Ashly Balza -Certified Lifestyle Coach, Speaker, & Founder of Identity Reclamation + The Return to Self-Method
Ashly Balza, known widely as The Self-Care Mama, is a force in the world of women’s transformation. A mother of seven, grandmother, wife of seventeen years, and co-owner of Balza Property Maintenance, Ashly is no stranger to navigating heavy seasons, big transitions, and the quiet burnout that high-functioning women often hide behind a smile.
After walking through illness, identity loss, and rebuilding her life from the inside out, Ashly turned her own healing journey into a mission. Today, she is the creator of The Return to Self Method and Identity Reclamation, a transformational 3-month immersive experience designed for women who appear successful and composed on the outside—but feel drained, disconnected, and stuck in performance mode underneath.
Her work blends practical lifestyle coaching with faith-rooted identity work, helping women remove the masks they’ve been performing behind and rediscover the confident, grounded, God-aligned version of themselves. She’s known for her bold yet nurturing coaching style—asking the hard questions, guiding women through emotional excavation, and helping them rise into the fullest expression of who they were created to be.
As a speaker, Ashly brings both power and vulnerability to the stage. She recently shared her story at Million Dollar Mingle in Mesa, AZ, inspiring audiences with her message of resilience, authenticity, and personal comeback. Her upcoming projects include multiple speaking engagements, retreats, and the release of her 90-day devotional, “Becoming Her Again: A 90-Day Journey with Jesus to Rediscover Who You Are.”
Whether she’s coaching one-on-one, speaking to a room of powerhouse women, or mentoring someone through the messy middle of growth, Ashly’s mission stays the same: to help women return home to themselves—boldly, unapologetically, and with a peace they can finally feel.
Share your journey.
In 2018, my entire world stopped. I was hospitalized, and while my body healed, my mind fell into one of the darkest places I’ve ever walked through. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was living in a quiet victim mindset. I put impossible expectations on the people I loved. I felt like life had happened to me, so everyone else should adjust around my pain.
And it wasn’t pretty.
Later that year, on a family vacation in Kentucky, my marriage and my sense of self were both strained. Out of sheer desperation to feel like “me” again, I joined a direct sales company. At first it came from a very stubborn, “you’re not going to tell me what to do” place—but that decision cracked the door open to something I didn’t see coming: women who poured into me, encouraged me, and reminded me I still had purpose.
Fast-forward a few years, I found myself back in Kentucky—this time attending a mindset event hosted by the coach I had been working with. Forbes Riley spoke that night, and something in me woke up. She offered a Sunday class, and I signed up on the spot. When she called me up in front of the room, I couldn’t get a single sentence out. My voice completely disappeared… but something in me knew that moment mattered.
That was the day I realized I needed to invest in rebuilding myself from the inside out. Forbes believed in me long before I believed in myself. She challenged me, stretched me, and helped me find my voice again.
Today, I’m able to stand on stages, mentor high-functioning women, and lead them through identity reclamation because I’ve done the inner work myself. I rebuilt my life piece by piece—through faith, coaching, and the decision to stop living as a victim of my story and instead become the author of my next chapter.
My journey didn’t make me weaker. It made me wiser, bolder, and more grounded in who I am. And that’s the work I now get to guide other women through.
Your work with clients blends practical lifestyle coaching with faith-rooted identity work. Explain
My work blends practical lifestyle coaching with faith-rooted identity work because real transformation has to touch both the everyday life a woman is living and the deeper truth of who she is at her core.
When I work with women, we focus on the practical things — routines, boundaries, communication, energy, emotional regulation — because those tools create the structure and stability they’ve been craving. But if that’s all we do, it’s just behavior modification. It doesn’t change who she believes herself to be.
That’s where the identity work comes in.
I empower women to look at who God says they are — not who the world has demanded they be.
We peel back the roles, the expectations, the masks they’ve been performing behind. We challenge the lies they’ve carried for years. And we replace those narratives with truth, alignment, and purpose.
When you bring both pieces together — the practical strategy and the spiritual restoration — it creates a level of confidence and clarity that actually lasts. She doesn’t just upgrade her habits; she comes back home to herself.
That’s why my approach is holistic, grounded, and faith-driven. It’s the heart work and the life work working together so a woman can rise as who she was created to be.
How have you faced burnout?
Burnout and I have had more than one face-to-face moment, and it didn’t show up gently. It showed up as exhaustion, resentment, snapping at the people I love, and feeling like I was disappearing under the weight of titles, expectations, and responsibilities.
My breaking point came when I realized I was running my life on empty — giving to everyone else, holding everything together, and never pausing long enough to ask, “But how am I, really?”
Instead of slowing down, I pushed harder. I tried to outrun the burnout with productivity. And that only made it worse. My body got louder. My attitude got sharper. My spirit felt drained. I didn’t recognize the woman staring back at me anymore.
The turning point?
Admitting — out loud — that I was not okay.
That humility cracked something open in me. I started setting boundaries. I let myself rest. I got honest about the emotional load I was carrying. And I invited God into places I had been trying to control on my own.
I also asked for support. Coaching, community, and having people speak truth over me helped me rebuild from the inside out. Burnout forced me to re-evaluate everything: how I lived, how I served, how I mothered, and how I led.
Burnout didn’t make me weaker. It made me wiser.
It taught me the importance of honoring my limits, protecting my peace, and staying connected to who God says I am.
And that’s why I do the work I do now — because I know what it feels like to lose yourself while you’re holding everyone else together. And I know what it looks like to rise again.
Tell us about The Return to Self Method and Identity Reclamation.
The Return to Self Method and Identity Reclamation are the two core pathways I’ve created for women who are ready to stop surviving and finally come back home to themselves. They were born out of my own journey of losing my identity, rebuilding from the inside out, and realizing how many women were carrying the same silent weight.
The Return to Self Method is my 6-week, step-by-step framework designed to help women rebuild their identity, energy, confidence, and clarity. It’s structured, intentional, and incredibly supportive. We walk through six pillars — from self-awareness and burnout recovery to boundaries, emotional regulation, daily routines, and designing a long-term self-care blueprint. It’s practical, faith-rooted, and deeply transformational.
Identity Reclamation is the deeper, more immersive experience for women who are ready to take off the masks they’ve been performing behind. This is where we peel back the layers — the roles, the expectations, the “shoulds,” the version of themselves they’ve been carrying just to get through the day. I empower women to look at who God says they are and rebuild their lives from that truth. It’s heart work. Holy work. And it shifts a woman at her core.
Together, these programs create a pathway for women who feel lost, overwhelmed, or disconnected to rise with clarity, confidence, and emotional alignment. They learn how to honor their identity, protect their energy, and build a life that feels like theirs again.
I created these programs because I lived this story myself — and now I get to guide women through their own return to self.
You are a motivational speaker and recently shared your story at Million Dollar Mingle in Mesa, AZ. Tell us about it.
Speaking at the Million Dollar Mingle in Mesa, AZ was one of those full-circle moments for me — the kind where you realize just how far God has brought you.
I stood on that stage surrounded by powerhouse leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries, and I shared the part of my story most women never talk about: losing yourself while trying to hold everything together. I talked about illness, burnout, identity loss, and the messy process of rebuilding your life when you don’t even recognize who you are anymore.
What made it powerful wasn’t just the story — it was the connection in the room. You could feel the women leaning in because they’ve lived that silent exhaustion too. They know what it feels like to wear the mask, to perform through pain, to look put-together while feeling completely disconnected inside.
And in that moment, I wasn’t just “speaking.”
I was reminding them of who they already are.
Million Dollar Mingle is filled with big names and big energy — people like AC Caswell, Forbes Riley, and so many influential speakers. To be invited to share the stage with them was humbling, but it also affirmed the assignment God has me on: helping women reclaim their identity and return to the truth of who He created them to be.
Walking off that stage, I knew two things for sure:
- My voice matters.
- And I’m just getting started.
That experience lit a fire in me to keep showing up, keep speaking, and keep empowering women to rise — not from perfection, but from truth.
Share your upcoming projects.
I have a lot of meaningful projects coming up, and every single one of them is rooted in one mission — helping women return to who God created them to be.
First, I’m expanding The Return to Self Method and Identity Reclamation so more women can access the transformation. I’m opening new spots, adding deeper tools, and creating more opportunities for women to walk through this work with me in both 1:1 and small-group settings.
Second, I’m stepping even more into my role as a speaker. After speaking at Million Dollar Mingle, doors have been opening. I’m preparing for upcoming stages, women’s events, and workshops where I’ll be sharing my story, teaching identity work, and empowering high-functioning women to rise with clarity and confidence.
Third, my new devotional — Becoming Her Again: A 90-Day Journey with Jesus to Rediscover Who You Are — is officially live on Amazon. We’re launching a community book club so women can go through the journey together, with bonus coaching and support along the way.
Fourth, I’m continuing to build out my retreats, immersives, and in-person experiences. These events are designed to help women breathe, release, and reset — stepping away from the noise so they can reconnect with themselves on a soul level.
And honestly? This is just the beginning.
God keeps expanding the vision, and I’m simply being obedient with the assignment He’s put on my life. My upcoming projects all point back to one thing: helping women heal, rise, and reclaim the identity they were born with.
