What happens when the thing you pride yourself on most… is the very thing quietly breaking you?

Janice DaCosta grew up in a world where excellence wasn’t optional. You hold it together. You don’t fall apart. You make it work—no matter what.

Until one day, standing in front of a mirror with scissors in her hand, she couldn’t hold it together anymore.

What followed was a complete Control, Alt, Delete reset.

Raised in a family of serial entrepreneurs with deep roots on Wall Street, Janice DaCosta grew up learning values centered around excellence, rigorous work ethic, and community upliftment. Love was at the core, but hustle was integral too.

Janice’s professional journey began in the corporate world, navigating high-pressure environments across multiple continents as a global logistics leader.

She excelled in male-dominated environments, but behind the scenes, it was a different story. She was holding together a marriage that wasn’t working. Showing up strong, being everything to everyone in every role she played. And quietly, she was unraveling.

That pivotal “mirror moment” happened on a regular day when the façade finally cracked. It became the catalyst for radical change. She realized true failure wasn’t in letting go and not being perfect. It was in sacrificing herself at the altar of perfection.

Thus began her long, messy, honest healing process. She started recording raw, unfiltered conversations with herself on video through which she allowed herself to unpack, witness, and process what she’d been holding back for years. This practice of speaking aloud, instead of shoving the emotions down, helped her cultivate self-trust and gave her the courage to finally seek support from others.

Through this introspective journey, Janice unlocked the transformative power of “unshakable relief.” She learned to define her worth outside productivity, to let go of shame, and to give herself permission to feel all the emotions that make us human. That journey and its hard-won wisdom are now at the heart of her latest book on emotional wealth, which reimagines the concept of “pay yourself first.”

Keep listening to hear what it sounds like when someone who “has it all together” finally admits… yeah, I don’t—and can’t keep pretending I do. Because you might recognize yourself here.

Hype Song

Janice’s hype song is Run the World (Girls)- Beyonce

https://youtu.be/Xqo08TXbxWQ?si=jvYs5OeWT25608Wr

Resources

Janice DaCosta’s website: iamjaniceclaire.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicedacosta
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamjaniceclaire
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamjaniceclaire

Invitation from Lori:

This episode is sponsored by Zen Rabbit.

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