Marie Forleo
Online Business Educator and B-School Founder
Marie Forleo is an entrepreneur and online educator who founded B-School, an online business program she launched in 2010 that she claims has trained tens of thousands of students. She also produces MarieTV, a YouTube-based show featuring interviews and Q&A content on business, creativity, and personal development. She published a book, "Everything Is Figureoutable," in 2019. Her work is aimed primarily at women entrepreneurs and small business owners.
B-School is a premium-priced online course program covering marketing, branding, and business fundamentals. It has been positioned as one of the earlier and higher-profile examples of the online course business model that became widespread in the 2010s. As with most online business education programs, B-School's claims about student outcomes and income results are difficult to independently verify, and critics of online business education more broadly have noted that success stories featured in marketing are not representative of typical student experiences. The program's marketing generates significant revenue for Forleo's business.
Her content mixes practical business advice with motivational framing and personal development content, which is characteristic of the coaching and entrepreneurship media niche she occupies. This combination is effective for audience building but has drawn some criticism from those who distinguish between substantive business education and motivational content with business themes. The distinction is not always clear-cut, and Forleo's actual business curriculum has more structural content than purely inspirational channels.
Her MarieTV interviews have featured prominent guests including Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins, and various authors and entrepreneurs. These appearances reflect her access to the coaching and personal development industry's networks, which she built through long participation in that space. She started her career in life coaching and dance before pivoting to business education content, which gave her practical experience with the direct-to-consumer digital product model she subsequently teaches.