Women's Well-Being Movement: Leading Ladies Leaving Legacies with Carole Jean Whittington

Finishing a major milestone like a PhD often leaves us asking: "Who am I without this goal?"

Dr. Courtney Beck, founder of Plenty of Positivity, unpacks the transition from academic achievement to launching her own platform.

Courtney shares how stepping into quiet reflection, revisiting personal values, and taking single courageous steps invites ease, serendipity, and flow into times of profound uncertainty.

• Take Action for Your Well-Being:

• Assess your mental fatigue and restore your focus using our complimentary Hidden Load Map at Whittington Institute.  https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/products/courses/view/1195126 

• Experience the power of collective well-being with Self Care September at Whittington Well-Being. https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/products/courses/view/1173206 

Guest Contact Information:

• Website: Plenty of Positivity https://www.plentyofpositivity.com/ 

• Podcast: Plenty of Positivity Podcast https://www.plentyofpositivity.com/plenty-of-positivity/podcast/ 

• Book Club: Courtney's Corner

Dr. Courtney Beck is passionate about education, sport, and community. She is the founder of Plenty of Positivity. Plenty of Positivity is dedicated to building a positive community for a better tomorrow. She hosts a podcast where discussions encompass life, sport, and career. She is also an adjunct professor at Florida State University.

When you achieve the corporate executive title you worked decades for, only to realize it isn't what you truly want, where do you go next? 

Human Design expert and consultant Michelle Pecak explores the intense identity shift that occurs when shedding career titles. 

She breaks down how understanding your unique energetic blueprint (and embracing your "Dog/Cat Vibe") allows you to build a "Joy Job," navigate life like a multi-lane highway, and surrender to your natural authority.

• Take Action for Your Well-Being:

• Identify what invisible tasks are draining your energetic capacity with our complimentary Hidden Load Map at Whittington Institute. https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/products/courses/view/1195126 

• Realign your energy during our 5th annual Self Care September at Whittington Well-Being. https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/products/courses/view/1173206 

  
  

Guest Contact Information:

• Website: My Vibe Human Design http://Www.myvibehumandesign.com 

• Resource: Dog Vibes & Cat Vibes Energetic Reports http://Www.mydogvibes.com 

  
  

Michelle Pecak is a strategic business consultant, Human Design guide, and creator of MODERN WIRING™ and MY DOG VIBES™. With more than 20 years leading pricing, operations, and supply chain strategy for billion-dollar manufacturers and distributors, she helps organizations align people, process, pricing, and profit for sustainable growth. Through MODERN WIRING™, Michelle combines business strategy with human behavior to help leaders build stronger cultures and higher-performing teams. Her newest platform, MY DOG VIBES™, brings Human Design to life through playful dog personalities that make self-awareness, communication, and teamwork easier—and a lot less ruff. 

What happens when you achieve everything on paper, but feel completely disconnected on the inside? 

Transformation coach Crystal Ellis takes us back to the season when a corporate career shift and the end of a long-term relationship forced her to stop "performing" her life. 

Crystal discusses how taking a 200-hour yoga training opened the door to somatic feeling, nervous system safety, and moving from constant achievement to true contentment.

• Take Action for Your Well-Being:

• Measure your capacity and stress triggers with our complimentary Hidden Load Map at Whittington Institute.

• Deepen your daily restoration with Self Care September at Whittington Well-Being.

Guest Contact Information:

• Website Crystal Clear Wellness

• Offerings: Spark Session, a complimentary coaching conversation  

• Events: Align Community Gatherings

• LinkedIn:  Crystal Star Ellis

Crystal Star Ellis is a speaker, coach, and founder of Crystal Clear Wellness. After more than two decades in corporate leadership, Crystal understands what it feels like to build a life that looks successful on the outside while feeling disconnected on the inside.

Today, she helps women navigate burnout, major life transitions, grief, recovery, and personal growth by reconnecting with themselves and redefining success from the inside out. Through a blend of coaching, nervous system regulation, Human Design, somatic practices, and mindfulness, she helps women cultivate greater clarity, confidence, and self-trust so they can create lives that feel aligned, intentional, and deeply fulfilling.

How often do we make sure everyone else in our family is taken care of, only to realize we left ourselves entirely out of the equation?

 Business mentor and wealth consciousness coach Sarah Walton shares the exact moment during her divorce transition when she realized she was still carrying all the invisible burdens, and walking the damn dog. 

Sarah breaks down high-functioning codependency, the necessity of self-forgiveness, and how a simple 30-minute daily boundary can unlock deep personal wholeness and abundance.

• Take Action for Your Well-Being:

• Uncover where you are abandoning yourself using our complimentary Hidden Load Map at Whittington Institute.

• Celebrate your reclamation during our 5th annual Self Care September at Whittington Well-Being.

Guest Contact Information:

• Website: SarahWalton.com 

• Podcast: Game On Girlfriend Podcast

• Program: The Abundance Academy

Sarah Walton is a business coach, wealth consciousness expert, and creator of The Abundance Academy—designed to help purpose-driven women stop undercharging, stop over-giving, and enjoy running a profitable business. She’s been featured on The Today Show, spoken on stages around the world, and helped hun-dreds of women unlock real abundance—by tapping into their values, their voice, or their sanity. 

When grief, family loss, and an abrupt business shutdown hit all at once, how do you keep moving forward?

In this opening episode of our Navigating Uncertainty series, collage artist and podcast booking expert Noemi Beres shares her deeply personal journey through compounding grief and unexpected career pivots.

Noemi reveals how turning to creative art, stepping away from toxic news cycles, and taking daily intentional walks became her lifeline. Tune in to learn why healing doesn't require massive overhauls—just the courage to take one small step at a time.

• Take Action for Your Well-Being:

• Map out the invisible emotional labor holding you back with our complimentary Hidden Load Map at Whittington Institute.

• Join us for our 5th annual Self Care September at Whittington Well-Being to access live workshops and community reflection tools.

Guest Contact Information:

• Website: Podcast Connections

• LinkedIn Newsletter: Subscribe on LinkedIn

• Free Resource: Mention this episode to receive Noemi’s Podcast Guest Cheat Sheet.

Noemi Beres is the Co-Owner of Podcast Connections, where she helps entrepreneurs and experts grow through meaningful, high-quality podcast interviews. A linguist by training with a Master’s degree in Danish Language and Literature, Noemi has worked in online marketing since 2007 and brings a deep love of communication, clarity, and connection to everything she does. Based in Cyprus, she is also a content creator and mixed-media artist inspired by her Hungarian roots. Through her latest offering, Silent Thinking Sessions, Noemi creates calm, grounding spaces for reflection and emotional well-being in a fast-paced world. 

What if the secret to overcoming burnout isn't working harder, but finally letting yourself be genuinely supported by a community that gets it? 💛

In this deeply grounding and insightful episode, I’m joined by psychotherapist and practice owner Becky Richards for a powerful conversation on why women’s well-being cannot happen in isolation. 

Together, we unpack how the hidden weight of expectations, unmanaged shame, and juggling dozens of roles can lead to capacity compression, long before any official burnout hits. 

If you've ever felt like you're dropping the ball in one area of life just to keep it afloat in another, this heart-to-heart discussion will give you the permission and framework you need to pause, breathe, and reclaim your well-being.

Key Highlights from This Episode:

• The Eight Dimensions of Wellness: How to use a holistic framework to check in with yourself when life feels off balance, moving beyond just the obvious stressors of work and daily demands.

• Decoding Capacity Compression: Discover why women in their 40s and 50s juggle a staggering number of roles (sometimes 45 to 75+) and how unpacking old shame and expectations can help you release what no longer serves you.

• Redefining Workplace Culture: An inspiring look at how Becky runs her own mental health practice by replacing restrictive corporate productivity quotas with real, conversational, and human-centered collaboration.

Resources Mentioned:  The Hidden Load Map, Life feeling heavier than it used to? Access the first map in my Atlas of Authentic Identity. This guided orientation experience helps you uncover how your roles, identity, and adaptive capacity interact so you can gain clarity, reclaim self-trust, and confidently choose your next step.⁠https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/products/courses/view/1195126⁠  Meet Our Guest: Becky Richards, MS, LPC, CSAC, C-DBT is a psychotherapist, founder of Summit Your Summit, and an advocate for mental health and authentic leadership who brings a commonsense, trust-first approach to the therapeutic process. Connect with Becky through her website at Summit Your Summit and on LinkedIn.

About the Women’s Well-Being Movement This is more than a podcast; it’s a movement. We reject the myth that exhaustion is the price of success. We are women who lead in boardrooms, communities, and families—without losing ourselves. Read our manifesto and join the movement at: https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/womenswellbeingmovement   

Together we rise, together we stand, together we lead.

What if everything you've been taught about health, fitness, and holding your body is actually keeping you stuck in chronic stress? 

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in, because in this deeply liberating episode, host Carole Jean Whittington sits down with the incredible Lila Veronica for a heart-to-heart conversation on dropping the armor, redefining well-being through your authentic values, and stepping out of isolation. 

If you’ve ever found yourself holding tension from head to toe without even realizing it, this episode is the gentle wake-up call and deep breath you didn't know you needed.

We often treat well-being like a checklist or push through exhaustion as the price of success, but Lila reminds us that true vitality requires a completely new paradigm. This conversation dismantles the harmful messaging women receive about making themselves small, tightening up, and powering through. Instead, Lila offers a refreshing, body-centered roadmap to help you unlock higher potential without burning out.

Episode Highlights

• The Power of Being Witnessed: Discover why being seen in a loving, non-judgmental space is a biological necessity for women to blossom and discover their true gifts.

• Softening Over Tightening: Learn why we need to move away from rigid, "tuck and squeeze" exercise culture and embrace a fluid, cat-like posture of opening and strengthening.

• The Heart, Hips, and Head Framework: Lila breaks down three actionable physical adjustments—releasing the belly, freeing the hips, and softening your visual gaze—to instantly shift your energy, clear brain fog, and reduce physical pain.

  
  

Resources Mentioned:

• The Hidden Load Map: Life feeling heavier than it used to? Access the first map in my Atlas of Authentic Identity. This guided orientation experience helps you uncover how your roles, identity, and adaptive capacity interact so you can gain clarity, reclaim self-trust, and confidently choose your next step.https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/products/courses/view/1195126   

Meet Our Guest

Lila Veronica is a Speaker, Coach, and CEO of The Riverstone Movement School who helps high-performers, business owners, and organizational leaders shift the physical component of their lives. With over 20 years of experience teaching mind-body practices, she integrates movement into the mental-mastery journey so visionary leaders can reach a greater potential faster without stress or burnout. 

🌐 Connect with Lila Veronica: https://www.riverstonemovement.com/

About the Women’s Well-Being Movement This is more than a podcast; it’s a movement. We reject the myth that exhaustion is the price of success. We are women who lead in boardrooms, communities, and families—without losing ourselves. Read our manifesto and join the movement at: https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/womenswellbeingmovement   

Together we rise, together we stand, together we lead.

Are you feeling lost in the caregiving roles you’ve spent years filling for everyone but yourself? In this episode, we explore what it truly means to break free from the "hidden load" and begin speaking life back into your own spirit.

Our guest today is Michele Hawkins, a transformational force in holistic wellness dedicated to helping women 40+ turn midlife into their ultimate power zone. With over 25 years of experience in beauty, wellness, and functional nutrition, Michele empowers women to reshape their mindset and self-image to unlock bold confidence.

A recipient of the 2024 Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, Michele’s work is about elevation, reinvention, and living a life that is unapologetically powerful.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Breaking the cycle of losing yourself to your roles.

• The profound impact of speaking life into yourself and other women.

• A special, deeply moving segment where Michele shares the exact words she speaks to her 12-year-old granddaughter—a message for your own inner child.

Resources Mentioned:

• The Hidden Load Map: Life feeling heavier than it used to? Access the first map in my Atlas of Authentic Identity. This guided orientation experience helps you uncover how your roles, identity, and adaptive capacity interact so you can gain clarity, reclaim self-trust, and confidently choose your next step.https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/products/courses/view/1195126   

Connect with Michele Hawkins:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelehawkins/

About the Women’s Well-Being Movement This is more than a podcast; it’s a movement. We reject the myth that exhaustion is the price of success. We are women who lead in boardrooms, communities, and families—without losing ourselves. Read our manifesto and join the movement at: https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/womenswellbeingmovement   

Together we rise, together we stand, together we lead.

 Stop apologizing for your pain. Too many high-performing women are being told their symptoms are just "part of the process." That ends now.

In this powerful conversation, we dive beneath the surface of the current healthcare landscape to address a systemic issue that impacts far too many women: the dismissal of our voices and our pain. Join us as we explore how to move beyond the "surface" symptoms to advocate for our own health, our families, and our future.

Key Highlights:

• The Power of Being Heard: Discover why being "witnessed"—having your symptoms and concerns truly acknowledged—is a critical, non-negotiable component of healing and overall well-being.

• Navigating Systemic Bias: Natalie shares her personal journey of navigating healthcare obstacles and offers strategic insights on how to prepare for medical appointments as you would for a business meeting to ensure your voice is taken seriously.

• Redefining Health Advocacy: Learn how to shift from feeling diminished by the healthcare system to reclaiming your agency, ensuring that your health needs are prioritized rather than dismissed as "part of the process".

  
  

Connect With Our Guest Natalie Benamou is the Founder of HerCsuite® and the Board President and CEO of HER HEALTHX, a nonprofit dedicated to bridging the care communication gap to improve health outcomes for women. A serial podcast host and sought-after speaker, Natalie empowers executive women to navigate their next chapters with confidence and strategic alignment.

• Learn more about HerCsuite® and connect with Natalie here

• Her book, Power of What's NEXT: Bold Moves By Design 

  
  

Whittington Institute & Your Next Best Step Are you currently navigating a transition or feeling the weight of uncertainty? You don’t have to do it alone. Gain the clarity you need to make your next move with ease by exploring The Hidden Load Map, part of The Atlas of Authentic Identity. This tool is designed to help you identify where your energy is truly going, allowing you to stop "powering through" and start stepping into the light of your own authentic leadership.

This is more than a podcast, it’s a movement. Join the Women’s Well-Being Movement and read our manifesto to stand for success without self-sacrifice.

 I’ve been a keynote speaker and stood on global stages, yet I still find myself hitting moments where the old map no longer works. If you’re at a juncture where you’re excited to shine but uncertain how to step into the light, you’re in good company. 

In today’s episode, The Map of the Unseen, we’re ditching the pressure to "power through." I’m sharing my personal tools for staying grounded in the present, finding clarity amidst the noise, and reclaiming your inner wisdom. 

Tune in to discover the bridge to our new series, Beyond Hormones, Going Beneath the Surface, and grab your first orientation too, a deep dive into the hidden load behind high performance. Let’s stop falling into the trap of more data and begin by listening within..

 I’ve opened up the first map in the Atlas of Authentic Identity. It’s called 'Orientation Experience One - Mapping Your Role Capacity' It’s an invitation to stop powering through and to  gently orient you to your current experience by helping you understand how your energy, responsibilities, and identity work together so your own clarity, discernment, and next steps can naturally emerge.

Whittington Institute and Whittington Well-Being

 This is more than a podcast, it’s a movement. Join the Women’s Well-Being Movement and read our manifesto to stand for success without self-sacrifice.

https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/womenswellbeingmovement