About Marissa Brassfield

Career Transition Specialist | CTOx Co-Founder | 500+ Professionals Coached

I am a threshold guardian.

And if you're reading this, you're probably standing at one.

That moment when your professional identity becomes unviable but your new one isn't trustworthy yet. When the container that got you here is holding you back. When your body has been screaming that something needs to change but your rational mind can't yet articulate what.

I've devoted 20+ years to mastering how to navigate these crossings, whether societal, technological, spiritual, or psychological. Since November 2022 alone, I've personally coached more than 500 successful professionals through major transitions.

My unique value is this: I've witnessed hundreds of crossings. I know what works, what doesn't, and what protection is needed at each threshold moment. There are laws to this process, and most people don't even know these laws exist.

🚀 The Journey That Taught Me

With Peter Diamandis (2012-2019)

I spent 8.5 years building Abundance 360 from idea to 8-figure ARR to acquisition. Beyond ghostwriting and building an operations team, I was witnessing transformation at scale, watching hundreds of visionary entrepreneurs navigate threshold moments between their current reality and exponential futures.

In designing A360's signature annual experiences, I curated intellectual playgrounds for luminaries like Ray Kurzweil, Tony Robbins, Arianna Huffington, and Tom Bilyeu, alongside executives from Microsoft, Uber, HTC China, and IBM Watson.

All as an independent contractor working remotely (back when it was still weird to work from home).

The Personal Threshold (2019)

I architected my own significant work-life reinvention and renegotiated all my significant personal and professional relationships.

Never again would work come before my values, the quality of my marriage, or my own wellness.

The universe had a surprise in store: a pregnancy, a global pandemic, and an overnight shift toward remote work. Through this journey, I experienced firsthand the minefield of challenges modern professionals face when trying to "have it all."

Co-founding CTOx (2023-Present)

With two dear friends, Lior Weinstein and Casey Stanton, I co-founded CTOx, a multimillion-dollar business helping technology executives build fractional CTO practices earning $500K+ annually.

As Head of Coaching, I've guided over 300 executives to embrace the fractional future of work, supporting them in making their work-life integration goals a reality.

The 3.5-Day Workweek (March 2023-Present)

On my birthday in 2023, I declared a 3.5 to 4-day workweek. Never again would I allow my schedule and nervous system to be impinged on, forced to manufacture from external pressure rather than internal will and inspiration.

I've maintained this rhythm ever since. The proof lives in the sustainability. In the quality of strategic thinking that emerges when you're not depleted. In the mission integrity that stays intact when you're not forcing yourself to override every signal your body sends.

🧭 What Makes My Clients Different

They're "batteries included." They know how to execute and get results, but they don't know how to do it for themselves in this setting.

To mix some metaphors, it's the classic case of the cobbler's children having no shoes. They're experts in their field, but it's hard to see the label when you're inside the jar.

Who I work with:

• Ambitious professional mothers who refuse to choose between career impact and family presence
• Tech executives recognizing their career trajectory no longer fits
• Successful consultants and contractors burning out on the grind
• Experienced professionals (10+ years) trapped in traditional models who've seen (or fear) layoffs and restructuring
• Leaders whose bodies have been screaming that something fundamental needs to change

📰 Featured In

I've published over 20,000 online articles under my name (pre-AI) and ghostwritten several thousand more for entrepreneurs across four continents. My perspectives on productivity and the future of work have been featured in:

• Forbes (Coaches Council contributor)
• Entrepreneur
• Lifehacker
• The Muse
• Huffington Post

I was also interviewed for the Emmy® Award-winning documentary Adaptability and the Future of Work: Seeing the Invisible.

🎯 The Laws Nobody Teaches

As the saying goes, you don't know what you don't know. When it comes to threshold crossings, I do.

I've defined five threshold laws of identity dissolution. Patterns that govern every major professional transition. Most people try to force their way through without knowing these laws exist. That's why crossings feel chaotic, why confidence erodes, why so many people abandon their vision midway through.

Law 1: The Body Rebels Before the Mind Understands

Identity dissolution announces itself through behavioral inversion, not cognitive clarity. The type A becomes procrastinator. Early riser can't get out of bed. Organized person lets dishes pile up.

These aren't failures: they're signals. The body is trying to tell you something before your conscious mind can articulate it.

Law 2: Surrender Is the Technology, Not the Obstacle

There's a moment of clear decision that gives walkaway power—full release, surrender, trust. The wheel spins out of control first, then stabilizes. Fighting the surrender extends the crossing.

This isn't giving up. It's giving in to what's trying to emerge.

Law 3: External Validation Destabilizes the Crossing

Outsourcing discernment to someone who cannot witness you without projecting keeps you small. Well-meaning family members might solve for stability and security at the expense of your achievement, fulfillment, and joy.

What you need instead: someone who doesn't flinch when you want something bigger, new, and different for yourself.

Law 4: The Habitat Must Match the Identity

False completion happens when people say they've changed but their habitat doesn't reflect it. You can't maintain a new identity in an old environment.

Your physical space, time structures, relationship patterns, financial systems—all of it must reorganize around the new identity. You've truly crossed when your habitat makes the new identity inevitable rather than effortful.

Law 5: Capacity Governs Speed, Not Willpower

Overriding intuition with rational brain causes shortsighted quick hits rather than long-term sustainability. Throughout transformation it's critical to slow down enough to hear your intuition.

The critical indicator: Can you still hear your intuition?

If YES → lean in. If NO → slow down, decrease pressure and noise.

Without your intuition, you're flying blind.

Ready to navigate your threshold? Get the clarity you need to see what's actually happening with a Strategic Clarity Session with me.