MARTINA ÅKERLUND
FOUNDER & CEO, BOARD EXECUTIVE, STRATEGIC ADVISOR, EXECUTIVE COACH, INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER
Martina Åkerlund is a Swedish entrepreneur, board executive, strategic advisor, executive coach and international speaker with more than 25 years of experience in leadership, transformation and business.
Having served as CEO of two companies and held senior executive positions across banking, technology and other fast-moving industries, Martina has spent much of her career leading organizations and people through growth, change and transformation.
Today, she is the founder and CEO of Elevated Edge, where she works with executives, founders andsenior leaders who want to lead and live with greater clarity, courage and authenticity.
At the heart of her work is a philosophy she calls Life by Design — the belief that we have far more agency in shaping our lives than we sometimes realize. Her work explores the intersection between leadership, personal growth, intuition and conscious choice, encouraging people to move beyond expectations and fear and reconnect with what is genuinely true for them.
Martina also serves on company boards and works as a strategic advisor, bringing together her experience in business, leadership and human development.
Originally from Stockholm, Sweden, Martina now lives in the South of France with her family. Her personal philosophy can be summarized in three principles that guide both her life and her work:
Be True. Lead Boldly. Thrive Fully.
What If We Already Know?
MARTINA ÅKERLUND
I believe there is something greater than us. Call it the universe, energy, a higher intelligence, God—perhaps these are simply different names human beings have given to something we cannot fully understand.
I believe we are all connected to it, and to each other. And I believe that somewhere deep within us, we already know more than we think we do. Over time, however, we forget. We learn what is expected of us. What success should look like. Which choices are sensible. Which dreams are realistic. Fear gets louder, while that quieter inner voice becomes harder to hear.
Much of my own journey has been about learning to trust that voice again. I believe our dreams are there for a reason. The things we cannot stop imagining may be glimpses of what is possible for us—our future selves calling us forward. But we have to move.
Throughout my life, I have repeatedly stepped into the unknown without knowing exactly what would happen next. Not because I wasn't afraid, but because I didn't want fear to decide the direction of my life.
Again and again, I have experienced the same thing. When I take the first step, something shifts. The right person appears. A conversation opens a door. An opportunity emerges that I could never have planned. The next step becomes visible only after I have had the courage to take the one before it.
I believe in synchronicity. But I also believe we participate in creating it. We are not separate from the world around us. We affect one another constantly. We mirror each other. The energy we bring into a room changes the room—and the people in it. And I have come to believe deeply that what we give our attention and energy to, we create more of.
If I want more love, I can begin by giving more love. If I want more generosity, I can be more generous. If I want more courage, openness or kindness in the world around me, I can choose to embody those things myself.
Perhaps that’s what it means to create our own reality. Not that we can control everything that happens to us. We can't. But we can choose what we bring to it.
This is what Life by Design means to me. Listening inward. Remembering what’s true for me. Choosing consciously rather than allowing fear to choose for me. Taking the first step before I can see the whole path.
And then trusting. Trusting myself. Trusting the signs. Trusting the people and opportunities that appear along the way. Trusting that there’s something larger at work, even if I will never be able to name or explain exactly what it is.
Maybe we’re not here to figure it all out. Maybe we’re here to remember who we are, contribute the energy we want to see more of in the world, and have the courage to follow what calls us.
And perhaps, when we do, life meets us there.