From Burnout to Breakthrough: Liz Coffey's Path to Empowering Women Through On Leave Experiences

I’m Liz Coffey, and on Thanksgiving 2020, while most of America was carving turkeys, I was sitting in my Chicago condo eating chicken tikka masala with my husband and complaining about work. Again. 

The words tumbled out between bites of naan. Even on a holiday, my mind stuck on a frustrating colleague. I heard myself clearly for the first time in years without the usual family clamor around the table due to the pandemic. And I didn’t like what I heard. 

"Until that moment, I thought success meant only one thing: climbing up. Always up. "
Liz Coffey

My resume tells a story of success at major food companies in corporate America. I won an award for being in the top 1% of one company (while secretly wondering if I deserved it). I flew on corporate jets (checking emails at 30,000 feet because I couldn’t turn them off). At one point, I managed a team of 20 corporate communicators (their needs constantly swirling in my head). 

But what does any of that really mean when you’ve lost yourself in the process? 

That Thanksgiving conversation was my wake-up call – if I could hear myself obsessing about work during a holiday meal, what else was I missing? As 2020 drew to a close, I knew something needed to change. 

Making Space to Hear Myself 

As a New Year’s resolution in 2021, I made the decision to invest in working with a professional coach – a decision that initially felt expensive and something my calendar probably couldn’t support. It turned out to be the best investment I've ever made. For three years, I met with Karen weekly over video for 30-minute sessions that felt like magic. I would log in grappling with a challenge and leave with clarity about my next steps. 

What made these sessions so powerful was the art of reflective listening. Karen created space for me to find my own answers by mirroring my thoughts and feelings back to me with empathy. In those moments of being truly heard, I began to hear myself more clearly too. 

One of the topics we tackled together was self-compassion. On an intake assessment, I scored in the single digits out of 100 on a self-compassion metric. I definitely had a lot of room for improvement here, so Karen started asking me thoughtful questions about what I was doing for self-care. Sure, I spent time with my husband and friends – but what was I doing specifically for me? 

During one of our first sessions together, just before a Friday when I planned to take a half-day off work, Karen asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks: “What will you do to make sure you’re fully present during your afternoon off?” She suggested putting up an e-mail autoreply and turning off e-mail notifications for the afternoon. I couldn’t fathom doing this. 

"That single-digit self-compassion score suddenly made perfect sense. "
Liz Coffey

The Power of Doing Things Differently 

Initially, I tried the usual kinds of self-care we’ve grown up being told we should do as women – spas, pools, and yoga. 

The massage therapist’s hands worked my shoulders, but my mind was still in my inbox. The lounge chair by the pool became just another desk, my phone glued to my palm. These passive forms of self-care weren’t cutting it. They were just giving my anxiety a prettier backdrop. 

"What I craved wasn’t escape. It was a presence. Connection. The thrill of discovery."
Liz Coffey

After months of trying to force relaxation, I realized what I really needed was adventure. Something that would nudge me outside my comfort zone so my mind wouldn’t drift to my inbox. So, I started giving myself permission to travel and go on experiences by myself – first, weekend trips to familiar places like New York City, then pushing myself further to explore Providence, Rhode Island alone. 

But it was a solo trip to Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 2023 that changed everything. Away from home and fully present, I explored Civil Rights museums, discovered a steel mill turned national monument, and found myself in an unexpected conversation with a stranger at a local restaurant. 

Sitting at the bar of a French restaurant with a hardcover book in front of me, the woman sitting next to me asked what I was reading. That sparked a conversation about the joy of eating out alone (which she was doing for the very first time!), her son she loved dearly, and her recent separation from her husband. As I heard more of her story, something shifted in me. Here was a woman brave enough to sit alone, to share her truth with a stranger, to step into discomfort, and she was glowing with the discovery of her own courage. 

On the flight home the next day, staring out at the clouds, I felt like me again – not just Liz the professional, but Liz the whole person. The woman who loved learning, exploring, and connecting with strangers over meaningful stories. 

Creating Space for Others 

On the flight home from Birmingham, I had a second realization: There was no service out there helping women to tap into their truest selves as I had. 

The idea for On Leave Experiences crystallized in the air between Birmingham and Chicago. There were plenty of businesses out there doing spa retreats and yoga workshops. What women needed was permission to rediscover themselves actively and purposefully, not through passive relaxation but through genuine exploration and connection. 

I started envisioning experiences that would help women feel alive: A morning spent tapping into forgotten creativity and learning pottery; An afternoon tarot card reading that provides a different lens for looking at our lives; A city walk that turns into an unexpected lesson about taking up space in the world. Small moments of discovery that add up to transformation. 

Who better to fill the gap than me? I started writing a business plan. 

Of course, the doubts crept in. Was I crazy to walk away from a successful corporate career? Could I really build something from scratch? But then I’d have a conversation with a woman about my idea, and her eyes would light up. “I need this,” they’d say, or “Where were you when I was burning out?” Those conversations gave me the courage to keep going. 

I had a date in late July of 2023 circled on my mental calendar providing me with a deadline of when I would make the decision of whether or not I would go all-in on the business. Sitting on the outdoor patio of a neighborhood restaurant with my husband and a plate of chips and salsa between us, I knew. The corporate ladder I’d been climbing? It was leaning against the wrong building. 

My heart pounded as I drafted the email to my boss the next day, but my hands were steady. Because for the first time in years, I was completely certain. This was the right path. 

The Journey Evolves 

I stayed with the company through the end of 2023 while beginning to build my business in earnest in the background. I traveled around the U.S. – to DC, New Orleans, LA, and beyond – with an eye toward unique experiences that would light women up as they wandered, created, and learned. I hired other small women-owned businesses as partners to develop a website and more. Working with these fellow entrepreneurs, women who had also chosen to build something of their own, felt like finding my tribe. I also got certified as a coach myself, equipping me with the listening skills that transformed my own journey. 

Then, in February of 2024 (on Leap Day, to be precise!), On Leave Experiences was born. 

The company name is inspired by the European practice of “going on leave”—something my European colleagues seemed to excel at without guilt! 

We take a coaching approach to curate personalized 1-day and weekend staycation and travel experiences for women and are expanding into virtual conversation circles to reach even more women. Women come to On Leave from all walks of life and at every stage: professionals redefining success, parents seeking space for themselves, empty nesters starting new chapters, and everyone in between. 

Clients go On Leave solo, with a buddy, or with a group of their choosing. I’ve also been moved by the stories of those who’ve gifted someone an On Leave experience, like a patient who gifted a local 1-day experience to his two nurses. 

Today, through On Leave Experiences, I watch women rediscover themselves in ways that continually inspire me. I watched Meredith, a professional and mom, feel like her best self during a day curated just for her in Boston. “I’m so busy that it would seem counterintuitive to add something else to my schedule – but this day was perfectly curated for me, and I didn’t need to do any work to make it happen,” she told me during our follow-up call. “Afterwards, I felt less overwhelmed. And I found new activities I enjoy. Now that I’ve dipped my toes in the water, I want to do this again!” 

That's why I created On Leave Experiences. Because success isn't just about climbing up. Sometimes it's about stepping off the ladder entirely - even if just for a day - to remember who we are beyond our titles and to-do lists. When we give ourselves that permission, we do more than transform our own stories. We show others what's possible.