Breaking the Burnout Cycle for Women Leaders With Christiane Witt, Cerice Berndsen, and Leah Hielsberg

About this episode

Christiane Witt is the Founder of Soul Soothing Co., a company that helps women entrepreneurs build AI-enhanced systems and self-managing teams that restore spaciousness, flow, and creative freedom. She focuses on the mental, emotional, and spiritual side of entrepreneurship — guiding clients to regulate their nervous systems, find peace, and redefine success beyond constant hustle.

Cerice Berndsen is the COO and Systems Architect at Soul Soothing Co. She helps clients design streamlined processes and implement automation so they can delegate effectively, reclaim their time, and lead their businesses with clarity and calm.

Leah Hielsberg is the Chief Implementation Officer and Co-founder at Soul Soothing Co. She teaches women entrepreneurs how to organize their operations, manage their tech stacks, and leverage automation to eliminate redundant tasks.

In this episode…

Women entrepreneurs often find themselves trapped in a cycle of overwork, self-doubt, and the belief that their value is tied to constant productivity. This mindset fuels burnout, erodes joy, and creates pressure to meet impossible standards. What happens when leaders finally pause long enough to ask whether relentless effort is truly the path to success?

Christiane Witt, Cerice Berndsen, and Leah Hielsberg, experts in transformational leadership, explain how rest, enoughness, and self-compassion help break this cycle. It's about recognizing internalized pressure and redefining worth beyond usefulness. By practicing small moments of ease, expanding the capacity to rest, and understanding the root causes of overwhelm, leaders can calm their nervous system and return to their work with clarity. This shift replaces constant striving with grounded confidence, allowing women to lead with more intention, spaciousness, and self-trust.

In this episode of The Soul Soothing Podcast, Christiane Witt, Cerice Berndsen, and Leah Hielsberg of Soul Soothing Co. are interviewed by Chad Franzen of Rise25 to discuss breaking the burnout cycle for women leaders. They delve into the power of rest, redefining enoughness, and leading from emotional spaciousness. The conversation also demystifies nervous-system thresholds, cultivating safety in leadership, and building a supportive company culture.