One Year of Getting Authentic: What 52 Weeks of Real Conversations Taught Me

A year ago, I sat down in front of a microphone and made a promise — not to an audience, not to a brand, not to an algorithm. I made a promise to myself: no more performing. Just truth.

That was the beginning of Get Authentic.

Fifty-two weeks later, I'm still here. And I'm more convinced than ever that the world doesn't need more highlight reels. It needs real conversations. It needs people willing to say this is what it actually cost me — not just what I gained.

Watch the 1-Year Anniversary Episode

What I Didn't Expect

I didn't expect the silence on the other side of the microphone to hit the way it did. When you share something that hurt — really hurt — there's a moment before the response where you wonder if you made a mistake. Then the messages come in. Not just "great episode." But "I thought I was the only one."

That's the whole point.

I've talked to executives who lost everything. Athletes who walked away from the game with nothing but a name. Parents who gave their kids every advantage and still felt like they failed. Business owners who hit seven figures and still felt empty on a Tuesday morning.

None of them were looking for a pep talk. They were looking for someone to say: I've been there, and here's what I actually learned.

The Conversations That Scared Me Most Mattered Most

One year in, I keep coming back to this: the conversations that scared me the most were the ones that mattered the most.

When I talk about going from eight figures to $8.25 an hour — not as a cautionary tale, but as the thing that rebuilt me — I feel it every single time. Not because it's painful anymore, but because I know what's on the other side of that kind of bottom.

Most people never talk about the bottom. They jump straight from the struggle to the comeback. But the bottom is where the real work happens. The bottom is where you find out who you actually are when the title is gone, the money is gone, and nobody's calling.

I built Get Authentic for that moment. For the person sitting in their car in the parking lot before walking back into a job they never expected to need. For the person who achieved everything they were told to want and still doesn't feel okay.

What Year Two Looks Like

I'm not slowing down. If anything, the guests are getting more honest, the topics are getting harder, and the community is getting louder.

Here's what I know after 52 weeks: authenticity is not a vulnerability. It's a competitive advantage. The people who are willing to be real — in business, in leadership, in life — are the ones others actually trust, follow, and remember.

That's what we're building here.

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— Marques