Meet Joanna

Founder & Master Coach in the True Influence Method

Joanna trains leaders to speak, and speakers to lead. Joanna created The True Influence Method™ to equip leaders with a clear, repeatable framework to craft powerful talks, keynote narratives, and social media messaging grounded in truth, emotional clarity, and real-world impact.

Through her signature interview-style process, Joanna surfaces the truth beneath performance and helps leaders translate lived experience into purpose-driven language. This creates authoritative speakers whose openness feels effortless, embodied, and magnetic.

Joanna provides a a powerful, human-centered solution for visionary leaders by bridging the gap between high-performance leadership, connection, and authentic truth.

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Joanna began public speaking at 13 and launched her first business at 20. A Harvard-educated entrepreneur with a career spanning hypnotherapy, energy medicine, social justice, and finance, she taught Sanford Meisner’s “emotional honesty” acting technique in her award-winning film/TV studio where she trained hundreds of professionals. Joanna has founded nonprofits & schools in the U.S. and abroad.

In 2019, personal crisis brought Joanna’s path to a greater purpose. Despite being a millionaire raising a family in paradise, health and identity struggles kept her in doubt about her worth. Years of working on herself to be brave & belong led to The True Influence Method™, for leaders to share a talk based in who you are, not what you do.

Having now changed thousands of lives and reshaping the landscape of leadership for women, she equips visionaries with the courage to lead from their authentic voice and deliver the brilliant solutions humanity needs most.

Speaking Topics

Brave as Hell: Why Emotional Honesty Is the New Standard of Leadership

Joanna Horton McPherson challenges conventional ideas about leadership, showing audiences that success is not about confidence: it’s about emotional honesty. Drawing from her own defining moments, she demonstrates how leaders can transform teams and lives by leading from truth, bravery, and purpose.

Key Themes of the Keynote

1. The Bravery Gap in Leadership
Joanna reframes leadership as bravery. She illustrates how leaders who perform confidence create distance, while those who lead with honesty build trust, loyalty, and meaningful connection.

2. Safety as a Strategic Advantage
Emotional and psychological safety are the real measures of leadership. Joanna shows that leaders who create spaces of belonging unlock peak performance, retention, and engagement, proving that safety is not soft; it’s a strategic tool for success.

3. Knowing Your “Why”
Purpose anchors bravery. Joanna teaches how identifying your “why” stabilizes teams, aligns culture, and drives decisions, making leadership both human and strategic.

4. Women’s Leadership as the Future
Joanna highlights the natural advantages women bring to leadership, showing that emotional connection is a driver of success, and that women leading with bravery and emotional truth are shaping the next era of leadership.