Hey there,
I'm Amanda Duarte
And this is the story beneath the work
I grew up in Brazil in a home filled with uncertainty — financial instability, mental illness, and the constant hum of anxiety. In those early years, I learned to survive by living in my head. My body was the place I escaped from, not the one I listened to. My focus was on becoming independent, on building a life that would be safe and stable. I was the first in my family to go to university, and from there, I kept moving forward — working hard, achieving, doing whatever it took to create a different future.
​
When I left Brazil for Dubai, everything I knew about belonging came undone. I didn’t speak the language, didn’t understand the culture, and had to start again from zero. One month later, my mother passed away. It was a rupture that split my life into before and after. I built a family, a business, learned new languages, and kept going — but part of me had gone quiet. I didn’t yet know that I was slowly being invited back to something deeper.
​
That invitation came a few years later, through motherhood. Looking at my son — frustrated and exhausted — I recognized patterns I had spent my life trying to outrun. In that moment, I knew something had to change. I began to see that the wisdom I was searching for was not in doing more, but in listening more deeply — especially to my body. That realization became the foundation of everything that followed.
Across borders, back to me
As I moved across the world — Dubai, Peru, Spain, Singapore, and now the U.S. — I discovered that belonging isn’t a place on the map. It’s a relationship with ourselves. Every culture taught me something about rhythm, pace, and presence, and I began to see that true leadership begins with self-belonging: the ability to stay connected to who we are, no matter where we stand.
​
Today, my work brings together somatic awareness, ontological coaching, and the science of safety and connection to help people bridge the gap between what they think and what they feel — so they can lead and live with more breath, ease, and authenticity. I’ve coached individuals from over twenty-five nationalities, worked with leaders and coaches around the world, and witnessed again and again what becomes possible when people come home to their own aliveness.
​
Because I’ve seen what happens when we lose connection — in families, in leadership, in ourselves. And I’ve seen what becomes possible when we remember that our body is not the obstacle, but the way home. My work is about that remembering: helping people reclaim their agency, their softness, and their humanity.
