About Me

Ann Daly PhD is a life coach, keynote speaker, and author. An expert on women's changing lives, she is passionate about helping women achieve their ambitions.

After 17 years as an internationally renowned women's studies professor, Dr. Daly decided to offer her experience and insights directly to professional women. She recently told her "do-over" story to Your Austin magazine.

As a life coach, she helps clients get clear about what they want and how to get it. As a keynote speaker, she inspires her audiences with real-life stories and cutting-edge research. As an author, she shows her readers how to find clarity, discover confidence, and live large.

Dr. Daly is the award-winning author of five books, including Clarity: How to Accomplish What Matters Most and A Year of Clarity: The Monthly Guide for Women. She has been published in the New York Times and Village Voice and aired on NPR's "Marketplace." She is the "Transitions" coaching columnist for Your Austin magazine.

A popular workshop leader and facilitator, Dr. Daly has developed a series of mini-retreats for women who want to find their clarity and their next success. She also hosts BookWisdom, a book salon that inspires and improves women's lives.

Dr. Daly has been featured on Oprah & Friends' "Peter Walsh Show," "The Coaching Show," and "The Ladies Room with Lolis" as well as in the Australian Financial Review, AustinWoman Magazine, and Austin American-Statesman.

How did you get so clear?

I spent decades in rigorous professions -- journalism, scholarship, and teaching. But it started with my dad. I am the daughter of an engineer. I was raised on file folders.

What's the one best thing I could do to develop clarity?

Spend 15 minutes every day doing nothing. In that quiet space you can pay attention to what you're really thinking, feeling, and doing (not what you believe you should be thinking, feeling, and doing). From there you can begin to sort through your questions and issues.

What inspired you to write Clarity: How to Accomplish What Matters Most?

I've loved self-help books since high school, although that's nothing I ever admitted when I was a university professor! As a writer, I find self-help a fascinating genre, because it combines three very different discourses: narrative, theory, and how-to. With this book, I was especially interested in telling stories -- some of them even my own.

Your book is subtitled "How to Accomplish What Matters Most." What are you trying to accomplish?

I'm out to change the world. As a coach, I aim to unleash the power of women, one client at a time.

How does keynote speaking fit in?

Well, with speaking I can unleash the power of women hundreds of listeners at a time. (Patience has never been my strong suit.)