From Boardroom To Breakthrough

We talk with former IBM executive and mindset coach Anouk Brookfield about what happens when you achieve “success” but still feel a pull toward something more meaningful. We unpack burnout, purpose, and the mindset shifts that help us stop performing for others and start building a life that fits our values. 
• humble beginnings shaped by a wise grandmother and a bigger vision 
• burnout, self-sabotage, and impostor syndrome showing up at high achievement 
• the real cost of chasing titles while priorities slip at home 
• a three-part “master plan” for the next chapter: know yourself, be yourself, build your village 
• finding purpose through passion, peace, and time with God 
• giving ourselves grace, trusting the pivot, and believing it is never too late 
• saying yes to ourselves through practical daily choices and boundaries 
• coaching that goes deep through reflection, forgiveness, and future-focused action 
• getting out of our own way to launch new platforms and reach more people 
My website is www.anouk-mc.com. 

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Transcript

Welcome And The Core Question

Cassandra 0:00

Good day out there to all of my listeners, and I'd like to welcome you to Is Your Way in Your Way. And some of you may ask, where in the world did she get that name from? But I just want you to know that is the name of my best selling book titled Is Your Way in Your Way. And this podcast, let me tell you, the heart of this podcast is actually about empowering women to break through those internal barriers that's preventing you from living your best life on your terms. In other words, live more with a purpose and a meaning. It's about choosing those that life-rooted joy, or some may say happiness, authenticity, and fulfillment. Instead of just going through the motions every day, you know about that? I used to do that all the time. Come home, work hard, come home, eat, go to bed, work hard, come home. You know, it's just the same, same old thing. But hey, it's time for us to revisit whether there is a new chapter in our life. So I'm gonna ask you this when you achieved everything you thought success was supposed to look like, yet you discovered like a yearning in your belly, like it's something else. I know it's another chapter, but I can't figure out what it is. Well, listen, guys, today's guest knows that journey firsthand. After spending more than three decades at the highest level of corporate leadership, she made a courageous, I'm saying courageous decision to reinvent herself and step into an entirely new purpose. If you've ever wondered whether it's too late to start over, pursue

Anouk’s Leap From Corporate Leadership

Cassandra 1:51

a new dream or become the person God is calling you to be. This conversation is for you. Please join me in welcoming Anouk Brookfield. Hi, Anouk, how are you?

Anouk 2:05

I am doing super fabulous. I am so excited to be with you today.

Cassandra 2:11

Well, I'm glad you're with me. And also, I pronounced your name wrong. It's Anouk. Is that correct? I told her listeners that I would probably end up saying Anouk, and I did. Well, look, okay. What we're going to talk about. Like I also indicated that you reinvented yourself. You're now a mindset coach. Uh, and you also retire from corporate America, and I think it was IBM. Now you're an international bestseller, speaker, mentor, and helping high achieving professionals navigate life's next chapter with confidence and purpose. Your journey is a powerful example that success isn't about staying where you have always been. It's about having the courage, and I mean courage, to become who you were meant to be. And something else that we didn't talk about, but you're now you're the host, the hottest host of a new inspirational radio show. So we want to kind of talk about that as well. So, congratulations to you for reinventing success for you based on your terms. Now, in the beginning, you indicated that you came from humble beginnings. What triggered that fire in your belly that empowered you to even dream bigger?

Anouk 3:49

So I will say that I was born in Shreeport, Louisiana, and I was reared by a grandmother who only had a third or sixth grade

Grandmother Wisdom And Dreaming Bigger

Anouk 4:01

education. And she, even though she did not have the opportunity for a lot of classroom knowledge, she's one of the wisest persons I've ever met. And she really was a really great role model for me to see the value of hard work, for me to see the value of building relationships, for me to see the value of keeping your word. So as a little girl, and I was a skinny little girl, and I grew up as known as one of the hoods, which is Cedar Grove here in Treeport, Louisiana, I so many questions, and I knew that I wanted more, more than what I saw in my current environment. And I just believed that if I could dream it or believe it, I could have it. And I feel like I just needed to continue to ask those questions, get in front of the right people, get the right experiences. So it really goes back to my grandmother. Yes, she taught me so much, she instilled so much. Yet I wanted to do more, be more than the environment that I was currently living in. And I wanted to really show my family that it could be done and make my grandmother very proud.

Cassandra 5:17

Oh, okay. I'm oh my goodness. I believe she's looking down and proud anyway for you, although she's not here on this earth. Um, so so listening to you, you are a high achiever. And they say high achievers get burnt out. Um, and I can say this because I too, I did get burnt out, uh, even self-sabotage. Um, and the only person I've heard and read about that never ever experienced self-sabotage

Burnout And The Cost Of Success

Cassandra 5:52

was Oprah Wentford. And I'm like, wow, that's amazing for her. And so I want to know, um, how did you break that cycle? Am I correct? You did get burnout sometimes, and you did experience self-sabotage?

Anouk 6:09

I did. All of that, and imposter syndrome and all of that. Okay, okay, all right. Again, I had this burning desire to achieve, burning desire to do more. And so when I started my career in corporate America, I was always trying to progress really fast up that corporate path to see if there really is a glass ceiling, like they used to say, right? And so I began to work really, really hard. And then there was a mentor said, Don't work hard, work smart. But I was feeling like I had to do a combination of both. And um, I'll never forget um the seventh grade year of my son's school year, and I had gone through a divorce, and now I'm raising my son by myself, and I was asked to do two roles uh while at IBM. I was having to travel every week to Mountain View, California to be on site with a client. From I would leave on Sunday, come back on Thursday, and then I would do the other role Thursday and Friday, and then have a little time to spend with my son. So my mom had actually stepped in to rear my son for me that seventh grade year. And again, I wanted to do both. And I then that was the year that I got promoted to an executive at IBM, and I felt like wow, everybody was congratulating me and they were so excited, but I felt so unfulfilled because I had dropped a really significant ball. I had dropped my priorities. I was focused on that when I should have been focused on, you know, my son and my priorities were in order. So that's when I felt burnt out, and that's when I realized too that you can really do both. But there is a way that you navigate that. And I did not learn that or know that initially, and that's what we try to help other people with. But to this day, that I still not completely forgiven myself for not being there my son's seventh grade year because he had so many challenges just because you know his parents were not there, and I now have figured out the master plan to do both.

Cassandra 8:35

Now I know I would love to hear that master plan, and so are my listeners, and just listening to you, I too was a very skinny child. So we have a similarity there, and and and I always say, you guys, you just wait, you know. You know, but but that was something in my in my psyche, like, oh, she's so skinny. So so I get that part. I also get the part in regards to ambition, you know. Um, I did not know for me what it was that I wanted to do with my life, even going to college. I had no clue, and I felt bad about that. And then I realized that what I supposed to have done was waiting for me to come to it so that I could do it, you know. So I I get the burnout and I get the self-sabotage, I even procrastinate. I'm even a perfectionist, I'm recovering perfectionist, you know, and it's yeah, and it sounds like we kind of were in the same realm, walking down that same, same street. But you had a master plan to break that. What was your plan? What did you do?

Anouk 9:48

Yeah, so after I started progressing and hitting all the targets, like even the person that recruited me to come into corporate America that was one of my mentors, once I surpassed her, I'm like, oh my God, like this is really happening for me. Now I really need to step back to truly assess life, truly make sure that I understand what's my purpose because

Know Yourself, Be Yourself, Find Support

Anouk 10:14

I just got into something, doing something, and realized that hey, I can do this, but I'm not sure this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I never really assessed that. I didn't understand my purpose, I didn't align to that. And so what I've now learned around the age of 40 is when I began to truly self-reflect and to evaluate, reevaluate life, and to begin to understand, you know, my purpose and I set goals. So I began at that point to say, I'm in it at this point, and I'm doing really well that I want to make sure I stay in this until 55, and I want to hear early enough where I can still go do something else and still enjoy it. And I want to start building something on the side so that I can position for my next. And so I began to say, you know, it is so important. There were three things that I feel like are so very important is number one is you have to truly know yourself. Um, a lot of times we don't know who we are. For whatever reason, it's like you said, sometimes we can just be moving, doing things. Um, and so you really need to take time to understand your values, your passion, your purpose. And then a lot of times you can know who you are, but you can go on a performance streak where you're performing for other people, yeah. Which is your authentic self. So, number two is once you know yourself, it's important to be yourself. That we are all unique creatures that God perfectly made, and that we have to be comfortable in our own skin and to be ourselves. And we have to always remember that an original is worth way more than a copy. And then, number three, we have to surround ourselves, we have to remember that no one gets anywhere alone, that it is important that we have our village, we have our tribe, we have our sponsors, we have our coaches, we have our mentors, because there's so much value that can be brought to the table when you're building those, you know, relationships. And so that's what I learned. So once I began in my 40s to begin to go through these three steps for myself, that I began to say, it's okay for me to say that I'm climbing up this ladder that I don't even know if this is the right ladder anymore. And so then I had to just be comfortable with you know making that exit to go and align with what my true purpose is, what God was telling me to do and be aware with my calling.

Cassandra 12:58

Let's let's talk about a purpose a little bit because I I started out and saying we want people want to revisit um success in their terms and to start having more purpose and meaning, you know, because I, you know, if you for me, if you don't have meaning, it's it's like the core of our being, like, like why are we here? And I know there's a a chapter in

Finding Purpose Through Passion And Faith

Cassandra 13:23

my book about dear women who are trying to figure out what their purpose is. How did you figure it out or have you still figured it out? Are you trying? Are you there? How do you do that? I mean, what how does like like my listeners are like, I know I have something, but I can't figure it out. How do they figure it out?

Anouk 13:44

Yeah, you know, again, that purpose is the reason that we're here and why we were created. Um, some people I I need to get a copy of your book to read this chapter, but and so this may be more of your expertise than mine, but for me, I had to truly assess what my passion areas were. I had to truly assess what I really enjoyed doing, those things that came easy, the things that made me feel comfortable, the things that made me feel fulfilled. That's the way I knew this is what I was supposed to be doing. And then I had time with God, private time with God to guide me, and um, and so now I'm just trying to be obedient in that. And it's amazing because when I reflect back on my life and I kind of think about as a little girl, the things that I was doing, and I was not only skinny, but I was truly shy, and I was so afraid of people, but I had an auntie, an auntie named Bobby, who saw something in me early on, who began to have me speaking in front of different churches, and I was a youth speaker, and even though I was shy, I loved that part, and then I would go back to my shell, yes, really think about it, and then I always loved an encouraging word. I felt like life can get really, really dim, and I gravitated toward positivity, and so again to say a lot of times it's right there in front of you, and you missed it. A lot of things kind of go back to your childhood in a lot of cases. So now I feel like that's how I found my purpose, that I know what I truly enjoy. I know what gives me that inner comfort and inner peace.

Cassandra 15:37

And I love those three essentials you talked about, knowing yourself. Um, I call it a self-discovery journey, you know. Um, that's kind of what my my book is about. And when I need to promote my book, but I had I too had to go on a self-discovery journey to figure out who I'm who am I, you know, and and what do I need to do to be my true self again? And I like the part when you talk about surrounding yourself with the right people, how critical that is. And I always say I have a personal board of directors because life is tough, you know. And you know, I just have certain people in my circle to help me in regards to what you were stating. And then you another thing that's so ironic to me, Anouk. You talked about being 55, you know, you're like, okay, my goal was to retire at 55. So I get that part, and and I was successful, and I thank God that I was able to do that, but I also, as I was preparing for you, there has to be an essential mindset shift. What tell me more about that that mindset shift, mindset shift that's essential?

Anouk 16:52

Yeah, I will have to say that you really do need to believe in yourself, and you really have to make sure that you have to give yourself grace because a lot of times we give other people grace, but we don't give ourselves grace. So sometimes you may be traveling down this road and you reflect back and you're like,

Grace, Belief, And Retiring Early

Anouk 17:17

Why did I do that? Why am I here? How did I get here? And you just have to remember that life is a journey, that we all make mistakes, give yourself some grace and you know, just go do it. So I had to just truly get back to the core to believe in myself. Now, early on, I had a goal like around the 40th time frame in my life. That's when I said I wanted to retire at 55. I ended up retiring at 52 when I could retire early. And it was definitely something that was scary because I was on a very highly compensated uh plan. And I'm like, God, are you really telling me to do this? And I knew that I had prepared, my financial advisors told me it was good, but I also knew I had this gap period before I really could tap into a lot of my retirement funds and things like that. So I really just had to trust and I had to believe in God, believe in myself and give myself grace because I reflect back a lot of times and say, gosh, I've wasted so much time. And I wish I had that wisdom back then. You know, people often ask the question is what would you tell your younger self, right? And so I just have to make sure that people know that it's never too late. Like give yourself grace and pivot if you need to pivot and move forward and take all the things that you feel like you've made mistakes in as lessons and kind of leverage and build that and move forth because we are in charge of our lives, we are the CEOs of our life, and we can create whatever life that we want to live. And I say co-create, we can't do anything alone, and so um it's that mind shift, just believing that you can and start taking some steps.

Cassandra 19:18

Great, yeah. So that's why we titled this podcast from um from boardroom to breakthrough. Okay, you were in the boardroom, uh, and actually listening, you were in your way, like many of us are. You were in your way, you were struggling with your son, you know. Like, should I do this? Should I be there? What's my priority? Is it the money? You know, is it is it this? And you know, and and then you you you were driven based on your childhood. This is where I want to be. This is you know what I want to see, and then you um you're an introvert, okay? So you kind of wanted to be silent, you know, but you do your thing, you're speaking or whatever, and then you go back into your shell. So tell me about that book, 30 days of saying yes, Miss Introvert. Tell us a little more about that.

Anouk 20:16

Well, I will definitely say I was an introvert growing up, I was uh and skinny, and then when I came to high school, I actually pivoted and I became an extrovert. And so I'm no longer shy. I probably talk and

30 Days To Say Yes

Anouk 20:31

am too sociable now. So that is something that definitely changed. So as I was going through this uh reassessment, like you talked about a this a self-discovery journey, I began to realize when I look back over my life, I've often put other people, other things ahead of myself, ahead of what was really best for me, and felt like, oh, I can go help and solve their problems, realizing, hey, I have my problems over here. And once I retired from IBM again to retire to stop doing that to go fulfill my purpose, I sat down to finish a book that I had started years prior, but I could never give myself the time that I needed. So then 30 days to yes to me uh started out as a really thick book. And then I realized that okay, people don't seem like they like to, you know, do anything that's lengthy. So I said, how do I make this more digestible? So I like reduced the size of the book and said, I'm gonna make it more like a journey. And it was really an a testament based upon what I was going through to say it is okay to prioritize yourself and that we must love to ourselves.

Cassandra 21:48

Okay.

Anouk 21:49

We must make sure that we know that it's not being selfish to focus on yourself. It's really necessary. And so then people are like, Well, how do you do that? So I wanted to give. Them like a 30-day practical guide of some things that you can truly do to kind of get back to yourself and prioritize yourself. So I'm pretty excited about that first book that I have, and I've had two others since then.

Cassandra 22:14

Okay, okay. So based on your book and the guide that you've given individuals and doing your speaking and coaching, you talked about how you get really deep in your coaching and you provide uh, you know, I mean, it it sounds like in order to based on your coaching and you're empowering individuals to do better, um, but you said you go deep in that. Tell me more about going deep. Give us a scenario for going deep doing your coaching.

Anouk 22:53

Yeah, a lot of times we like to stay on the surface because it's really, you know, comfortable. And in the coaching sessions, what I really try to do is I really want people to be real with themselves.

Going Deep: Reflection, Forgiveness, Action

Cassandra 23:11

Okay.

Anouk 23:12

Sometimes you have to kind of go back in order to move forward. Um, so I do this whole thing about some, you know, reflections where you kind of look in the mirror and you kind of talk about, you know, who do you see? You know, what do you see, you know, and to really go and look at what are the things that you feel like were mistakes, and then you kind of forgive yourself and you kind of tear those things up, and then you begin to think about where you want to be five years from today, and you begin to write a letter to yourself. And then later we come back and you know, put some actionable things into place so that when you go back or you come to that letter five years from that day, that you can be really excited about what you did. So I think a lot of times that deep part is not missing the step of going back to really reassess. And there's always places in our lives that we're not proud of that you have to definitely make sure that you uh forgive yourself and that you can learn from that so that you can be working from a very healed point of view. And so that's kind of what I do try to do on the deep versus saying, you know, let's just look at goals and where you want to be. We got to go back in order to go forward, right?

Cassandra 24:38

Right. So, in other words, you have them to give themselves grace as you educate it, or one of one of the things. Um what where do you see yourself five years from now? Because you're on a different, you're you you have you're on a different chapter right now. Okay, you've you've left corporate America, you were courageous in doing that because it takes courage to change, it really does, because we want to be comfortable, you know. We don't want to be um comfortable with the uncomfortable, you know. We're like, okay, yeah. So where where do you see yourself? I would say about five years from now.

Anouk 25:30

Yeah, I know my purpose is to inspire, encourage, motivate, and empower people. And so five years from today, I can see that I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of people and really impact them so that I that have aided them one way or another in getting to the best version of their life. Uh, and so I have the opportunity to do that not just from my books or not from coaching, but also from my radio programs or some of my speaking engagements or some of the workshops that I do. So I'm hoping that at that point I've reached a mass number of people, that the name Anook is a name that a lot of people, you know, recognize. And my name actually means grace and favor. And so kind of what I would like to see five years from now, that they can remember the name Annook and that they can say, Yep, one day I was down and she gave me, or I heard an encouraging word from one of her shows, or hey, I read the book and this tip truly, you know, helped me out, and that she was someone that was identifiable, and that she helped me to see that the best is yet to come, that I can't do this, and that if she did it, anybody can do it.

Cassandra 26:49

That's correct, right? Good, good. Now, your radio show. I've listened to it, and uh, I was impressed by your show, and I yeah, and I think um you appear to be someone that's like, you know, it's kind of like okay, uh, I've done this, I've wrote my book. All right,

Saying Yes To A Radio Show

Cassandra 27:17

I'm done. And you're like, nah, I'm not done. You know, it's kind of like okay, when much is given, much is required. So you want to do some more, and then you decide, okay, I think I'm because I want to inspire and power individuals, then I'll do the radio show. Was anything in your way when you were thinking about doing the radio show?

Anouk 27:39

I was in my own way. So a guy named Elal, I was actually on a panel for uh the state of black Shreveport um a couple of years ago, and he interviewed the panelists. And then after he interviewed me, he said, You need your own show. And I was like, Really? He's like, Yeah, this is, and I know how to make that happen. And I was like, Oh, I'm not interested in that. That's not me, no way. And um so then he called me up. We talked a couple of weeks later, and he says, Now, what do you like to do? So that's when I said, I like to inspire, encourage, motivate, empower. He said, This could be a medium to help you with that. I said, Well, I didn't think about that, and I don't know how this works, I don't know how to do that. And I said, Well, let me, you know, pray about it and get back to you. And I kept thinking that, no, this doesn't work, this is not me. Well, I I don't know. And so um I was then led to say yes. And I told them yes, probably like in March. And then I said, But I still need some time to think through this just to make sure. And um, so I did my first show in June of 2024. So I just recently celebrated, you know, two years of the show, and I am always really elated to hear or talk to someone that actually listens to the show. So thank you so much for tuning in. I really do appreciate that.

Cassandra 29:09

Yeah, wow. So, you know, through the whole scheme of things, Anouk, it's like many of us are in our ways, you know. Um, and I I think one of the things that is concerning for me, and what I want my listeners to hear is we want to be able to do what it is that we were ordained to do while we were here. Because we're not just here to be here. Um, I always say just live in a way that maximizes your personal happiness, authenticity, and true self. You know, you got to live in that way and fulfillment as you indicated, as opposed to, like I said in the beginning, going through the motions. And in doing that, you did use you portrayed some values like your son, and you know, that was a priority of yours. And when you are doing what you want to do and get out of your way, you still want to make sure that is aligned with your values and well-being and pursuit rather than just dream, you know. So the values are in that as well. You know, I can think of some incidents where, you know, individuals wanted me to do something. I'm like, well, no, I don't I don't want to speak against that because that's not who I am. You know, I want to be authentic. I want to be, you know, even though in corporate I was the many instances as you, the only, the first African-American female. And I had to pretend, I had to wear a mask so I could conform that like they are, because they're supposed to have been so. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. And I was in my way, and that is destructive, you know. So I'm just, I want you to share with my audience, my listeners, where they can contact you and um and just kind of share with them something that um some wisdom and some inspiration that they could that we can leave this podcast with for them.

Anouk 31:33

Yes, I would definitely one of my favorite quotes growing up was shoot for the moon, and if you miss, you'll be among the stars. I just encourage anyone that's listening, watching today, that you can have whatever you want. That time is the only currency that we have no idea how much

Final Advice And Contact Details

Anouk 31:58

we have. And so we do not need to take any moment for granted that you do not want to get to a point in the future where you reflect back and say, I wish I had, I could have done this or that. Just go do it. A lot of times you don't have to have the entire game plan mapped out, just take a step, and I guarantee you God will place angels along your path to kind of help you with the next step. That's right. And I just encourage you to just go do it, go live your best life because life is short and life is precious, and that just like you have career goals, you should have life goals. There should be things like if there's places you want to go, things you want to see, create a plan and make that happen. And we all have the same amount of time every day and making sure that you're maximizing your time on the right things, the things that bring you joy, and don't compare yourself to other people. Social media really has things messed up where you see all these highlights, people don't give you the lowlights, but you have to remember that everybody should create their own operational definition of success. Because what might make you happy, Cassandra, necessarily make me happy. So we should be comfortable being our authentic self and know what makes us happy, makes brings us that joy. So if you want to reach out to me, I have everything consolidated. I like simple. My website is www.anuk-mc.com. On that website, you can get my contact information. You can see all my social media. You can also purchase any one of my books. I actually have three books. My most recent book that came out a couple of weeks ago is called Yes Me, Break the Cycle. And I'm very proud of this baby because you know that first book I talked about Yes to me 30 days. Yeah. Now I'm saying once you now are prioritizing yourself, there's probably some still some things that you need to release yourself from. And so that's what this uh edition of Yes to Me Break the Cycle is available as well. So again, our website is www.anuk hyphen mc.com and anuk is an o-k.

Cassandra 34:24

Well said, well said. Thank you so much for being on my show. And I am hey, I think it would be great. We have we have a lot of similarities. And I'm gonna pivot and I'm gonna try this thing. So I'm hopeful this particular podcast is one of them. And like I say to my guests, I want you to think about it, everyone. Is your way in your way from doing what it is that you've always wanted to do or most recently wanted to do? So again, thank you, Anuk. Thank you, my listeners, and God bless you. Thanks again. Thank you.

Anouk 35:25

Thank you so much.