"I Had Everything and Nothing Left in the Tank": The Award-Winning Executive Who Rewrote the Rules

What happens when the highest achiever in the room suddenly can't breathe? When awards and accolades become hollow victories, and the very system that promised success delivers only exhaustion?

Meet Bronwen Sciortino—award-winning executive turned internationally renowned author, speaker, and "Simplicity Expert." Her story isn't just another tale of corporate burnout. It's a radical reimagining of what it means to lead, succeed, and thrive as a woman in today's relentless business world.

After nearly two decades climbing the corporate ladder—earning global recognition, leadership roles, and every external marker of success—Bronwen's body made the choice her mind couldn't: it shut down completely. The breakdown that followed became the breakthrough that would reshape everything she thought she knew about achievement, ambition, and authenticity.

Today, Bronwen is the CEO of sheIQ Life and the author of critically acclaimed books including "The Economy of Enough" and "Keep It Super Simple," both earning 5-star international recognition. But her real transformation lies in how she operates: writing from pure intuition, speaking without rigid preparation, and leading from a place of "enough" rather than endless more.

Selected as Top Simplicity Expert of the Year 2023 by the International Association of Top Professionals and recognized by prestigious awards including the Telstra Business Women's Awards, Bronwen now helps organizations and individuals worldwide create what she calls "bespoke wellness"—customized approaches to thriving that honor both ambition and wellbeing.

Her message challenges everything we've been taught about success, especially for women who've been conditioned to prove, prove, prove. What if the most powerful thing we can do is pause? What if our highest impact comes when we're nourished, not depleted?

In this candid conversation, Bronwen shares the raw reality behind her breakdown, the revolutionary concept of "enough" in a world that demands more, and how she learned to trust her intuition in boardrooms where emotion is often seen as weakness. Her insights offer a lifeline to any woman leader who recognizes herself in this story but feels trapped by the very systems she's learned to navigate.

This isn't about giving up ambition—it's about reclaiming it on your own terms.

1. You went from award-winning executive to complete breakdown. What did that actually look like, and when did you realize pushing harder wasn't the answer? What would you tell women leaders who see themselves in your story but feel trapped?

The reality is, we never know what’s going on for someone else. From the outside, it looked like having everything I had ‘everything’. The reality was that I had nothing left in the tank. 

When people looked at me, they saw a high-performing leader who was thriving—awards, leadership roles, global travel. But inside? I was shutting down. My body gave out before my mind could admit I couldn’t keep going. One minute I was running at full speed. The next, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t move. My world shattered into a million pieces around me. I left work and didn’t go back.

The moment I realised pushing harder wasn’t the answer was when I couldn’t even do the basics of life. I wasn’t just tired—I was hollow. That was the wake-up call: the systems we’re told to trust—overworking, people-pleasing, self-sacrifice—don’t work.

To women who see themselves in that story and feel stuck, I’d say this: you're not weak for wanting a different life. You're not broken. You’re hearing the call to change before your body makes the choice for you. You don’t have to burn your life down to rebuild. You just have to stop long enough to ask, ‘What do I actually need right now?’ Then give yourself permission to start there.

2. Your "Economy of Enough" challenges everything we're taught about ambition. Women especially struggle with this—we're told to work twice as hard for half the recognition. How do you balance real drive with the idea of "enough"?

For me, ‘enough’ is a full-body exhale. It’s not about giving up on ambition—it’s about shifting what I’m aiming for. I’m still driven. I still create. I still lead. But I no longer measure my worth by exhaustion or output. That kind of success was costing me my health, my joy, and my sense of self. In fact today, if I find myself with a period of time where my diary is overfull, I feel resentment that my peace has been invaded!

Women have been conditioned to prove, prove, prove. But what if the most powerful thing we can do is pause? What if your highest impact comes when you’re nourished, not depleted?

The balance comes from asking better questions. Instead of ‘How can I do more?’ I ask, ‘What actually matters right now?’ Instead of ‘Am I doing enough?’ I ask, ‘Am I aligned?’ It’s not a perfect process. But I’ve found that when I lead from enough, the right work flows, the right opportunities land and most importantly—I stay whole.

3. You now write and speak from intuition rather than rigid planning. How did you learn to trust that inner voice in professional settings? How do you handle pushback when people think you're being ‘too emotional?’

Trusting my intuition came from falling apart and realising that the old ways weren’t working. 

Planning, control, over-prepping—those were my comfort zones. But when I broke down, I didn’t have the energy to fake it anymore. I started focusing and listening inwardly, even when it made no sense on paper. And the results were undeniable. The more I trusted that inner pull, the more resonant and impactful my work became.

In professional settings, I lead with clarity: I know who I am and what I stand for. It’s interesting that you ask about people saying I’m ‘too emotional’ because that doesn’t happened anymore. 

I am who I am – no matter the situation I find myself in. And people resonate with that. It’s inspiring to sit with someone who completely embodies who they are and you can clearly see the authenticity and power that comes with that. 

I think it’s also important to acknowledge that emotion isn’t weakness—it’s data. And intuition isn’t fluff—it’s experience, distilled. I don’t need to defend it. I just let the results speak for themselves.

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