We recently had the chance to connect with Bernadette Gold and have shared our conversation below.
Bernadette, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Would YOU hire you? Why or why not?
Yes. I offer what most high-level leaders rarely have: a space where they can be fully seen, without needing to perform, solve, or lead. A space where they can exhale. Where their body, their truth, and their trauma can be part of the conversation, not sidelined by strategy or productivity.
Most people at the top are navigating enormous decisions, carrying deep responsibility, and often doing it in isolation. When you add in unresolved trauma or chronic health issues, it becomes clear that performance alone isn’t enough. What’s needed is repair, reconnection, and regulation.
I would hire me because I know how to hold complex, high-stakes spaces with clarity, precision, and care. I work at the intersection of leadership, trauma healing, and holistic health. My approach isn’t just about achieving more. It’s about creating inner conditions where sustainable, embodied leadership can thrive.
I don’t coach from theory. I coach from lived experience, deep study, and the ability to see and support the whole human, not just the role they play. That kind of space is rare. And for those leading others, it’s essential.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m an Integrated Healing Master Practitioner, and I’m not your average coach. I’ve been an entrepreneur since 1997, so I understand the real-world pressure, responsibility, and resilience it takes to lead and sustain something meaningful.
My work supports high-performing individuals, especially leaders and visionaries, who are carrying invisible burdens. Many are dealing with chronic stress, unresolved trauma, or health challenges that traditional coaching and productivity tools don’t address. I help them reconnect with themselves on every level: physical, emotional, mental, and energetic. This allows them to lead from a place of clarity, strength, and authenticity.
What makes my approach unique is that I don’t separate performance from healing. I create space for the whole human experience. This is where deep transformation happens. It’s not about pushing harder. It’s about aligning with what is true and building the capacity to lead in a sustainable and embodied way.
Right now, I’m focused on offering deeper immersion containers that support lasting change. These are designed for people who are ready to move through old patterns, restore their health, lead with grounded presence and authenticity.
This work is personal. It is rooted in my own experience, years of study, and a deep commitment to helping others live and lead in alignment with who they really are.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was a quiet observer, deeply connected to the unseen. I felt everything. I knew things without being told. I saw beneath the surface of people and situations, even when I didn’t have the language for it yet.
I was creative, intuitive, and sensitive. Not fragile, but deeply attuned. I could feel the truth underneath the noise and see what others tried to hide. I was always trying to make sense of things that didn’t add up — systems, behaviors, patterns. I asked questions that made people uncomfortable because I couldn’t unsee what was real.
That part of me never left. It just got buried for a while under expectations, survival strategies, and the pressure to succeed in a way the world could understand. But she’s back now. And everything I do is in service to helping others reclaim that part of themselves too — the part that knew, before they were told to forget.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
One of the defining wounds of my life was feeling like I had to carry everything alone. From a young age, I was the strong one, the capable one, the one others leaned on. But underneath that was a deep exhaustion and a silent grief. I didn’t know how to ask for help, and I didn’t believe it was safe to be fully seen in my struggle.
Another wound was the disconnect from my own body. Like many who move through trauma, I learned to override my signals in order to perform, achieve, and survive. I pushed through pain. I ignored symptoms. I kept going, even when everything inside me was asking for stillness.
The healing came when I stopped trying to please people and achieve for the sake of approval. I began to accept my natural gifts, talents, and strengths without needing to earn my worth. I stopped contorting myself to fit into roles that didn’t feel true and started honoring the deeper intelligence within me. The more I trusted who I already was, the more energy and clarity returned. My body softened. My vision sharpened.
That shift changed everything. It allowed me to lead from a place of authenticity, not performance. And it shaped the way I now support others, helping them come home to the truth of who they are, without needing to prove anything to anyone.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
One of the biggest lies in the coaching and high-performance industry is that mindset alone is enough. That if you just think positively, work harder, or reframe the story, you can override anything — trauma, illness, burnout, even grief. It creates this illusion that success is only a matter of willpower, when in reality, many people are fighting battles in their nervous systems, their bodies, and their unprocessed past that cannot be out-thought or outworked.
Another lie is the glorification of constant growth. There is an obsession with scaling, hacking, and optimizing, often at the expense of truth, rest, and integrity. It convinces people to keep pushing, even when their body is breaking down or their spirit is asking for a different way.
The industry also tends to present healing and transformation as a linear process, with clear steps and fast results. But real healing is cyclical. It is layered, nonlinear, and deeply personal. You cannot rush it. And you cannot reduce it to a formula without losing something essential.
What I have learned is that people do not need more performance tricks. They need space to slow down, feel, and come back to themselves. That is where real power lives, not in the hustle, but in the integration.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
What I understand deeply, and what hustle culture refuses to acknowledge, is that burnout has a cost. And sometimes, that cost is your life. In 2024, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma. It didn’t come out of nowhere. It came after years of putting everything and everyone else first, ignoring my body’s signals, and believing I could just keep going.
I wasn’t trying to earn rest. I just didn’t prioritize it. Like so many others, I had been conditioned to believe that if I could manage it all, then I should. I thought I was strong. I thought I was built for it. I thought I could push through. Until my body gave out.
That diagnosis forced everything to stop. My business, my plans, my sense of forward motion — all of it had to come second. Healing became the only thing that mattered. And in that space, I had to face a hard truth. I had been living in a way that wasn’t sustainable. And I had normalized it, because so much of our culture praises that kind of relentless pace.
Now, everything is different. I work in a way that honors my body. I live in a way that makes space for rest, for nourishment, for presence. And I help others break free from the same illusions I once lived under. Because no amount of productivity is worth your health. And no one is built to outrun their own body forever.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bernadettegold.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bernadettegold/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernadette-gold-33965144/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegoldfactor
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BernadetteGold1
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