Navigating Burnout: The Journey from Corporate Overload to Reinvention

What does burnout actually look like, and how do you move through it?

In this episode, Emma sits down with Isabelle Tremblay, a senior Marketer with 25 years of experience in corporate Canada. Discover how a once thriving workplace culture transformed into a hustle driven environment after multiple mergers.

Isabelle shares her experience of managing two executive-level roles at the same time with large brand portfolios, navigating a 20+ person team, and balancing the pressures of a difficult divorce and her daughter’s mental health crisis. This led to her breaking point and the diagnosis of situational stress disorder (burnout) that followed.

Isabelle talks through her journey of healing through medication, self-development, and a transformative daily meditation practice that became her lifeline.

After leaving the corporate world and redefining success for herself, Isabelle took a new and different path, authoring her book “Love Leads Succeed.” Where she advocates for love and service-based leadership, emotional intelligence, and prioritising mental health over toxic hustle culture.

Key Topics Covered:

* The impact of corporate culture on mental health
* Strategies for overcoming burnout
* The importance of emotional intelligence in leadership
* Practical tips for prioritising mental health in a demanding work environment

This is such an honest and brave conversation. And another example of how the worst thing that’s happened to you might turn out, in hindsight, to be the best thing. 

To connect with Isabelle:
Website: eyenovating.ca

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/isabelle-tremblay-21109226

YouTube:@LoveLeadSucceed

Can you also find episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmmaGrahamCareerCoach/videos

Your host, Emma Graham, Career Coach and ex-recruiter, is here to help you with:

 💡 Gain clarity on what’s important to you
 💡 Confidently communicate your value
 💡 Build a personal brand and a strong network
 💡 Take a strategic approach to your next move
 💡 Navigate the job market effectively
 💡 Build career confidence with a repeatable success blueprint

🌐 Explore my coaching programs and free resources:
 Website: https://www.egconsulting.au/
 LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/emmajgraham
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Transcript

 Emma: I am joined today by Isabel. Welcome. 

Isabelle: My pleasure to be here, Emma, thank you so much for having me on. I'm excited to share my, message with your audience.

Emma: Awesome. I'm excited to hear it and ask all about it. Let's, let's go back, shall we, and kind of start with the, as the name of the, of the name of the podcast would suggest your, your career journey and your time in corporate, corporate [00:01:00] Canada and what it taught you and the point that it brought you to.

Isabelle: Yes. my journey in corporate Canada started over 25 years ago now. as a young woman, getting out of university, I just, I was really, aiming to have this amazing, successful career. I was chasing titles and achievements. one of my first job was for, with this amazing lens manufacturer that had.

Quite a beautiful corporate culture, and I had like over a amazing 10 years, with that company, where they showed us that our opinion counted that they, valued our work and that they. Really treated us with respect and,they showed us every positive things about, emotional intelligence as well.

But has the company grew and eventually got, into a merger with another lens manufacturer and eventually got, acquired by, again, [00:02:00] another manufacturer. Then the culture just really started changing, quite a bit where. The company I felt was the most amazing, company with their employees and treating them with respect and trust and emotional intelligence and all that.

It started really going, more into a really hustle culture and, started getting to, moments too where the, it was, somewhat toxic just by. The way, they started treating employees and by, by the, their expectations in terms of the number of work hours At the end of my career with them, I stayed with them for over 23 years.

I, I was given a temporary assignment, being head of marketing where I was managing. 32 frame brands and, over 12 lance brands. And they had a team of over 20 reporting to me. but I was doing this while I was still doing my,my, I guess responsibilities as a director of sales and [00:03:00] marketing for this other business division.

So I was managing. Two different budgets. 

Emma: In all your spare time you were doing this whole other job. Yeah, 

Isabelle: yeah. so I had really, I was doing two high executive job at the same time. So the corporation was getting a two for one leader. 

Emma: Yeah. 

Isabelle: but by doing so, and I'll take responsibility for some of it, 'cause I wasn't good enough at setting boundaries.

But I was also going through, in my personal life, I was going through a lot, I was going through a, a very challenging divorce. My oldest daughter had mental health issues,and I have to talk about this because a lot of women in the corporate world, they,they carried a mental burden of,what's going on at home.

Yeah. And sometimes they try not to bring it to work. But I'll give you one example. I was on a business trip to Vancouver. And I, I get this phone call that, my daughter had overdose on medication uhhuh and the, I guess the mental impact from this was. Like [00:04:00] really draining me because that's a five hour flight back home.

And the whole way home I was, thinking as a mom, I was like, was this my fault from, wanting this like high achieving corporate career? Like maybe that would not have had. happened if I had stayed home and not gone on this business trip. So I think a lot of women have to, manage through, all this stress and the pressure to be, the best mom they can be.

And then, trying to make it like men in the corporate world as well, but having to carry all of that on their shoulders thinking they need to be strong all the time. 

Emma: Yeah, 

Isabelle: absolutely. so that brings me to the breaking point, which, after doing those two high level positions for a little over a year,I completely burnt out.

And how I knew I was burnt out. I was sitting at my computer at 11:00 PM at night 'cause. you never stop working. And, I couldn't even write a simple email. I can, write like I just [00:05:00] needed to, put two, sentences on, in this email and I couldn't even do it. So I realized it was something seriously wrong with me.

Plus I was being emotional all the time. So I went to see my family doctor, and he diagnosed me with a situational stress disorder, which is, I guess a fancy word for burnout. And, I took it very, it was very hard for me to hear this because I believe that strong women, should be strong and not burn out.

Yeah. And I felt like a failure to my kids. 'cause I'm like, Mom is not working, she's staying home all day. and then I felt a failure to my team that was still in that corporate toxic environment, but without me being there to protect them. 'cause I was, yeah. I was the protector. so I really felt like if.

Failure. and then after that, I, I started a healing journey. So there's, there's light at the end of this tunnel, and I can tell you that, right? now I'm completely healed and I,I can share a little bit [00:06:00] more later about how I, I healed myself and how I completely reinvented myself, as well.

Emma: It. It's quite the thing that really strikes me there's a number of things, but hearing you talk through that is that. It literally was coming at you from all sides, as you said. It was. It was the corporate side. It was the two jobs. It was the crazy hours. It was the toxic culture, but then everything that was going on at home as well, like there, there was no respite.

It was, coming at you from all. Directions. And the other thing that,struck me is when you were talking about doing the two jobs, and then in the next sentence you said, and I did that for a year, I, in my head, I'm like, how do you do that for a year? that is not a small amount of time.

Isabelle: No. it was, and now that I think back, it was a long time and yeah. What's a little troubling in this whole, thing is that I had talked to a couple of, like leaders in the corporation and [00:07:00] HR about the fact that I was starting, I could feel myself starting to feel sick and I could feel that, my brain was just not okay.

if I was, focusing on a task, if one of my daughter would ask me a question, I'd just lose it. 'cause I couldn't process. Two things at the same time. It was just becoming too much. so I would encourage corporations, not only in, north America or across the world to really, Try to focus on,their employees, like they say they do, and really make sure,mental health is one of the Yeah. Focus within,how they manage and lead employees. 

Emma: Yeah. What response did you get when you were having that conversation? Just a yeah.

Whatever, get on with it or, 

Isabelle: from hr, it was,I'm gonna bring this up at the next. Like operating meeting or, talk to this leader about it, but I. it never, nothing ever happens. It never evolved into a [00:08:00] solution, right? Yeah. So it's just, they kept extending the period and kept extending the period.

so it's unfortunate, but, sometimes corporations they get bigger and how they, I guess how they make more profit is by cutting costs. So if you can get an employee doing two jobs While you're, definitely standing on the head count. So maybe that was their way of looking at it, so focused on their stock options and the results, As opposed to being. On leading with love and, empowering their employees to become their, their best selves. 

Emma: let's leave that bit behind and let's move on to the more positive bit that came next. talk me through those next few months and what you were able to do to bring yourself through that.

Isabelle: Yes. the first couple of weeks after I got diagnosed, I spent a lot of time in my bed because I was. Under, I was depressed, so I, it was hard to even get outside of bed and even going for a walk with my dog. So what I started doing, because I was inside a lot, I started reading a ton of [00:09:00] books, like on self-development, on the Power of the Mind, on meditation, on, on.

and I was watching podcasts nonstop as well. so along with, the medication given by my doctor, I started slowly feeling better, being more positive about life. And I started a practice that really truly was my anchor, and that changed my life was, meditation. So I started by just doing five minutes every morning, and then I, I kept increasing the length and at first it was just about clearing my brain from all the noise, but eventually I evolved it into.

I wanna really build my future, so I'm gonna meditate about what I want in my life instead of being a victim and thinking about what I don't want. meditation's been really my anchor and I talk a bit about it in, in my book 'cause Yes, that there, there is a book and through that healing process, one morning I woke up with.

Absolute [00:10:00] clarity that I needed to share my story with the world. and then that I needed to, provide, the, my audience with all, everything that I've learned through my sick leave. So in my book, love Leads Succeed, I have 15 chapters of content on, and the power of the mind and how to lead your team with love and emotional intelligence and all these topics that are really, I hope influencing the business, world, not to just focus on numbers. Yeah. But focus on, leading their employees with love and emotional intelligence. 'cause we're all humans after all. 

Emma: yeah, 

Isabelle: numbers are important, but don't forget your greater purpose and how you should, treat other people with trust and respect.

Emma: Yeah, and even for businesses that do just focus on the numbers as it were, you can't get to those numbers without the people. So even if that is your ultimate goal, you still need people to be, happy, functioning, [00:11:00] productive to, to actually get there. So even the businesses that, that, won't take a perhaps slightly more altruistic version of it, you can still get to the same outcome.

Isabelle: Yeah, and I wish more corporation would do that and just not, stop. Stop celebrating the hustle culture. Yeah. 'cause that's something we're really good at doing in North America, and it's like the busier you are and the more output you, you get, that's how you just success of your day or even your life.

Yeah, absolutely. but I would recommend just being more in alignment with who you really are and, Your vision for your future as a human. Yeah. Not only as a corporate,person working in a, for a corporation. 

Emma: When you started talking about your journey, you said how you, at that stage, Kind of early twenties were would've defined success as, climbing the ladder, getting the big title, corporate life, corporate job, or all that kind of thing. I [00:12:00] guess what sort of traditional version of success to, to use that word, how do you think of success now and how do you define it for yourself now?

Isabelle: Yeah, so I, I changed my definition of success from not, what I achieve and the titles and the number of emails, or even to material things I've changed, my approach to life and how I, walk into this world to,success for me is how aligned I am with my purpose and my vision.

And as long as I'll keep doing this, then I'm successful. how I show up in this world and bring love and, practice a leadership of really serving others as opposed to controlling others, which Which is really how it should be, right? 

Emma: Yeah. 

Isabelle: and I'm gonna spend, the probably, the rest of my life now promoting my message because I believe in it so much and there's so many.

C-suite women out there that are completely [00:13:00] exhausted and overwhelmed that need to hear more of this, and that it's okay to feel tired and there's ways to, how they can really heal their themselves and change the way, they show up in this world. 

Emma: This might sound like a slightly strange question on the face of it, but bear with me.

Having been through such a, really difficult, challenging time and come out the other side of it, do you think you would've got to where you are now had it not been for that challenging time? Like how do you view that time now in, in hindsight. 

Isabelle: Yeah, no, I think that's a great question.

And we hear that all the time. Everything happens for a reason. 

And I'm actually very grateful for, what happened to me and my burnout. 'cause I, 

Emma: yeah, 

Isabelle: I've learned so much and it, it made me change, as again, how I walk into this world, how I. Treat others. I've learned, to stop [00:14:00] judging.

And I've learned all kinds of powerful things that really, make me, align with my purpose. And that burnout was really an awakening for me. So I call it a blessing. even though I'm sure back then I, I would not have called it 

Emma: Yeah. A 

Isabelle: blessing. But now I can look back on it and just be.

Grateful that I was able to learn so much and now share this important message with everyone. 

Emma: the reason I ask the question is, it's something that I've observed and had conversations with other people about that the thing that has probably been, the most challenging thing in their life or one of the most challenging things in their lives, in hindsight, they view very positively 'cause it was the thing that led to quite a profound change.

And that's been, it's been true for me too. I've, was, gosh, when is it now? 2018. 2019. Really sick. I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma and I feel the same way. Looking back on that, it's okay. I feel the same way [00:15:00] looking back on that, like I feel in Incre incredibly positive about that experience because sounds a weird thing to say, I'm grateful that I got cancer.

It sounds super strange, but. I kind of am because it really changed me in how I think about things and I've almost got to the stage where I don't know that as humans, we. Capable of really profound change without some really difficult kind of trigger event. when I speak to people, it's often things like that, like a burnout, like serious illness, loss of a loved one.

divorce something really, That shifts the ground beneath you, often leads to some really big change and off the back of that change, I hate the word, I'm about to use a pivot,to go in a quite different direction. and similarly to what you are saying there, actually taking what you learned through going through that really challenging experience and sharing that with [00:16:00] other people to show them that, that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

There's another way of looking at things and the hope that perhaps not everybody has to go through that super challenging time to, to get the learning to come out the other side. 

Isabelle: that's very true and I, again, I don't feel like a victim because I believe the universe is either rewarding you or teaching you a lesson.

Yeah. And I had to learn through everything I went through that,you need to love yourself first and take care of yourself first. And, you can't pour from an empty cup. So the universe. Taught me to just wake up and start taking care of myself, because if I don't take care of myself,something will, and yeah.

so it, it was a good lesson and almost immediately when I started my sick leave, I knew that I wasn't going back in this corporate. Yeah. Toxic environment because I love myself more than to [00:17:00] do this to myself again. Yeah. so that was very clear. And that led me to a journey of transformation.

Transformation where, I completely healed myself, but also transformed myself at the age of, I was 47 back then, When you, and it's. It's something that's scary sometimes to, start your own business. Yeah, publish a book,start coaching, start public speaking. But, I believe that in life you have to, embrace, some of your fears and just go for it and just, work, towards your goals a little bit every day.

And eventually the universe will, reward you for all the efforts that you've put in and for your, vision. 

Emma: Absolutely. it's interesting. I think it's a bit of a tangent, but I think there's a lot of the conversations that I have at the moment with,women of a similar age that are in their kind of mid forties, late forties, even early fifties.

That are making quite significant changes and going in different directions and really [00:18:00] using, as I said before, really using what they've learned and found to be true in their own lives. and then sharing that with a wider audience. And I think. I'd imagine for your audience as well.

It's a big part of the reason that your message resonates so highly is that you have been through it, you are experiencing, have experienced what they are experiencing, and you can I guess give a bit of a roadmap almost to, to use that terminology and show them what's on the other, show them what's on the other side.

Isabelle: Yes, absolutely. And I think my, that's what my book is a roadmap, but I, that's why I love my coaching work so much because, my customers can. Relate, to what I've gone through. Yeah. And I have like physical examples and practical tips on how they can, really reclaim their time and energy and not, not live under such pressure and, having that overwhelm feeling [00:19:00] all the time.

Emma: Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that actually. And,let's do it now seeing as you've, just seeing as you've just brought it up,for someone that is feeling that way and maybe feeling a little bit trapped and they're not sure. What way to go and maybe even having some of those kind of physical symptoms that, that you were experiencing of burnout.

Like what are the first early steps that they can take? what do you suggest? 

Isabelle: Yeah, I would suggest to, talk to someone about it. 

Emma: Yeah. 

Isabelle: Now, I would say I would say talk to someone at work, but sometimes at the, based on my experience, it doesn't always, yeah. That's the problem.

Yeah. Where, you don't always get the relief, but at least talk to someone, that you trust,a friend or a family member. And if the syndromes persist, Again, you have to love yourself more and say you have to listen to your body and your soul always knows too. and you need to take those steps to,if you need a break from work and take a few weeks [00:20:00] off, then I would say, that would be, the next thing they need to do and then start working on healing and their vision.

And,there, there's no. Corporation that's worth your health. don't stay in a toxic environment. There's always,you're a supernatural human being and you'll find another opportunity, you know elsewhere. Don't let fear, guide your life. 

Emma: I think as well, and I see it often in my work now and in my previous kind of recruitment life as well, that I think often when people are in that situation and they are feeling fearful, the choice feels quite binary to them.

they don't necessarily see all of the options that are available. To them, it feels, everything's narrowed down and it's stay or leave and, and then what happens, or, oh, I can just keep going. they don't necessarily see, as I said, all the avenues and all the options that are potentially available to them.

And I think it is that fear [00:21:00] instinct of, what will happen if I leave and will I get another job? And obviously, the practical realities of. you've gotta make money and have a place to live and buy food and all of those kind of things. But yeah, just it does seem to be that they, get stuck on that kind of quite binary choice.

Do you find that as well? have you seen that? 

Isabelle: Yes. leaving, a corporation that you're. Feeling kind of comfort, comfortable with in terms of, your financial situation is hard and it's a challenge. But to go back to your question, if they ask what happens if I can't find another job?

Or what happens? they need to ask themselves what happened if I stay? They, yeah. And they might find that the answer is worse,Talking about, your mental health, your physical health, your and feeling stuck, right? sometimes the biggest path to growth is just embracing your fear and believing in your future and not, staying stuck where you are.

choose yourself first. 

Emma: Yeah, I think it's interesting [00:22:00] it's that, that kind of example of people will choose certainty even if the certainty is horrible and they hate it. Yes. Over the unc, because obviously, by definition you don't know what the future holds. You don't know what the uncertainty is, and there can be that tendency to default to.

Or what if it doesn't work out, but what if it does work out? what if it's amazing? What if all these doors open and there's all these options in front of you? But I think it's really, I think it's really interesting the kind of, I guess the human psychological reaction to certainty and uncertainty and how we typically see those things.

Isabelle: Yes, and I think people need to, as you mentioned, like the, we need to rewire our brain to think about the positive,option as opposed to the negative one. But as I mentioned, our brain is often not kind to herself, so we'll often think about the worst possible outcome while. if you believe that this is [00:23:00] what's gonna happen, maybe that's what's gonna happen.

So you, you need to have, more elevated thoughts and, try to, think positive, right? Whether it's through, positive affirmation, there's all kinds of ways you can help your brain, evolve into something more powerful and positive. But, that's what I would recommend to people. 

Emma: Yeah.

And I think as well, you, we've mentioned it before, that you know the color of the voice in your head and as you said, it's not always kind to us on its, default setting, but you don't have to accept the default setting. 

Isabelle: Yep. Yeah. I just question what you're thinking and say. 

Emma: Yeah. 

Isabelle: thank you, but no thanks.

yeah, you can, argue, you can argue with yourself a little bit. 

Emma: Yeah. It's funny, it's funny to say that 'cause I do that all the time of, I think there's this sense that. The, because the thought is in your head that it's what you actually think. if it's, if that's what my thoughts are saying, then it must be true because they're my thoughts.

I must actually think that. But 

Isabelle: yeah, 

Emma: quite often it's not the case. You don't,it's that perhaps very [00:24:00] primal, side or the negative side or the whatever. You don't have to accept. What those thoughts are saying. And it's funny to, to hear you say, no thank you. That's, I often find myself saying exactly the same thing.

the thought pops up and I'm like, no, I don't wanna think that. I don't want that. Thank you very much. No, go away. and it, sounds a bit, sounds a bit crazy to say it out loud, but it doesn't take that long of continuously doing that to, to change. the texture and quality of those thoughts into something that's far more helpful and actually not working against you, but actually helping you to, to move forward in, in whatever way, whatever way that would be.

the other thing I just wanted to touch on, with you, Isabel, was the, you were talking about leadership and more, I guess, kind of heart-centered leadership, the sort of love versus fear. Can you just give me a, I appreciate, it's not a small topic, but I guess a, an overview of how you see that [00:25:00] 

Isabelle: Yes.

Ab absolutely. So the. I guess the central message of, I guess, my Love Lead, succeed coaching platform in my book is really that leadership is not about authority. Leadership is about, love and love. Is not soft. It's how you serve your people. And,you spend your career doing, leadership based on service, trust, respect, and you make those courageous decision to really, support the people.

Because as we said earlier, numbers are important, but at the end of the day, we're all humans. And if you want your employees to. achieve those numbers, you better make sure that you, have a leadership approach that focuses on love and service as well. 

Emma: yeah, we've lost that somewhere along the way, haven't we?

As you said, like leadership's become about command and control as opposed to servitude and helping your people to get to where they need to [00:26:00] get to. it's a huge topic and I guess we could have a whole other podcast about that topic alone. But 

Isabelle: yeah, especially about,and then when I say serving your employees, it's to bring them, to a place where they can rise higher.

Yeah. And when I was managing people, my, I would always joke around. I said, my goal is for you to take my job at some point. Yeah. Because you need to. A big responsibility for every manager or leader needs to be about Yeah. Making them rise. But how do you do that? You do it through coaching, right?

And the biggest gift you can give to your employees, it's really, it's your time. And, if you do it the right way, I think too many leaders. Don't, have enough coaching skills. And if they could only do that, like they could, have like amazing teams. 'cause they, you need to give them the opportunity to learn as well.

and share all the skills that you've learned through your career. Yeah. To be able to bring them, higher. 

Emma: Yeah, as you say, it takes [00:27:00] time and I think that's often the thing, isn't it? The finding the time to, to be able to do that and valuing that time and understanding that is a critical task.

it's not a nice to have. It's not something that you do if you got nothing else to do. It should be pretty near the top of your list. Does this is a critical task. This is a priority in my role, and this is something that I should be spending a pretty significant portion of my time doing.

Isabelle: Absolutely. Yeah. I think we should all,I think the issue is that when you get into the, I guess the actual world, like I'll give you my, I guess my calendar as an example. Yeah. At the end of my career with that corporation, sometimes, some days I had 17 meetings, but, and some meetings they were like, just overlapped.

So you're going in between like this meeting to this meeting, to this meeting, and When you have that kind of schedule, it's hard to, 

Emma: yeah, 

Isabelle: truly give your presence and your time to [00:28:00] your, to your people. But that's what in should be happening if you wanna lead with love. 

Emma: Yeah, absolutely. Final question, Isabel, and it's always the final question here, and that is, what do you know now that you wish you knew then?

Isabelle: I, I wish, I knew, how to control my mind, when I was younger and at the beginning of my career, I wished I truly love myself enough to always believe that I can achieve anything, and that, we are all, unlimited human beings capable of, achieving amazing things. That's what I wish I knew earlier in my career.

I think I would've made some bolder moves sometimes and really believed in myself more. 

Emma: Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting, I obviously asked that question at the end of every episode, and people have see their own takes and their own kind of nuances on it, but often it does boil [00:29:00] down to, I wished I'd.

Believed in myself sooner or I wish I'd had more confidence in myself, like some version of that answer. thank you Isabel. I really appreciate you taking the time and sharing your, just yeah. Fascinating story and I love. As I said at the time, I love what you've turned it into, and I love that through such a difficult, challenging time, you've come out the other side and turned it into something really positive.

it's great to hear. 

Isabelle: Thank you. I really appreciate your time, Emma, and, being able to share my message with your audience if you know they're looking for more,tips on how they can, tap into their unlimited potential, they can follow me on Instagram at Love Leads Succeed, or find me on, LinkedIn or YouTube as well.

Emma: Great. I'll, I'll pop all of those links in the, in the show notes as well so people can find them easily. 

Isabelle: Great. Thank you so much.