Community Highlights: Meet Haley Grayless, MSOD of Vaxa Collective

Today we’d like to introduce you to Haley Grayless, MSOD

Hi Haley, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Back in 2018, I officially left my full time job where I’d worked for almost 7 years to start my own leadership and team culture consulting business, Vaxa Collective. The time finally came to spread my wings and take a major leap that was the only thing that seemed to feel like the “right” next step.

The organization I worked for had a toxic culture that was making it hard on myself and many other people on the team. There was a lack of psychological safety (a term used to explain when a team can take risks, be vulnerable with each other, and bring their full selves to work; without fear of humiliation, retaliations, and opportunities being taken from them). For a while, I was so anxious because of this culture that my hair was falling out, I cried all the time, and I barely had an appetite (which had never been an issue before).

I knew I had to do something. I’ve always been a person who is willing to get my “hands dirty” metaphorically when there’s an unsolved problem. As Frank Costello says in the film The Departed, “I don’t want to be a product of my environment; I want my environment to be a product of me.” So, while in the midst of finishing my master’s degree in Organizational Development, I launched my business and haven’t looked back since.

For over 6 years now, my business has served companies, non-profits, associations, and individuals in the effort to cultivate strong, healthy team cultures by growing skills in leaders and those who strive for management roles. We’ve made it through a pandemic, economic ups and downs, and even from a point where I had no idea how to really sell our services.

Today, Vaxa Collective is flourishing and continues to grow in a way that makes me excited every day.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been anything but a smooth road! As a single woman, I don’t have anyone else’s income to fall back on if things in the business are slow, so it’s been more than a little important for me to figure out how to run a business and work a sales process successfully.

My first full year in business was 2019, which didn’t generate a ton of income. I was looking forward to 2020 being the year for my company to explode (in a good way!), but we all know what happened in March of 2020. Everything shut down because of the coronavirus, and everything I had on my calendar got cancelled or indefinitely postponed by clients because of “unprecedented times”. It was awful and induced so much stress within me; I felt so lost.

Luckily, as things started going back to “normal”, business picked up and became what I had hoped it could be.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Vaxa Collective, specializes in leadership development trainings on a recurring basis. We use The 5 Pillars of Successful Leadership, created by our founder, Haley Grayless, MSOD.

We also help executive teams establish and cultivate stronger and healthier team culture across their entire organizations.

Haley also delivers powerful keynote presentations for conferences, summits, retreats, associations, etc.

In 2025, she will also be starting a podcast on culture, leadership, and other things that are interesting and make her curious.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Oh yes! I learned how important it is to A) keep on going and how rewarding it is to not give up, and B) the importance of networking and sticking to a sales process with a good list of prospects.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vaxacollective.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haleytheleadershipcoach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/revolutionaryleadershipcollective
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haleygrayless/