From Wall Street to 8-Figures: What 3 Burnouts Taught Her About Building Sustainably

the bossbabe podcast

Natalie Ellis

Entrepreneurship, Education, Marketing, Self-improvement, Business

4.9 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ever wondered why every time you reach a new revenue level, the same exhaustion shows up — just dressed differently? In this conversation, Natalie sits down with Julie Santiago — founder of We Are The Women, former Wall Street operator, and one of the rare guests who can break down what high-functioning burnout actually looks like at the 7- and 8-figure mark. Julie walks through the three burnouts that shaped her career: the Wall Street year that put tumors on her ovary at 28, the coaching practice she rebuilt in a San Francisco apartment, and the post-motherhood collapse that brought her to her knees again. The takeaway isn't grit. It isn't quitting. It's something Julie calls evolution and it's the framework most high-achieving women never get taught. This isn't about hustle, balance, or finding your why. It's a brutally honest breakdown of what high-functioning burnout actually looks like at the 7- and 8-figure mark, why the same pattern that builds your success eventually breaks you, and how to evolve past the cycle so you stop ending up in the same place at every new level. Time Stamps: 00:59 The childhood imprint that built an 8-figure business and broke it 05:45 Wall Street, tumors at 28, and the body's verdict 13:10 The 2-path trap: why pushing through OR quitting both fail 20:45 Why clunkiness is a season change, not a failure to optimize 28:40 The match-my-salary moment her therapist shut down 33:22 Safety, surrender, and a new relationship to money 38:18 The metaphor that broke her thinking about money's source 43:30 Going all-in vs. knowing when to evolve Resources + Links: Pre-Order The Freedom-Based Business Method. Follow Julie on Instagram Learn more about We Are the Women Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Newsletter & Get Insights From Natalie Every Single Week On All Things Strategy, Motherhood, Business Growth + More. Drop Us A Review On The Podcast + Send Us A Screenshot & We’ll Send You Natalie’s 7-Figure Operating System Completely FREE (value $1,997).

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Boss Babe podcast. This week I am so excited to have Julie Santiago on the podcast. I met Julie first through CEO Mama and just fell in love with her and her mission and everything that she stands for. She is one of the most powerhouse entrepreneurs I have ever met. She is the founder and CEO of We Are the Women,
0:22.6	which is a wellness and leadership coaching company for ambitious women who are committed to living
0:27.2	and leading in a sustainable way. Julie was on Wall Street, graduated all the way up to VP and walked
0:33.2	away from all of it to figure out what is at the root of chronic burnout for high achieving women.
0:39.4	And since then, she's built an empire solving that problem.
0:43.0	This episode goes in many places, but we really try to get to the root of what causes
0:48.7	reoccurring burnout in so many women like us that have huge ambition.
0:53.3	And we also talk about how that shifts for a lot of
0:56.8	us inside of motherhood. This was one of my favorite episodes in a long time. And I think you're
1:01.7	really going to love it. Let's dive in. Julie, I want to start in childhood with you. You have such an
1:08.9	amazing story. And when I was doing some research on you,
1:11.8	you talked a little bit about your relationship with your dad. And I saw myself so much in your
1:17.9	story. So can you talk a little bit about your relationship with your parents and what your
1:21.2	childhood was like? Yeah. So I come from a family that is Lebanese. So my dad's fully Lebanese.
1:27.4	My mom is half Lebanese.
1:29.1	And there was this interesting dynamic that happened growing up, which is I saw my dad as the businessman, as the breadwinner, as the one with the power.
1:39.6	And while my mom had a full-time job, my dad was the one that decided everything.
1:44.1	So my mom was a teacher, and job. My dad was the one that decided everything. So my mom was a teacher
1:45.6	and she would hand her paychecks over to my dad every month. Like that was the dynamic of the money.
1:53.4	So my dad controlled all the money, which meant in a way that he kind of had the power in our family.
1:58.7	But growing up Lebanese, my dad also gave me a great gift,
2:03.8	which in a way kind of turned out to be a little bit of a curse, which is what we were,
	...

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