Keynote Speaker on Stress & Burnout
Stress, Anxiety & Burnout at Work: Stop the Hidden Profit Leak
Right now: Half of employees in the U.S. and Canada say they felt “a lot of stress” yesterday (global: 40%). Depression and anxiety alone drain 12 billion working days annually—about $1 trillion in lost productivity. In the U.S., poor mental health costs employers ~$1,488 per employee per year, and affected employees take ~4.6 more sick days—costs that add up fast.
How I help: I’m an Air Force veteran and former firefighter with 20+ years in biofeedback and stress reduction (PTSD specialty). I bring high‑reliability, science‑backed tools your people can use in 90 seconds—and I address the system-level stressors (workload, clarity, control) so the change sticks. Available on‑site or as an immersive reset at my 20‑acre mountaintop retreat in Julian, CA.
What your team will learn
- What stress does to the brain and performance—plus fast “downshift” techniques.
- Micro‑resets (breath/HRV, mini‑meditations, mental reframes) that fit between meetings.
- Manager levers to reduce stress without adding another program (fix the job, not just the person).
- Early warning signs of burnout and how to intervene.
- Simple metrics to track impact (pre/post pulse, sick‑day and retention trends).
The cost of waiting: Replacing one employee typically costs 0.5–2× their annual salary. Preventing even one stress‑driven exit can pay for this program many times over.
Ready to cut stress, sick days, and turnover? Book this keynote or team intensive (with optional follow‑ups/coaching), and I’ll tailor it to your culture and metrics so you see results quickly.
CONTACT MICHELLE TO DISCUSS BOOKING
Reconnect With Your Purpose. Live with Intention.
Join the Inner North Star Community—a space created to help you live more consciously, more clearly, and more fully aligned with who you truly are.
Peak Performance: Confidence, Creativity & a Culture of Excellence
Right now: Engagement is sliding—just 31% of U.S. employees were engaged in 2024—and low engagement is draining performance and innovation. Stress loads the prefrontal cortex, reducing working memory and cognitive flexibility (the mental gears behind creative insight). Teams thrive when it’s safe to share half‑formed ideas: psychological safety directly supports creativity and teamwork. Translation: when stress runs the show, ideas stall and self‑doubt gets loud.
How I help: I fuse 10+ years in high‑end corporate sales with 20+ years in biofeedback and stress reduction—plus real‑world calm from serving as an Air Force veteran and firefighter. I teach teams to regulate under pressure, upgrade self‑talk into self‑trust, and operationalize standards of excellence that lift attitude, output, and results—without burnout. Sessions can be on‑site or at my 20‑acre mountaintop retreat in Julian, CA for immersive reset and strategy.
What your team will learn
- Confidence on demand: reset negative self‑talk, build self‑efficacy, and show up with executive presence—especially in high‑stakes sales and leadership moments.
- Creativity under pressure: simple nervous‑system tools that restore cognitive flexibility so new ideas and “aha!” solutions surface when you need them. (Stress reliably disrupts these functions; we reverse that.) PMC
- Standards of excellence: define non‑negotiables, install pre‑brief/debrief routines, and measure what matters so “excellent” becomes the default.
- Purpose → performance: connect personal values and legacy to daily work to raise intrinsic drive and clarity of focus.
- Psychological safety, practically: meeting norms and leadership habits that make sharing bold ideas safe—and frequent.
- Sales edge (from the field): calm‑under‑fire objection handling, value‑led discovery, and pipeline discipline that compound quarter over quarter.
The bottom line (why now): A modest 10% lift in attitude, productivity, and results is massive in practice. Example: 50 sellers on $1M quotas = $50M; +10% performance = +$5M this year—without adding headcount. Controlled field studies also show that happier teams deliver ~13% higher productivity, making a 10% target conservative.
Ready to raise the bar—confident people, fresher ideas, better numbers? Book this keynote or team intensive (with optional follow‑ups/coaching). I’ll tailor it to your roles and metrics so you see measurable gains fast.
CONTACT MICHELLE TO DISCUSS BOOKINGThe Overloaded Sandwich Generation: Real Tools for Women Who Lead at Every Level
Right now: Caregiving is exploding. The U.S. now has 63 million family caregivers (a 45% jump in a decade). Three in five are women, nearly 1 in 3 are “sandwiched” between caring for kids and aging adults (rising to 47% among caregivers under 50), and 70% of working‑age caregivers are also in the workforce. AARP Women also report higher burnout than men (33% vs. 25%), and caregiving pressure compounds it: 84% of working caregivers say caregiving moderately or highly increases daily stress, and 27% have reduced hours or shifted to part‑time. Gallup.comAARP In the office, this shows up as lost output: among employed caregivers who experience absenteeism/presenteeism, productivity drops by one‑third—about $5,600 per affected employee annually. And many of these women are leading teams: women now hold ~29% of C‑suite roles, even as the leadership pipeline remains fragile.
How I help: I’ve lived and led in high‑pressure environments—Air Force veteran, former firefighter, 10+ years in high‑end corporate sales, and 20+ years specializing in biofeedback and stress reduction (PTSD focus). I translate front‑line calm and science‑backed tools into practical routines women can use between meetings—and I fix stress at the system level (capacity, clarity, flexibility) and the human level (nervous‑system regulation, mindset, boundaries). Sessions can be on‑site, virtual, or delivered as an immersive women’s leadership reset at my 20‑acre mountaintop retreat in Julian, CA—designed for real downtime, peer connection, and measurable reboot.
What your women will learn
- Turn the 24/7 load off: fast “on‑ramp/off‑ramp” rituals to shift out of work stress before stepping into home/family stress—so recovery actually happens.
- Reset the inner voice: tools to replace self‑doubt and negative self‑talk with self‑trust, presence, and clear asks.
- Values → legacy → focus: connect daily actions to personal values and long‑term legacy to boost intrinsic drive and decision clarity.
- Boundaries that stick: scripts and micro‑habits for saying no, redistributing “invisible work,” and setting tech/time guardrails.
- Find your circle: structured peer check‑ins and community practices that normalize the load and prevent isolation.
- Leader/manager levers: practical flexibility, meeting norms, and backup coverage that reduce burnout without lowering standards.
The bottom line (why now): If caregiving‑related productivity loss averages $5,600 per affected employee, reducing that by just 20% returns $1,120 per caregiver per year—before you even factor in lower absenteeism and higher retention. Multiply that across your women’s ERG, leadership cohort, or business unit and the ROI becomes immediate.
If everyone counts on your women leaders and top performers—and they burn out—then what? Let’s not wait to find out. Book this keynote or women’s leadership intensive (with optional follow‑ups/coaching). I’ll tailor it to your culture, roles, and metrics so your team leaves reset, reconnected, and performing sustainably.
CONTACT MICHELLE TO DISCUSS BOOKING
