Why I Left Corporate (And It Wasn't Because I Burned Out)

I know you know the feeling.

Mind racing even though your day ended hours ago.
The urge to check email at your friend’s baby shower.
Knowing you should sign off after just one. more. email.

We’ve been taught success equals grind. And to think, I used to believe them.

I grew up glued to my mom's side. She had me as a teenager, and we were like real-life Gilmore Girls. She was young, ambitious, unstoppable.

Through a mix of night classes, babysitters, and grit she became a registered nurse who raised me while baking cookies for fundraisers and driving me to every sport, music lesson, and leadership program I could dream up.

She was my hero.

But when I was about sixteen, I started to notice her struggle. Slowly, years of chronic stress became chronic pain. When the pain became constant doctors prescribed the kitchen sink—but never went deeper. Her vibrant energy drained away. She started sleeping for days on end. Her face lost its color. Her spirit was all but gone.

At the same time, I was in business school. Already a lifelong entrepreneur who'd declared at five that I wanted to be a CEO, I suddenly saw my future too clearly.

The same ambition.
The same work ethic.
The same genetic makeup.
And maybe the same ending.

For the first time, success didn’t look inspiring. It looked dangerous.

So I pivoted from chasing giants like McKinsey and Deloitte to spending a decade in global social impact, raging against systems that harm instead of help. While working to change the world, I was also healing my own wounds. And I realized something sobering: even the most idealistic organizations enacted the same toxic patterns.

That’s when the next realization hit: it's not just systems that need changing.

Most of us walk around with dysregulated nervous systems and warped ideas of self-worth. We tie our identity to metrics, money, titles, and appearances. Even when we’re working for a cause we martyr ourselves on altars of ego and legacy. We create, or at least perpetuate, the very broken systems we rage against.

The cliche is true. For lasting change, we have to go inside.

So I searched for answers. I earned certificates and degrees in neurobiology, organizational psychology, and leadership. I aired my wounds until they became my strength. I looked for what worked—evidence backed, not so evidence backed, and everything in-between. I brought those tools into healthcare and tech, building high-performing teams where people didn’t just thrive.

They healed.

The research is clear: 76% of executives report burnout, but companies with highly engaged workforces see 23% higher profitability. Burned-out leaders create burned-out cultures—it's contagious. Leaders who've done their inner work create psychological safety for everyone else to do theirs.

I’ve watched it happen over and over. A CEO learns to regulate their nervous system, and their team stops walking on eggshells. A director addresses their insecure response to criticism, and feedback becomes a gift instead of a weapon. A manager discovers their worth isn't tied to their output, and they stop demanding people prove theirs is.

The ripple can be profound. Retention can soar. Innovation can flourish. Revenue can grow sustainably instead of through frantic sprints that leave everyone depleted.

I didn't leave corporate because I was burnt out.

I left because I learned something powerful: it's possible to work in a way that's genuinely good for you. And paradoxically, it’s good for business.

The old story is sick. And sadly, pervasive.

It says you have to choose—success or sanity, results or relationships, ambition or health. That story is killing us. It's costing companies billions in turnover and poor performance. It's creating leaders who achieve everything they thought they wanted and feel hollow inside.

The new story is this:

When you lead from inner stability rather than chronic stress, you don't just preserve your humanity—you amplify your impact. You make sharper decisions because you're not operating from fight-or-flight. You inspire deeper loyalty because people trust leaders who aren't barely holding it together. You create cultures where innovation thrives because people aren't spending all their energy just trying to survive.

Old story: Success or sanity. Results or relationships. Ambition or health.

New story: When you lead from inner stability, your impact expands — not shrinks.

That's what I teach now. The science and strategy of leading in a way that sustains you for the long haul. Once you experience success that feels healthy, you can’t unsee it. You can’t go back.

P.S. Don’t worry about my mom. She made a full recovery and is now a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner offering integrative care to women experiencing chronic pain. She’s my hero.

If you are me, or my mom, or somewhere in between, there is a better way. I’d love to chat with you, book a virtual coffee with me here.