"My energy is precious. My energy is valuable.”

I remember saying those words one afternoon and then almost immediately after, I contradicted myself by saying, “But why do I constantly fill every second of my life with projects? Why do I act like I’m not allowed to rest?” I think so many entrepreneurs, leaders, and caregivers understand this tension deeply, the craving for meaningful impact while simultaneously feeling completely exhausted by the weight of carrying everything. Research from the World Health Organization now identifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon tied directly to chronic workplace stress, and honestly, I think so many high-achieving women are silently living inside of that reality every single day.

For the last four years, I’ve been the showgirl. The facilitator. The keynote speaker. The coach. The strategist. The person on stage and the person behind the scenes answering emails at 11 p.m., building proposals in bed, creating decks between my kids’ activities, and trying to hold everyone and everything together.

The truth is, I genuinely love this work.

There is almost nothing in the world that lights me up more than sitting in a room full of leaders having real conversations about humanity, purpose, courage, communication, and growth. But I’m also learning that loving something deeply does not mean I can abandon myself in the process of doing it.

A few months ago, I came across a quote by Toni Morrison that stopped me in my tracks: “You are your best thing.” I wrote it down because I realized how often I had been treating myself like the least important part of my own business. Somewhere along the way, productivity became moralized. Rest started to feel lazy. Stillness started to feel unsafe. And I realized I had unintentionally built a life where my value felt connected to how much I could produce instead of how aligned, healthy, present, or fulfilled I actually felt.

That realization became the beginning of something bigger.

Then, The Bench was created. 

The Bench was born from a quiet question I kept asking myself over and over again: What if leadership support could feel more sustainable? What if I could create something impactful, transformational, and expansive without needing to personally carry every single piece alone? What if coaches could support people deeply while also honoring their own humanity, nervous systems, families, creativity, and wellbeing? The more I sat with those questions, the more I realized this wasn’t just a business idea. It was a value shift.

And the beautiful thing is, I’m not building this alone.

Natalie and I have known each other since we were kids. We were soccer teammates in middle school long before we were business partners. Years later, she hired me as her coach, and somewhere after our professional relationship ended, a real friendship grew. Over countless conversations, voice notes, walks, dreams, and “what if” moments, we started imagining a different way of doing leadership development, one rooted not just in performance, but in wholeness.

Research consistently shows that psychologically safe workplaces outperform environments driven by fear, perfectionism, and burnout. Google’s famous Project Aristotle study even found that psychological safety was the number one predictor of high-performing teams. And yet, so many leaders still feel isolated, overwhelmed, unsupported, and emotionally exhausted behind closed doors. We wanted to create something that supported the whole human being behind the title.

That is The Bench.

The Bench is a collective of highly qualified, deeply human executive and leadership coaches who support leaders, teams, and organizations through transformative one-to-one coaching journeys. Every engagement includes a Shift Positive 360 grounded in positive psychology, alongside partnership sessions involving both the client and their leader so that growth doesn’t happen in isolation. Because lasting transformation becomes far more sustainable when leaders become allies, advocates, and active participants in someone’s development journey instead of passive observers.

And today, somehow, this dream officially launched into the world.

Honestly, I thought this would grow slowly. I thought we would quietly build over the next year and slowly gain momentum. But before we even officially launched, we already welcomed 10 paid leadership coaching clients into The Bench. I still can’t fully believe it. I think what this shows me more than anything is that people are deeply hungry for support that feels human, thoughtful, emotionally intelligent, and sustainable.

Maybe that’s what this season of my life is teaching me most: success that costs you your wellbeing eventually stops feeling like success.

And maybe leadership isn’t about becoming more impressive. Maybe it’s actually about becoming more honest, more connected, more self-aware, and more human.

So here we are.

A dream that started in a therapist’s office, inside a conversation about exhaustion, values, and energy, is now alive in the world.

And I couldn’t be more grateful.