What happens when everything you built burns down—and you rise anyway?
In this deeply powerful episode of Iconic Leadership, Karissa Adkins sits down with transformational leader, embodiment coach, and multi–best-selling author Angel Cottrell for a raw, expansive conversation about divine collapse, embodied leadership, and why heart-led business is not a weakness—but the ultimate strategic advantage.
This episode is a permission slip for women who are done performing leadership and are ready to become the woman who can hold her vision.
Angel shares her story of radical reinvention, the breakdowns that became her breakthroughs, and why true transformation requires ownership, nervous system regulation, and choosing yourself—even when it’s uncomfortable.
If you’ve ever felt like your business, leadership, or life is asking you to evolve… this episode will meet you right there.
✨ What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• Why transformation isn’t about discovering who you are—but creating who you choose to become
• Angel’s powerful story of her “divine collapse” and how everything falling apart became the foundation for her next level
• The truth about why women get stuck in the mess—and how to turn it into a message
• Why business is a living, breathing entity with a mind, body, heart, and soul
• The lie that strategy must be heartless—and what becomes possible when leaders lead from the heart
• How ownership restores power and ends the victim narrative
• Why patterns repeating in your life may be proof of your evolution—not failure
• The difference between perfection, embodiment, and real leadership
• What women can expect to feel, release, and step into at the Rise event

? Key Takeaway Moments
? “If you don’t go within, you go without.”
Angel explains why avoiding inner work eventually costs you everything—personally and professionally.
? Breakdown is not punishment—it’s preparation.
The collapse you didn’t choose may be clearing space for the leader you’re becoming.
? Ownership is the moment power returns.
When you fully own your story, you get to stand on it—not be buried by it.
? Heart-led leadership is not anti-profit.
You don’t have to choose between soul and success. Healthy businesses require both love and boundaries.
? Familiar patterns returning doesn’t mean you failed.
If it feels familiar but foreign, it’s because you are not the same woman anymore.
? You are worthy of your purpose—even if no one else can see it yet.
Show Links
? Buy the Book: Alpha Queens Rising
A powerful collective of legacy stories from women who chose to rise when it mattered most — including Larissa Reid as a featured author in Volume I.
? http://amazon.com/author/karissaadkins
? Grab Your Ticket to RISE 2026
Where Purpose Meets Power — a live women’s empowerment and leadership experience featuring keynote voices shaping the next era of iconic leadership.
? Bellevue, NE | March 19, 2026
? https://rise.alphaqueencollective.com/rise-the-alpha-queen-experience-event?am_id=sarah4328 
? Book a Private Call with Karissa
Ready to rise into iconic leadership, clarify your strategy, and step fully into your CEO identity?
? https://alphaqueencollective.com/claritycall15m
About the Guest: Angel Cottrell
Angel Cottrell is the founder of Apollo Consulting Group, a transformational force for founders, CEOs, and powerhouse leaders. She is a multi–best-selling author, international award-winning speaker, embodiment coach, and soul-led strategist guiding leaders through radical reinvention and embodied evolution.
Her work is for women who are done playing small and ready to lead from truth, power, and purpose.
https://www.apolloconsultancygroup.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelcottrell/