I am a writer, speaker, global entrepreneur, executive coach, powerlifter, former marriage and family therapist, and fierce advocate for women’s rights, justice, and opportunities.
I wasn’t always bold. I became bold at 27 when I decided to prioritize learning about myself, relationships, and the social and family systems that form us.
I’ve lived and worked in person in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Beirut, Lebanon; Amman, Jordan; and Taipei, Taiwan. The global executive coaching company I founded operated in 75 countries.
In all those countries, women leaders faced similar challenges in their efforts to lead in patriarchal organizations and countries.
Global Impact
5.0 (2,425 Reviews)
Women’s Empowerment / Personal Growth
286 Pages
October 2026
Palmetto Publishing
For generations, women have been taught that being agreeable, selfless, likable, and accommodating is a virtue. But what happens when that goodness comes at the expense of their own ambitions, development, and voice?
In BOLD, Barrie calls this pattern “debilitating goodness.”
Part memoir, part manifesto, and part practical guide, BOLD helps women recognize the conditioning that keeps them seeking approval and begin making decisions based on their own values, instincts, ambitions, and purpose.
Whether you are leading a team, raising a family, building a business, changing careers, or reinventing your life, BOLD invites you to stop asking for permission and begin creating the life that is uniquely yours.
Join Barrie Zucal at upcoming book events, conversations, and special appearances celebrating BOLD: How Women PLAY BIG by Leading Instead of Pleasing.
Explore the ideas behind the book, connect with the conversation, and discover what it means to lead more boldly in your own life.
Barrie makes the case that what she calls “debilitating goodness” — the quiet conditioning that pushes women toward pleasing, performing, and perfecting instead of leading, living, and developing — is one of the biggest forces holding women back from their ambitions. Blending decades of clinical and coaching experience with hard-won personal reinvention, Barrie offers a practical, empowering roadmap for women ready to lead unapologetically.
How often do you put what you want on the back burner because someone else needs something from you? Women are taught to be accommodating, pleasing, helpful, and easy to get along with. But what happens when you stop planning your life around everyone else and start paying attention to your own longings and enthusiasm?
In this episode of Tardan Today, host Dennis Tardan sits down with Barrie Zucal, now 80, to talk about her new book, BOLD: How Women Play BIG by Leading Instead of Pleasing.
Barrie celebrated the launch of BOLD with her daughter Jessica! Watch the recording to hear Barrie read a short passage from the book, followed by a Q&A led by Jessica and questions from the audience.
Barrie sits down with Minal Bopaiah, founder of Brevity & Wit and author of Equity, for a conversation about women and bold leadership. Watch the recording for their take on what it looks like to make bold moves as a woman leader.
