Hi, my name is Cristina and I’m a recovering exhausted, emotional eater with an easily irritated bowel. For years before I became a nutritionist, I was a corporate banker – doing great work on the outside but struggling on the inside. These are my confessions.
#SLP CONFESSION No. 1: That prawn curry in Singapore
God, I sure love a curry. And there was a restaurant on Dempsey Road in Singapore which was my go-to for the ultimate prawn curry. I took my colleague there for dinner the night before Day One of a roadshow for a syndicated loan we were mandated to bookrun.
I knew eating that curry the night before I presented to a room full of investors was a bad idea. But I was in beautiful Singapore, high on roadshow excitement & the heat of tropics coupled with the expense account called out – carpe diem!
The next morning was grim. The stabbing abdominal pain was particularly bad this time. This wasn’t my first irritable bowel rodeo. I travelled with my case of trusty drugs & by 9am, I was strutting my designer suit into the meeting room at the Fullerton Hotel, where by 9.15am it was “lights, camera, action”.
That’s my jam. The spotlight releases a redeeming flood of adrenaline that makes me feel unstoppable. And for years, that adrenaline masked my ongoing health struggles.
I mean:
How could my health be compromising my performance if by all business metrics, I was doing great?
And sure, I needed to be forcefully body-slammed out of bed in the morning but was my exhaustion really an issue, when I was still able to lead marathon-long conference calls well into the night?
As for my brain fog — what of it? I was still able to price a multi-million dollar loan with precision.
Whatever I was grappling with from a wellness persepctive, was my private issue that didn’t spill over into my career and so it did not need my attention. My physical and mental health were good enough.
Until one day, they weren’t.
I’ll be getting to the straw that broke my back in another confession. But COVID has brought this moment forward for many women.
In the finance sector – where considerable efforts have been made to boost the number of women in leadership positions – 1 in 10 women have seriously considered leaving their jobs, whereas no men have even thought about it. An overall survey of Canadian professional women showed that one in three women have considered leaving their jobs, compared to one in six men.
The threat of burn out is real. But the calling to lead is stronger than ever.
That’s why I have joined forces with leadership & executive coaches Heather Haigh & Alicia Saint to bring women leaders everywhere:
Women.Lead.Now.
This is the first leadership coaching program of its kind designed for women who are ready to lead from a place of clarity, competence, confidence and courage – in the knowledge that their body won’t let them down when they need it the most.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BURN OUT.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BOW OUT.
More than ever, we need your vision and leadership.
We have been listening to your confessions of exhaustion & brain fog, of rising mental health issues and sleep disturbances.
So we have combined our leadership & nutritional expertise to bring you the only executive leadership coaching programme that empowers you to lead with your whole self: mind, body & soul.
Spaces are limited. Learn more & claim your spot today.
Cristina Tahoces is a holistic nutritionist, TEDx speaker and owner of Thrive Nutrition Practice. Watch her TEDx talk “Sleep Love Poop” (#SLP) and start eating with purpose. Her “#SLP Confessions of a Banker Turned Nutritionist” are based on her own struggles with sleep, emotional eating and irritable bowel and how these undermined her physical and mental performance. She now helps women leaders optimise their performance through the use of evidenced-based mindset, nutritional & gut health protocols that empower the resilience of mind and body.