‘Your past may explain the pattern, but it does not have to define your future’

After one failed business and the death of her mother, Maureen Chiana hit rock bottom. Then hearing a snippet from a TV interview changed the course of her life. Now she runs thriving business The Mindsight Academy, has created a network for women and written two books. Today, Maureen Chiana says: “My career moved across science, education, technology and people development. At the time, they looked like separate chapters. Looking back, I can see how much each one contributed to the work I do now.”

Maureen was always academic as a child and was firstly interested in becoming a lawyer but “moved towards medicine because I wanted to help people”. However, she didn’t get the A-level grades needed to study medicine, so “went into Biomedical Sciences thinking I might do a year and then transfer to medicine, but I enjoyed it so much that I stayed”.

After completing her MSc in Microbiology, she married Dr Chinedu Chiana in 1995 and went on to work as a biomedical scientist in medical microbiology. Also an avid people watcher, Maureen was curious about why people behave the way they do. She began to get bored with working in a laboratory: “I found the repetitive nature of processing the same kinds of samples difficult. I have always enjoyed adventure and taking a risk, even though I did not think of myself as entrepreneurial at the time.”

After the birth of their first son, Peter, in 1996, Maureen completed a PGCE and began lecturing at a university. She also became a Microsoft-certified systems engineer and later worked in IT. When their second son, David, was born in 2000 she was working for Eurostar. There was a lot of juggling as their sons were growing up – sometimes they had a nanny but during other periods Maureen covered everything: “At the time you are exhausted and just doing what needs to be done.”

Maureen had never considered starting a business, because her dad had had one: “and I had watched him struggle and be scammed more than once”. However, in 2002 she felt compelled to open the first salon in Kent that catered for both Afro and European hair because “More Black families were moving out of London into areas such as Ashford. There was a need for the service.”

Despite the growing need, Maureen continually faced a big problem: finding experienced, local Afro hairdressers. “I was not a hairdresser. That became a real weakness in the business model. My main stylist travelled from London, so if she did not come in, I was literally stuck.”

Having invested too much capital in the business, looking back Maureen realises she began to rely on herself rather than God. In December 2006 she had to make the decision to close the salon. The impact was much greater than just the significant financial loss: “I felt disappointed, ashamed and very vulnerable.”

Maureen went back to education and lecturing, but carried a lot of painful questions.

Maureen went back to education and lecturing, but carried a lot of painful questions. Then, on 1 April 2007, her mum died suddenly, which “made me feel incredibly alone and vulnerable”. Struggling with why it had happened, Maureen found her thoughts going round and round. She was praying “Lord, help me. How do I get out of this?” but was also still ruminating on what had gone wrong with her business. A few months after her mum had died, she was in her front room crying when she heard something coming from the TV – an interview with Dr Caroline Leaf entitled ‘Who switched off my brain?’: “The words caught me because that was exactly how I felt. I listened, and something in me woke up.”

She explains the impact: “I started studying neuroscience and became fascinated by neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change. At first this was personal: I needed to understand what was happening in my own mind. “The more I studied, the more hopeful and excited I became. I began to understand that repeated patterns of thinking are not necessarily permanent. I could become aware of what I was thinking, challenge it, bring it back to truth and intentionally practise a different response. Then I realised something else that changed everything for me: neuroscience was helping me understand scripture more deeply.”

Romans 12:2, about renewing our minds, is a well-known verse, but Maureen began to see it differently: “Suddenly words such as renew, transform and take every thought captive were not abstract ideas. I could see something of the extraordinary way God had designed the brain to make change possible. It also made one thing very clear: wanting change is not enough. Awareness matters, but repetition, practice, emotional regulation and intentional action matter too.”

Maureen began to apply what she had been learning to her own life, and little by little could sense change. She was also dealing with severe back pain and sciatica, so applied the same understanding to her response to the pain: “I became much more conscious of fear, attention, the thoughts I was rehearsing and the messages I was repeatedly giving my brain and body. Over time, I experienced what I can only describe as healing. The pain resolved and I did not have to have back surgery.”

Maureen began utilising what she had learned with her students, teachers and management and saw positive results. Then, in 2015, she began to train leaders and organisations, and set up what was initially known as Apogee Skills Ltd. In 2016 she went full-time. “I brought together neuroscience and emotional intelligence to help people understand the brain behind behaviour. Coaching then helped them move from understanding into actually embedding different responses.”

Then, in 2017, she “felt the Lord prompting me to create an online academy”, which made her work accessible to many more people.

Then, in 2017, she “felt the Lord prompting me to create an online academy”, which made her work accessible to many more people. “The name Mindsight kept coming back to me. It speaks of opening the eyes of the mind, gaining insight into what is happening beneath the surface and seeing the pattern clearly enough to change it. The Mindsight Academy launched in 2018. One of the first courses was on Growth Mindset, and later I developed Emotional Intelligence for Leadership, which remains one of our signature programmes.”

Today her work includes leadership and organisational development, brain mapping, neurocoaching, training, speaking, courses and practical behaviour-change work. She has worked with leaders, teams and organisations including the NHS and the University of Kent.

After her experience with the salon, Maureen made an internal decision never to focus on women again. She spent years resisting a God-given pull to create something for women but eventually, in 2023, the Mindsight Women’s Network began. It is an international Christian community that brings together neuroscience, neuroplasticity, emotional intelligence, coaching, practical tools, prayer, scripture and accountability “to help women understand their patterns, strengthen emotional maturity, renew their thinking and move forward in the purpose God has placed within them”.

In 2024 Maureen felt God prompting her to write a book – a daily guide that would help people on their transformational journey. Rewire Your Brain with Neuroscience and Scripture Every Day, a 366-day guide, was published in December 2024. “I wanted it to feel like having a personal coach with you each day. The message is personal because I have lived it: your past may explain the pattern, but it does not have to define your future.”

After the book had been published, Maureen realised that while it provided understanding, there was a gap – so her 2026 accompanying workbook provides “practical exercises, habit and pattern awareness, intentional action and regular progress reviews”, also over 366 days, “to help people practise different responses and strengthen change over time”.

Maureen recognises that her faith is not an add-on to her business, but the very anchor – although there were times when she stopped viewing it like that. “The salon taught me there is a difference between being responsible for the work God has given me and behaving as though everything depends on me. I still have to plan, learn, work hard and make wise decisions, but I never want to lose that posture of, ‘Lord, this is Yours. Lead me.’

“I have also learned that a setback is not necessarily God’s verdict on your future. At the time I could only see the financial loss, shame, disappointment and pain. I could not see that the questions coming out of that season would eventually lead me towards neuroscience, The Mindsight Academy, Mindsight Women’s Network and the books.”

There have been many points along Maureen’s journey when the route has not been one she would have chosen. But: “Faith has helped me keep asking, ‘Lord, what are You doing here?’ rather than assuming that because something did not work the way I expected, the story was over.”

http://themindsightacademy.com