Influential Women spotlights HR executive Felise T. Matlock Brown and her Sanctuary of Self coaching practice

Influential Women is highlighting Felise T. Matlock Brown, a New Jersey-based HR executive and wellness advisor who launched Sanctuary of Self on April 3, 2026. The practice is aimed at helping high-achieving women reconnect with purpose, well-being, and identity through coaching, retreats, and corporate wellness programming.

Why it matters: - Felise T. Matlock Brown is building a coaching practice for high-performing women who feel disconnected from themselves after years of career success. - Sanctuary of Self targets a gap between external achievement and internal fulfillment, a tension that Brown says many accomplished women face. - The practice extends Brown’s work in leadership, wellness, and personal transformation into a business focused on whole-being alignment.

What happened: - Influential Women highlighted Brown, who is an HR executive, wellness advisor, and founder of Sanctuary of Self. - Brown officially launched Sanctuary of Self on April 3, 2026. - Brown is based in New Jersey and lives with her husband and two children.

The details: - Brown has more than 25 years of experience working with C-suite leaders at Google, Bank of America, GE/NBCUniversal, Pepsi, and Citigroup. - Brown has spent two decades leading enterprise transformation, organizational design, workforce planning, and culture initiatives at scale. - Brown holds a master’s degree in human resources and industrial relations from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. - Sanctuary of Self offers individual coaching, retreats, and select corporate wellness programming. - The practice uses a three-part method Brown calls Mind, Body, Soul: Mental Architecture, Physical Rhythm, and Spiritual Authority. - Mental Architecture focuses on beliefs and inherited patterns. - Physical Rhythm treats the body as an intelligence to be nourished, shaped by Brown’s background as a classically trained chef and integrative nutrition coach. - Spiritual Authority centers on intuition, presence, and co-creating life rather than simply executing it. - Brown is a Certified Life Coach through the National Board of Certified Counselors. - Brown is also a Certified Holistic Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. - Brown trained as a chef at the International Culinary Center. - In 2025, Brown’s role at Google was eliminated, which prompted a professional reset. - Brown responded by earning a coaching certification, beginning a doctoral journey in holistic medicine, and entering her own transformative coaching work. - Brown says the experience helped shape the blueprint for Sanctuary of Self. - Brown’s signature retreat, The Luxury of Presence, is scheduled for Feb. 22–26, 2027, at Spice Island Beach Resort in Grenada. - The retreat is limited to 14 women. - More information is available through Brown’s Influential Women profile and the Sanctuary of Self website.

Between the lines: - Brown is positioning Sanctuary of Self as more than a wellness offer. It is framed as a response to the way many women are trained to chase performance while ignoring their own needs. - Her message is rooted in lived experience, not just professional credentials, which gives the brand a personal and coaching-driven angle. - The retreat and corporate programming suggest Sanctuary of Self is designed to reach both individual clients and organizations.

What's next: - Brown plans to keep expanding Sanctuary of Self through coaching, retreats, and wellness programming for accomplished women. - The February 2027 retreat will serve as a concrete test of the brand’s model and its appeal to women seeking recalibration. - Brown says her mission is to help women move beyond survival mode and into a life where ambition and well-being can coexist.

The bottom line: - Sanctuary of Self is Brown’s attempt to turn a personal reset into a business for women seeking success without self-abandonment.