The Future of Breathwork & Brand Leadership – Exclusive Interview with Emily King

In today’s fast-paced digital world, leaders are searching for innovative ways to enhance their strategic clarity, improve decision-making, and maintain their well-being.

Em, the founder of em&co and The C Word Magazine, is pioneering a groundbreaking approach that blends breathwork with high-level marketing strategy and coaching. In this exclusive interview with Brainz, Em shares insights on her journey, the impact of breathwork on leadership, and her mission to help female founders and business owners align their mindset with their goals.

Emily King, Breathwork & Marketing Consultant

Can you share a bit about your journey and how you started em&co?

Absolutely. My background is in marketing, project management, and paid media planning, having spent eight years working with major brands such as L’Oréal across multiple categories while I lived in London. While I thrived in the corporate world, I also saw firsthand how stress, overwhelm, burnout, and misalignment in leadership could impact decision-making and creativity.

I took a risk and quit my job, and by November 2023, I had made a plan to go on a six-month solo travel trip in Central America. The trip changed my life in many ways. I wasn’t a stranger to solo travel, as I had traveled alone for eight months in Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Asia in my early twenties. It’s funny doing a similar trip almost ten years later when your mindset and idea of fun are quite different! By chance, I ended up volunteering at Envision Festival in Costa Rica and stumbled into a breathwork class that changed my life. I felt like somebody had unzipped a metaphorical zip from my lips down to my toes, and all this heat and energy was coming out of me. I was immediately hooked.

As I deepened my personal practice, I saw transformative effects on my mindset, clarity, and focus. Travel anxiety? Gone. Hand tremor? Gone. My trichotillomania (obsessive-compulsive hair pulling and touching)? Almost non-existent for the first time in years.

From there, I knew I had to integrate breathwork into my work. I trained as a breathwork teacher and started incorporating it into my freelance marketing and client work. That’s when I feel em&co was truly born, a fusion of high-impact marketing coaching that prioritises mindset and nervous system regulation as much as sales and revenue.

How does breathwork enhance leadership and business decision-making?

Breathwork is an incredible tool for improving mental clarity, emotional resilience, and focus, three essential qualities in leadership of any kind. Many business owners and marketers operate in a state of high cortisol and stress, leading to reactive decision-making. Through breathwork, I help leaders regulate their nervous systems, access deeper levels of creativity, and make strategic decisions from a place of confidence rather than urgency.

For example, in my 90-minute BREATHE workshop, I guide professionals through unblocking creativity through breathwork, helping them clear space in their energy to refine their messaging, market research, and audience understanding. We finish with an empowering 15-minute breathwork session to translate these insights into aligned action.

In addition, I’ve developed EMPOWER, a high-touch group coaching container that integrates breathwork, marketing strategy, PR opportunities, and leadership development. It includes 12 months of access to The Breathwork Collective, guaranteed features in The C Word Magazine, monthly hot seat coaching, guest expert workshops, and a WhatsApp networking group. It’s all about helping leaders move from overworked and reactive to deeply aligned, strategic, and visible in their industries.

What are the biggest challenges professionals face in marketing today?

One of the biggest challenges is standing out in an oversaturated digital landscape while maintaining authenticity. This is something I’ve always been mindful of with The C Word Magazine, ensuring authenticity always trumps financial opportunities. With so much content out there, businesses struggle to build genuine connections with their audience.

Another challenge is brand visibility. Many brands create incredible content but fail to optimise it for searchability (SEO), making it difficult for their ideal audience to find them. That’s why I encourage clients to first look inward to align themselves with their exact target audience. From there, we move into action: integrating SEO best practices, optimising blogs and websites, and expanding their reach with digital PR. When they produce content that truly lights them up, the right people are naturally drawn to them.

Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.

A pivotal moment was transitioning from corporate media to launching em&co. The exact moment? Landing my first client. I’d never freelanced before, I’d never been trained in sales, and I wasn’t sure what my freelance world could look like, let alone that I’d merge breathwork into it.

After spending years in high-pressure environments, I realised that success wasn’t just about strategy and execution; it was also about mindset, energy, and well-being. I held onto the belief that I could make it happen, even when there were no guarantees.

I even booked a photoshoot for myself before I had any clients, simply because I wanted to embody the version of me that I was stepping into. I gave myself a completely made-up job title on LinkedIn, Breathwork & Marketing Consultant, because I couldn’t find anyone else doing quite what I was doing. It wasn’t “fake it till you make it”; it was a conscious, intentional choice to show up as the person I wanted to be, ahead of actually being that person.

What advice do you have for leaders looking to align their brand with their personal growth?

I wholeheartedly believe that the best brands are built from a place of authenticity. If you want your marketing to resonate, it needs to reflect who you truly are. This is where breathwork and embodiment practices come in, they help you connect with your vision for both your business and yourself.

For leaders, this means:

• Understanding your “why”: When you’re clear on your mission, marketing becomes effortless.

• Leading with storytelling: People connect with emotions, so share your journey and insights.

• Prioritising well-being: Sustainable success comes from balance, not burnout.

What’s next for em&co and The C Word Magazine?

I’m expanding my work into group coaching through EMPOWER, continuing to grow The Breathwork Collective, and developing a membership model and rebrand for The C Word Magazine in 2025. I’m also focusing on corporate breathwork and mindful marketing workshops for businesses and communities.

Where can people connect with you and learn more?

You can find me on my website, LinkedIn, and Instagram, where I share insights on mindful marketing, leadership, and breathwork. If you’re curious about breathwork for business, book a 1:1 or corporate session, I’d love to help you integrate these powerful practices into your journey and business.

Em’s approach to marketing and leadership is redefining how professionals think about business success. By blending strategic marketing with mindful leadership, she’s helping brands not only grow but also stay deeply connected to their purpose. If you’re looking to elevate your brand while maintaining clarity and balance, her insights are a game-changer.

Read more from Emily King