Episode #9
Mental Health v. Corporate Burnout: When Your Body Tells You It’s Time
Mental Health v. Corporate Burnout: Knowing When It’s Time to Change What happens when you’re ambitious, successful, deeply capable... and the life you’ve built stops working for you? For short stories and what we are up to, follow us on Instagram In this episode of In The Room, On Purpose , I sit down with Jen Mbanu for an incredibly honest conversation about mental health, self-trust, career, motherhood, nervous system regulation, and having the courage to change course. Jen takes us through her experience with trichotillomania beginning at 13, navigating mental health diagnoses as a young woman, building a successful career in healthcare and biotech, raising a family, and eventually reaching the moment when her husband looked at her and said, “You’re quitting your job today, aren’t you?” We talk about what happens when ambition and well-being begin working against each other, the stories we attach to the things that happen to us, and why learning to listen to your body can fundamentally change the way you live and lead. Today, Jen is bringing decades of lived experience together with her background in healthcare, health policy, communications, and coaching to help other women build foundational health and lives that actually feel like their own. In this episode: Mental health, ambition, and corporate burnout Learning to feel safe in your own body Separating what happens to us from the stories we tell ourselves about it Recognizing when your body is telling you something needs to change Building a healthcare and wellness team that works with you Motherhood, marriage, career pivots, and maintaining your own identity Creating space before the world gets a say in your day Coming back to yourself and trusting what you find there Chapter Timeline 00:00 — Welcome to In The Room, On Purpose 00:22 — Meet Jen Mbanu 02:00 — Family, identity & growing up different 07:00 — Reconnecting with your younger self 10:00 — Morning pages & claiming your day 16:00 — Trichotillomania, shame & feeling safe in your body 24:00 — “There’s the thing that happens to us, and then there’s the story we tell ourselves about it” 28:00 — Mental health, college & receiving a diagnosis 36:00 — Building a healthcare team that actually supports you 41:00 — Jen’s career in healthcare 51:00 — Motherhood, marriage & returning to work 59:00 — Building a career in pharma and biotech 1:07:00 — The leaders and mentors who changed her career 1:13:00 — Corporate burnout & the moment everything stopped 1:18:00 — “You’re quitting your job today, aren’t you?” 1:23:00 — Returning to corporate life after a breakdown 1:28:00 — ADHD, career pivots & choosing a different path 1:33:00 — Building Jen Mbanu Wellness 1:40:00 — Your body is always talking to you 1:45:00 — Coming back to yourself Jen Mbanu Wellness Julia Carson’s: The Artists Way The Healthy Deviant by Pilar Gerasimo Hal Elrod: Morning Miracle
