Ep. 22: The Pivot After Cancer, Surgeries & Burnout
What happens when one of the strongest women in the world gets brought to her knees, literally, and has to rebuild her entire identity from the ground up?
In today’s episode, Dana Wildebore takes us inside the gritty, awe-inspiring, messy-beautiful truth of strength, surrender, and reinvention.
This episode is a masterclass in resilience, identity, and the wild plot twists life throws at even the most powerful among us. Laura sits down with Dana Wildebore—one of the first five women in history to squat over 700 pounds—and unpacks the unbelievable, deeply human story behind her rise, her collapse, and her rebirth.
Dana takes us back to the moment she hit her lifetime goal: a 705-pound squat and a place among the strongest women on the planet. But just months later, a cascade of abdominal surgeries, an ectopic pregnancy, and a stage-two kidney cancer diagnosis flipped her world upside down. She went from elite strength to being physically carried to the bathroom by her fiancé.
What followed was a two-year stretch of uncertainty, pain, radical self-reflection, and a complete identity overhaul. Dana shares how she rebuilt her life with curiosity, movement-as-medicine, and a mindset that refuses to choose between ambition and self-preservation. Today, she blends 20+ years of corporate marketing experience with strength coaching to help high-achieving leaders release anxiety and microdose healthy habits.
Her story is raw, hilarious, heartbreaking, and wildly empowering—especially for anyone navigating a pivot, feeling misaligned, or standing in the messy middle of the unknown.
What You’ll Hear
✔️The truth behind hitting a massive life goal—and the hollow “now what?” that followed
✔️How an ectopic pregnancy and a surprise cancer diagnosis forced Dana into an identity reckoning
✔️What it’s like to go from squatting 700 pounds to needing help getting out of bed
✔️The surprising reason taking a full-time job saved her life
✔️How movement became her anchor, medicine, and pathway back to herself
✔️The connection between physical strength, emotional awareness, and high-performance leadership
“I realized I wasn’t rebuilding who I used to be—I was becoming who I actually needed.”
If this episode stirred something in you, download the Heart-Aligned Career Transition Starter athttps://www.leadintact.com/freebies/heart-aligned-career and begin reconnecting with the version of you that’s ready for more or Book 20-min consultation call: https://leadintactwithlaura.as.me/free-consultation
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You are listening to the pivot point where we unpack the defining moments that shift careers and lives. I'm your host, Laura Dionisio, a founder of Lead Intact , and my mission is to spotlight the raw real stories behind career pivots, the fears, the hopes. The messy middles and the bold decisions that follow if you're feeling stuck or quietly wondering what's next?
I hope these stories help you see yourself a little more clearly and inspire you to start moving toward your own dream life. Let's begin.
Laura: Welcome Dana to the pivot point. I'm so happy to have you here. How are you doing?
Dana: I am great. Thank you. How are you doing? I'm excited to be here.
Laura: I'm excited to be here too, especially because like the last time we caught up was like a month ago, and then the last time before that was 15 [00:01:00] years.
Dana: yes.
Laura: So I feel like we're doing really well. Yeah, so we're doing really well in catching, catching up.
Dana: yes. Far more successful on this effort.
Laura: Yes. Yes. Okay. So for those who don't know, Dana, I'm about to show off with her Amazing bio. Okay. You're ready, Dana.
Laura: All right, Dana.
Laura: Wild Debore is one of the first five women in history to squat over 700 fucking pounds. That is not a typo. God damn. Okay. Focus. Laura, a national champion, all star, cheerleader and multi-sport.
Laura: Coach. She has spent over a decade honing her strength and movement coaching skills in ways that transcend the progress in the gym. Dana combines over 20 years of corporate marketing experience with her passion for strength training to help high achieving corporate leaders release anxiety and microdose healthy habits.
Laura: Her personal strength career was cut short after five abdominal [00:02:00] surgeries between 2017 and 2019, including as. Stage two kidney cancer diagnosis that left her with only one kidney. Now six years in remission. She is dedicated to helping others transform their lives through the principles of strength training.
Laura: Thank you so much for being here, Dana. There's so much in here. First of all, 700 pounds.
Dana: Yeah,
Laura: Holy shit.
Dana: That's not a typo.
Laura: It's not a typo.
Dana: though. It was a goal. The goal was actually. have the heaviest squat of any woman in the world one time in my life, regardless of weight class or equipment. And this was the year, 2016 was the year that happened with a 705 pound
Laura: Damn. And you know what? Honestly, before we caught up like a month ago, because like we, we chatted here and there, we saw each other on Instagram.
Laura: But like I knew about, I knew about the abdominal surgeries and the stage two kidney cancer. And can you walk us through, like, [00:03:00] walk us through what your life was like?
Laura: You are kicking ass 700 fucking pounds. Squat, not a typo. Probably like amazing. Doing amazing. In your corporate career. And then what, like, walk us through what that journey was like. Let's start there.
Dana: Yeah. Okay. So the year was 2016. No, I guess actually that's a really good place to start because what ended up happening was, is I did that squat. I achieved that goal, and then. As with most things, when you dedicate so much time and energy, you get to the other side of it and you're like. Now what? So I and at that time I was not working full-time, though I was still contracting with the venture firms and the, community-driven, mission-driven organizations that I typically work with. but I was just like taking a break to figure out did I really wanna get to that next level? 'cause my actual goal was 800
Dana: when I started lifting again, I actually ended up. I, my boyfriend at [00:04:00] the time, he's now my husband, but I was pregnant and I didn't know it. And that turned out to be
Dana: Pregnancy, and that was the first surgery that set off a stage of things.
Dana: And that was in July of 2017. So seven, eight months after I achieved that goal, the universe was like, yeah. You are not ready to go back and do all that heavy lifting yet. But what was really interesting was be before I knew I was pregnant, I had was contracting with a consumer packaged good startup accelerator in Austin, Texas, helping to launch these really cool startup like CPG brands.
Dana: So like a beef jerky company, an lemonade company, and this cashew company that I just saw in the airport. That was so cool. Anyway, I digress. And so through that I was connected with another opportunity to bring another startup accelerator for mission-driven tech companies
Dana: And then I got that job and then I found out. That I was pregnant [00:05:00] and it was an ectopic pregnancy, and then I had that surgery, and then I started the job and I kicked off with the best insurance possible. And then that's when all my health stuff really started. So after the ectopic pregnancy in July. October, I ended up with a small umbilical hernia, and then I had that fixed in November, and then I was like, okay, but my hernia is still there.
Dana: They actually fixed a different hernia, probably something that had been there from all the lifting prior.
Laura: Oh.
Dana: this other hernia and then I was like, okay, cool. I'm healthy. I'm good to go. I feel good. And then I was like. I don't know, five, four or five months later, I just started getting weird abdominal cramps and I was thinking to myself, oh, it's because I have these two like layered meshes in my abdomen and I'm starting to lift again just for fun, and I was going to do this other power lifting me. 2018 comes around and I just told my doctor about it [00:06:00] at a regular checkup and she was like, let's get you this ultrasound. And they found a mass and sent me for a CT within 24 hours. And then within hours of that, they were like, we know that this is a malignant mass based on just how things look and how good imaging is, but you need to go see an oncologist and all of this stuff. then. That was in October of 2018, so a year and a half later I had that surgery right before Thanksgiving that year. And they took out my kidney and I was fine, and I thought I was good. But then fast forward, three and a half, four months later, that incision failed. Turns out people who have open surgeries like I did, because I had layer meshes, so they couldn't just go in through my belly button like they wanted to. They had to do a small, a pretty big open surgery. That incision failed and that fails in 30 to 50% of patients depending on the research that you are reading. And [00:07:00] I'm just someone where it fails. So then I walked around for months with a fist size bulge coming out of my abdomen and did a lot of research on what kind of surgery I wanted to have to pull my abdomen back together because. Plastic surgeons would not touch me. And I also had a bit of diastasis recti, probably from my abdomen being blown
Dana: So much and come back down and, so by the time I went to get it fixed, I ended up choosing, which was now. Almost a year later, I ended up choosing probably the most aggressive surgery I could have.
Dana: But what was really good about all of this, what is, like the one thing that happened for me when all of this started, I got a full-time job with amazing benefits just because I thought that's what I was supposed to do. All
Dana: Surgeries, everything, it cost me a thousand dollars.
Laura: Wow.
Dana: Isn't that crazy?
Dana: And so like when I think about how that could have played out, if I didn't take that job and I really focused on [00:08:00] lifting and not taking that job at that moment, like I would be saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt right now. So it was the right choice at the right time, but my life went from being totally focused on. and being one of the strongest women in the world. Just being like, I'm going to work so that I can survive whatever is happening right now.
Laura: Yeah. So, okay. There's so much to your story, so much in there. First, I wanna to your point, you didn't know all of this health stuff was gonna happen, and you made a decision to like, like, yes, your focus was now you did the 700 pound. squat, right? And then your goal is 800, but then you made a decision, okay, let me just go for this, uh, mission-driven tech job.
Laura: What was going through your mind? Like, what was it that that made you choose to do that?
Dana: I'm sure it was being driven by not enoughness and feeling let down, like I achieved this goal, but I was totally burned out and I didn't know what, and then that triggered all my [00:09:00] abandonment issues and like I was abandoning myself. And the only thing I really knew. At that point in time in my life when I felt the most successful was when I had a full-time job and an activity-based hobby.
Dana: And so like I went
Laura: Okay.
Dana: of my life. It was the best thing I could have done for myself at the time. It really was because it was a really cool, fun job and I had an amazing mentor and an amazing boss and incredible team members. And then I got real fortunate on the benefits side of things too.
Laura: Yeah and I just really wanna emphasize for the listener that what I love what you did is that you. Took a pause, like instead of riding that high of 700, I'm gonna do everything. I'm gonna put everything to this thing. You were just like, hold on, is this what I really want? And in the end, that saved you Thousand, probably hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Laura: And then,
Dana: medical bills, it
Laura: oh, insane. The other question I had is it sounds like this was about like a year or two of surgeries trying to figure [00:10:00] things out. Is that time, like it took about a year to two.
Dana: From July two, July, 2017. August, 2019 was my final surgery where I had
Laura: Okay. And
Dana: up.
Laura: what I'm thinking about, like maybe not all the listeners can relate to like, like a medical, like unknown, but now you can look back and say, oh, it was a year. A year, it's nothing. But at the time I'm sure you're like, I have no idea what the fuck is going on, how long this is gonna go on for, and like, how am I gonna get back to training actually.
Laura: Yeah, walk. Walk us through that year, two years.
Dana: Two years. And over the course of that two years, every surgery I had, it got progressively worse and progressively harder for me to recover from. Like I went from a hernia surgery to literally having my abdominal wall like sewn together and meshed together, right? My, my abdominal wall was separated. They laid the mesh in between. It's called a retrorectus.
Dana: Repair. And then, that's that's as much as I know about it. Let's be [00:11:00] real. But that over the period of time, like I went from squatting 700 pounds to my recovery from that surgery, my boyfriend now husband. Actually had to pick me up. Actually. We were engaged. He was my fiance by this point. But he actually had to pick me up out of bed and help me get to the bathroom and like he bathed me at
Dana: So like I went from being my possible strongest to like having some of my weakest moments. At that last in, in August of 2019 for sure. And that's like a mind fuck, right? That's a super mind fuck. I didn't know what was gonna happen after that. I just knew I wasn't going to stop moving because I
Dana: You need to move. That's all I knew. I like, I had a job that I could pay my bills and could support me, support us. And that I had to move my body, whatever it was, and some I had a friend, I think it was like my second week of recovery. She came out from Philadelphia. And I'm a [00:12:00] shopper, so she took me shopping. 'cause I'm not really working full days. I'm checking in and then I'm taking naps and then I go do something with a friend. And I went out shopping and we went to Lululemon and I was like, shuffling. And she's are you okay? Because like people aren't used to watching me, like painfully shuffle my feet across the floor. And I was
Dana: It's time to go home. I need to lay down.
Dana: So yeah, it was wild.
Laura: Yeah. And the reason by the way, if you're like, why are you still stuck on this two years is because honestly, Dana, like how fucking powerful that even in the midst of the uncertainty, the pain, the healing, the like probably identity shift, would you say? What was that?
Dana: much identity.
Laura: Yeah, walk us through, I really wanna zoom in on like what were those two years like?
Laura: Not because I want you to relive it, but just because like I want the listener to really hear what it was like. And despite that you said two really powerful things. I won't stop moving my body and I had a job. It sounds like despite all of that, you still had something [00:13:00] anchoring you to like, prevent you from like, spiraling into despair.
Laura: But, tell me more, like, what was it like in those two years, like.
Dana: Yeah. What was it like in those two years? The job I would say just gave me, so I'm an extremist, obviously, right? So I like to do everything to the nth degree. So honestly, what the job did was give me the opportunity for, to. Separate myself from the reality of what was happening
Dana: it couldn't.
Dana: Like by the time that last surgery came around, I was like, okay, there is something I need to deal with here because this is just I started listening. I started wanting to have awareness and. over that time I, between 2017 and 2020, I had hired a coach, like to just help me create awareness for things over
Dana: By the time I got to that last surgery, I was like, okay, I am aware that this is not what I want for my life, but I have to go through this process again. I get to decide what I want it to be on [00:14:00] the other side of this. And so like for me, that surgery in 2019 and that healing process was like the opportunity for me to flip the script. And then my husband and I, we ended up getting married three or four months later after that. And I had. We decided I was gonna assume his name because I was like, Dana Will Debo gets to be new. Dana
Dana: was cool. She was powerful. She did some wild shit. I have done some incredible shit. Like when I rattle things off to people, I'm like, is that actually my life?
Dana: But
Dana: My life. Will, she gets to be new. She gets to be curious. She gets to explore things differently, and so it's taken us, we've been married, we'll be six years in November for me to get to this point now where I'm like. I have figured out what exploration means for me and the risk that I'm willing to take on to make that happen,
Dana: would never have gotten here if it weren't for those experiences and my desire and just understanding of being like, okay this ain't cool.
Dana: This has gotta stop.
Laura: [00:15:00] And by this, what? Say more about like, what is this?
Dana: Oh, just like my body continuing to fail on me when like I was this pinnacle of strength and like
Dana: Kept being like, Nope, nope. And it wasn't just a broken toe or a broken ankle? No, like I kept, had repeated injuries and surgeries to my abdomen to like where your sacrum in the center of your chakras are.
Dana: And I
Dana: So the night we got engaged, actually my, I asked for it. My father-in-law bought me this book and this is like what I started reading. 'cause a friend recommended it who was very aware. And I was like, this makes so much sense. That was like my gateway drug.
Laura: I love it. Okay, so honestly sounds like Dana, like pre-marriage. Super badass, by the way, pushed herself to the push her body to the limit. Had a rude awakening. And then when you talk about like Dana gets to be Dana Wilder wild.
Dana: Bore. It's okay.
Laura: I'm gonna edit it out.
Dana: I hyphenated that?
Laura: Oh my [00:16:00] God, no. So when you talked about the identity shift, you're like, Dana will de Borg has to be somebody different. Like take us through the moment of like what you decided and then who is Dana Willdebore. Today.
Dana: Okay, so it's so funny and my mother-in-law is. So bummed she doesn't have this video, but I'm talking like moments after my aunt married us, after we did our vows and she closed the ceremony and declared us partners. I was like, I'm a Willdebore now. And it was just like, I don't know, it's a big day.
Dana: It's a big moment. And we had a very cool private wedding. We eloped in the mountains of Utah and it was just our parents and my aunt and her partner and the photographer. 'cause you need the photographer. And so it was just really cool and it was like enlightening and I. Dana Ky very much still exists. She is not, she will always be the foundation for which this is, this next chapter is built on, but Dana Will, Debore is just okay, I said [00:17:00] that Dana Reky thing again. So like, why am I actually saying that thing?
Dana: what is this triggering for me? I'm getting curious about myself and my responses, and obviously I've been working on this for five to eight years now, so I'm getting much better and understanding the integration and being able to give myself that pause before sometimes. Before I respond, but yeah, I mean she like, she's not gone.
Dana: But the evolution into Dana Wil Jabo has definitely been one that's much happier, focuses more on like a movement as medicine and as a
Dana: Help get my mind out of that cycle of just berating self-talk and not enoughness. And really figuring out, at least for me and how I see it in other people in those like high achieving corporate investment levels that I was part of seeing how movement and mindset really drives success.
Dana: And I was like, there's something here. This is what I wanna get curious about [00:18:00] now.
Dana: like the direction I'm working in now.
Laura: Okay, so the, it sounds like, you know what's so incredible, Dana is like, you didn't let this physical experience like stop you from still being in love with the physicality of things. Because I can, I can see how some people might respond and be like, I'm just never moving again. So walk us through like.
Laura: How has fitness played a, a role in your life? 'cause I know, and you can talk more about this, I know you're starting something new now, but like, talk about like the new Dana Wild Debore, right? You were, were you still in this corporate job? Like Yeah. Talk us through that and how fitness has been, like, what role it played in your life.
Dana: which got me to strong man like, which got me to geared power lifting. always been a theme in my life, so I honestly can't imagine my life without movement in it. My specific modality is strength training, right? But like
Dana: I believe in being a [00:19:00] multi-sport athlete now at this point in my life. Because I went from where it's like, Hey, walking around the block is gonna knock me out to, now I'm back to lifting weights and stuff again. And so I just, I can't imagine my life without movement being part of it. It's just when Dana Wild Debo took on that persona, she did it with a little bit of a gentler touch.
Dana: Did and a little bit more grace for where I was because like she remembered what Dana Rki had gone through and how she had to heal to be able to be like, okay.
Dana: When I had that surgery I was like, my goal is to be able to go walk in the mountains with my husband for our photos. goal. Right? That's what we were working toward at that point.
Dana: we got some banging photos.
Laura: You did. I remember.
Dana: Yeah.
Laura: I remember seeing them. Yeah.
Laura: And you said something so like very interesting that I am super intrigued and I'm sure the [00:20:00] listener is like what you said something about like movement and corporate life. So tell us more about that. Like what does that mean?
Dana: What does that mean? So that's what I'm really interested in exploring right now because I was working and I was definitely on the early side of business, the ideation side, the venture investing side the building, right? And so when I'm looking at the people who are building these companies, the founders, their investors, their board members, all of that stuff, some of these are like really successful people.
Dana: I have noticed is the people who have the most clarity and by society standard, the most success is movement for most of them is part of their day to day. Somehow they get it in, maybe it's like a social component, and they'll go to some sort of group fitness class with a bunch of friends, and then like you go out and you talk about all of your. Core stuff [00:21:00] or, I worked for an investor once who told me one of the best ways he likes to get to know his founders is by going out and doing some sort of hike or a workout with them. That forces you to be at the edge of your limits in your comfort zone with each other, because that's what happens when you're building businesses.
Dana: You are if you want a lesson in personal development, build a business. Launch something.
Laura: Yeah.
Dana: was, it's just really interesting to see how the majority of these individuals are using movement a highest level. Whether it's just they wanna be active and have this as part of their life, or they do something disciplined like CrossFit or power lifting or body building.
Dana: That exists in these early levels of business. But I also noticed when I was working at different marketing agencies that this didn't exist in the large corporate institutions, the people who are more like cogs in the machine. And my big question is man, what? [00:22:00] If could just get movement to be part of your day and not what you think movement should be, let's just like baseline this, like five to 10 minutes of body weight movement a day.
Dana: How different would that make your day feel? I'm actually running a challenge right now. On that premise with most people. A few of them are recently retired and some of them are in more of these corporate environments, and they're like, I can, the number one thing I keep hearing is I can't believe how much more energy I have just by making like the average workout's, probably eight minutes, eight minutes a day is all this is taking, and they're like, oh. And this is not where I expected to land working with a bunch of midlife, mid-career, soon to be, or recently retired individuals. But think about it. These are people who have ignored this part of their humanity for their entire life. You are
Dana: 20, 40 years into a career and you're like, oh, now what am I supposed to do?
Dana: I feel old and frail. I feel mentally beat [00:23:00] down. hips from sitting so long don't feel good, and I'm like, oh, you need to move your body. is the answer at the highest level consistently. You
Dana: Into your life.
Laura: Yeah. Dana, you just honestly just blew my mind. No, I'm serious because. Yeah, we know each other through fitness, right? So I have been moving this whole time, and yes, it makes sense to me like that you have these, like those tr about to retire, or those whose bodies are like, oh, we better move now.
Laura: So I get the idea that L like movement is great for longevity so that you can enjoy life at a later age. The reason you blew my mind is that you said that. Based on your experience and observation of those who are successful. I think you said in like, those starting their own business, uh, like that founders, that kind of thing, is that they had a daily movement and it actually led to success.
Laura: And I really wanna explore that topic because my listener, if they're like me, they're [00:24:00] like very, high performing, very anxious, even if they don't know it, but yeah. And you get it. And sometimes we think that like the first thing to go is what? Sleep food and exercise.
Dana: queen.
Laura: So this is why you're blowing my mind.
Laura: You're like, what do you mean movement leads to success? Because I'm thinking of I don't know if this is like a narrative passed down or we just made this up. Probably not. It's probably a cultural thing, but we think that like exercise is like a novelty. It's like a, let me get all my stuff done on the to-do list and then I'm gonna move.
Laura: So I would love for you to talk more about like. What you've seen, like in case listeners are like, well, I don't believe you. Like, talk us through, like literally like what you've seen, what you've experienced in terms of like these very successful founders and realizing the pattern is that they had daily movement versus some that you've seen and you're like they weren't moving.
Laura: I'm sure it's more to it than that, but
Dana: Oh yeah. There's so much more to that, but think about what happens when. are. So you're an [00:25:00] athlete, you're preparing to go to a meet. There is a mindset you have to establish for yourself
Dana: It. But probably the foundation of this mindset is discipline, right? And no matter what.
Dana: Level you are competing at. There's some level of discipline there. So my theory, and I'm getting ready to do a study about this actually in early 2026
Laura: Exciting.
Dana: well, is my theory is that by making movement a part of your day, you are actually exercising some of the foundational values that the most successful people have, including success or including, what did I just say? I just used the word and now just escaped me. Discipline. Thank you.
Laura: You are saying thank you, but I didn't say anything.
Dana: I know, but I got, we got there. I looked at you, your eyes told me,
Laura: Sorry, I interrupted.
Laura: Discipline.
Dana: Discipline is what I was saying. And discipline is really just the art of [00:26:00] showing up. It's the art of being there no matter what you can do. And then that is what builds the muscle of consistency,
Dana: to show up no matter how hard it gets.
Dana: Like consistency over everything.
Dana: work towards optimizing whatever it is that's in front of you. What processes, what systems can I put in place so that I'm not carrying the mental load of feeling like I have all these tensions put together. And then your R is about like your recovery, and this is where you like, digest everything you've learned and you bring about.
Dana: The, you bring about resilience and then ease about your energy. So like, I've created this score platform. You may have heard me go through the acronym there. But it's about your energy and it's about your resources and about allocating the resources. And by the time my clients get to that point, it's about prioritizing.
Dana: It's about finding out what's most important for them and making it happen.
Dana: I was supposed to have really heavy squats yesterday, but I didn't have time. For a [00:27:00] two hour workout. And I definitely didn't have the energy to try to squeeze all that in out into the time that I did have. So I was like, I'm just gonna back off my weight and I'm gonna make sure this moves smooth, this butter, and then I'm not gonna feel like crap tomorrow and I'm not, I don't have to worry about undereating 'cause I overtrained or whatever else. And just been able to knock. Yeah. Yeah. You know the life and so that's like, that's what I've just realized is like this really can be built into a framework for people to help them achieve any goal.
Dana: And what one of the things I learned about movement is that it helps keep your energy in motion and energy in motion are just emotions. And once I realized that when I moved, I had better control my emotions. I was like,
Laura: Quote unquote.
Dana: changer. Yeah. Quote
Laura: Yeah.
Dana: But I had awareness for them. So
Laura: Yeah.
Dana: helped me create that awareness. It also helped me realize that if I was going to the gym at 5:00 AM and taking [00:28:00] care of myself before anybody else could interrupt that pattern, I was setting myself up with a win for the day.
Laura: Oh, I like that. Yeah. And I like what you said about movement. First of all, your score. Framework, which, um, I am gonna ask you, I was taking notes, but I am gonna ask you to go through again. I love that and I, I love the idea of that seeing movement as not just a, oh, that's like a nice to have or whatnot, but that like, it's actually a foundation of like discipline.
Laura: You can get your wins. And the part about emotions is true. It's like we don't, us highly analytical people think we don't have emotions when in fact it's like driving like that burning desire to like always get everything done on the to-do list. That's. An emotion driving that and what I love.
Dana: and how good does it feel when you check it off? It's like
Laura: Right?
Dana: rush, right? It's yes, those are your emotions moving in a positive way, so you wanna keep doing whatever. Honestly like that, whatever causes a lot of stress because then you're not
Laura: True.
Dana: off fast [00:29:00] enough
Laura: I,
Dana: people
Laura: yeah.
Dana: the same speed you are.
Dana: And then that's anxiety. And then now I just have to do it all myself and honestly, my solution, it's.
Dana: It's something for everyone, but part of my solution was like if I go move my body and I do something hard at the beginning of the day before anybody else gets to interrupt me, I've already won the day for myself, so now I can go do everything else.
Laura: I love that. I love that. And to your point about like, you know. That never ending list of things to do or like someone, you're gonna have to pick it up, et cetera. What I have found is like sometimes I will just move my body to have a delay, and then sometimes by the time I get back it's already solved.
Laura: So that's the other thing it's like, let's just pause and reassess like you said, what is actually a priority? Like is this thing that my brain is telling me that I suck if I don't finish this thing? Is that even like true?
Dana: Yeah.
Laura: not.
Dana: until you start showing up for yourself and still you start building that clarity and that [00:30:00] consistency, it doesn't, it's hard.
Laura: Yeah.
Dana: just hard.
Dana: You're just muddling through the muck, right?
Laura: Yeah, and you don't even realize it. Okay, so Dana, I am thinking that like the listener like me is like, oh my God, movement equals success. Beautiful. But here's some things that I can imagine they might be saying. I'm so busy right now. I don't have money for membership. I don't know how to start. I'm in the middle of trying to find a job and shouldn't I be sending out 10 resumes a day?
Laura: Like I don't have time for to go two hours at a gym. Like what would you say to the listener who's just I hear you, I hear the importance, and I can't do it.
Dana: I like to spend that amount of time in the gym, but if you don't like to spend that amount of time in the gym, you don't have to. It's
Dana: what works for you and building the habit that is sustainable for you. So when I start working with a new client who's I. I, I don't know that I can do this.
Dana: And I'm like, five minutes. Go for a
Dana: That is the most effective thing [00:31:00] you can do in this move, this free movement challenge I'm doing every six day they go do a 10 minute walk and I'm like, Nope, that's it. That's it. That's the whole homework. You don't even need to break a sweat your, did you know that your liver does 500 jobs and the best way to support your L liver is to get direct sunlight.
Laura: Oh shit. Really?
Dana: 500 birds with one stone right now.
Laura: I had no idea.
Dana: yeah.
Laura: I'm gonna be out there walking like this, trying to expose my liver to the sun.
Dana: it comes through the skin. The skin. The skin and muscle is your
Laura: Oh, okay.
Dana: But yeah, so you don't have to. So
Dana: See that disconnect. But you don't have to have two hours a day to go to the gym. If that's what you wanna work toward, great. We can build up towards that. But you don't need to do that to quote unquote, be healthy or
Dana: just need. Figure out where it fits in your life in micro habits, like little micro doses of things. And so I recently did [00:32:00] this reel about why we should love and respect burpees. We don't have to like them, but why we
Laura: I saw that and I was like, I'm not watching 'cause I'm insulted.
Dana: I feel attacked. I felt attacked when I was like, okay, fine I'll concede. Burpees can have their moment like but also like you hear burpee and you think full explosive burpee. You're not actually just thinking about the art and science of being able to get yourself on and off of the floor. That's all a
Dana: It's just the ability to get yourself on and off the floor. So if you're someone that doesn't have. Two hours a day. Are you confident that as you age, if you were to fall, you can get on and off the floor? Are you confident that as you age you'll be able to
Laura: Ah.
Dana: the toilet by yourself? If not go do that. Walk, practice getting on and off the floor for five minutes. Sit in a chair 50 times. continuously, like there are small little micro habits that we can use to create consistency. That you get to [00:33:00] build this into your life, how it works for you. You don't ever have to set foot inside of a gym.
Dana: And I'm a personal trainer as part of this too, right? So see me in the gym, but I'm never gonna make anyone feel like they have to pay for a gym membership. 'cause really all you need is yourself. I've written now 15 two and a half weeks worth of workouts that prove it.
Laura: Amazing, amazing. Dana, I'm sure the, the listeners like, okay, Laura, ask her questions about what does she do and how can we work with her and all that jazz. So I'm curious two questions really like. You mentioned there's a free movement challenge. You mentioned you are starting a study in early 2026.
Laura: You have the score framework that you talked about, but also because this is the pivot point, how did you, because we started off, I mean there's a lot of years in between. I understand that, you know, it's okay. This is only like a 45 minute to an hour podcast.
Laura: But walk us through, like how did you go from like, what did you say, mission-driven tech to now?
Laura: It sounds like you're doing this really [00:34:00] fucking cool thing, helping people movement, like all that so. Walk us through all of that.
Dana: Yeah. Like I said, movement. It has always been something I've loved and I've always been a coach or a personal trainer on the backend,
Dana: I think like I assumed that identity more over my life than I did this like corporate identity at least, or.
Dana: At least to the people who were part of that life.
Dana: The
Dana: Of my corporate life know that like I'm really big into this and it's a big part of my life, but I don't think they really realized how much. And honestly, what ended up happening was a year ago, I was just given an opportunity to make a decision. I got to make a decision. The CEO of the company I was working for just came to me and she was like very honest about that. She loved me and appreciated me, but she needed to do something different with my department at the time, and was
Dana: About who or what the right hire would be. And I essentially was just like, I think it's a good [00:35:00] time for me to leave the organization.
Dana: At no point was she like, you should leave the organization.
Dana: very much was like. You know what? This has been causing stress in my life using some of my awareness and my skills and keeping
Dana: in motion. And I was like, this has actually always been a really big point of stress for me because this isn't where I feel my best.
Dana: This isn't where I actually feel the most aligned. I'm like, that's a really hard conversation to have with yourself. But when you finally do and you come up with the agreement with yourself, I was like. What I really want is a break.
Dana: we took a couple of months and I took a couple of contracts and we figured out what a break looks like for me so that I could get to this point where I'm like, no.
Dana: What I really wanna do is connect mindset and movement for people.
Laura: Okay. And with that, pretty much, first of all, I love that you said, once I came to an agreement with self, that's such a beautiful way of saying I made a decision. 'cause you're saying no I'm all in. Because at this point you have been, I don't know how many [00:36:00] years in corporate. 18, 20,
Dana: Oh, 20.
Dana: 20 plus. Yeah.
Laura: So 20 and then break, and then I'm gonna start my own thing.
Laura: Were there any hesitations or narratives or anything that you had to walk through, or were you just like, no, this totally makes sense.
Laura: Yeah.
Dana: it totally makes sense for me as a person, but that doesn't negate the fact that I'm going to hit the same roadblocks that everybody else does,
Dana: that I'm going to need it to invest in mentorship to help me get there, because sure, I could help anybody launch a business, but when I said, if you want a lesson in personal development, launch a business.
Dana: Woo. I'm not kidding. And especially coming off of this burnout cycle where I wanted this break. Like the last thing I wanna do is jump back into a massive to-do list. So for me, I'm much more taking the feminine approach and thinking about what do I really wanna say and how is that gonna attract the people I really wanna work with?
Dana: Versus being like, [00:37:00] I just need to be in the dms talking to all these people, building all these relationships. And I understand a lot like that's a privileged position to be in that, that
Dana: My husband and I have built for ourselves and I'm really grateful for that opportunity. But for most people, it's just once you commit, the universe delivers, right?
Dana: And once you can articulate what specificity what you want, your brain is gonna find a way to get you there. But until you get to those points and those decisions are made and you are committed and you're able to articulate like that,
Dana: continue to be stressful and muddy. And then that's when people go back to what they know.
Laura: So how did you. Because you're right. There is a point no matter what we choose to do, and I'm not telling the list listener, I'm not saying go leave your job because Dana and I decided to. But whatever that big decision is when you start something new, there is a point, there's like a yes, this is amazing agreement with self, and then you start doing the thing.
Laura: And then even though you might know that the universe will [00:38:00] deliver, you still feel scared and then there's another choice you have to make, keep going or go backwards to what you know. So like what was that point? For you and how did you say, how did you manage to say, no, I'm gonna keep going. I'm not gonna go back to what I know.
Dana: Yeah as for most people, like stability is one of my core values, so I was like, what is the MVP for my life and
Dana: Are required to achieve that? And I'm just, we making sure those core needs are met, and as long as I can continue to meet those core needs, then. We're do, we're in a good place.
Dana: There was a lot of planning that went into that. I've tried to do this like three other times, and every other time I tried to do it, my, I was proactively resigning and my manager or boss or CEO or whatever at the time was like no. Let me give you a sabbatical. Or
Dana: Just give you this big promotion?
Dana: And this time the story was flipped. I was be given the option to make the decision of what I wanted. In my role as a [00:39:00] corporate person and as a corporate marketer, and I was like, I'm gonna choose the different thing this time because I've never done that before.
Laura: Okay. I'm really curious though. So like you tried to do this three other times and three times it sounded like you did make the decision, I'm gonna do the thing. What made this one different?
Dana: I don't think the other times, I don't think it was, I'm gonna do the thing. I think it was like, I'm just gonna take a undefined break. The other times
Laura: Ah.
Dana: time I was like, I'm gonna make the switch and I'm gonna actually do this and I'm gonna figure this out. And I got the certification and the insurances and just went through the process of building a business to get momentum going while I was transitioning and taking my downtime and all that stuff.
Laura: That makes a lot of sense. It sounds like the other times looking back, you could have made that. Choice, but this is the first time that you actually actively made that choice and then took the break and then really did the thing. Okay,
Dana: Yeah,
Laura: makes sense. It sounds like, honestly, the thing you said, agreement with self is like step [00:40:00] one.
Dana: Yes.
Laura: Yeah. Like
Dana: you do. And we go through life. So just, compelled by what we've been taught and those really and for some people it works,
Dana: Never sat right for me. It just took me like 40 years to figure it out.
Laura: you and me, Dana.
Dana: yeah. Totally.
Laura: I bet the listeners are like, Dana is so badass and I wanna be part of this free movement challenge and I wanna follow her and I wanna be her and I wanna work with her. So like, tell the listeners how can they get in touch with you? What do you have going on? Like all the things.
Dana: Yeah, sure. All the things. So the, I'd say the best way to catch me now is on my Instagram, which is at the only Suite D. I may eventually getting around to change that, but right now that's where we are at The only Suite D that's where I'm posting most of my content and things of
Laura: Great content.
Dana: a newsletter that's on the [00:41:00] way.
Dana: And if you wanna be part of the 31 Day Challenge, just click the link in my link tree and you can sign up for it. And then you'll get the link to the spreadsheet, which has all the demo videos and everything else in it. Yeah.
Laura: I love it. Dana, thank you so much for being here. I have one last question that I ask all of my guests, which is if you were an item at a coffee shop, coffee pastry. Whatever, what would you be and why?
Dana: I'm a deep thinker, dude. I. I am, I honestly, I'm probably exactly what I order a grande almond milk latte because I am stable and dependable. But you can like add different syrups or sweetness or spices and really create something that you want in the moment.
Laura: I love that. I love that deep and delicious.
Dana: always.
Laura: That sounds wrong. I might edit that out
Dana: A little bit.
Laura: and the way I said it. Oh my God. Okay, Dana, thank you so much for being here. [00:42:00] I'm gonna leave all your info down in the show notes. You have to follow her listener, she's amazing. And with that, remember to proceed, where's my mug? Remember to proceed as if success is inevitable because it is. All right, so I'm gonna end recording.
Laura: That's for my editor. Uh, I'm gonna keep rolling so we have content. If we want to, I might just send you this raw footage. Yeah. I'll send you a link to this raw footage. Yeah. Yeah, I like how none of this had to do with burnout. I,
Dana: None of it had anything to do with
Laura: yeah. Yeah, because, and I, I had a feeling it wouldn't because that burnout topic that we had.
Laura: Was relevant at the time that we were feeling it. And so that's why I don't like to pre-plan these things because you really did blow my mind. I never thought of movement as leading to success, but like everything you said makes sense. Yeah. In order for me to go to the gym every day, that means I have discipline, I have focus, I have intention.
Laura: I have to have the right mindset when I'm entering the gym, I have to prepare, I have to be able to [00:43:00] plan. If I have a lot of things happening, I have to be flexible enough to, you know, like, I'm like, oh shit. Those are signs of a great leader. Call Alex starts in 30 minutes. Yeah, that blew my mind. Uh, how do you feel?
Laura: Do you feel like you, um, what was your intention, clarity, and story? Do you feel like you have more clarity in story?
Dana: probably not, but it's fine. Whatever.
Laura: What were you looking for with clarity in story? Like how to tell your story?
Dana: Yeah. Just what is the succinct way to say it and hit the key points and stuff like that.
Laura: Yeah. Who's your audience again? Like people in corporate who need movement or who's your, who's your people in corporate?
Dana: I honestly, I would say it's like a high achieving woman or corporate leader
Laura: Who doesn't move.
Dana: ex, that experiences a lot of anxiety, lives a sedentary life, is really focused on bulldozing their career and not on themselves.
Laura: Yeah. This is just because I love story crafting. It's a lot easier when it's not me. What stood out to me is the fact that you were that even though. Not corporate per se. You were hyper-focused on [00:44:00] sever 700 pounds to the point where like, to your own detriment, like you, you did touch upon that, the fact that like, oh, this hernia probably happened through training.
Laura: So there's that overexertion, there's the looking at the goal ver so externally driven, like does that externally focus that you're not tuning into yourself until you were forced to?
Laura: your, that's your arc, and then you had to pause and then you had no choice. And then you, despite that, you still decided to love movement because you knew that that was important.
Laura: You knew that it wasn't movement's fault. You started to look within, like what? What is it forced you to slow down. You hired support, by the way, hiring Sup. You wanna mention that you hired support because then the clients are like, well, if she hired support, then that means I get to hire. You know? And you wanna like.
Laura: Because my clientele's like high ticket item. I put an amount out there. I say something like, I invested in six figures in myself because I knew that's what I needed. If I wanted something bigger for myself. The reason I say that is so that by the time I pitch my thing, they're like, oh shit, 10 K is nothing.[00:45:00]
Laura: You know what I mean?
Laura: So I don't dunno what your pricing is. So but I think that was important in your story is that you didn't do it alone. Yeah, you had your husband, but you had outside support and then you continued the work and then you
Dana: objective look. Someone who
Laura: me.
Dana: in it for me. No. Like in life,
Laura: Oh yeah. For everyone.
Dana: Uhhuh.
Laura: Yeah. So that's why I think it's important to mention that in your story.
Laura: I think it's important to mention that, like, do you need the pause? I'm trying to think. Because I am basically, if I wasn't going to the gym, I probably would be your target person if I wasn't into fitness, and I'm thinking if I wasn't into fitness, the thing that's gonna relate to my story, I mean, sorry to your story, is all that, that arc, that pain that.
Laura: Oh shit. Body got fucked up and I had to rest for two years. I had no idea. Complete outta control. Complete. Like you had to let go of control. Probably you didn't say that, but I'm guessing you had to. Whereas everything used to be very controlled and centered around the 700 pound goal. You couldn't do [00:46:00] that anymore.
Laura: You had to do an identity shift. You literally said that. I think that's important to the identity shift part because As a high performing person, I wouldn't, I, I'd be like, what's wrong with my identity? It's fine. But then you can say, my old identity led me to, for, to my body to break down. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but she had to evolve.
Laura: So like, I think that's powerful. And then the thing that you said about like your years working with. Like startups and stuff like that. That fucking thing that you said, that movement led to success. That's huge. Because that blew my mind. I had no idea. You would think I would 'cause movement's important to me too.
Laura: That's important because then it's like, wait, I wanna be successful too, and I don't want my body to break down. Oh, so now not only am I doing this because it's good for me, which I knew already, but it's actually gonna get me what I want. Like it's gonna help me be more successful.
Laura: That's what stood out to me.big thanks again to Dana Willdebore [00:47:00] for sharing her story so openly. These conversations are such a reminder that no pivot is too messy, too late, or too unconventional if something she said resonated. Don't keep it to yourself. Share this episode with someone you know who needs it, and when you are ready to start your own pivot.
Head to www.leadintact.com for free resources or book a free 20 minute call with me. I'm here for you.