Today we’d like to introduce you to Margie Coltharp.
Hi Margie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I spent over thirty years in the hospitality industry, helping teams grow and develop — training, coaching, building people up so they could do their jobs well and actually want to stay. I loved it. I got my undergraduate degree in Hospitality Management and Masters in Human Resource Development. I was all in on the people in hospitality!
It’s also the kind of industry where alcohol is very much part of the culture. Work hard, play hard, right? I was all in on that, too.
Things shifted when that career ended unexpectedly, right as Covid hit. I found myself alone and anxious. And I found myself drinking to numb the anxiety and loneliness. I checked out in a way I hadn’t before. That scared me. Thankfully, I started to really look at my relationship with alcohol. I knew I was on a slippery slope.
One day I was doom scrolling and ran across an ad for This Naked Mind. I actually scrolled past. It was the name. But I went back out of curiosity.
I’m so glad I did. It was the first approach I’d come across that offered me a structured approach, but didn’t ask me to label myself or assume I was broken. It just asked me to get curious and give myself grace. That shift, from willpower to curiosity, compassion, and understanding, changed everything for me.
It was such a profound experience for me, and I knew I wanted to help other women find it too. I got certified and started my own coaching practice — Brave Space Coaching in 2023, and I’ve been building it ever since. I’m also a senior coach for This Naked Mind.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Honestly, no — building a solo coaching business from scratch after thirty years in a completely different industry meant starting over in a lot of ways. I had to learn marketing, branding, all of it, while experiencing life through my new, non-drinking lens. But the biggest challenge has probably been figuring out how to reach women like me — gray-area drinkers, whose relationship with alcohol isn’t a crisis but isn’t quite right either, and who are familiar with AA and traditional sobriety messaging that was never built for them.
These are high-functioning women, holding everything together for everyone else, who’ve quietly wondered whether their relationship with alcohol is what they want it to be — but never said it out loud, because nothing about their life looks like a ‘problem.’ That’s exactly who I want to talk to. I want to tell them there’s nothing wrong with them. I want them to know there is another way to find what they’re looking for. There’s a way to get curious about this that doesn’t involve labels, deprivation, or an all-or-nothing decision. Nobody has to know unless and until they’re ready to share.
We’ve been impressed with Brave Space Coaching, LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Brave Space Coaching is built for the women I described above. They don’t see themselves in the usual conversation about drinking — because they are high-functioning women, holding everything together, and also quietly wondering whether their relationship with alcohol is what they want it to be.
I help them explore that without labels, without ultimatums, and without being told they need to hit some kind of breaking point before it counts. I help them understand the parts of themselves that learned how to use alcohol as a tool to cope with stress, social anxiety, boredom and loneliness. I help them realize what alcohol actually is — a heavily marketed substance that our bodies react to like poison and is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen associated with increased risks of seven kinds of cancer.
What sets me apart is that I’ve actually been where they are. I know what it feels like to start that first uncomfortable conversation with yourself, to sit in the messy middle where nothing feels resolved yet, and to come out the other side feeling proud and confident — not because I white-knuckled my way through, but because I got curious and changed my beliefs instead. Beliefs about alcohol and myself. That’s not a story I read about. It’s mine.
One thing people are often surprised by is that I don’t ask anyone to quit cold turkey, or even to quit at all, if moderation is genuinely their goal. This isn’t about a finish line someone has to cross to be “successful.” It’s about helping each woman figure out what she actually wants her relationship with alcohol to look like, and then helping her get there at her own pace.
If I’m proud of one thing brand-wise, it’s the name itself. Brave Space, not safe space — because a safe space is where nothing challenges you, and a brave space is where you’re supported enough to actually look at the harder stuff. That distinction runs through everything I do.
What I’d want readers to know most is this: you don’t have to identify with the word “alcoholic” for your relationship with alcohol to be worth examining. That gray area — where it’s not a crisis, but it’s not quite right either — is exactly where I work, and it’s a much more common place to be than most people realize.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
This is something I’ve had to find my own way through, especially working solo and virtually, and where there isn’t a built-in professional community for my niche. What’s worked best for me has been finding people inside the specific frameworks I know — with people facing similar challenges, and there’s an instant shorthand because you’re speaking the same language.
My advice would be: don’t think of networking as a separate activity you have to force yourself to do. Let it grow out of the communities you’re already part of for other reasons. The relationships that have mattered most to me came from people I met through certification programs, professional development, and my community involvement — not from unfamiliar networking events.
I’d also say it’s okay if your version of networking looks quieter than other people’s. I’m not someone who thrives in promoting myself in big rooms full of strangers, and I’ve stopped trying to be. The handful of real connections I’ve made through smaller, more focused communities have been worth more than a stack of business cards ever would.
Pricing:
- Schedule a call to discuss
Contact Info:
- Website: https://BraveSpace.Coach
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravespacecoach/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoachMargieColtharp/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/106189075/admin/dashboard/
- Other: https://meeting.calendarhero.com/letstalkaboutit
