Alexis Hughes - Visionary Woman Founder to Watch — 2026

Women Story
Jan 12
3 min read

Category: Strategic Life Coaching · End-of-Life Care · Grief Literacy · Leadership & Legacy Work

Alexis Hughes

Founder, Without Fear Strategic Coaching

📍 Based in: Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

“Most people aren’t afraid of dying. They’re afraid of not having lived.”

In a world that avoids conversations about death, grief, and regret, Alexis Hughes-Bakjian has built a practice that does the opposite—it faces life head-on.

Through Without Fear Strategic Coaching, Alexis has created a rare and deeply needed model that blends strategic life coaching, grief wisdom, and end-of-life awareness into one cohesive system. Her work helps people move from avoidance and overwhelm to clarity, courage, and purposeful action—not at the end of life, but now.

Recognised as a Visionary Woman Founder to Watch in 2026, Alexis is redefining what leadership, coaching, and conscious living look like in the modern world.

Company Overview

Company Name: Without Fear Strategic Coaching

Founded: 2021

Industry: Life Coaching · End-of-Life Support · Leadership & Legacy Strategy

Website: withoutfeardoula.com

LinkedIn Profile URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/withoutfear/

What the Company Does:

Without Fear is a strategic life and end-of-life coaching practice designed to help individuals, leaders, families, and organizations live with intention instead of regret.

The work integrates:

Strategic life coaching
Grief literacy and emotional resilience
End-of-life planning and doula support
Legacy, meaning, and values-based decision making

At its core, Without Fear exists to transform how people live by helping them confront the truth that life is temporary—and powerful because of it.

The Founder’s Philosophy

Alexis’s work is grounded in a profound yet practical truth:

When people understand what they would regret at the end of their lives, they make better choices in the present.

Her approach does not rely on platitudes, toxic positivity, or surface-level motivation. Instead, she guides clients to:

Identify habits and beliefs that keep them stuck
Build emotional resilience and grief literacy
Create realistic, values-aligned action plans
Strengthen leadership capacity during transition
Design a life they are proud to live—and proud to leave behind

Her signature framework, The 3 M’s of Mastery, moves clients from self-awareness to purposeful execution, blending strategy with compassion.

Key Achievements & Impact

Over the past year, Alexis has achieved milestones that reflect both depth and scale:

🎓 Accepted into a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program in Organizational Leadership, strengthening the research and strategic foundation of her work
🧠 Designed and launched the 3 M’s of Mastery, a complete strategic life coaching system
🏛️ Successfully guided a national nonprofit through a year of transition, growth, and operational strengthening
📚 Developed new educational resources for families, caregivers, and professionals in the end-of-life field
🎓 Taught the first accredited End-of-Life Doula cohort at a community college, achieving a 100% NEDA proficiency exam pass rate
🎙️ Expanded public education through podcasts, speaking, workshops, and advocacy on grief, loss, and conscious living
🌍 Built a sustainable, interdisciplinary practice blending leadership development, grief literacy, and end-of-life awareness

Awards, Recognition & Leadership Roles

Alexis’s work has earned national recognition across coaching, education, and deathcare:

🎤 Featured Speaker — Dr. Carol B. Berz Family Justice Center Domestic Violence Awareness Conference (TED-style talk)
🏅 NEDA Proficiency Badge — Professional excellence in end-of-life doula practice
🏫 Recognized by Cleveland State Community College for launching and instructing their first End-of-Life Doula program
🎙️ Host, “Without Fear: Life, Death, and Everything In Between” Podcast
🏛️ Elected Board Member, National End-of-Life Doula Alliance (NEDA)
🧭 Co-Chair, Events & Education, NEDA
🌿 Executive Director, National Home Funeral Alliance — entrusted to lead and represent the field at a national level

What Makes Without Fear Different

Without Fear stands at the intersection of:

Structure and soul
Systems thinking and sacred witnessing
Strategic leadership and human truth

Alexis brings together corporate strategy, nonprofit leadership, grief literacy, and end-of-life care into a model that helps individuals and organizations create cultures with fewer regrets.

Looking Ahead to 2026

As she enters the next phase of growth, Alexis is focused on:

Advancing research-driven leadership models through her DBA
Expanding national education and training in grief literacy and end-of-life care
Influencing organizational culture, leadership, and policy in deathcare
Helping more people stop postponing their lives—and start living with intention

Her mission is clear: to change the way we live by changing how we relate to death.