing change programs to individuals and businesses has proven to be an enormous value add to people during times of disruptive uncertainty. Hopefully, I pioneer a new field unto itself and can train up the next generation of POP Change “TransformMavens”!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Hands down: Highland Park Village! Grab groceries from Royal Blue! Shop what I call “Fashion Art” or even just browse the fashion gallery! Cocktails at Bistro31 or Honor Bar! Must hit the Katy Trail for daily dose of nature since I have direct access from my home on Turtle Creek! Katy Trail Cryo is a definite must and I introduce every out of town guest to the entire KTC experience: it’s exhilarating! Dinner at Nick & Sams on upbeat girls night out or date night at Parigi (food themed I’m seeing) or Flora Street Cafe! When we could all gather pre-COVID19, the Dallas Arts District was a regular weekend hang out (Dior exhibit at DMA was splendid!) of course I’d make my out of town guests earn their calories AFTER taking my Core/Abs class at Lifetime Fitness Athletic Club HighlandPark every Saturday AM and my monthly Sunday “POP UP” fitness class typically in a fashionable athleisure store like Lorna Jane, Lululemon, Fabletics, Athleta, etc… I’ve also events in one of my fave transformational places ever: MAC & BUMBLEBUMBLE Studio in North Park mall! Go in drab, leave feeling fab!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Recognizing that TransformMaven is successful today thanks to the efforts, support, encouragement, and life lessons of Missy’s dearest friends, worst bosses, loving family, and expert Organizational Change Management pioneers is top of mind daily. Walking in grace and living with gratitude is a Missy-Mantra after all! Personally: presence of grace in my life; husband: my life-long learning partner, dad, mom, sister & brother: my life-long UNlearning partners! Trusted confidantes most people call “friends” through all the seasons, faith, spirituality, curiosity, convictions of my life Organizationally: every company that’s ever fired me (there are several! Haha) for not “staying in my lane”. Every emotionally UNintelligent, unethical, manipulative “bad” boss. All the foundational organizational change management and organizational culture change thought leaders- PROSCI, Bridges, Kotter, Connors, Drucker, Agile Summit 17, Stanford University. Physically: I’ve suffered from female health diseases since I became a “woman” at 8 years old, so the countless oncologic-gynecologists, doctors, holistic naturopaths, and healthcare practitioners through all the surgeries and treatments for the past 27 years. When you’ve almost died 3x you value every vertical day of life! And for those who’ve educated me and encouraged me to educate others, from middle school athletics through college, to my 1st and only trainer and my 2 competition coaches, 1st dance-fitness mentor and my countless fitspos… Shout out to YOU ALL.

Website: www.TransformMaven.com
Instagram: @TransformMaven
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/missy-johnston-transformmaven
Twitter: @TransformMaven
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MissyTransformMaven