Marie Forleo

About Marie Forleo

Marie Forleo was born on December 7, 1975, in New Jersey.^[3] Forleo comes from a working-class, Italian-American Catholic family.^[4] Her parents divorced when Forleo was eight years old. Forleo says that due to the divorce, her mother encouraged her to avoid being financially dependent on others.^[5]  

According to Forleo, many of the conflicts in her parents’ marriage were related to money,^[6] explaining, “I made this connection that not having enough money equals loss of love and pain and fighting and all of this stress.”^[5]   

While in high school, Forleo says she was in a physically abusive relationship. Because her mother had taught her that everything is “figureoutable,” she was able to extract herself from the relationship, understand what went wrong, and heal from the situation.^[7]  

Forleo attended Seton Hall University, earning a degree in business finance and graduating as valedictorian in 1997.^[8] After college, she broke off an engagement before meeting her future husband, actor Josh Pais.^{[9] [10]} The couple has been together since 2003.^[11] They have an Australian shepherd named Kuma. Forleo’s hobbies include cooking, watching movies, dancing, riding roller coasters, and reading.^[10]  

Career

After college, Forleo worked on Wall Street on the New York Stock Exchange.^[8] Though she enjoyed the fast-pace, she wanted a career that allowed her to be more creative, and she didn’t feel she fit in on Wall Street. She says, “I realized that while a lot of people around me financially were wealthy beyond anything I had ever imagined, spiritually, they felt bankrupt.”^[5]

She left Wall Street to work in the publishing industry, working at the magazines Mademoiselle and Glamour. However, she didn’t remain in publishing long. Though she received a job offer from Vogue, she turned it down, realizing she wanted to pursue a career as a life coach.^[8] 

While her coaching business was getting off the ground, Forleo supported herself by working as a waitress, bartender, cleaner, and dance instructor. Though dance instructing initially was a side gig for Forleo, she became successful and released several dance fitness DVDs between 2005 and 2006, including Crunch Cardio Dance Blast, Prevention Fitness Systems—Dance Yourself Thin, Women’s Health—The Wedding Workout, and Dance Off the Inches: Tummy Tone Party Zone. She also was a Nike Dance Athlete and helped choreograph MTV music videos.^[1] 

Forleo became a published author in 2008 when she released Make Every Man Want You, a relationship guide for women. She released her second book, Everything Is Figureoutable in 2019, which is a guide to change your life by focusing on progress, not perfection. Everything Is Figureoutable became a #1 New York Times bestseller.^[1] 

Forleo has been involved in several documentaries, including Dream Girl, released in 2016,^[12]  Transcendence: Live Life Beyond the Ordinary, released in 2018,^[13] and We Rise Up, released in 2019.^[14]  

As Forleo’s career progressed, she struggled to describe what she did for a living because her interests were so varied. She settled on the phrase “multipassionate entrepreneur,” a phrase she felt captured her vast range of skills and interests. She says, “Most of us don’t fit into a clear, neat little box. Society often tries to label us in clear, neat little ways, but we don’t fit in that way. We’re all multitalented and multifaceted.”^[6]  

Marie Forleo International

After quitting the publishing industry, Forleo founded Marie Forleo International, encompassing her business coaching company, website, and a web TV series, MarieTV.^[15] MarieTV now has over 75 million views and over 800,000 subscribers on YouTube.^{[16] [17]}  

Forleo’s company published the online business course “Rich, Happy & Hot B-School” on her website in 2011, which was later shortened to “B-School.” She has since released other online courses, including “The Copy Cure,” a step-by-step guide for copywriters to level up their skills, and “Time Genius,” a live online course about time management.^[18]  

Forleo’s business courses and web show grew in popularity, and MarieForleo.com was named one of Forbes’ “100 Best Websites for Entrepreneurs.” Additionally, Marie Forleo International was named one of the Most Rapidly Growing Private Companies in 2014.^[19]  

In January 2017, Forleo expanded her business to include The Marie Forleo Podcast, where Forleo interviews thought leaders and discusses self-improvement strategies that can change your life.^[20]  

Forleo’s company is built around philanthropy. Each for-profit product she offers is tied to a non-profit partner. MarieTV partnered with Charity: Water to raise over $63,000 to provide access to clean drinking water in Ethiopia. A portion of sales from the B-School online course supports Pencils of Promise, an organization that builds schools in countries like Laos, Guatemala, and Ghana.^[21]   

Marie Forleo International also collaborates with non-profits such as Kiva, Sama, She’s the First, and The Malala Fund, among others. The company supports organizations that help people, especially women and girls, get access to business opportunities and education.^[21]  

Marie Forleo Today

Forleo continues to lead Marie Forleo International while producing regular content for MarieTV, The Marie Forleo Podcast, and a weekly newsletter. She also keeps up with her social media audience, posting regularly for her 738,000 Instagram followers and 215,700 Twitter followers.^[22] She currently lives in the West Village, New York City.^[23]