Ina Coveney
Today we're talking to Meg O'Neill, co-founder of the Intuitive Marketing Collective Agency.

Ina Coveney
And host of the Intuitive Marketing Podcast with Chelsea Fournier. We're going to be talking about her a little bit.

Ina Coveney
She is a community-building expert, and I'm so excited to have her on the podcast today. Hi!

Meg O’Neill
Hello! I'm so honored to be here. I'm so excited, and I can't wait to really dive into your story because, in my research, I learned so many things that I really feel like we need to talk about. So I am so excited to have you.

Ina Coveney
But before we start, why don't you tell everybody what it is that you do and who you help right now?

Meg O’Neill
Yes! So currently, I am the co-founder of the Intuitive Marketing Collective, and we help healers, authors, and speakers get their voices out into the world through their marketing. I head up the social media division, and then my partner, Chelsea, handles everything from email funnels to website design.
We also run a community called the Intuitive Business Community, and that is one of my favorite parts. I love bringing women together, supporting them, and having them share their ideas with one another. I find that to be the most rewarding part of the job.

Ina Coveney
And we met—this is so funny—I know! We met on TikTok, in a TikTok program we were both taking. And then I found out later that you were partnering with Chelsea, who I knew from when I first started my business online. I found her and actually did a feature on her on YouTube.
I was doing this thing where I would find really cool people and feature them to get to know them better. And that’s how she and I met. So when I found out you two were working together, I was like—

Meg O’Neill
It's like worlds colliding!

Ina Coveney
Worlds colliding, exactly!

Meg O’Neill
When she said to me—she showed… I don’t know, I think she said something once like, “One of my biz besties, we talk all the time.” And I was like, “Oh my God, I know her from TikTok! We were in a mastermind together.”

Ina Coveney
Such a small world.

Meg O’Neill
It is! Even in the online world. Such a small world.

Ina Coveney
So I want everybody to hear that this agency you started with Chelsea—this is not where you started. This wasn’t even the first online venture you did. You actually co-founded a pre- and postnatal wellness center, which was a brick-and-mortar business.
And the marketing for it was really heavily based on your story, on what you had gone through. So I want to go back there so everybody knows your background, where you started, and where you came from. Because that story is just amazing.
So first of all, how did you end up starting that wellness center?

Meg O’Neill
So I am originally from New York, and I moved up to Massachusetts after living in Philadelphia for two years. I went to college up here, so I came back with friends—and my husband, who was my college boyfriend. We got back together, and after we got married, we had our child first, out of all of our friends.
I’m the oldest of five kids, so I was the first one to experience pregnancy and motherhood. And at my core, I’ve always been a community-based person. Anything I was part of, I started bringing community into it.
After I had my first son—during my pregnancy, actually—I was going to a little yoga and fitness place with a woman named Susie. I was going at least twice a week because I wanted to be around other pregnant women. I wanted to build a community, build a resource network for myself.
Susie was not into social media, and I just saw such an opportunity. I was like, “Oh my gosh, I will run your social media for you for free in exchange for coming to classes.” At the time, they had about 300 followers on Facebook. So I started doing that, and it was just a passion project. I also asked her if I could start an in-person moms’ group.
So I did it, and it’s really funny because I just recently told this story—the first time I held it, one woman came. Kristen Curtis. And that was 13 years ago.

Ina Coveney
Wow.

Meg O’Neill
At first, I was scared—who would actually show up? What was I going to talk about? Because I was 27, 28. I didn’t have any parenting advice. It was just purely for community.
So we sat in this little space, on the rug, she had her baby in a carrier, and we were just chatting. And then we came back the next week. And the next week. And it kept growing. I remember our first Halloween—we had 27 babies lined up.

Ina Coveney
Oh wow.

Meg O’Neill
People were sharing their stories. They were talking about their feeding journeys, their transition with their partners into motherhood. And I saw how authentically women opened up and needed each other.
I still live in the same town, and I still see women who met in that group who are best friends today. The woman I mentioned, Kristen Curtis, is now a healer with her own business around Akashic Records. She’s done my programs years ago, and now we’re in a business networking group together.
I spoke at her networking group recently, and I was like, “That one day we sat there, just exchanging what we were going through as moms… and now we’ve stayed connected all this time.”

Ina Coveney
That’s amazing.

Meg O’Neill
And at that time, insurance started covering breast pumps. A local medical product company came to talk to us about it in the moms' group. When the guy was leaving, I said, “If you ever need somebody to work for you, I would love to work for you.”
He pretty much hired me on the spot to test out breast pumps.

Ina Coveney
Wow!

Meg O’Neill
So I started testing breast pumps for him, doing customer service, and that company wanted to turn it into a maternal wellness center. So they approached Susie, and we all worked together. They invested close to a million dollars into a brick-and-mortar space where we got to lead and grow this massive community in our town.
It was pretty incredible.

Ina Coveney
I mean… how did you see yourself in that moment? Because I imagine this kind of falls into your lap—but not really, right? Like, you set so much groundwork to create this opportunity. But what were you doing at the time?
You had your son, and I understand he is autistic, which—
That in itself is a lot. That can be a job in itself.
So how were you seeing your life, and where did all these pieces fit? What was going on at the time?

Meg O’Neill
I think when I became a mom, I had this vision my entire life. Like I said, I’m the oldest of five, and my mom was really dedicated to being a mother. That was always my ultimate goal—I didn’t worry so much about what I was going to be, because I was just going to be a mom first, and then whatever else would follow.
But once I became a mom, I was like, “Whoa. This is not what I thought it was going to be.” It felt like Groundhog Day. It felt like I never felt success, because by the end of the day, there was always something I could improve upon.
So when I started bringing this community together and having flexibility, I realized—
I love this. I love connecting women, I love seeing them support each other.
And I’ve always had a natural ability to be the big sister, where people just ask me things. Like, “Where do you get your hair done?” “What do you do about this?”
And as I was sharing more about my son’s journey, I started getting messages from other moms saying, “My child isn’t talking yet. What should I do?”
So I saw myself as a resource. And not only did it help them, but it helped me, too, because it helped me process everything I was already researching and learning.
It felt like service, and I really enjoyed that part of it.

Ina Coveney
I completely relate to that feeling—loving our kids so much, but at the same time, wanting to do other things, wanting to impact people’s lives.
And for some reason, we’re not allowed to say that out loud.
Like, if we have an interest that’s outside of our kids, we start thinking—
“Oh no, am I being selfish? Should I be focusing more on my kids?”
Can you speak to women who are listening to you right now and thinking, Am I allowed to feel like this? Am I allowed to want more?

Meg O’Neill
I think you have to ask yourself—
Does anybody ever say to your husband, “Oh, are you a working dad?”
No! But they call us “working moms.”

Ina Coveney
I have never thought about that.

Meg O’Neill
Right?! No one says to your husband, “Are you going back to work?”
My husband was offered paid paternity leave, and he didn’t even take it.
No one questioned it.
So I think once we shift our perspective, we realize—no one expects this of men.
We spend so much time preparing for careers, going to college, learning skills, and then we get told that motherhood alone should be enough? And if we want more, it means we’re selfish?
I grew up very religious, and that belief was ingrained in me. That motherhood was supposed to be the pinnacle of my life.
But after I had my first child, I remember sitting in the bedroom, holding him, and thinking—
What did I do?
Not because I didn’t love him, but because the responsibility was all on me.
No one was looking at my husband and saying, “Hey, does he know when the baby’s diaper needs to be changed? Does he know when the baby needs to be fed?”
No one was putting that pressure on him.
And I realized—
This isn’t the experience I thought I was going to have.

Ina Coveney
Oh my God, yes.

Meg O’Neill
I have three sisters, and we give each other permission just by living our lives.
One of my sisters is an author—she wrote her book with three little kids on her lap during COVID. My other sister owns a very successful hair salon. My youngest sister is a nurse with three kids.
None of us sat down and gave each other permission.
But just seeing them do it made me realize—I can do this, too.

Ina Coveney
Yes! That’s why leading by example is so important.
But I think the first thing that comes after this conversation is—
“Yeah, but I can’t just do that.”
Like, I have to take care of my kids. I have to put dinner on the table. I have to wake up early. I have to change diapers.
So, what’s the first step for someone who wants more, but doesn’t know how to make it happen?

Meg O’Neill
Honestly? The first step is dreaming.
Your desires provide you with direction.
I never had a dream to start a marketing agency ten years ago. That wasn’t the vision.
But I did dream of flexibility. I did dream of creative freedom.
And then I followed the breadcrumbs.
The other thing is realizing—
Everything is a season.
I had kids who never slept.
But I took messy action, one step at a time.
So many women don’t own their expertise. They think,
“Oh, I don’t know enough.”
But I look at them and think,
“You’re an expert. You could create a course. You could coach people on this.”
We just have to be open to the possibilities.

Ina Coveney
Yes! So, you have this wellness center. You’re growing this community.
But then something happens to your son.
Can you tell us that story?

Meg O’Neill
Yeah.
At the time, my son, Declan, was five years old. He is autistic. I had a three-year-old, Brian, and a six-month-old, KK.
It was a rainy summer day. The kids were in the living room, fighting over a huge jar of change, and they ended up pouring it all over the floor.
I was holding the baby, talking to my friend Mari on the phone.
Declan got mad at Brian and decided to go upstairs to his bedroom.
I didn’t think anything of it.
A few minutes passed.
Then I heard screaming outside.
I hung up the phone immediately.
I said to Brian, “Do you hear that? Where is that coming from?”
And then—
Out of the corner of my eye—
I saw Declan.
He was outside, in the driveway.
And in that moment, it hit me.
The only way he could have gotten there was through the window.
Which was on the second floor.

Ina Coveney
Oh my God.

Meg O’Neill
I don’t even remember how I got him inside. But he was walking.
I screamed and fell to my knees. He didn’t have a scratch on him.
But my brain couldn’t process how that was possible.
I ran upstairs. I looked out the window.
And that’s when I saw it.
He had landed on a tiny patch of cement. And right next to him, there was a metal pole sticking straight up. Untouched.
If he had landed just a few inches to the side…

Ina Coveney
Oh my God.

Meg O’Neill
I almost fainted.
I called my husband, and he said, “Meg, you have to call 911.”
I wasn’t thinking straight. My brain wasn’t working.
But I called.
And within minutes, my entire street was shut down.

Meg O’Neill
The whole town showed up. The police, the fire department, the paramedics. And what’s really wild is that, a few months earlier, my sons had won a contest to be Police Officers for a Day.
There was a female officer named Cara, and she knew Declan. She knew he was autistic. She knew he didn’t speak in sentences.
She was off duty that day. But when she heard the call, she came anyway.
And what I didn’t realize at the time—because my brain was in full panic mode—was that the officers had taken Declan into another room.
They were questioning him.

Ina Coveney
Oh my God.

Meg O’Neill
I didn’t know that’s what was happening. I wasn’t thinking straight.
Then, one of the officers—an older man—came up to me and started reprimanding me.
He said, “Do you know how far that fall was? That was at least 20 feet!”
And I just looked at him, still in shock, and said, “I… I didn’t measure it.”
And later, I realized—
They were trying to figure out if I had pushed him out.

Ina Coveney
No. No, no, no.

Meg O’Neill
Yeah. And that just killed me.
A friend of mine who works in the legal system called me later and said, “Meg, don’t be surprised if you get a visit from child services.”
And to make things worse—
A week before this happened, I had applied to be a foster parent.
I got a call from them the next day, asking if I was ready for my interview.
And I just laughed bitterly and said, “I don’t think you want me right now.”

Ina Coveney
Oh my God.

Meg O’Neill
So after all that, we took Declan to the hospital.
He had broken both of his feet.
But in 10 days, he was out of casts.

Ina Coveney
Wow.

Meg O’Neill
I mean, kids’ bones heal so fast at that age.
And here’s the wildest part—
Declan wasn’t speaking in full sentences at the time, so we didn’t fully understand what had happened until two years later.
One day, out of nowhere, he just said, “Remember that time I jumped?”
And we were like, “Wait, what?”
And that’s when he told us—
He had been recreating a scene from a cartoon.
In the movie, a brother and sister get into a fight, and the brother jumps onto the roof and runs away.
That’s what Declan was trying to do.
But we didn’t have a roof under his window.
So instead, he slid out, hung by his hands, and dropped.

Ina Coveney
Oh my God, Meg.

Meg O’Neill
Yeah.
After that, I went into full-on fight-or-flight mode.
For weeks, my brain was just… off.
I had the best sense of direction my entire life. And suddenly, I would be driving and think, “Wait… how do I get home?”
I was just completely dysregulated.
And that’s when everything changed.
I realized—
If I’m going to spend time away from my kids, I want it to be doing something that I love.

Ina Coveney
I totally get that.

Meg O’Neill
The other thing that changed?
I started drinking a lot more wine.
Like, way more than I ever should have been.
And one day, I looked at myself and thought, This is not what I want for my life.
So I quit drinking.
I also signed up for a yoga teacher training program.
I just needed something that would help me process everything.

Ina Coveney
Thank you so much for sharing that.
I’m here, literally covering my mouth, imagining the horror of realizing your child just fell out of a second-story window.
And I totally relate to that panic mode—
I had a situation where my oldest son was in school, and they called me to pick him up because he was sick.
But when I got there, I realized—he wasn’t just sick. He was having a seizure.
And my first instinct was to pick him up and put him in the car to take him to the hospital.
But the second I lifted him, I realized—
He was just dead weight.
And my brain froze.
And that’s when I thought, Wait. There’s a better way.
So I put him down and called 911.

Meg O’Neill
Exactly. In those moments, you don’t think clearly.

Ina Coveney
Yeah. And I know that this was a pivotal moment for you.
What was going on with the wellness center at the time?
Because I hear you on stopping drinking—I hear you on realizing something had to change.
But how did you go from that to realizing, This is burnout. I need to make a drastic change.

Meg O’Neill
I kept working.
At the time, I was working 30 hours a week, and I was also selling makeup on the side.
Because, you know—why not?

Ina Coveney
Of course. Why not?

Meg O’Neill
I thrive in chaos, apparently.
But makeup was something I loved. It was fun.
And this was the year that Facebook Live first launched.
So I started making videos and loved it.
But one day, my business partner saw one of my videos—
And she didn’t like it.
She wanted my focus to be only on the wellness center.
And I just thought, I don’t have time for this.
So I quit.

Ina Coveney
Just like that?

Meg O’Neill
Yep. I said, I’m done.
I was burnt out on everything.
I had become a certified lactation counselor. I was the Director of Marketing. I was teaching breastfeeding classes, running support groups, and I even became a doula and childbirth educator.
And one day, I realized—
I was starting to feel resentful.

Ina Coveney
Of what?

Meg O’Neill
Of the women coming into my classes.
They were asking the same questions over and over again.
And in my head, I started thinking,
"You either do it or you don’t."
And that was not like me.
I’m not that kind of person.
But I was so burnt out that I started feeling jealous.

Ina Coveney
Jealous of what?

Meg O’Neill
Of the fact that they could ask for help.
And I never did.

Ina Coveney
Wow.

Meg O’Neill
That’s when I knew—
Something had to change.

Ina Coveney
I relate to that so much.
I’ve struggled with depression, and I used to get jealous of people who could say, “I couldn’t get out of bed all day.”
Because I couldn’t do that.
I had to get up. I had to make breakfast. I had to function.
So, seeing other people be vocal about needing help—it made me realize that I had never given myself permission to do the same.

Meg O’Neill
Yes!
And when I saw that in myself, I knew—
I needed to heal.

Ina Coveney
So after you realized you were burnt out, what happened next? You decided to leave the wellness center—what was the next step?

Meg O’Neill
I told myself, I need to not work for a year.
Because I knew myself. I knew that if I didn’t set that boundary, I’d just jump into something else right away.
And I wanted to be present for my kids. I wanted to reset.
I like to joke that my “party trick” is that I’ve gotten almost every job I’ve had without a resume.
I knew that if I started talking to people, I’d end up with another job.
So I said, No. I’m giving myself a year.
And then… after a year, I was like, Okay, I need something more.
I thrive on being social. I thrive on being creative.
So I took a part-time job at Merrimack College, because—again—someone offered it to me in a casual conversation.
But at the same time, I also signed up for a coaching program with Kimberly Pendleton.
At the time, I told myself, I’m just doing this for me. I have no plans to start a business.
And then… well…

Ina Coveney
It turned into an online life coaching business, didn’t it?

Meg O’Neill
It totally did.

Ina Coveney
It’s like you have this chip in you.
Like, some people sit on ideas for years, but you see something and just do it.
What do you think makes you that way?

Meg O’Neill
I think part of it is being the oldest child—the people pleaser.
But also, through therapy and self-work, I’ve realized that a lot of what I do comes from adapting to the world around me.
I’ve learned how to create opportunities for myself.
And the biggest thing?
I’m not afraid to fail.
Like, if something doesn’t work out, I just think, Okay, that didn’t work. What’s next?
I’m not fearless, but I trust myself.
And that trust allows me to take action.

Ina Coveney
I love that.
And I think it’s so important that you mentioned your financial situation.
Because so many people want to start a business, but they’re in a place where they need money right now.
And that urgency makes it so much harder to take the kinds of risks you took.

Meg O’Neill
Exactly. When I first started, my husband made enough to support our family.
So the things I was doing? They weren’t life-or-death. They were an adventure.
But if I had been in a situation where I needed to make money immediately, my actions would have been very different.

Ina Coveney
Yes. There’s a big difference between taking action from a place of curiosity versus taking action from a place of desperation.
Okay, so let’s fast forward to now.
You and Chelsea started this amazing marketing agency.
How did that come about?

Meg O’Neill
So, I was already running my own marketing agency.
And Chelsea and I met through TikTok.
She kept showing up under the intuitive marketing and intuitive business hashtags.
And I was like, Who is this woman?
She was so consistent. And I loved that.
So we connected. And at one point, she said, “I’m thinking of starting an agency.”
And I was like, “Good luck! That’s hard work.”

Ina Coveney
Ha! Famous last words.

Meg O’Neill
Right?!
We stayed in touch, and then, in April of 2024, she messaged me and said,
"I had this download. Would you ever want to do this together?"
And instantly, my gut said, Yes.
I never say yes to partnerships that quickly.
But this one felt right.
And I told her, If we do this, I want to be a co-founder. I can’t just be an employee.
And she was like, “Of course!”

Ina Coveney
That’s so good. And now you two are running this incredible agency.
And what I love is that your agency is built around intuition.
So, what does that actually look like?

Meg O’Neill
It means we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all marketing.
So many people think, You have to be on social media! Or You have to build an email funnel!
But I sold out my first program without an email funnel.
Because that didn’t feel good to me.
Now, with Chelsea, I have an email funnel—but only because it finally felt aligned.
We help our clients figure out what feels right for them.
Because when your business is aligned with your energy, it’s sustainable.

Ina Coveney
That’s so important.
I see so many people burn out because they force themselves to follow strategies that don’t fit them.
So I love that you and Chelsea are building an agency that helps people create businesses that last.

Meg O’Neill
Yes! Because our clients are brilliant. They have so much to offer the world.
We just help them do it in a way that feels good.

Ina Coveney
Okay, I have two final questions for you.
First—what’s the biggest misconception people have about you?

Meg O’Neill
Oh wow. That’s a good one.
I think… that I’m too bold for some people.
Because I share very openly.
And some people don’t know what to do with that.
I recently started a community for bisexual people in hetero-presenting relationships, and that was terrifying.
But it also made me realize—
People really don’t like when you don’t fit into a box.

Ina Coveney
YES.
People love to categorize others. It makes them feel comfortable.
But the second you don’t fit into a neat little category, they get uncomfortable.

Meg O’Neill
Exactly.
And I think that’s why I show up so unapologetically now.
Because I know—
People will always try to put me in a box.
But it’s not my job to fit in it.

Ina Coveney
Mic drop.
Okay, last question.
If someone listening had to do one thing in the next 24 hours that would make their life or business better, what would it be?

Meg O’Neill
So simple. But not easy.
Spend five to ten minutes in silence.
Just sit. Breathe. Be quiet.
Because we are constantly absorbing everyone else’s energy.
And if you never take time to sit in silence, you’ll never hear your own voice.
That’s how you find your direction.

Ina Coveney
I love that.
Meg, thank you so much for being here.

Meg O’Neill
Thank you! This was so much fun.

Ina Coveney
Where can people find you?

Meg O’Neill
Instagram! @megoneill with two L’s.
And follow our agency at Intuitive Marketing Collective.
And, of course, listen to The Intuitive Marketing Podcast with Chelsea and me!

Ina Coveney
Go follow Meg, listen to the podcast, and thank you all for being here!