Susan Winchester’s Journey from Depleted Fortune 150 Executive to Living Her Soul’s Mission (A Case Study) | Ep 66
with Celinne Da Costa
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For 36 years, Susan Winchester embodied success — Fortune 150 CHRO, award-winning leader, respected across industries. Yet for 30 of those years, that success was driven by a quiet, relentless belief: “I’m not enough.”
Behind the accolades was constant anxiety, perfectionism, and people-pleasing. Until one 90-minute session cracked open a 17-year creative block — and began a five-and-a-half-year journey of deep inner transformation.
In this conversation, Celinne and Susan explore what happens when high-achievers stop proving and start embodying who they truly are. You’ll hear how Susan rebuilt her relationship with time, created a business rooted in joy, and learned that real leadership begins in the body, not the boardroom.If you’ve mastered the how-tos of success but still feel that quiet gap between who you are and who you’re meant to be, this episode shows how to bridge it.
ON THIS EPISODE:
00:01 Meet Susan Winchester, former Fortune 150 CHRO who works with Celinne on ongoing transformation
04:06 Discover the invisible toll of high achievement—anxiety, perfectionism, Chardonnay, and the belief “I’m not enough”
08:26 Witness the moment Susan broke through 17 years of resistance to publishing her vulnerable book
16:45 Learn about the “unconscious wounded career path” that fuels most corporate careers
28:30 Explore how addressing root beliefs dismantles decades of conditioning
42:18 Hear how Susan redesigned her entire post-corporate business model through deep alignment work
58:22 Understand what shifts when you stop forcing and start embodying your truth
01:15 Discover the freedom available when you address the patterns driving your success
KEY IDEAS:
✨ Your success might be fueled by what’s hurting you. Susan spent 30 of her 36-year career proving herself over and over, going home to review the day and beat herself up, using wine to take the edge off anxiety. High achievement and deep pain can coexist—and often do—until you commit to addressing the unconscious beliefs driving the performance.
✨ Real transformation takes consistent work over time. Susan has worked with Celinne for five and a half years, steadily dismantling patterns of perfectionism, people-pleasing, and anxiety that most leaders accept as “normal.” This wasn’t a quick fix—it was a commitment to showing up for herself until the patterns finally shifted.
✨ Addressing the root changes everything else. Through years of breath work, nervous system regulation, and energetic alignment, Susan learned to create limitless time, build a new relationship with money, and design a business she actually loves—not one she thinks she should have.
✨ Alignment creates results that force can’t. When you stop performing and start embodying your truth, opportunities find you. But that embodiment comes from years of practice, not a single breakthrough moment.
RESOURCES:
Susan J. Schmitt Winchester is the past Chief HR officer for Applied Materials, a Fortune 150 Silicon Valley company, & Rockwell Automation, a Fortune 500 Midwest company. She is an author & sought-after keynote speaker, TEDx speaker and HR consultant/Executive Coach. She is known for her book, “Healing at Work: A Guide to Using Career Conflicts to Overcome Your Past and Build the Future You Deserve,” with co-author Martha Finney.
Susan leverages her 36+ years of experience as a Human Resources Executive to help organizations reduce turnover. As well as to elevate employee engagement, and boost corporate performance by focusing on innovative strategies to accelerate human potential and performance.
Celinne Da Costa is a podcast host, author, and coach for leaders navigating ‘I’ve made it—now what?’. She guides them to redesign their next act: more meaningful, more aligned, more fun… and led by their soul’s truth.
Website | LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram | Facebook
I have limited spots open for private coaching. If you’re an established leader ready to commit to the work that transforms everything, DM me on Instagram @celinnedacosta with the word APPLY.
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MEET CELINNE
Celinne Da Costa is an author, speaker, and master coach who helps visionary leaders live, lead, and communicate from their soul’s truth. Through her signature approach integrating storytelling, emotional mastery, and energetics, she has supported Fortune 150 executives, entrepreneurs, and changemakers from all walks of life in over sixty countries. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and TEDx.
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