COACHED with Coach Keren

What if the exhaustion, perfectionism, people-pleasing, burnout, and imposter syndrome you have spent years trying to fix are not actually the problem?

What if they are symptoms of something deeper?

In this deeply moving conversation, Coach Keren sits down with coach, speaker, and author Annalie Howling to explore the hidden force that drives so many high achievers: shame.

Annalie shares her extraordinary personal journey from a violent childhood, chronic self-doubt, and self-harm to becoming one of the leading voices on shame, trauma, and healing. Together, they unpack why achievement can never heal unworthiness, why burnout is often a wake-up call rather than a failure, and how self-compassion becomes the antidote to the belief that we are somehow not enough.

This episode is a powerful reminder that healing is not about becoming someone else. It is about finally coming home to yourself.

In This Episode

• Why high achievement often becomes a strategy for outrunning shame
• The critical difference between guilt and shame
• How childhood experiences shape adult identity and self-worth
• Burnout as a symptom of living out of alignment
• Why perfectionism and people-pleasing are survival mechanisms
• Understanding imposter syndrome through the lens of shame
• How Annalie transformed her relationship with her inner critic
• The role of EMDR and trauma healing in lasting transformation
• Why receiving compliments feels uncomfortable for so many people
• The connection between self-compassion and true freedom
• How to begin healing shame one small act of self-kindness at a time

Memorable Quotes

"I wasn't intolerant to gluten. I was intolerant to my life."

"Shame is always an 'I am' statement."

"The imposter's job is to police our shame from ever being discovered."

"There is a cure for shame, and it is self-compassion."

"Start by learning about yourself. Then liking yourself. Then loving yourself."

Connect with Annalie

📖 Book: Unapologetic: Unshackle Your Shame, Reclaim Your Power

🌐 Website: Annalie Howling

📸 Instagram: @annaliehowling

Listener Invitation

If this conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs it. You never know who may be carrying shame in silence.

This episode has become far more meaningful than I could have imagined when we recorded it.

Carolyn Elliott was one of the most original thinkers I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Brilliant, provocative, funny, and relentlessly committed to truth, she challenged thousands of people to question not only what they wanted from life- but why they remained attached to the very patterns they claimed to want to escape.

Tragically, Carolyn passed away shortly after this conversation. I later learned that this was the last podcast interview she ever recorded.

I cannot think of a more fitting way to honor her than to share her voice, her wisdom, and her extraordinary mind with all of you once again.

In this profound and deeply philosophical conversation, Carolyn and I explore shadow work, suffering, individuation, spirituality, power, and the unconscious forces that quietly shape our lives.

Carolyn—bestselling author of Existential Kink and founder of Immortal College—shares the personal experiences that led her to develop one of the most challenging and liberating frameworks in modern personal development: the possibility that some unconscious part of us may actually be invested in the very circumstances we consciously wish would disappear.

Together, we discuss why high achievers become trapped in recurring cycles, why healing cannot be another performance, and how lasting transformation begins when we are finally willing to tell ourselves the truth.

In this episode:

• What "Existential Kink" actually means
• Why the unconscious creates recurring life patterns
• The hidden pleasure inside suffering, struggle, and martyrdom
• Carolyn's journey through addiction, recovery, and depth psychology
• Why spirituality can become another achievement identity
• The difference between performative healing and genuine integration
• The role of humility, groundedness, and radical honesty
• Carl Jung's influence on Carolyn's work
• The relationship between suffering, awakening, and individuation
• Why freedom begins when we embrace the parts of ourselves we've spent our lives avoiding

Books Mentioned in this episode:

Carolyn Elliott

• → Existential Kink — Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Existential-Kink-Unmask-Embrace-getting/dp/1578636477
• → https://existentialkink.com/
• → https://theimmortalcollege.com/

If Carolyn's ideas move you as deeply as they moved me, I hope you'll read her books, share her work, and continue the conversations she devoted her life to having.

Her voice may be gone, but her ideas—and the courage with which she shared them—will continue to change lives for many years to come. May her memory be a blessing.

What if the problem isn't that you're doing too little—but that you're trying to succeed in a way that was never designed for you?

In this episode of Coaching Masters, Coach Keren sits down with longtime friend, former journalist, author, and Quantum Human Design Specialist Holly Corbett for an illuminating conversation about one of today's fastest-growing personal development modalities: Human Design.

Join us for VIP Day 2026: https://coached-with-coach-keren.captivate.fm/vipday2026

Together they explore how understanding your energetic blueprint can help you make better decisions, trust yourself more deeply, and stop forcing a version of success that was never truly yours.

Rather than treating Human Design as prediction or personality typing, this conversation focuses on what matters most: discernment, self-awareness, and personal agency.

In this episode you'll learn:

• What Human Design actually is.
• The five Human Design energy types.
• Why "authority" is one of the most practical decision-making tools in the system.
• How Human Design complements coaching, therapy, and personal growth.
• Why honoring your natural way of working creates greater fulfillment and impact.
• How understanding yourself contributes to healthier leadership and stronger communities.
• Why living in alignment isn't selfish—it's essential.

Memorable Quotes

"When you know who you are, you can't be shaken the way you are when you're second-guessing yourself."

"If you want to change the world, start with yourself."

"Stop outsourcing knowing and start living from deeper wisdom—from the inside out."

Connect with Holly Corbett

Human Design by Holly: https://www.humandesignbyholly.com/

Connect with Coach Keren

Website: https://kereneldad.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/coachkeren/

Schedule a Free Consultation with Coach Keren: https://calendly.com/kereneldad/consultation/

Join us for VIP Day 2026: https://kereneldad.com/vipday2026/

📚 Coach Keren's Books: GILDED: Break Free From the Cage of Ambition, Perfectionism, and the Relentless Pursuit of More → https://tinyurl.com/ykf4z95w GILT FREE: Breaking Free From The Gilded Cage For Good → https://tinyurl.com/2burcnjb

What does it actually take to build a company people trust for decades?

In this episode, I sit down with Jody Thelander, Founder & CEO of J. Thelander Consulting, and her daughter and COO, Morgan Thelander, for a conversation about entrepreneurship, legacy, leadership, family business, and the discipline of building something that lasts.

Jody shares how a difficult season of life—including divorce and raising two young children—became the catalyst for creating one of the most trusted compensation intelligence firms in private markets. Morgan discusses joining the company, modernizing the business, embracing media, AI, and technology, and preparing to become the fourth generation in a remarkable entrepreneurial family story.

Together, we explore what happens when mastery, integrity, and long-term thinking become the foundation of everything you build.

In this episode:

• Why the long game is still the only game worth playing.
• Turning adversity into entrepreneurial opportunity.
• Building trust as your greatest competitive advantage.
• Why shortcuts always cost more in the end.
• Creating a brand people recognize long before they see the logo.
• Navigating the unique challenges of working with family.
• Setting healthy boundaries between business and home.
• Why visibility matters even for highly technical businesses.
• Using AI to enhance—not replace—human expertise.
• Why showing up in person has become a competitive advantage.
• Building a business worthy of becoming a legacy.

Memorable Quotes

"Who better than me?"

"Mastery is rarely about doing more. It is about refusing to lower the standard."

"The businesses that last aren't built fast. They're built right."

Connect with Jody & Morgan Thelander

Website:

https://jthelander.com

CapThelander Podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/caplander/id1796492614

Connect with Coach Keren Eldad

🌐 Website:

https://kereneldad.com

📚 Gilt Free:

https://giltfreebook.com

📚 GILDED:

https://gildedbook.com

📅 Book a Free Coaching Consult

https://calendly.com/kereneldad

📸 Instagram:

https://instagram.com/kereneldad

What happens when the life you've built works perfectly—but no longer feels like you?

This week on COACHED, I sit down with entrepreneur, designer, cancer survivor, and founder of Mrs. Momma Bear, Lee Evans, for one of the most inspiring conversations we've had about reinvention, identity, courage, and creating a life that feels as good as it looks.

Reserve your spot for Coach Keren's VIP Day 2026 in Austin: https://kereneldad.com/vipday2026/

Raised on a West Texas ranch, Lee learned resilience before most children learned multiplication. She later built a successful career in healthcare before quietly walking away to create an entirely new business—one inspired by beauty, functionality, and removing unnecessary friction from women's lives.

We explore what it means to protect a dream before sharing it with the world, why surviving breast cancer transformed the way she leads, mothers, and loves, and why true freedom comes not from abandoning who you are—but integrating every part of yourself.

One of my favorite lessons from our conversation? "Wear life like a loose garment."

This episode is for anyone standing at the edge of a career pivot, craving more alignment, or wondering whether it's too late to become who they were always meant to be.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Growing up on a fifth-generation Texas ranch and how resilience is cultivated
• Why practical success isn't always personal fulfillment
• Leaving healthcare to build an entirely new company
• The importance of protecting your dream before sharing it
• How to know when an idea is truly "the one"
• Entrepreneurship, patience, and trusting divine timing
• What surviving breast cancer taught Lee about receiving love
• Motherhood, vulnerability, and courageous conversations
• Why leadership requires more compassion than control
• The power of integrating every part of yourself instead of choosing between identities
• Creating beauty while reducing friction in everyday life

Memorable Quotes

"A life can work perfectly and still not feel like yours."

"Some dreams need incubation before they need an audience."

"Wear life like a loose garment."

"Freedom isn't becoming someone else. It's allowing all of who you already are to exist."

Connect with Lee Evans

🌐 Website: Mrs. Momma Bear

Follow Lee:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leeevanslee
• Brand Instagram: @mrsmommabear

Resources Mentioned

• GILT FRE by Coach Keren Eldad
• GILDED by Coach Keren Eldad

What does it really take to sustain excellence for decades?

According to Broadway legend Mandy Gonzalez, it isn't talent.

It's devotion.

In this inspiring conversation, Coach Keren Eldad sits down with one of Broadway's most celebrated performers to explore what mastery actually looks like behind the curtain.

From starring in Hamilton, Wicked, In the Heights, and Sunset Boulevard to performing through breast cancer treatment, Mandy shares the mindset that has allowed her to thrive through extraordinary highs and unimaginable challenges.

Together, Keren and Mandy discuss:

• Why genuine passion—not external validation—is the foundation of mastery.
• The relationship between practice, curiosity, and long-term excellence.
• How saying "yes" before you're ready can change the trajectory of your life.
• Why sustaining success requires courage more than confidence.
• Motherhood, marriage, and building a career without abandoning your family.
• How cancer transformed Mandy's definition of success forever.
• Why authenticity creates longevity in both life and career.
• The importance of community, mentorship, and lifelong learning.
• Mandy's Fearless Squad and creating belonging for the next generation.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, executive, artist, parent, or simply someone trying to build a meaningful life, this episode is a beautiful reminder that success isn't about becoming someone else.

It's about becoming more fully yourself.

About Mandy Gonzalez

Mandy Gonzalez is a Broadway actress, singer, and author best known for her acclaimed performances in Hamilton, Wicked, In the Heights, and Sunset Boulevard. She is also the founder of Fearless Squad, a community dedicated to courage, kindness, and belonging.

Connect with Mandy

Website: https://mandygonzalez.com/about/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandy.gonzalez/

Connect with Coach Keren

Website: www.kereneldad.com

Book a complimentary Clarity Call: https://calendly.com/kereneldad

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who could use it.

What if the biggest obstacle to your next chapter isn't your résumé... but your identity?

As in, who you believe you are?

In this extraordinary conversation, Coach Keren sits down with personal branding strategist, entrepreneur, and Career Cheat Codes author Courtney Johnson to unpack what really creates extraordinary careers and why so many brilliant people stay invisible.

Together, they explore why strategy is rarely the problem, why authenticity has become the greatest competitive advantage in the age of AI, and why the future belongs to people willing to build lives around purpose instead of permission.

This is a conversation about courage.

About going all in on visibility.

About building within yourself the nervous system safety to be all that you can be.

And about becoming the person your future is waiting for.

👉 Check out my new book Gilt Free : https://coached-with-coach-keren.captivate.fm/gilt-free-ditching-your-gilded-cage-for-good

• Why personal brands consistently outperform company brands

• The hidden emotional barriers behind visibility and self-promotion

• Why you must claim your identity before the world validates it

• The difference between dreaming and devotion

• How to create nervous system safety while pursuing ambitious goals

• Why your first $100 matters more than your first million

• The power of bridge jobs, side hustles, and building leverage before taking the leap

• A simple exercise to uncover exactly who you're afraid of disappointing

• Why your niche often finds you, not the other way around

• How authenticity is becoming the antidote to AI

"People aren't blocked by strategy. They're blocked by feeling unsafe."

"The hardest leap isn't from $100 to $10,000. It's from zero to one."

"Authenticity is the antidote to AI."

"The perfect path isn't the safe path. The perfect path is your dream."

If you've ever felt like you're capable of more but can't quite seem to make the leap, this episode is for you.

Listen now. Then send it to someone standing at a career crossroads.

Because sometimes the career advice we need most has nothing to do with careers at all.

Courtney's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneylynnjohnson/

Courtney's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/courtlynnjohnson/

Courtney's Podcast, Built in Public:

https://open.spotify.com/show/7oaV8L7rOBd878nlwydJrj

Courtney's Book, Career Cheat Codes: The Unspoken, Unconventional, and Unfiltered Rules of Career Success:

https://www.amazon.com/Career-Cheat-Codes-Unconventional-Unfiltered-ebook/dp/B0FHJZ1PJM

Learn more: https://kereneldad.com/

Join VIP Day 2026: https://kereneldad.com/vipday2026/

Schedule a Free Consultation:

https://calendly.com/kereneldad/consultation?back=1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachkeren/

This week on COACHED, Keren sits down with Jenna Zoe, creator of My Human Design, founder of the Align App, bestselling author, and one of the leading voices responsible for bringing Human Design into the mainstream conversation.

What follows is not simply a discussion about Human Design.

https://coached-with-coach-keren.captivate.fm/gilt-free-ditching-your-gilded-cage-for-good

It is a conversation about authenticity, intuition, self-trust, and the hidden cost of spending years trying to become someone you were never meant to be.

Together, Keren and Jenna explore why so many ambitious people find themselves successful on paper yet disconnected in practice, why force is often mistaken for discipline, and why true fulfillment begins when we stop trying to fix ourselves and start learning who we actually are.

Jenna shares the story of her own journey—from atheist science student to spiritual seeker, from Kabbalah student to Human Design pioneer—and explains why understanding your energetic blueprint can become a practical roadmap for making decisions, navigating uncertainty, and creating a life that feels deeply aligned.

Whether Human Design is completely new to you or already part of your vocabulary, this episode offers a powerful reminder that the goal of personal growth may not be becoming more.

It may be becoming truer.

In This Episode

• Jenna's journey from science-minded skeptic to spiritual teacher
• The Kabbalah teachings that transformed her understanding of life
• The Human Design reading that changed everything
• Why obsession is often a clue to purpose
• The difference between success and aliveness
• The five Human Design energy types and what they reveal
• How conditioning pulls us away from our authentic nature
• Why self-understanding is the foundation of self-love
• The hidden danger of forcing outcomes
• How to navigate uncertainty without panic
• The paradigm shift Jenna believes humanity is currently experiencing
• Why intuition is often more trustworthy than logic
• The ultimate manifestation: becoming someone you love being

Memorable Moments

"There are things you do because they are successful, and there are things you do because they give you life."

"When you really understand yourself, you stop arguing with who you are."

"The work isn't about becoming more. It's about becoming truer."

"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."

About Jenna Zoe

Jenna Zoe is the creator of My Human Design, founder of the Align App, bestselling author of Human Design, and host of the Align Podcast. She has helped millions of people better understand themselves through the lens of Human Design and is widely recognized as one of the foremost voices in the field.

Learn more:

• https://www.jennazoe.com

• https://www.myhumandesign.com

• https://www.alignapp.com

• Instagram: @jennazoe

Continue the Conversation

Continue the Conversation

If this conversation resonated with you, you may enjoy my books:

GILDED: Breaking Free from the Cage of Ambition, Perfectionism, and the Relentless Pursuit of More

GILT FREE: Ditching Your Gilded Cage for Good

Learn more about my coaching programs at: www.KerenEldad.com

Interested in exploring whether coaching is right for you?

Book a complimentary Clarity Call:

https://calendly.com/kereneldad

Enjoyed This Episode?

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who may be tired of forcing their way through life and ready to begin trusting themselves instead.

What happens when you achieve everything you thought you wanted - and discover you're still not free?

This week on Coached, I sit down with entrepreneur, speaker, bestselling author, and BossBabe founder Natalie Ellis for one of the most honest conversations I've had about ambition, success, motherhood, and the very, very high cost so many of us pay in pursuit of them all.

https://coached-with-coach-keren.captivate.fm/gilt-free-ditching-your-gilded-cage-for-good

Natalie built one of the largest communities for female entrepreneurs in the world. From the outside, she had everything: a thriving business, millions of followers, financial success, a beautiful family, and a life many people dream about.

Then she found herself sitting on her bathroom floor at 2 a.m., exhausted, anxious, and questioning everything.

In this conversation, Natalie shares the moment that changed the trajectory of her life and business, the painful process of stepping away from what she had built, and how she ultimately returned to create something far more aligned.

We discuss:

• Why success without freedom eventually becomes a trap
• The hidden cost of building a business around other people's definitions of achievement
• How postpartum anxiety and burnout became an unexpected catalyst for transformation
• Why defining your personal "enough number" changes everything
• The danger of lifestyle creep
• Freedom versus financial security
• The role motherhood played in reshaping Natalie's priorities
• How to stop making decisions from FOMO
• The systems every entrepreneur needs to create a freedom-based business
• Why one offer often beats many offers
• What alignment actually looks like in practice
• How to identify the part of your business you should never delegate

Natalie offers us a powerful reminder: Freedom isn't something you earn after success. Freedom is something you must build into success from the beginning.

Connect with Natalie

Website: https://www.bossbabe.com/

Instagram: @iamnatalie

https://www.instagram.com/bossbabe.inc/?hl=en

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bossbabe-podcast/id1453389736

Book: The Freedom-Based Business Method

Connect with Coach Keren

Website: Coach Keren Eldad

Instagram: @coachkeren

Book: Gilt Free = Ditching Your Gilded Cage for Good

Book a Clarity Call with Coach Keren: https://calendly.com/kereneldad

"Everything makes sense when you have enough data." Former FBI hostage negotiator Derek Gaunt explains why the best negotiators aren't persuasive—they're curious. Learn the five levels of listening, the power of dynamic silence, and how to uncover the hidden information that changes everything.

https://coached-with-coach-keren.captivate.fm/gilt-free-ditching-your-gilded-cage-for-good

What if the secret to influence wasn't persuasion?

What if it was understanding?

In this fascinating episode of Coached, Keren sits down with Derek Gaunt—former hostage negotiator, senior coach at The Black Swan Group, and co-author of Fight Less, Win More—to explore the psychology of communication, negotiation, and human connection.

Drawing on nearly three decades in law enforcement and years training leaders around the world alongside Chris Voss and The Black Swan Group, Derek reveals why the best negotiators aren't the most persuasive people in the room—they're the most curious.

Together, Keren and Derek discuss:

• How Derek went from street cop to hostage negotiator
• The lessons he learned negotiating with people in crisis
• Why every conversation is a negotiation
• The biggest mistake people make in difficult conversations
• The Five Levels of Listening
• Why most people aren't actually listening
• The power of labels and mirrors
• How to use Dynamic Silence to transform communication
• The hidden psychology behind conflict
• What a "Black Swan" is and how it can completely change an outcome
• Why curiosity beats certainty
• How great negotiators build trust without sacrificing results
• The myth of win-win negotiation
• Why empathy is one of the most powerful leadership skills in the world

This conversation is packed with practical tools you can immediately use in your business, relationships, leadership, parenting, coaching, and everyday life.

Connect with Derek Gaunt

Website:

https://www.blackswanltd.com

The Black Swan Group:

https://www.blackswanltd.com

Book:

Fight Less, Win More

https://www.amazon.com/Fight-Less-Win-More

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekgaunt

Other Resources Mentioned

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Connect with Keren Eldad

Website:

https://www.coachkeren.com

Book:

GILDED: Break Free From the Cage of Ambition, Perfectionism, and the Relentless Pursuit of More

Book:

GILT FREE: Breaking Free From The Gilded Cage For Good

Book a Consultation:

https://calendly.com/kereneldad

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/coachkeren

Enjoying the Coached Podcast?

Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who wants to become a better communicator, leader, coach, negotiator, spouse, parent, or human being.