The Comeback Show

J. Friedman Fast, MBA

5.0 (1)
Society & Culture
Weekly

The Comeback Show is the official podcast of Reinvention with Jenn Fast, where women (and a few brave men) share the real, unfiltered stories of how they reinvented their lives. Every episode offers honest conversation and hard-won wisdom to remind you that your own comeback is always possible. comebackletter.substack.com

Oct 24

She Left Chanel, Louis Vuitton & Tiffany to Find Herself, with Melissa Hidrobo

About This Episode From the outside, Melissa Hidrobo had the life a lot of people quietly envy. Twenty years in luxury retail in Miami, director-level roles for Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany and Company, and a calendar full of celebrities, beautiful things, and rooms that lit up when she walked in. From the inside, she was carrying two phones that woke her up and tucked her in, closing the boutique at 11 at night and opening it again at 8 the next morning, and missing every holiday and most of her little brother’s childhood. Today Melissa is a career transition specialist and the founder of The Stellar Soul, where she helps high achievers who feel stuck, burnt out, and unfulfilled design a real exit from a career that no longer fits. What makes her work different is that she merges soul and strategy. She holds a master’s in transpersonal psychology and an MBA, so she helps clients do the deep inner work of who they are beyond the title first, and then build the practical roadmap out. This is a conversation about what it truly costs to look successful while you are quietly falling apart, why your body often knows before your mind will admit it, and how you find yourself again on the other side of the title. What You’ll Hear Why leaving a prestigious career is so hard when your identity has quietly fused to your title, and how to start pulling the two apart The two-phone reality behind a glamorous luxury career, and the holidays and milestones it quietly costs Why your body often sounds the alarm long before your mind will admit something is wrong What transpersonal psychology actually is, and how becoming her own first case study helped Melissa come home to herself The order that makes a career exit work: inner work first, strategy second, and why most people do it backwards Why building a financial bridge while you are still employed is what makes a brave exit possible The most common mistake high achievers make when they leave, which Melissa calls "just changing the wallpaper" One small piece of inner work you can try this week, before you make any big decision Key Takeaway I want her to know she’s not crazy. She’s not ungrateful. We evolve and we transform, and if you’re feeling a calling or a nudge that something’s off, give yourself permission and space to explore it. Melissa Hidrobo, The Stellar Soul Timestamps 00:00 · Luxury Dream Life 01:19 · Meet Melissa Hidrobo 02:51 · Do You Miss It? 03:54 · Soul and Strategy 05:06 · Behind the Counter 07:01 · What the Work Cost Her 08:17 · Signs of Misalignment 09:46 · The Ten-Year Exit Plan 11:33 · Burnout in the Body 13:27 · Identity and Fear 16:24 · What Transpersonal Psychology Is 18:12 · Inner Work Practices 19:29 · Quick Break 19:57 · Why She Got the Degree 21:04 · Start With Mind, Body, Spirit 23:09 · Building the Exit Bridge 24:50 · Why Financial Runway Matters 27:47 · Common Exit Mistakes 29:01 · Burnout Across Industries 32:22 · One Small Inner Step 33:40 · Permission to Change 34:31 · Life on the Other Side 35:44 · Offers and Where to Find Her 37:07 · Final Message Connect with Melissa Hidrobo Free quiz, What’s Your Career Path Archetype: https://bit.ly/soulcareerquiz Website: https://www.thestellarsoul.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-hidrobo-thestellarsoul/ Email: melissa@thestellarsoul.com Connect with Jenn Fast Free workshop, How to Find Clarity and Confidence When Life Feels Like Too Much: https://reinventionwithjennfast.com/clarity-confidence-workshop-optin-378456 The Rewrite, my signature reinvention course mentioned in this episode: https://teachclub.com/@therewrite Website: https://reinventionwithjennfast.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsjennfast Email: info@reinventionwithjennfast.com If this episode landed with you, the kindest things you can do are subscribe so you never miss a conversation, and share it with the one friend who came to mind while you were listening. That is how this show grows, and how the next woman in the fog finds her way here too. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comebackletter.substack.com
Oct 7

Life After Infertility: The Part Nobody Talks About with Dr. Marline Duroseau

About This Episode We talk endlessly about the fight to get pregnant. We almost never talk about what happens after. What life actually looks like when the thing you prayed for finally arrives, and it is beautiful, and it is also nothing like the picture in your head. That is the part Dr. Marline C. Duroseau has rarely told in public, and it is where this conversation goes. Dr. Mar started in payroll as a 21-year-old college senior and climbed, at the same company, all the way to Chief Financial Officer. She is now Managing Director of HR and Leadership Development, a TEDx speaker, an award-winning author, and a doctoral researcher whose work sits at an intersection no one had studied before: infertility and women in leadership. She is also the mom of four boys and the founder of the Angel’s Grace Foundation. For 15 of her 24 years climbing the ladder, she was quietly living through infertility. No one at work knew. This is a conversation about carrying an invisible disruption while you lead, about the loss of her daughter Angel Grace, and about the complicated, honest truth of the life waiting on the other side. What You’ll Hear Why “the after” of infertility is the chapter almost no one talks about, and what that silence costs the women living it How Dr. Mar led a team and rose to CFO for 15 years while no one at work knew what she was carrying What it actually took to break her silence, and why the people around her said “we could have helped you” What losing her daughter Angel Grace taught her about grief that lives right next to hope Why fear is your brain trying to protect you, and how to move with it instead of waiting for it to disappear How emotional regulation becomes a genuine competitive advantage for women in leadership The guilt that can arrive with finally getting what you prayed for, and permission to feel it anyway The MCD principles (Motivated, Courageous, Dynamic) for holding onto yourself when life cracks open Key Takeaway It will alter your identity, because you are not going to be the same person. But the essence of who you are does not change. You be dynamic. — Dr. Marline C. Duroseau Timestamps 00:00 — The Hidden Cost of Success 02:00 — Meet Dr. Mar 04:00 — From Payroll to CFO 05:00 — Leading Through 15 Years of Infertility 08:30 — The Loss of Angel Grace 13:00 — Therapy, Grief, and Healing 15:30 — Life on the Other Side of Infertility 18:30 — Advocacy, Angel’s Grace Foundation, and the Daily Juggle 23:30 — Where to Find Dr. Mar 24:30 — The MCD Principles: Motivated, Courageous, Dynamic 27:00 — Final Thanks and Links Connect with Dr. Mar All of Dr. Mar’s links in one place: linktr.ee/mcduroseau Website: mcdbe.com Free resource for women in leadership (3-Step Guide to Confidently Navigate Life’s Disruptions): gift.mcdbe.com Book: It’ll Happen By Thirty: A Relentless Journey of Faith, Delayed But Not Denied LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mcdbe Her nonprofit, the Angel’s Grace Foundation, supports families through pregnancy and infant loss. Connect with Jenn Fast Feeling like life is too much right now? Jenn’s free workshop, “How to Find Clarity and Confidence When Life Feels Like Too Much,” is a gentle first step: Register free Instagram: @itsjennfast Email: info@reinventionwithjennfast.com If this episode moved you, follow The Comeback Show so you never miss a conversation, and share it with the one woman you thought of while you were listening. That is how this show grows, and how it reaches the person who needs it next. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comebackletter.substack.com
Sep 25

A Wildflower Is a Comeback: How Nature Brought Her Back to Life with Claire Rainford

About This Episode What do you do when all the wheels fall off at once? In a couple of short years, Claire Rainford lost her father, then lost her mother to terminal cancer, moved back into her childhood home, and on the very first day of lockdown was handed a melanoma diagnosis of her own. She has said it felt like drowning in life. Before any of that, Claire had built the kind of career that looks like winning from the outside. A first-class degree and a master's in marketing, years working with Disney on consumer brands, leading the marketing for an iconic British soft drink, and eventually running her own agency. She was, in her words, addicted to external validation and the next tick on the box. Then grief took the ladder away. This conversation is about what grew in the rubble. It is about the difference between clawing your way back through sheer effort and letting something gentler reach for you. For Claire, that something was nature. Today she is on an audacious mission to grow one billion wildflowers around the world, and she is proof that a comeback does not always look like a comeback. Sometimes it looks like a single flower pushing up through a crack in the pavement. What You'll Hear Why the instinct to throw yourself into work during grief is really about control, and what it quietly costs you How a mother's final wish, wildflower seeds handed out at her funeral, became the seed of a global mission The rainbow moment that turned Claire's private grief into a billion-wildflower vision What the shift from control to surrender actually asks of a lifelong high achiever (hint: she dropped the spreadsheets) Why midlife and menopause can be a phoenix moment instead of a failure, a chance to pause and choose the next chapter The permission most people never give themselves in grief, and why wallowing in it for a while can make you stronger A microdose of wellbeing you can do today with nothing but a plant pot, some soil, and a few seeds Why hope and joy are not soft. They are the whole point. Key Takeaway Out of all that hardship, that little flower has pushed through, and it puts a smile on my face. That is what I mean by a microdose of wellbeing. - Claire Rainford Timestamps 00:00 - What it looks like to be brought back to life 01:00 - Meet Claire, the One Billion Wildflower Woman 02:00 - Who Claire was in her corporate marketing years 04:00 - Chasing praise and external validation, and the cost of it 05:00 - The season everything fell apart: losing her dad and her mum 07:00 - Moving back to her childhood home, and her mother's wildflower wish 08:00 - A melanoma diagnosis on the first day of lockdown 09:30 - Throwing herself into work, and recognizing it as control 11:30 - How nature brought her back, slowly, and the Flower Power Company begins 13:00 - Wendy, the ashes, and the rainbow 16:30 - From control to surrender: dropping the spreadsheets 19:00 - Menopause as a phoenix moment 22:00 - The Billion Wildflower Mission, and 12 million pledged 25:00 - Wildflowers as a microdose of wellbeing 27:00 - The smallest first step for anyone sitting in grief 30:00 - The one message to walk away with Connect with Claire The Flower Power Company (join the mission and grow wildflowers) Free Eco Brand Building Guide (for business owners and team leaders) Follow @TheFlowerPowerCompany on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube Connect with Jenn Fast Free workshop: How to Find Clarity and Confidence When Life Feels Like Too Much reinventionwithjennfast.com The Comeback Letter on Substack Instagram: @itsjennfast Email: info@reinventionwithjennfast.com If this episode moved you, follow The Comeback Show wherever you listen, and share it with someone who is in the middle of their own hard season. That is how we grow together. This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit comebackletter.substack.com
Sep 11

When Your Perfect Life Feels Like a Trap with Giulia Girelli

About This Episode Have you ever stood inside a life that looked completely fine on paper — good job, relationship, friends, travel — and still felt a hollow ache you couldn't explain? That's exactly where Giulia Girelli was. Living in Milan's fashion world, modeling agency, luxury brand design office, and a persistent, quiet sense that something was deeply wrong. With her. What she eventually discovered — through a miscarriage, a cross-continental move, and a pandemic that forced her still — was that nothing was wrong with her at all. She was simply disconnected from herself. And the difference between those two things? It changed everything. Giulia is the founder of Nia Essence and creator of the Return To You method, a 360-degree transformation framework that works on identity from the inside out: inner work, personal style, your physical environment, nervous system regulation, habits, and boundaries — all together, in a spiral (not a straight line). This is one of the most honest and specific conversations we've had on this show about what it really means to lose yourself — and how you actually come back. What You'll Hear Why "what's wrong with me?" is the question that keeps you stuck — and the reframe that breaks the loop How a miscarriage became an unexpected permission slip to leave a life Giulia never actually chose Why moving somewhere nobody knew her was the first time she felt truly free — and what that reveals about identity How COVID's forced stillness cracked open a self-discovery deeper than anything she'd tried before Why motherhood didn't create her old patterns — it just revealed the places she still needed to heal How your closet and your mirror are either reinforcing your old identity or anchoring your new one (and why this is why habits don't stick) The Zen Corner concept: why creating one physical space that belongs only to you can rewire your nervous system's ability to set limits with the people you love Why healing is spiral, not linear — and what the Return To You method looks like in practice Key Takeaway "I stopped asking 'what's wrong with me?' and started asking 'what do you actually want?' That question was really life-changing." — Giulia Girelli Timestamps 00:00 — Perfect Life, Quiet Misery 00:59 — Welcome and Guest Intro 02:14 — Milan Dream vs. Inner Void 04:42 — Ignored Warning Signs 07:04 — Miscarriage and Lost Permission 10:12 — Choosing Change and Self Permission 12:08 — Moving to the US, Feeling Free 14:27 — COVID Stillness and Identity Shift 18:49 — Tools for Listening Inward 22:53 — Motherhood Triggers Old Patterns 29:59 — Turning Pain Into Purpose 31:40 — Mission To Help Mothers Heal 34:02 — Building Nia Essence Method 36:38 — Spiral Transformation Framework 38:36 — Closet Identity Alignment 42:30 — Zen Corner Boundaries 46:27 — Italy vs. US Motherhood 51:38 — Five Year Vision Impact 54:39 — Group Program: Feel Like Yourself Again 58:23 — Find Giulia Online 59:55 — Final Message: Do the Scary Thing 01:01:11 — Closing Thanks and Share Connect with Giulia Girelli Instagram: @niaessence.co Free Guide: Finding Your Presence The Identity Reset Experience Feel Like Yourself Again — Group Coaching Program Book a Free 1:1 Identity Reset Session All links (Linktree) Connect with Jenn Fast Free Workshop: How to Find Clarity and Confidence When Life Feels Like Too Much Instagram: @itsjennfast Email Jenn If this conversation resonated with you, please share it with a woman who needs to hear it. And if you haven't yet — subscribe to The Comeback Show and leave us a review. It genuinely helps more women find these conversations. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comebackletter.substack.com
Aug 28

The Gut Knew First: Intuition, Cycle-Breaking, and the Cost of Not Trusting Yourself with Jen McKillop

About This Episode My guest today told me that for as long as she can remember, she has known things without knowing how she knew them. As a kid she thought everyone had it. It took her years to realize they did not. She also told me that her father was an alcoholic. And that she got pregnant with someone who was also an alcoholic. And that it took a full year of working on her own self-worth before she could leave him. If you have ever wondered why we walk straight back into the version of the pain we just escaped, this episode is for you. Jen McKillop is a Master Intuitive who has spent the last two years going very deep into a craft she has actually been quietly practicing her whole life. She uses intuition to access the subconscious patterns and memories that get stuck in the body, traces them back to the age they started, and then pairs that energetic work with real-world, almost embarrassingly simple physical practices so the change actually sticks. This conversation is about the cost of not trusting yourself. And what it takes to break a pattern before you pass it on. What You'll Hear Why intuition is the thing that hits you fast and first, and why almost every woman second-guesses it into silence The seven-year relationship Jen stayed in, the shaman that cracked her open, and the year of self-worth work it took to leave The 20 non-negotiables list she wrote before she met her now-husband, and why she checked every box before she said yes How Jen and her ex's wife went from years of court dates and CPS calls to a full reconciliation, and the past-life reframe that unlocked it The difference between intuition and psychic work, and why Jen is very careful about the distinction The science-curious framing of intuition as energy field reading, and the low-stakes experiment you can run on yourself this week Why we absorb our parents' beliefs before we are seven, and how those beliefs run 90% of our adult day whether we know it or not The ADHD-friendly rule Jen uses in her practice: complicated equals abandoned, so keep it to one or two things Jenn's own gut-check moment when she walked out of her corporate job nine months ago with no plan and no money Key Takeaway "Intuition hits you fast and it hits you first. A lot of times people question it because they sit there and ponder it, and they manipulate it and change it in their mind with their emotions, and that is where they start to think they are making it up." — Jen McKillop Timestamps 00:00 — Gut Knew First 00:49 — Meet Jen McKillop 02:58 — Early Intuitive Hits 04:44 — What Intuition Feels Like 05:33 — Repeating Painful Patterns 07:39 — Rebuilding Self Worth 09:28 — Choosing Safe Love 10:56 — Coparenting and Forgiveness 15:16 — Past Life Reframe 16:34 — Psychics Versus Intuition 17:42 — Stay or Leave Wisdom 19:42 — Ignoring a Big Warning 21:17 — Skeptic Meets Energy 23:57 — Why Labels Matter 24:34 — Energy Shifts Timelines 25:23 — Intuition Experiment Week 26:43 — Quitting Job Gut Check 28:22 — Subconscious In The Body 31:25 — Simple Steps For ADHD 33:05 — Midlife Identity Wakeup 35:14 — Reinventing Public Mission 37:57 — Trusting The Unknown 38:53 — Daily Body Practices 41:24 — Intuition Course Purpose 42:22 — Free State Gap Advice 43:46 — Where To Find Jen 44:24 — Final Takeaway Message Connect with Jen McKillop Website: https://www.jenmckillop.com Intuition Level 1 waitlist: Join here Podcast: Awaken Your Path (available on all major podcast platforms) Instagram: @jen.mckillop YouTube: @Jen.mckillop Connect with Jenn Fast Free 5-day Self-Trust Reset Challenge — built for the exact ache in this episode: Join here Instagram: @itsjennfast Email: jenn@jfriedmanfast.com The Comeback Show runs on Descript: My affiliate link (using it supports the show at no extra cost to you) If this conversation landed with you, the best thing you can do is share it with the friend who came to mind while you were listening. That is how this show grows. New episodes of The Comeback Show drop every other Tuesday. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comebackletter.substack.com
Aug 14

The Cost of Illusion with Lisa Stark

NOTE: This episode goes live for upgraded subscribers on Substack on Wednesday 8/12/26, and then 48 hours later for everyone else. You look fine on paper. Maybe better than fine. Your calendar is full, your team relies on you, your family is fed, the emails are answered. And underneath all of it, something essential is quietly slipping away and you cannot say it out loud because who complains about a life that looks like this? This week on The Comeback Show, I sit down with Lisa Stark, a corporate leader turned self-leadership and identity coach who calls this pattern the cost of the illusion. Lisa spent 25 years in healthcare finance. She was leading teams of a hundred and a billion in revenue by 26. She was also performing herself into a corner, and it took her decades to realize her exhaustion was not a personal failing but a warning shot. This conversation is for the woman who is winning at everything and can't tell anyone she is losing herself. We talk about the identity gap, the identity upgrade, practical energetics as a real toolkit (no woo required), self-authority as the work of reclaiming a voice you did not realize you had outsourced, and why letting your wins actually land in your body is the difference between rebuilding self-trust and just surviving. What You'll Hear → Why high-functioning is not the same as well, and how the disconnect shows up in your body and your relationships long before it shows up in your calendar → What Lisa means by the identity gap and the identity upgrade, and how to tell which side of the threshold you are actually on → Practical Energetics: the real, boring, non-woo toolkit for regulating your nervous system in high-pressure moments (yes, including the water reset trick that would have saved us both in corporate) → Who high-capacity women most often outsource their voice to, and the pattern-breaking work of taking it back → Why clarity comes from movement (not the other way around), and how to act before you feel ready without shaming yourself for stumbling → The let-it-land practice that rebuilds self-trust at the nervous system level, and why the amnesia most of us have about our own accomplishments is quietly costing us capacity → The persona theory: why so many of us never feel like we belong, even in the rooms we built, and what happens when we stop performing in our closest relationships → Lisa's programs coming this summer (Mirror Mirror, Satisfied, Move at the Speed of Trust) and how to be first in line when doors open Key Takeaway "You have a 100% success record of surviving everything that life has thrown at you. So why would we ever doubt that we can't handle the next?" — Lisa Stark Timestamps 00:00 The Cost of the Illusion 01:54 Lisa Stark's Rise 02:28 Teen Mom to Leader 06:26 Proving Herself at Work 08:38 What Success Cost Her 10:17 Midlife Crack Moment 13:24 Jenn's Breaking Point 15:21 Amnesia and Highlights 19:17 Naming the Identity Gap 23:19 Identity Upgrade Process 27:05 Movement Before Clarity 32:16 Practical Energetics Explained 35:27 Energy Maintenance Basics 35:57 Water Reset Technique 36:38 Grounding Without Woo 38:40 Pre-Meeting Shielding 40:36 Grounded Meeting Presence 42:25 Energy Tools For Moms 45:05 Self-Authority Explained 45:31 Outsourcing Your Voice 51:15 Rewiring New Responses 55:18 Let Wins Land 58:44 Intuition Tracking Journal 59:49 Personas Block Belonging 1:02:46 Programs and Where to Find Lisa 1:05:48 Final Takeaway: You Are Enough Connect with Lisa Stark Website: lisastark.co Instagram: @lisa.stark.co Facebook: facebook.com/lisa.stark.co Email list (Mirror Mirror, Satisfied, Move at the Speed of Trust): Join Lisa's email list Work with Lisa 1:1: lisa@lisastark.co Connect with Jenn Fast Free Executive Function Self-Assessment: Take the assessment The Comeback Letter: Subscribe on Substack Instagram: @itsjennfast Website: reinventionwithjennfast.com If this episode hit something in you, share it with the woman in your life who needs to hear it. Subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next, and leave a five-star review if you have a minute. It really does help more women find the show. #TheComebackShow This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comebackletter.substack.com
Jul 31

It Was Never About Willpower: How to Quiet Food Noise and Sugar Cravings with Laura Banks

For years you have been told the same thing: if you cannot stop reaching for sugar, you just need more willpower. More discipline. A little more white-knuckling. This episode takes that whole story apart. The voice in your head that says you should not eat that, then twenty minutes later is begging you to, is not weakness. It is biology, and it gets loudest at the exact moment you have the least left to fight it with. My guest is Laura Banks, a nutrition health coach who helps women quiet what she calls food noise, the constant inner monologue about what you should and should not eat. Laura is a former third-grade teacher who once locked her classroom door after the final bell so she could binge in secret, five days a week. She healed her own relationship with food, lost 30 pounds without medication, and has since helped more than eighty-five women do the same. She brings the science, which is exactly what my nerdy, data-loving audience wants. This is a conversation about cravings, blood sugar, stress, perimenopause, and the boundaries it takes to protect your health when the people around you are not on the same page. But underneath all of it, it is about something bigger: that the war with food was never yours to win on willpower alone, and that food freedom is actually possible. What You’ll Hear Why the voice that will not stop thinking about food is biology, not a lack of willpower The two kinds of cravings, physical and emotional, and how to tell which one you are having What the blood sugar rollercoaster actually does to your brain, your mood, and your next decision Why your body screams for sugar when what it truly needs is protein, fiber, movement, or sleep How chronic stress and perimenopause make cravings louder, and why that is not a character flaw The all-or-nothing mindset that quietly sabotages every fresh start, and how to break the cycle Real scripts for protecting your health when the people you live with are not on board Why the most selfish thing you can do is refuse to take care of yourself Key Takeaway There is not just one way to heal your cravings. It is entirely possible to live a life of food freedom, where you are not shackled by the thoughts of food. You can be present with the people you love. That is possible, without medication and without anything extreme. It is simple shifts to your habits and your mindset. — Laura Banks Timestamps 00:00 Sugar Is Biology 01:09 Meet Laura Banks 02:33 Her Sugar Spiral 05:34 Bingeing And Breakthrough 07:37 Restriction Doesnt Work 09:51 What Is Food Noise 12:08 Blood Sugar Rollercoaster 15:22 Stress Makes Cravings Loud 17:35 Midlife And Perimenopause 20:13 Protein Over Sugar 22:20 Metabolism And Cravings 23:36 Long Lasting Fuel 25:03 Mindset Makes It Stick 26:54 All Or Nothing Trap 28:20 Boundaries At Home 30:38 Gentle Family Habits 34:57 Stop Feeling Selfish 37:11 Where To Find Laura 38:35 Food Freedom Takeaway 39:46 Final Call To Action Connect with Laura Banks bhealthyhabits.com Instagram + TikTok: @laura.b.healthy Free guide: The Meals I Ate to Lose 30 Pounds and Keep It Off Her podcast: Isn’t She Powerful Hear the other half of our swap: my guest episode on Isn’t She Powerful (stress, boundaries, and burnout) Connect with Jenn Fast reinventionwithjennfast.com Nutrition Foundations: start with my free 60 High-Protein Snack Ideas ebook, then explore the recipe collections in my shop. Free Executive Function Self-Assessment The Comeback Letter newsletter Instagram: @itsjennfast info@reinventionwithjennfast.com Recorded and edited on Descript. If this one landed, subscribe on Substack and YouTube so you never miss an episode, and share it with the woman in your life who has been at war with food for too long. New episodes of The Comeback Show every other Wednesday for upgraded Substack subscribers, and 48 hours later for everyone else. This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit comebackletter.substack.com
Jul 17

Leaving a Toxic Career at 41 (I Was the Other Frog) with Jen Fieldman

THE COMEBACK SHOW • EPISODE 15 The Truth About Leaving a Toxic Career (I Was the Other Frog) With Jen Fieldman on Quitting Without a Plan, Perimenopause, and the AI Tools That Brought Her Back About This Episode Somewhere in the middle of a career you built with everything you had, your body starts breaking down. The stress you used to push through will not push anymore. And you catch yourself thinking things you would never say out loud, like maybe if you got sick enough, someone would make the choice for you. Because leaving? That is the part almost nobody tells you how to actually do. This week I sit down with Jen Fieldman, a business strategist and Human Design practitioner for women entrepreneurs managing brain fog, chronic fatigue, and chronic pain. Before this version of her business existed, Jen spent close to twenty years inside ad agencies, research vendors, and corporate marketing in Minneapolis. The last decade of that stretch was, in her words, toxic everywhere she went. She did not leave dramatically. She did not have a savings cushion. She did not even have a backup plan. What she had was eighteen months that almost killed her brain, a proposal her boss handed her one ordinary Tuesday, and just enough of a nest egg to jump. This is the honest version of the leaving-corporate story. The one where you do not have six months of savings and a clean handoff. Where you move in with your parents in your forties to make the math work. Where multiple medication reactions, perimenopause dismissed by your OB, and Crohn flares nearly finish what corporate started. And it is the story of coming back online, with AI tools she built for herself first and Human Design as the operating manual she wishes someone had handed her twenty years ago. What You Will Hear Why the Boiling Frog Metaphor Is the Most Honest Description of a Slowly-Toxic Career, and Which Frog Most Women Are Being The Moment a High-Performing Woman Realizes She Is Quietly Rooting for Hospitalization, and What That Thought Actually Means What Leaving Corporate Without a Partner, Without Savings, and Without a Plan Really Costs, Including the Parts the Influencer Version of This Story Leaves Out Why Fifty Percent of Women in Perimenopause Are Prescribed Antidepressants When Hormones Are Often the Real Story How to Advocate for Hormone Testing and HRT When Your OB Is Dismissing Your Symptoms How Jen Built Claude AI Skills for Her Own Brain Fog Days Before Realizing the Whole Capacity-Constrained Community Needed Them What Human Design Actually Is (and Is Not), and How a 5/2 Emotional Generator Makes Decisions Differently Than Corporate Ever Taught Her The F-You Mission: What It Looks Like to Build a Business on Your Own Terms Without Asking Anyone Permission First Key Takeaway You are not alone. You are not crazy. Even if you might have depression or anxiety, some of that can be your hormones. If you are dealing with weird symptoms, find someone who will listen to you. This is part of giving choice, and part of breaking down the suffer-in-silence thing. -Jen Fieldman Timestamps 00:00 Toxic Career Teaser 01:04 Meet Jen Fieldman 04:01 Finding Her Niche 05:42 Seen in the Inbox 07:25 Frog in the Pot 08:55 Wishing for a Crisis 12:22 The Last Straw Proposal 15:04 Quitting Without a Plan 17:29 The Real Money Math 21:30 Only Income Pressure 23:34 Who Am I Now 26:51 Healing as an Entrepreneur 27:50 Eighteen Months of Brain Fog 30:06 Perimenopause Reality Check 32:51 Menopause Timing Confusion 33:50 Hormones vs Antidepressants 35:33 Brain Fog Root Causes 36:55 AI Brain Fog Busters 39:45 Human Design Explained 41:49 Reading Your Chart 46:21 Profiles and Lines 49:04 Human Design in Business 51:09 The F You Mission 53:26 Hope for Next Generation 55:45 You Are Not Alone 57:29 Where to Find Jenn 58:23 Final Takeaway and Wrap Connect With Jen Fieldman Website: jenfieldman.com New: One-on-One Strategy Session (personalized with Human Design and astrology) Free Resource: The Brain Fog Busters Claude Skills Pack Instagram: @jenfieldman Connect With Jenn Fast Take the Free Executive Function Self-Assessment: reinventionwithjennfast.com/executive-function-assessment-optin Website: reinventionwithjennfast.com Instagram: @itsjennfast Email: jenn@jfriedmanfast.com One More Thing If this conversation gave you words for something you have been feeling but could not name, share it with the friend still sitting in the slowly-warming water. That is how comebacks travel. And if you loved this episode, the kindest thing you can do for The Comeback Show is leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast app. It genuinely makes a difference. Recorded and edited in Descript. If you are thinking about starting your own podcast, my affiliate link is here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comebackletter.substack.com

The Comeback Show is the official podcast of Reinvention with Jenn Fast, where women (and a few brave men) share the real, unfiltered stories of how they reinvented their lives. Every episode offers honest conversation and hard-won wisdom to remind you that your own comeback is always possible. comebackletter.substack.com

Creator

J. Friedman Fast, MBA
Years Active

2026
Episodes

21
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© J. Friedman Fast, MBA
Show Website

The Comeback Show