Vanessa McNeal shows high-achieving leaders how nervous system regulation unlocks sharper decisions, sustainable performance, and real resilience.
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Top rated!5 of 5
“Edifying and beautiful. A session that you would have to be here for yourself to experience the shifting in the atmosphere in a positive direction.”
Teri Petty PhD
Walden University
Vanessa McNeal is redefining how leaders think about burnout, performance, and resilience. With a Master’s in Social Work and specialization in Trauma-Informed Care, she works at the intersection of neuroscience, leadership, and nervous system regulation. As an Instructor at MindBodyGreen Institute, Vanessa supports high-achieving leaders who feel stuck in perfectionism, people-pleasing, or constant anxiety. Her message is clear: these patterns are not flaws—they are signs of dysregulation. By teaching leaders how to regulate their nervous system, Vanessa helps them access higher levels of clarity, presence, and sustainable performance.
Vanessa McNeal is known for challenging conventional ideas about burnout and recovery. Rather than focusing on rest after collapse, she helps leaders understand how to sustain high performance without burning out in the first place. Her work centers on one core principle: when the nervous system is regulated, leaders think more clearly, decide faster, and perform at a higher level under pressure. Vanessa brings a trauma-informed perspective that reframes common leadership struggles as physiological patterns that can be understood and changed.
Many high-performing leaders struggle silently with perfectionism that disrupts sleep, people-pleasing that drains energy, and anxiety that makes every decision feel overwhelming. Vanessa teaches that these experiences do not mean something is wrong with the leader. They are signs of nervous system dysregulation. By shifting the conversation away from blame and toward regulation, she creates immediate relief and a practical path forward. Leaders leave her sessions with language, insight, and tools that make sense of their experience and restore confidence in their capacity to lead.
With a Master’s in Social Work and a specialization in Trauma-Informed Care, Vanessa grounds her work in both compassion and science. As an Instructor at MindBodyGreen Institute, she translates complex neuroscience into frameworks leaders can apply in real time. Her approach helps leaders recognize how stress responses shape behavior, communication, and decision-making. This understanding becomes a powerful lever for change, allowing leaders to respond with clarity rather than react from pressure.
Vanessa equips organizations with neuroscience-backed frameworks that support peak performance under demanding conditions. She demonstrates how nervous system regulation directly impacts leadership presence, decision quality, and innovation. When leaders are regulated, meetings become sharper, communication becomes clearer, and teams move faster with less friction. Vanessa shows companies how regulation creates measurable advantages, including stronger leadership impact and more sustainable performance over time.
Vanessa’s work is especially relevant for organizations that rely on high achievers operating at a consistently high level. She does not focus on burnout recovery after the damage is done. Instead, she helps leaders build internal capacity to handle pressure without depletion. This shift supports long-term performance and reduces the hidden costs of chronic stress, disengagement, and decision fatigue. Leaders learn how to access energy, focus, and resilience without sacrificing health or clarity.
When you book Vanessa McNeal for your event, you bring a grounded, science-based voice to conversations about leadership and performance. Her sessions resonate with executives, founders, and senior leaders who expect depth, relevance, and practical value. Vanessa delivers insight that leaders can apply immediately, helping them go beyond burnout narratives and into a new standard of sustainable excellence. Vanessa McNeal does not help high performers recover. She helps them go higher.
5 of 5
“Edifying and beautiful. A session that you would have to be here for yourself to experience the shifting in the atmosphere in a positive direction.”
Teri Petty PhD Walden University
5 of 5
“Vanessa was the opening keynote for our event. She gave us a unique new way to look at workplace conflicts and engagement and provided the audience with hands-on practical tools they could use to boost employee retention within their organizations. She was engaging and extremely easy to work with as an event planner.”
Cory Martin Sr. Vice President, Iowa Hospital Association
5 of 5
“You’re one of the best in the business Vanessa!!! I love that it’s not your typical leadership talk, the talk was actually meant to heal”
Morgan Schramm, Mitch Matthews Director of Operations Women Lead Change, CEO of Matthews Training International
5 of 5
“One of the things that sets her apart is the level of engagement she creates. She digs deep to pull out potential. After attending her talk I have true clarity on my next moves to get unstuck. I am now on a path that will be life changing.”
Christina Matz Consultant and Growth Strategist
5 of 5
“Vanessa brought a unique blend of expertise, authenticity, and compassion that truly resonated with our group. Her presentation was a standout moment of the training and left our team feeling more informed, supported, and empowered.”-
Karen Showalter Black Hawk County
5 of 5
“Vanessa has a rare ability to connect deeply and immediately with an audience. Her keynote at was transformational — grounding, emotional, and incredibly motivating. She created the mindset our attendees needed to fully show up for the day, and the impact of her message carried through every session that followed.”
Delaney Howell She Creates: Rural
5 of 5
“You’re one of the best in the business Vanessa! I love that it’s not your typical leadership talk, it’s the talk we all actually need to hear”!
Morgan Schmall Director Of Operations at Women Lead Change
Keynote by Vanessa McNeal:
This isn't another burnout talk. Your audience know they should set boundaries, practice self care, and say no more often. Yet, they're still answering emails at 11 PM and calling it dedication, because they're treating a nervous system problem like a time management issue. Vanessa McNeal reveals why perfectionism, people-pleasing, and inability to rest aren't character flaws, they're hardwired survival patterns running on autopilot. Using neuroscience and compelling client stories, she teaches how to recognize dysregulation in real-time, implement "shock absorbers" that prevent burnout, and shift from reactive to strategic leadership.
Audiences walk away with practical, brain-based tools that create sustainable high performance, improved innovation, and stronger connections, without sacrificing results. This isn't about slowing down. It's about rewiring the patterns that turn productivity into exhaustion.
Keynote by Vanessa McNeal:
Your "difficult" team members and challenging clients aren't the problem, dysregulation is. The colleague who's constantly resistant, the customer who escalates every issue, the team member who shuts down in meetings, the client who can't make a decision, they're not trying to make your life harder. Their nervous systems are dysregulated, and it's showing up as behaviors you can't manage your way out of. In this transformative talk, Vanessa McNeal reveals why conflict resolution training fails when people are dysregulated, and what actually works: creating the psychological safety that transforms relationships. Using neuroscience and real examples, she shows you how to recognize patterns of dysregulation, implement practices that help people regulate, and shift from reactivity to connection.
When people are more regulated, you don't just reduce conflict, you unlock collaboration, deepen trust, strengthen team dynamics, and dramatically improve retention. This isn't about managing difficult people. It's about creating cultures and conditions where difficult behaviors don't have to exist.
Keynote by Vanessa McNeal:
In an era where 92% of employees prioritize their emotional and psychological well-being, the question isn't just why, it's how. What transforms a good workplace into THAT organization—the one everyone dreams of joining and no one wants to leave? This powerful keynote provides leaders with a science-backed framework for creating magnetic organizational cultures.
Through Vanessa's innovative Nervous System Ladder™ methodology and proven strategies, discover how to create an environment where people thrive. Organizations implementing these practical tools have seen significant increases in engagement, performance, and loyalty and that's exactly what Vanessa wants for you.
Keynote by Vanessa McNeal:
You've been waiting to feel ready, ready to take that leap, launch that idea, or claim the success you've earned, but what if that feeling of readiness you're chasing is actually the very thing keeping you stuck? Your biggest competition isn't in the marketplace, it's in your mind, where invisible forces quietly sabotage your potential before you even step into the arena. In this eye-opening keynote, you'll discover the surprising science behind why your brain keeps you waiting in the wings and learn to recognize the hidden patterns that masquerade as wisdom but are actually rooted in outdated survival mechanisms.
Through a blend of neuroscience, compassionate insight, and real talk about the inner game we all play, you'll walk away with a radically different relationship to readiness itself, feeling lighter, more connected to your authentic power, and equipped with the permission you've been waiting for someone else to give you.
Keynote by Vanessa McNeal:
What if your greatest obstacles became your most powerful stepping stones? In this compelling keynote, Vanessa shares her remarkable journey from childhood adversity to professional triumph, weaving together raw personal storytelling with powerful insights about human resilience.
Through her gripping narrative of overcoming generational barriers, surviving abuse, and becoming a first-generation high school graduate, Vanessa demonstrates how life's steepest climbs often lead to our greatest breakthroughs. She reveals to audiences how every setback became a foothold for future success. This isn't just a story of survival; it's a masterclass in transforming life's greatest challenges into catalysts for extraordinary growth.
Watch Vanessa McNeal in action!
