Vanessa Bailey
Vanessa Bailey is an award winning lawyer, career and business coach, and founder of VLB Coaching, LLC, dedicated to helping high achieving professionals build careers and businesses rooted in confidence, clarity, and personal authority. She is widely known for her Moxie philosophy, which emphasizes resilience, self leadership, and the courage to make decisions that honor personal values and life priorities. Through her coaching, speaking, and content creation, Vanessa helps unfulfilled and undervalued leaders reconnect with their internal authority, negotiate compensation with confidence, redesign careers around what matters most, and overcome limiting beliefs that keep them stuck in traditional success models.
Vanessa built an 11 year legal career practicing commercial litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate law, where she focused on contract drafting, business transactions, and corporate strategy. She demonstrated proactive leadership and business development well before receiving formal recognition, ultimately becoming a Partner and Notable Dealmaker while earning recognition as a five time Super Lawyers Rising Star. After experiencing transformative personal coaching and reaching the height of her legal career, she made the courageous decision to leave the practice of law to pursue coaching full time, choosing purpose, alignment, and personal freedom over traditional prestige and titles.
Today, Vanessa works primarily with high achieving professionals, especially lawyers, helping them redesign their careers, strengthen their mindset, and build sustainable professional and financial success without sacrificing their well being or personal lives. Her coaching philosophy combines practical career strategy with deep mindset and identity work, focusing on authenticity, self trust, and internal authority as the foundation for long term success. Through her business coaching, workshops, and leadership content, Vanessa empowers clients to build lives and careers that reflect their goals, values, and definition of true success.
• Member of State Bar of Michigan
• Wayne State University Law School - JD
• University of Hawaii at Manoa - BBA, Finance, International Business
• Notable M&A Dealmaker
• Michigan Super Lawyers - Rising Star from 2021 - 2025
• Oakland County Bar Association
• The Womens Lawyers Association of Michigan
• Vice Chair, Oakland County Bar Association — Lawyer Wellbeing Committee
What do you attribute your success to?
Vanessa credits transformative coaching for helping her gain confidence and show up more authentically, combined with self-leadership, resilience (what she calls 'moxie'), proactive business development and mentoring others.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Advocate for yourself, build confidence, seek coaching/mentorship to identify blind spots, and act like the leader you aspire to be rather than waiting for permission or title.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
For coaching: public misconceptions about what coaching is and how it helps, making marketing and client education important opportunities. For law: improving lawyer wellbeing and bridging generational differences in values and work expectations.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Wellbeing (especially within the legal profession), authenticity, internal authority, resilience and supporting other women.
Locations
VLB Coaching, LLC
Novi, MI 48375