From the ER to Executive Coach: Lauren Baptiste on the Cost of "Success" and the Strategy to Actually Have It All
Lauren Baptiste has lived the story she now helps others escape. As a CPA and consultant at a Big Four accounting firm for over a decade, she was, by every external measure, thriving. Behind the scenes, she was running on fumes. In 2013, her body delivered the message her career wouldn't let her hear: she ended up in the emergency room from workplace burnout. That moment didn't just change her life, it gave her a mission.
Today, Lauren is the founder of Acheloa Wellness and one of the most direct voices in the conversation around sustainable high performance. Her coaching practice serves ambitious professionals in accounting, law, and consulting - the people most likely to wear burnout as a badge of honor and least likely to ask for help. Drawing on evidence-based frameworks, Ayurveda, and more than a decade of frontline client work, she helps her clients recover from burnout while actually advancing their careers. Her clients regularly reclaim 10 or more hours per week, earn promotions, and negotiate bigger paychecks - not by doing more, but by learning to operate differently.
Her next move extends that work further: TextLauren.com, an AI-powered coaching tool trained on her full methodology, designed to reach the professionals who need support before they hit a breaking point.
We spoke with Lauren about what drove her to start Acheloa Wellness, the real cost of burnout for individuals and organizations, and what she's building next.
This is part of our ongoing 20 Founders On a Mission series. New editions publish regularly. To be featured or nominate a founder, write to us at hi@foundedbywomen.org
What inspired you to start?
As a former CPA and consultant, I knew firsthand how normalized overworking and overachieving had become. I saw colleagues experiencing serious physical effects of chronic stress, including early-onset diabetes, temporary vision loss, infertility, anxiety, and other health challenges that were being treated as “part of the job.” I started Acheloa Wellness because I was the professional who looked successful on paper but was completely burned out behind the scenes. In 2013, after years working in a high-pressure corporate environment and constantly pushing myself to the limit, my body finally forced me to stop. I ended up in an Emergency Room from workplace burnout, and that one experience changed the trajectory of my life and career.
I created the kind of support I wish I had back then: practical, evidence-based coaching that helps ambitious professionals succeed without sacrificing their health, relationships, or entire identity in the process.
What problem are you solving?
As a society, we've built workplaces where high performers are expected to operate like machines, and it’s no surprise that turnover is higher than ever. Burnout costs companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost talent, reduced performance, disengagement, and leadership gaps, especially at the manager and senior manager level. The problem is that most professionals have never actually been taught how to sustainably handle the pressure that comes with success. They’re rewarded for overworking, people pleasing, perfectionism, and constantly proving themselves… until eventually it catches up to them.
At Acheloa Wellness, we help ambitious professionals recover from burnout while simultaneously improving their careers. Individual clients often gain back 10+ hours per week, achieve promotions faster and earn more in their paychecks... all because they learned to say no without guilt, delegate effectively, increase visibility and step into their leadership presence. Organizations I work with are able to retain their hardest workers and protecting their future leadership pipelines. Win win.
What’s next for you?
The next chapter is TextLauren.com, which I’m incredibly excited about. It’s an AI-powered executive coach trained on more than a decade of my coaching frameworks, methodologies, client work, and real-world experience helping high-achieving professionals navigate burnout and career growth.
When I was burned out and stuck in my own career, I knew I needed support, but I didn’t quite know how to raise my hand for it. Therapy didn’t feel like the right fit for what I was experiencing, and while coaching can be incredibly transformative, it can also feel financially out of reach for many professionals early in their careers. The more I learned about burnout, the more I realized this wasn’t a personal failure or a one-off experience. It’s a widespread workplace issue affecting millions of high performers who are silently struggling behind the scenes.
TextLauren.com was built to help bridge that gap. It gives professionals access to practical coaching, mindset support, burnout prevention tools, and strategic guidance in real time, directly through SMS/iMessage. No scheduling, no apps, no waiting weeks for help. She’s available anytime someone needs support, whether that’s before a difficult conversation, during a stressful workday, or at 11pm when someone is spiraling about work and doesn’t know what to do next.
For me, that’s what's next. The bigger mission: making meaningful support more accessible before people hit a breaking point.
This is part of our ongoing 20 Founders On a Mission series. New editions publish regularly. To be featured or nominate a founder, write to us at hi@foundedbywomen.org
