“That’s the stuff that creates burnout. That’s the internal dialogue, the micromanaging, the invisible load. Many of my clients have the means and the ability to speak up—they’re not trapped—but they’re still not doing it. So, I tell them: Speak up!”— Rachel Leigh
Brief Summary/Overview:
In this episode of The Kanthal Group LinkedIn Live, we dive into the complexities of building a business together as both life and business partners. We share our personal journey, from Rachel’s transition into The Kanthal Group to the challenges of burnout and the evolution of our partnership. This conversation sheds light on how we, as two coaches living under one roof, manage the same human struggles our clients face—balancing life and work, dealing with burnout, and speaking up for ourselves.
Key Takeaways:
- The evolution of our partnership and how it impacts both our business and personal lives.
Rachel’s journey from functional nutritionist to executive coach and why mindset matters as much as health protocols. - The invisible load women often carry and how it contributes to burnout in high-performing women.
- Why speaking up, delegating, and taking action are essential for preventing overwhelm in leadership.
- How we plan to share real-time coaching conversations and client stories to inspire you on LinkedIn Live every week.
Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction: Darren introduces Rachel and our new journey together at The Kanthal Group.
3:24 – Rachel teases Darren’s infamous “dad jokes.”
5:00 – Rachel shares her upbringing in rural Wisconsin and the unique ways she got around as a teen.
6:38 – We discuss Rachel’s 14-year career in nutrition therapy and how burnout led to a major pivot.
10:25 – Rachel reflects on the root causes of burnout and how it mirrors the struggles her clients face.
14:49 – Darren praises Rachel’s unique ability to dig into root causes, both in nutrition and executive coaching.
22:26 – Rachel reveals the key moment she decided to join The Kanthal Group and how her perspective on partnership changed.
30:56 – The viral LinkedIn post: Rachel discusses the powerful moment she began speaking her truth on LinkedIn.
38:13 – We discuss our new Women’s Leadership Program and the clients we are serving at The Kanthal Group.
39:23 – Conclusion: We invite you to join us every Tuesday for more insights and discussions on LinkedIn Live.
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Transcript:
Darren: Alright, hopefully this is going live.
Rachel: I think it is. Hey everyone.
Darren: Hi everybody. I’m Darren, the founder of The Kanthal Group. And I have the privilege of introducing my life and business partner, Ms. Rachel.
Rachel: That sounds so cheesy.
Darren: Well, I was thinking about… remember the coaching program you went through, the one focused a lot on marketing? One of her things was when people say, “I’m so excited to announce my new offer” or “I’m so excited to introduce someone.” She was like, “Nobody cares that you’re excited.” So then I was thinking in my head, well, what do I say? And I guess it was cheesy, right?
Rachel: It was a little cheesy. That’s okay. Hi everyone, I’m Rachel. So yes, we’re here with The Kanthal Group. Yes, Darren is my life and business partner, which is a newer evolution of our relationship that we’ve joined forces in business.
It comes with a lot of interesting conversations at our house. It’s a whole new level of relationship, but we’re here today to talk about how that evolution occurred. Darren, you take it—what are we doing here today?
Darren: Well, thank you. Alright, so anyone listening, I have no idea how this shows up on my feed. I have no idea if this platform we’re using will show me your comments. So if you are watching live, if you can send me a message or put it in the comments, let me know where this is showing up, how it’s going, etc. That’d be helpful. The Kanthal Group is an executive coaching firm. We coach executives, senior and mid-level leaders, one-on-one and in groups.
And for the last six years, I’ve been a solopreneur. And even though one of Rachel’s coaches said nobody cares that I’m excited, I am excited that Rachel has now joined the company. The group is growing. So today’s purpose is to introduce Rachel. She has a really interesting story and a unique background. She comes from the nutrition world. In my words, she is a unicorn in her field—she’s that good at what she used to do.
So, today’s purpose is to introduce Rachel, talk about why she’s joining the company, and those types of things. Before we get too far, our plan is to show up here every Tuesday. We’re going to aim for about nine or nine-fifteen, although that may change some days. We’re open to topics if anyone has them. Part of the reason for this is that Rachel and I are two coaches living in the same house, having coaching conversations regularly. A lot of our clients experience the same things, regardless of gender, position in the firm, or firm size. And so we thought, in the sense of the human experience, we’re all going through a lot of the same things. Maybe we can illuminate some of those topics.
Rachel: Connect, share stories, have conversations, and learn from each other—I think that’s important. But Darren, you’re avoiding one thing. The Kanthal Group, aka Darren, is known for his bad dad jokes. What do you have for us?
Darren: Alright, I got one. I don’t think you’re going to understand it, to be honest.
Rachel: I usually don’t. What is it? Do it.
Darren: Alright, someone told me nothing rhymes with orange. I said no, it doesn’t.
Rachel: I don’t get it.
Darren: Nothing does not rhyme with orange. Nothing rhymes with orange. The word “nothing” and the word “orange” don’t rhyme. Get it now? I didn’t think so. Okay. That’s a dad joke. I can’t give away all my material.
Rachel: Yeah, not really. That’s dumb. Do a different one. That’s dumb. Does anybody get that one? Am I the only person out there? Okay, I need some supporters here. That one is dumb, but you come back with a better one next week.
Darren: Thank you. There are a lot of dumb dad jokes out there. I need to hold onto the best ones.
Rachel: No, okay. Alright, let’s dive in. So interview style, yes?
Darren: Alright, very well. Very well. Okay, so Rachel, where were you born? Where did you grow up?
Rachel: I grew up in the woods in northern Wisconsin, just outside of Superior. And when I say the woods, I mean the woods. Dirt roads, back country, not a lot of people.
Darren: How did you travel to and from places, your friends’ houses, etc.?
Rachel: Darren thinks—okay listen y’all—Darren thinks because he’s a New Yorker in the big city, that this is so funny, but it was just my reality. Before we had cars, our forms of transportation were our tractor, our snowmobile, and my horse. When I would go to my girlfriend’s house for a sleepover, I would ride my horse there—five or six miles—and then pack my bag and pony on home.
Darren: That’s so interesting. I grew up in the burbs in New York—middle class, diverse—and everything was a drive away. There were no horses or snowmobiles. I just find that fascinating.
Rachel: Yeah, well, you know, when you’re a teenager and you want some chips from the store, and you had no way to get there, you just take the only mode of transportation that you have. Sometimes the snowmobile was a necessity because our roads didn’t get plowed until last. So the only way to get anywhere was to get on your snowmobile and cruise down the road.
Darren: Alright, so you’ve been a business owner for, I think you said 14 years. We’ll say 15 to round up. Give a little history. What did you do? What was the business? What are you an expert in?
Rachel: Yeah, so I’m a corporate dropout. My background is outside sales, and my last corporate career was working with a manufacturing company, selling windows and doors. My main channel was Home Depot and Lowe’s. I realized I wasn’t contributing much to the world, and I had two little babies. I thought, “What am I doing?” So I dropped out, went to nutrition therapy school, graduated, and opened my own business.
At first, I did functional nutrition therapy—holistic, functional medicine realm. But I quickly realized that health protocols are nothing without the mindset behind them. Clients would follow the protocol for three weeks and then stop.
Darren: What’s a protocol in your world?
Rachel: A protocol is like, if someone has hypothyroidism or Crohn’s, you’d tell them to eat a certain way, maybe take supplements, and create a plan. But it doesn’t stick unless you change the behavior behind it. I realized that coaching had to be part of it. Three years into my business, I went through my first coaching certification. Over time, the business evolved into working mostly with high-performing women—executives, C-level leaders. Many of them had deteriorating health because they rarely put their own needs first. After 14 years in that industry, I burned out. What questions do you have, Darren?
Darren: Well, first, I’m going to brag on you. When I said you’re a unicorn in your industry, I meant it. You dig to the root cause. For example, I used to pop Prilosec all day long for heartburn. You went to the root cause—what’s causing the heartburn? There’s a lot of Western medicine that treats the symptom. You, however, see the body’s inner workings, not just the ailment. You did this in nutrition, and you do the same with your executive coaching clients.
Maybe talk a little bit about how you transitioned from your old business to working with executive women and what you’ll be doing now.
Rachel: You know, Darren, as a coach, you’re not supposed to stack questions.
Darren: You’re right.
Rachel: Take me to the first question.
Darren: What was going on that led you to burn out?
Rachel: I think it’s similar to what a lot of my clients experience. There are many reasons that lead to burnout, but for me, the top three were unexpected. First, we did a lot of work with weight loss, and then this magic drug for weight loss hit the market—everyone wanted the quick fix. It put pressure on finding the people who didn’t want that. Second, something no one could’ve predicted—our company name was one letter away from an abortion clinic franchise. Google tagged us as an abortion clinic and shut us down, accusing us of bait-and-switch tactics. Our website and emails were shut down. That added a lot of pressure to an already difficult situation.
The third reason was me. I was driving, pushing, selling, making all the decisions. I wasn’t resting, wasn’t taking care of myself. Everything I coach my clients on, I wasn’t doing. The more I pushed, the more fatigued and frustrated I became. There comes a point when you just can’t handle it anymore. You were there—I was crying and laughing in the basement at the same time. I was the crazy lady. After that, I knew I was done. And the next day, I shut it all down.
Darren: Thank you for sharing that.
As you were going through that overwhelm, there were parallels with your clients’ experiences. Even though their challenges were different from yours, they were still dealing with overwhelm. Maybe take a minute and talk about that—how you were helping your high-performing clients find the root cause while still feeling burned out yourself.
Rachel: The easy answer is that I coach them on their lifestyle, but from the functional nutrition side, I run labs on them. I can look at their nutrient deficiencies, causes of inflammation, broken detox pathways, and tell them, “These are the physical issues you’re dealing with, and here’s how your lifestyle is contributing.” I would tell them, “I know what you’re going through because I’m living it too.” It was a dual process—helping them shore up their physical and mental well-being while understanding how to bring them back to feeling like themselves again.
Darren: Yes, and part of your style—and mine too—is that action is the antidote. We have to take action to move, change, and improve. But what I noticed with you, and with your clients, was a lot of inaction or the same repeated actions. Whether it was at home or in the corporate environment, many weren’t delegating or asking for help. They weren’t communicating their stress or their limits. There are societal pressures, especially for women, that I just can’t relate to as a white man.
Maybe talk a bit more about that—the root causes you help uncover and the actions that help improve their situations.
Rachel: For example, many of my clients spend all day at work, come home, and feel like they have to overcompensate for being gone by doing everything at home—making dinner, cleaning, getting the kids ready for bed, doing laundry, cleaning up the dog poop. But they don’t communicate that they need help. It’s not even about asking for help; it’s about communicating that the “business” of running a household is one-sided, and they need the other person to take responsibility for part of it.
And even when they do want help, they often won’t allow their partner to do it their way. They over-control. Even though they want someone else to load the dishwasher, bathe the kids, or handle things, they don’t trust it’ll be done “right.” It becomes easier to just do it themselves, and then they burn out. So, part of the root cause is not speaking up. They’re overperforming, overwhelmed, overcompensating—and that leads to burnout and health problems.
That’s the stuff that creates burnout. That’s the internal dialogue, the micromanaging, the invisible load. Many of my clients have the means and the ability to speak up—they’re not trapped—but they’re still not doing it. So, I tell them: speak up.
Darren: That’s exactly what I was looking for. Perfect.
Rachel: Now you’ve got me all fired up!
Darren: So, just as a time check, we’re gonna try to keep this around 30 minutes. We’ve got about 10-ish minutes left. Is there anything else you want to say before I ask the next question?
Rachel: Nope, go for it!
Darren: Alright, so you mentioned closing your business and then deciding to join The Kanthal Group. Take us through that decision—what led you there?
Rachel: After I closed my business, I still had clients reaching out asking me to continue coaching them. I said yes, but I was going to do it differently. I opened my coaching practice, Luxia Coaching, and it was going well. But then I was in New York for my training with IPEC (Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching) and I had this realization: I didn’t want to do it alone again. I didn’t want to make all the decisions, fund every ad, sell, deliver, and manage everything by myself. I was tired. I wanted support.
And then I thought, well duh—Darren is an executive coach, and we have complementary strengths. Why would I compete with you when we can partner and make a successful business together? And luckily, you were on board!
One of the coolest things about you, Darren, and I don’t think I tell you this enough, is how you’re not intimidated by my strong advocacy for women in leadership and the things women have to go through. In fact, you encourage me to keep going, keep writing, and keep talking. That’s a huge source of motivation and security for me. Knowing that you support me gives me the energy to keep speaking out on things that are important, even when it might make others uncomfortable.
Darren: You’re welcome, babe. So let’s use that as a segue to wrap up. We’ll go a little over 30 minutes because I think this is important. Can you talk about your focus with The Kanthal Group and your LinkedIn posts?
Rachel: Sure. We’re building out a Women’s Leadership Program as part of The Kanthal Group. The type of women we work with are executives, C-level leaders, and entrepreneurs. They’re trying to navigate their careers while balancing joy, happiness, and health. It’s about finding that voice and breaking free from the invisible micromanaging that happens in their heads. We work with overwhelmed, burned-out, Type A women, helping them take action to improve their lives.
The functional nutrition side is always there as a complement, but it’s not the main focus. It’s about getting to the root of what’s holding them back in their careers, their health, and their lives.
Darren: I think people listening have gotten a sense of what you’re about. One of the things that excites me is how our company is now broader. I’ve coached many women, but you have a unique ability to connect with women in ways that I, as a man, cannot. That’s what makes you such a valuable part of the team.
Rachel: Thank you.
Darren: Alright, I think that’s a great note to end on. We’re going to be here every Tuesday—ish—at 9:15. We’d love to hear your comments, your thoughts, and your topic suggestions. Let’s start the conversation. If you’re looking for an executive coach, give us a call, and let’s chat!
Rachel: Back to you, CEO.
Darren: Nicely done. Great wrap-up. See you next time.
Rachel: See you next Tuesday. Bye!
Darren: Bye!