Exploring Life & Business with Michaela Gaffen Stone of Gaffen Stone LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michaela Gaffen Stone.

Hi Michaela, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve taken a rather scenic route to get here. And by scenic, I mean eight countries, several careers, an unreasonable number of certifications, and a lifelong inability to accept “because that’s just how things are” as a satisfactory answer.

Born in England, I’ve lived all over the world, collecting experiences, perspectives, and the occasional questionable life decision. One question has often come up, no matter where I am: Why do people do what they do, and how much of what we believe about ourselves is actually ours?

I started out as a nurse, specializing in tropical diseases in London. That led me to Bangladesh, where I volunteered in an orphanage and later ran a medical clinic serving a few hundred people. Somewhere along the way, I became a Montessori assistant teacher in Belgium, studied Buddhism and mindfulness with monks in Singapore, and immersed myself in nutrition and fitness in Malaysia.

Apparently, I don’t do straight lines.

Eventually, I earned a master’s degree and became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, studying the fascinating business of why humans do what they do. Cue the deerstalker hat and magnifying glass. I was officially a brain detective.

But there was a mystery I couldn’t quite leave alone.

Why were so many intelligent, accomplished women living lives that looked perfectly respectable on paper but didn’t quite feel like theirs? I kept meeting versions of this same person. Why?

They’d invariably read the books, done the personal development, collected the qualifications, and generally been very good girls. Yet somewhere along the way, they’d become experts at following rules nobody remembered agreeing to.

I recognized more than a little of myself in that.

So I kept investigating. Behavioral science, Human Design, nutrition, personal development, and a healthy dose of questioning absolutely everything. Different lenses, same fascination: the stories we inherit, the identities we construct, and the extraordinary things we believe about ourselves without ever checking whether they’re true.

These days, I call myself a “Professional Life Untangler”. It’s not a job title you’ll find in the careers handbook, but it fits rather nicely.

I also host *Witchy Sh!t by Design*, a podcast that gives me a perfectly legitimate excuse to have gloriously curious conversations with fascinating people about science, spirituality, identity, intuition, and the general absurdity of being human. It’s my kind of playground. Sometimes, we dive really deep. It’s always unscripted and authentic.

Where am I going with all of this? Looking back, what once seemed like a wildly eclectic collection of careers turns out to have a common thread. I’ve spent decades asking questions, spotting patterns, and tugging at the loose threads of stories people have mistaken for facts.

And I’ve discovered that sometimes, when you pull the right thread, an entire belief system starts to unravel.

That’s when things get interesting.

I’m still curious, still collecting questions, and still entirely unconvinced that we need to become better versions of ourselves. Perhaps we just need to stop believing everything we’ve been told about who we are.

Meanwhile, I’ll be over here, happily aiding and abetting women in the pursuit of lives that actually feel like theirs.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth road? Good heavens, no. I think I missed the turning for that one somewhere around 1987.

I’ve had spectacular successes, spectacular failures, and a few experiences that would make excellent dinner-party stories but probably shouldn’t appear in print while certain people are still alive.

Moving between countries, careers, and cultures has been an extraordinary education, but it hasn’t exactly been a masterclass in stability. I’ve reinvented myself more times than Madonna, although with considerably less impressive costumes and a much smaller production budget.

And I’ve had my share of moments when life has handed me a steaming pile of something unpleasant and expected me to make compost.

One of my biggest challenges, though, has been unlearning the very things I now aid and abet other women in untangling.

Like the idea that being “capable” means you should be able to handle absolutely everything. That being “kind” means being endlessly accommodating and is somehow synonymous with being “nice” . That being successful means following a sensible, respectable path. And that saying no somehow requires a written explanation, three character references, and permission from a committee.

What a load of twaddle.

I’ve spent years being the competent one, the problem-solver, the person who could figure things out. And while those are useful qualities, they can also become a rather elaborate trap. People get very comfortable with you being capable. Including you.

There’s also the small matter of having a brain that finds approximately seventeen things fascinating before breakfast. I’ve occasionally wished I could pick one lane, stay in it, and build a tidy little empire. But then something interesting comes along, and off I go, following another thread.

For years, I saw that as a flaw. Now I recognize that connecting seemingly unrelated ideas is one of the things I do best.

Perhaps the biggest lesson has been realizing that just because you’re *
“good” at something doesn’t mean you’re obliged to spend the rest of your life doing it.

That’s a particularly uncomfortable revelation when you’ve invested years, money, qualifications, and a significant portion of your identity in being that person. In the end, what you have worked so hard to succeed at can effectively stop you from making progress beyond that point.

But through experience, I’ve come to understand that the real danger isn’t changing direction. It’s staying somewhere you’ve outgrown simply because you have an impressive collection of certificates proving you belong there.

So no, it hasn’t been smooth. There have been potholes, diversions, the occasional spectacular wrong turn, and more than a few moments of wondering who on earth was in charge of this operation.

Turns out, it was me.

Which explains quite a lot, really.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Gaffen Stone LLC?
I describe myself as a “Professional Life Untangler”, which usually gets one of two reactions: “What on earth is that?” or “Oh good Lord, I think I need one.”

Both are excellent conversation starters.

Essentially, I help women untangle the stories, expectations, and invisible rules they’ve collected over a lifetime. You know the ones. Be nice. Be sensible. Don’t be difficult. Don’t be too much. Don’t be selfish. And whatever you do, don’t disappoint anyone.

It’s an impressive collection of nonsense, really.

My work blends behavioral science, Human Design, intuition, and a healthy disregard for rules that don’t make sense. Especially the latter.

I’m particularly focused on accomplished women who’ve done all the things they were supposed to do, ticked the boxes, read the books, and built lives that look perfectly respectable from the outside. Yet somewhere inside, there’s a little voice asking, “Is this actually what I wanted?” and “help me!!”

I rather like that little voice. She’s usually onto something.

There are several ways to enter my world, depending on how curious—or how ready to cause a little good trouble—you happen to be.

My podcast, “Witchy Sh!t by Design”, is probably the easiest place to start. It’s where science meets spirituality, curiosity runs gloriously amok, and I have conversations with fascinating people about everything from human behavior and identity to ancient wisdom, intuition, and the wonderfully peculiar experience of being human.

It’s not a podcast where I pretend to have all the answers. Where’s the fun in that? I much prefer asking questions that make people stop halfway through washing the dishes and think, “Hang on a minute…” Entirely unscripted. That’s my happy place.

Then there are my “Permission Workshops”, where we explore the rules we’ve unknowingly consented to live by and what might happen if we gave ourselves permission to question them. There’s creativity, reflection, a little ritual, and often a surprising amount of laughter. No pointy hats required, although I certainly wouldn’t object.

My “Personal Grimoire workshops” take that exploration further. Traditionally, a grimoire is a book of magic. I love the idea of creating your own personal collection of wisdom, discoveries, intentions, and reminders of who you are when the world’s opinions get a bit too loud. Think of it as a user manual for yourself, except you get to write it—and nobody else gets editorial control.

For women who want to explore their individuality more deeply, I’ve created “The Homecoming Experience”, a Human Design journey that helps you recognize what’s always been right about you, reconnect with your intuition, and come home to yourself.

It’s rather different from having someone explain a chart full of mysterious symbols and tell you what sort of person you’re supposed to be. I’m much more interested in what you recognize, what resonates, and what you’re ready to question.

And then there’s my “private untangling work”, where we roll up our sleeves and get curious about whatever is keeping someone stuck. Relationships, identity, decisions, life transitions, old beliefs that have long overstayed their welcome—nothing particularly neat or formulaic. Real life rarely is.

What sets my work apart? Probably the combination of a scientist’s curiosity, a detective’s instinct for patterns, and a witch’s willingness to entertain possibilities that don’t fit neatly into conventional boxes.

I’m not interested in telling women who they should become. We’ve all had quite enough of that already.

What I’m most proud of is that I’ve built a business where curiosity, intelligence, humor, and a little (okay, sometimes a LOT) of irreverence are not things I have to tone down. They’re the whole point.

You don’t have to choose between being thoughtful and being playful. Between appreciating science and exploring spirituality. Between being accomplished and admitting you haven’t the faintest idea what you want next.

And you certainly don’t need another person telling you how to live your life.

My invitation is much simpler: come as you are, bring your questions, and let’s see which rules deserve to be thrown out of the window.

Metaphorically, of course.

Mostly.

And always ask: “what else is possible?”

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Oh, books. Now you’re speaking my language.

I’m a hopelessly curious reader with absolutely no loyalty to a single genre. My bookshelves look as though a neuroscientist, a witch, a nutritionist, and a philosopher have been fighting over the same Amazon account.

I read about human behavior, mythology, neuroscience, spirituality, nutrition, and anything that promises to explain some peculiar corner of the human experience. The more unexpected the connections, the happier I am.

And yes, I still prefer actual books. Pages. Paper. The ability to scribble in margins and argue with an author without needing to charge anything. Revolutionary, I know.

I’ve also written a couple myself: “Aligned & Unapologetic: The Human Design Guidebook” and “The Immunity Code: Fuel Your Body’s Defenses with Food and Lifestyle”. They’re rather good evidence of my inability to stay in one intellectual lane. One explores individuality and self-understanding; the other focuses on nutrition and supporting health. Apparently, I contain multitudes. And footnotes.

And just wait until you see the book on working on now!

As for podcasts, I love conversations that wander into unexpected territory, especially when the host is genuinely curious rather than simply waiting for their turn to speak. That’s also what I try to create with *Witchy Sh!t by Design*. Some of my favorite discoveries have come from guests who make me reconsider something I thought I understood.

Technology-wise, I appreciate anything that helps me capture ideas before they disappear into the mysterious Bermuda Triangle of my brain. I have far more ideas than any sensible person needs, so finding somewhere to put them is essential.

My favorite resource, though, is probably curiosity itself.

I firmly believe that “I wonder why…” is one of the most useful sentences in the English language.

It’s certainly responsible for most of my career changes, an alarming percentage of my book purchases, and several adventures that seemed like perfectly reasonable ideas at the time.

Pricing:

• Witchy Sh!t by Design Podcast: Free to listen to. Curiosity, unconventional conversations, and the occasional raised eyebrow included at no extra charge.
• Permission Workshops: Accessible, interactive experiences offered virtually and in person. Pricing varies by event.
• Personal Grimoire Workshops: Creative, reflective experiences for exploring your own wisdom, beliefs, and intentions. Pricing varies by format.
• The Homecoming Experience: A personalized Human Design journey to help you recognize what’s always been right about you. Contact me for current pricing and availability.
• Private Untangling Sessions and Intensives: Individual experiences tailored to your particular collection of life’s knots. Pricing depends on the depth and duration of our work together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.witchyshitbydesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikkigaffenstone/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaela.stone.942
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaela-gaffen-stone-15660a84/?isSelfProfile=true
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3yUYCIbFnJH620UCAsI2Cx?si=e9094d5cde8e40bf

Image Credits
All photos are mine.