We Question Ourselves, Not the Load
with Jovian Zayne · CEO & Founder
About this episode
Jovian Zayne’s résumé reads like a lifetime achievement award. So Dr. Nicole doesn’t start there. She starts with a question: when did achievement become your identity? Jovian, a leadership coach, business owner, and first-time author, traces achievement back to a Southern childhood as the granddaughter of two Baptist pastors, where success felt like both protection and responsibility. Then she takes us to the hospital bed: her dream client had turned into a nightmare, and the boundaries she taught other people to keep were the first thing she gave up. The client was the circumstance, she says. The commitment to being seen as the capable one was her own. From there the conversation goes somewhere quieter. Jovian talks about the years she spent “sending a representative” to work, the day she realized she missed her old life even as she loved being a mother, and the therapist who told her she’d invited the wrong part of herself to write her book. Together, she and Dr. Nicole sit with the hard question underneath all of it: what happens when the life you built isn’t the life you want anymore? In this episode: - Why achievement can work as armor, and when it becomes a trap - The hidden commitment that put a burnout coach in a hospital bed - “Sending a representative” and the cost of performing fine - Holding two truths: loving your life and missing your old one - How to notice a new season before your body has to scream - Being harder on the systems and softer on yourself - Why so many women are facing a crisis of worthiness right now
Show Notes
Guest Links
- Soft Landings for Hard Days: Wisdom, Companionship, and Guidance to Encourage Your Spirit. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=soft+landings+for+hard+days&crid=2MXSOAPNCI8CC&sprefix=soft+landings+for+har%2Caps%2C194&ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-expert-pd-ops-ranker_1_21
Guest
Jovian Zayne
CEO & Founder
Jovian Zayne is the CEO and Founder of The OnPurpose Movement® , a professional development firm committed to developing values-driven leaders. The author of the highly anticipated book, Soft Landings For Hard Days (Penguin Life, October 27th, 2026), Jovian’s work redefines how leaders honor their humanity while creating legacy-defining impact. With nearly 20 years of experience developing thousands of values-driven leaders as a certified leadership coach and award-winning master facilitator and speaker, Jovian has a trusted history of incisively encouraging the human spirit and transforming the lives of others through her inspiring and grounded approach. Her firm’s client list includes Google, Indeed, IDEO, The New York Times, Meta, Goldman Sachs, Viacom, The Clinton Foundation, Harvard University, and Janelle Monáe’s Wondaland Records, among others. A 2019 Aspen Ideas Fellow , Jovian has been featured across various outlets and platforms, including New York Magazine, Fast Company, NPR, The Huffington Post, The Grammys (Positive Vibes Only), The Los Angeles Times, Essence, and Black Enterprise , among others. She is the Founder of the annual International Day of Purpose® , and in partnership with The Obama Administration, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and various organizations and celebrities, including Mandy Moore, and Jada Pinkett-Smith, its global reach spanned over 18 million people. Jovian is an IGNITE leadership fellow at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School and an “It's all about Business” fellow at the Wake Forest Graduate School of Business. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was elected Senior Class President. Jovian, her husband, and their daughter reside in Los Angeles, California, though they consider themselves global citizens, called to spread joy and light as they explore the world, ideally eating the best french fries.
