Episode 60: Stroke Forward with Marcia Moran

After successfully building her business over the last twenty plus years, Marcia Moran thought she had life by the tail.

Little did she know what was in store.

Marcia has written over fifty business plans, and helped entrepreneurs strategize over how to differentiate their companies in changing environments. After helping other entrepreneurs start their companies, she decided to found her own business consulting practice, Performance Architect, in 2012 and co-founded Positive Business DC that same year.

She suffered a major stroke in 2014. Marcia applied her skills in planning and strategy as she strived to become whole. She never gave up. Over time she learned to walk again, but Marcia struggled with aphasia, a language disorder. She joined Toastmasters International® hoping to regain her speaking abilities. It helped some, but in August 2017 she discovered a technological breakthrough that minimized her speaking disability. She then pushed beyond her comfort zone to become a Toastmasters International Club Officer in 2017, then Area Director in 2019. Marcia created Stroke FORWARD because she felt there is a need to share hope to stroke survivors and their caretakers. Learning to become her own health advocate one step a time and exploring holistic methods for healing are keys to her recovery. Marcia speaks and shares her message of hope, inspiration, healing, and a way forward as she goes across the country. She welcomes new opportunities to help individuals affected by major health crises move ahead. Marcia lives with her husband Jim, two very loud cats, and two birds near Washington, DC. Jim played a role of caretaker and advocate. His observations and experiences are also captured in Stroke FORWARD. On weekends, Marcia, Jim, and the cats go to Deep Creek, Maryland where Marcia paints watercolors. In the evening Marcia and Jim sit out on the deck and watch fireflies flit by. Marcia holds a B.S. in Political Science with a magna cum laude from the University of North Dakota and a Master’s in Business Administration, from Chapman University, in California. A woman of many talents, she attended school in Sandefjord, Norway to study art. She also earned a certificate in Well-being Foundations of Personal Transformation from the Personal Transformation and Courage Institute in Virginia. She volunteers at Brain Injury Services, supporting their Speakers Bureau program.