In the vibrant world of personal and professional development, two remarkable individuals are making waves: Dr. John Demartini and Coach Maria Cristina Banu. On this month’s cover, they open up about their incredible journeys and share insights that can inspire us all.
Dr. John Demartini is a globally respected expert in human behaviour, known for his dedication to helping people unlock their full potential. Overcoming significant physical and learning challenges as a child, he has become an international bestselling author and educator. Dr. Demartini’s story is one of incredible resilience and a deep love of learning, with his unique methodologies empowering individuals to take charge of their lives and broaden their horizons.
Coach Maria Cristina Banu’s journey is equally inspiring. Transitioning from a successful corporate career to become a leading coach, Cristina has a knack for recognising and nurturing others’ strengths. Her own life’s ups and downs have shaped her holistic coaching style, which combines universal laws with practical strategies to help thousands achieve financial freedom and personal joy.
In this exclusive Q&A, Dr. Demartini and Coach Banu chat about what drives them, key experiences that have shaped their paths, and their thoughts on the future of personal development. Their heartfelt responses not only shed light on their personal journeys but also offer valuable advice for anyone looking to follow in their footsteps. Get ready to be inspired by their wisdom and passion for transforming lives around the world.
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What inspired you to become a business & prosperity coach?
Since I was 20, I’ve had a vision to help thousands achieve financial and business growth. Growing up in a middle-class family, I yearned for a premium lifestyle but felt constrained by financial limitations. Money was a taboo topic in my household, often associated with stress and worry.
Determined to change this reality for myself, I set out to free myself from financial stress and the feeling of unworthiness linked to money. When I began my coaching journey, my first focus was on dissolving emotional baggage around money and empowering my financial life. This transformation not only liberated me but also became the foundation for helping others achieve their financial dreams.
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What supported you in this transformation, to go from money challenges to financial and emotional freedom?
Almost a decade ago, I faced a personal crisis. Despite working 12-hour days between a full-time job and two businesses, I was barely making ends meet. Reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki was a wake-up call; I realized I was on the brink of personal bankruptcy. Without savings, properties, or assets, I was vulnerable to any disruption in my work.
Panicked, I knew I had to transform my relationship with money. Discovering the Demartini Method and Universal Laws was pivotal. By addressing and dissolving the emotional blocks that kept me financially stagnant, and learning to genuinely care for and appreciate money, I opened myself to new opportunities. As a result, the universe responded, and I experienced a tenfold increase in my financial situation.
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How did the Demartini method help you?
Studying with Dr. John Demartini and applying his methods profoundly transformed my life and the lives of my clients. Through his teachings, I revolutionized my relationship with masculine energy, money, and business partners. Despite having no expectations for romance, I met my now-husband, welcomed our daughter Anaid, and consistently doubled or tripled my income each year. Today, I run a six-figure business and have empowered over 10,000 people to harness Universal Laws for significant personal transformation.
I am so fulfilled and inspired by my current life that I no longer feel the need for constant vacations or short-term gratifications.
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How did your collaboration with Dr. John Demartini begin, and what are the most important lessons you have learned from Dr. Demartini?
When I first heard Dr. John Demartini speak, I was captivated. Encouraged by my husband, I enrolled in the Breakthrough Experience to meet him in person. I was incredibly nervous during our initial conversation.
One transformative aspect of the Demartini Method is the “Owning the Traits of the Greats” process. This technique allows you to internalize and embody the qualities you admire in successful individuals, elevating your own potential to their level.
After applying this process and owning the traits of Dr. Demartini, within a year, I was selected to be a facilitator on his team for the Breakthrough Experience in London. I started to work closely with him. This experience significantly propelled my personal and professional growth.
From Dr. Demartini, I’ve learned how to be authentic, live in my highest values, stop living in fantasies that drain me, and start acting towards my goals.
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How is it to be part of Dr. Demartini’s facilitators’ team?
Being a Demartini Facilitator is both rewarding and challenging. It’s a continuous learning journey that requires the annual completion of specialized courses and active service with Dr. John Demartini to enhance my skills. This commitment enables me to better serve thousands of clients. Working closely with Dr. Demartini, a renowned figure in human transformation, offers unparalleled opportunities for growth and mastery in the field.
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What are the most important moments in your career so far?
As a coach and entrepreneur, my greatest fulfillment comes from my clients’ successes. This year, one client transformed their financial reality using my Money Mindset Booster system. They overcame debt, resolved a long-standing issue with an insurance company, and even won a €60K car in the UK National Lottery after addressing deep-seated emotional blocks.
I’m grateful to bring these transformative principles to a wider audience, supported by an incredible team, a community of 20k clients, and a thriving business in Romania that’s expanding internationally.
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Can you describe your coaching method? What makes it unique?
My coaching method is unique, integrating three transformative systems: the Demartini Method for life mastery and self-empowerment, systemic coaching, and holistic financial coaching.
I craft tailored coaching journeys that help clients achieve significant leaps in their lives and businesses. My strength lies in quickly identifying and resolving the root causes of stagnation across various life areas, enabling fast and effective transformation.
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How do you help your clients transform their financial situation and manifest their dreams?
I developed the Money Mindset Booster, a system designed to dissolve the nine key emotional challenges preventing financial growth. Based on insights from over 200 coaching sessions, this system addresses common blockages like shame, guilt, limiting beliefs, and financial patterns.
I’ve created a FREE guide to help you identify and overcome these barriers. Linktree
If you’re committed to making a significant financial leap, such as moving from £10k to £20k per month, my method teaches you how to break through these limitations. I work with dedicated individuals to achieve their next level of wealth.
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How can people work with you in the UK?
I empower individuals through personalized coaching, utilizing my signature system and the Demartini Method to achieve profound transformations in their finances, careers, businesses, and personal relationships. By dismantling mental blockages that hinder their progress, I guide them toward realizing their dreams and reaching their fullest potential.
Here is Maria Cristina’s Linktree.
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What are your long-term goals in both your career and personal life?
My life mission is to serve over 10 million individuals to achieve financial freedom and live a life they truly love, travel the world, serve people from at least 40 countries, and of course, spend quality time with my family, especially my daughter.
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What advice do you have for our readers who wish to pursue a career similar to yours?
Before pursuing a career in coaching, reflect on your true motivations. Coaching can be lucrative for some, but it requires substantial time, effort, and investment in quality education. The glamorous image of coaches living lavishly with little effort is often a myth. Successful coaches often prioritize serving and transforming others as a core value.
If your goal is simply to escape a 9-6 job and chase a fantasy, you may face significant challenges. Authentic dedication to helping people or organizations is essential. Equally important is obtaining a solid education from elite coaches and teachers. This foundation is crucial for building a successful coaching career.
* For readers who are unfamiliar with your work, could you please describe who John Demartini is in a brief summary?
I am an international professional speaker and educator, a multidisciplinary polymathic researcher, international bestselling author, and full-time world traveler. I am an inspired man on a mission dedicated to helping my students from around the world maximize their awareness and potential and masterfully fulfill their lives. My primary discipline is in the field of human behavior.
* What is your main mission and what inspired you to pursue it?
I have dedicated my life to full-time researching, writing, traveling, and teaching around the world, sharing whatever insights and original methodologies my research reveals that can assist my students in mastering their lives, maximizing their human awareness and potential, and evolving their consciousness and humanitarian contribution.
* Can you share a personal experience that transformed your life and way of thinking?
When I was a toddler, specialists discovered I had a speech impediment and deformities in my left arm and leg. In first grade, my teacher told my parents and me that I would probably never be able to read, write, communicate, go very far, or amount to much in life. When I was 17, I nearly died, and during my recovery, I met a dedicated educator who inspired me to believe I could overcome my speaking and learning challenges and someday become a global teacher, published scholar, and world traveler. I have spent nearly 52 years working on and doing exactly that.
* How do you see the evolution of personal development methods over the next 10 years, and what do you think your role will be in this evolution?
As Paul Dirac, the Nobel Prize winner, wrote, “It is not that we don’t know so much, it is that we know so much that isn’t so.” In the personal development field, there are many great and sound ideas and tools mixed with many misleading ideas and one-sided fantasies. My intention is to contribute a new and more grounded paradigm to the field of human behavior and personal development and lead the way in innovative solutions to daily challenges. I am introducing new reproducible methodologies and principles that can help students more effectively and efficiently master their lives and achieve their aims.
* How do you balance the seven areas of life that you teach in your curriculum?
Partly by prioritizing my daily actions or by linking my daily actions to my highest values and partly by broadening my perceptions to be more inclusive. I have a unique set of values and therefore focus on my own unique inclusive path. I have integrated each of the seven primary areas of life—spiritual, mental, vocational, financial, familial, social, and physical—into my mission and daily actions, but in a unique way according to my set of values. While presenting my educational programs, doing interviews, or being filmed for documentaries, I feel I am simultaneously fulfilling each of my spiritual, mental, vocational, financial, familial, social, and physical objectives all in one.
* What books or works do you consider essential for personal development?
“Syntopicon Volumes I and II,” published by Britannica as part of “The Great Books of the Western World,” written and edited by Mortimer Adler. I also recommend reading most of the great classics that have stood the test of time. I read the original founders of each of the many disciplines or -ologies in 300 disciplines to maximize my own innovation so I can stand on the shoulders of giants and create original ideas that more effectively and efficiently serve humanity.
* Can you tell us about your new documentary, “Breakthrough”? The audience will have the chance to see part of your personal and professional journey.
Yes, the “Breakthrough” movie is an inspiring, new, award-winning documentary revealing my life’s global mission, vision, and message that introduces The Demartini Method and the Demartini Value Applications and other principles and methodologies used in assisting human transformation, self-mastery, and fulfillment. It includes some of my many trained facilitators who are helping bring my body of work to others throughout the world.
* Do you perhaps have a message for our readers?
No matter what they have done or not done, they are worthy of love. The magnificence of who they are is far greater than any moral or other fantasy they may ever try to impose on themselves. Instead of comparing themselves to others and putting others on pedestals or in pits, it is wiser to compare their own daily actions to their own highest values and mission. If they fill their days with high-priority actions that inspire them, their days will not fill up with low-priority distractions that won’t. Give themselves permission to shine, not shrink; to radiate, not gravitate; and to share, not despair.
* As we draw to a close on this article, here’s the conclusion and wisdom we would like to impart:
Dr. John Demartini and Coach Maria Cristina Banu exemplify the transformative power of dedication, education, and self-awareness. Their journeys, marked by personal challenges and remarkable achievements, showcase the profound impact of focused self-improvement and the application of universal principles.
As you embark on your journey of personal and professional growth, remember that every challenge is an opportunity for growth. Embrace the wisdom shared by Dr. Demartini and Coach Banu, and apply it to navigate life’s complexities with clarity and purpose. Cultivate resilience, pursue your passions, and strive to align your actions with your highest values. Your path to fulfillment begins with self-awareness and a commitment to continuous improvement. Dare to dream big, take courageous steps, and embrace the transformative power within you.
Article Written by Charlotte Edison
Photographs by Zainea Alexandru
Hair & Makeup by Sasha
Location: The Bloomsbury Hotel