SHREVEPORT – A certified stress reduction coach, wellness professional and reiki master who’s given nearly 5,000 speeches and instructs corporate executives on how to create healthy workplaces.

Michelle Courtney Berry is all of those things and more, but when this consultant and CEO went to work for one of her clients in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, all those credentials and knowledge couldn’t stop Berry from burning out.

After two years as an employed spokesperson for that company while attempting to run her consultant businesses in her spare time, Berry was left with “scary blood tests” that indicated she was prediabetic and at risk for strokes and cardiovascular disease. 

So Berry decided to fully practice what she preached, working with a team of physical and mental health professionals to rebuild her foundation.

In addition to that reboot, Berry plunged into the pursuit of a doctoral degree, finding her match in LSU Shreveport’s online leadership studies program.

“I did everything I advise my clients to do, and I dug my way back out of burnout again,” Berry said. “But then the lightning bolt struck – I’ve heard about and personally experienced so many toxic workplaces, what if I went back to school and really focused on how we shouldn’t be spending trillions of dollars globally on toxicity?

“I’ve consulted with a number of organizations and was entrenched in one myself – what have I learned from that lived experience?”

IN THE TRENCHES

Berry was accustomed to packed hotel convention centers and ballrooms as a popular speaker on the corporate and wellness circuit, regularly appearing across North America with client experiences in the United Kingdom, Mexico and Africa..

But the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled those gatherings, prompting Berry to join the front lines of one of her clients in her native New York.

An admitted “fixer in recovery,” Berry planned to open her cavernous toolbox to change the company’s culture from the inside.

“I make all these diagnoses as a consultant, but that outside-looking-in perspective doesn’t work when you’re on the inside,” Berry said. “Being inside a company that needs to shift and deal with what they admit is toxicity is very different than being a consultant.

“If people are perceiving that leadership isn’t understanding what people on the ground are grappling with, you’re part of the problem (as a leadership member) even though you’re coming in as part of the solution.”

Berry said she experienced role strain as she juggled external communication, internal communication and various human resources functions in a COVID-19 pandemic environment in which she was working remotely while frontline workers were in person.

“When you’re having to communicate about COVID-19 on top of what were already toxic workplace conditions, you see that employees are stressed and are coming to you looking for help,” Berry said. “You’re facing all of this, and then you think about what people who are making way less are facing, and what’s it like to be on the front lines while I’m working from home.

“You’re feeling the pull of different levels of income and having that higher level of responsibility – all of those things put together created the perfect conditions for burnout.”

The burnout surprised Berry, who had experienced toxic workplaces and some levels of burnout previously in her life.

The Workplace Doc™, which is Berry’s moniker for her corporate consulting, was sick.

HEALING HERSELF

Berry couldn’t save that workplace as an employee from inside that corporate structure, but she learned valuable lessons both professionally and personally.

The first – she has to abide by her non-negotiables when it comes to her personal health.

“My workout times are fairly non-negotiable, and I have to always do the little things like hydrate,” Berry said. “A lot of us who want to make a difference say ‘yes’ a lot, but sometimes you have to override that tendency.

“If you’re not saying yes to your own self-care, how do you help other people? I wanted to set a good example for my family and my clients in my approach to healthy living. How am I able to go back into the wellness landscape if I’m sick?”

Berry said she worked with more than 10 “supports,” which included everything from physical trainers to therapists.

“I tell my clients who are in burnout that they have to have their mental and their physical health,” said Berry, who battled anxiety and depression she hadn’t experienced since a series of traumas from earlier in life. “It’s much more than just a diet and exercise program, you have to work from the ground up and include things like psychological intervention.

“I had to get healthy, and I decided to do all the things I advise my clients to do. The two most important things in all of this are your emotional health and your sleep.”

SPEAKER AND AUTHOR

The ballrooms did re-open, and people flocked back to conventions, putting Berry back on stage and back on tour.

But the accomplished speaker was missing one key element – a book.

Sure, she’d been writing a book for the last 20 years, including being just a chapter away from completion for nearly a decade.

Perfectionism and procrastination – something she calls the “evil twins” – had blocked her path from putting the finishing touches on her project.

An opportunity surfaced in 2022 that she couldn’t let escape – an anchor speaker gig at a wellness conference that featured Olympic gymnast Simone Biles among others.

“The organizer said it’d really help if you brought your book,” Berry recalled. “Sooo I have this last chapter I’m working on …”

The organizer negotiated for Berry to finish writing her book and self-publish in time for the conference, and she wrote the last chapter in just 30 days.

“I literally prayed to finish this book – and my family was like, ‘Oh my God, this is the book we’ve been hearing about for the last 20 years,’” Berry said. “But I didn’t worry about perfection anymore – people just wanted me to finish it.

“The thing I know how to do best is when a crisis comes, like a disaster or fire (she has been kidnapped and caught fire as just two examples), I’m great at the huge stuff,” Berry said. “Keeping calm in chaos is something I know how to do, and somebody believed in me and hired me before my book was finished.”

“Keeping Calm in Chaos: How to Work Well, Live Well and Love Abundantly, No Matter What” is part memoir and part sharing client stories – an international best-seller the year it was released.

But there’s another lesson Berry learned throughout this process – talking about perceived failures and lessons learned connects with people more than beating chests with success.

“I’ve actually gotten more clients in more vulnerable moments when I started talking about what I perceived as failures,” Berry said. “I realized other people had those stumbling blocks – yeah this is a glowing Facebook post today, but here’s what’s really happening behind the scenes.

“I started to say what was really happening.”

The latest book is the culmination of a writing career that includes three books and four plays as well as being an accomplished poet. Berry opened for Maya Angelou at a speaking engagement years ago and served as the second poet laureate of New York’s Tompkins County.

The success in writing, speaking and operating a variety of businesses and brands garnered the distinction of being named one of the Top 20 Empowering Women in the United States by Womenpreneur in 2024.

It’s a list that includes Oprah, Michelle Obama, former Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen, and super philanthropist Melinda Gates.

“DOCTORAL DEGREE IN YOUR 50s?”

Berry dives into research and the latest trends as a consultant and speaker in the workplace behavior space.

But she wanted to add a more formal academic underpinning to her work.

“Researching, teaching, presenting, and publishing have motivated my academic career throughout my professional life,” Berry said. “I decided to further my education because it expands my knowledge in organizational dynamics and leadership theory alongside emotional intelligence.

“My business practice and doctoral research share a common obsession with disrupting inherited toxic workplace cultures by identifying effective leadership styles and healthy employee coping strategies that can revolutionize work practices in order increase health, spur joy, and thus reduce healthcare expenses and burnout.”

After trying an in-person program nearby in New York, Berry flocked to LSUS’s online doctoral program in leadership studies for its flexibility while she continued her speaking and consulting activities.

What she didn’t necessarily expect is the remarkable community formed by professors and students from diverse backgrounds.

“I wanted the flexibility to study at an accelerated pace and connect with a broader, more diverse cohort from around the nation, and the supportive, forward-thinking, diverse community has been an incredible fit,” said Berry, who is in her third semester in the program. “The class discussions gain immense value from the wide of range of perspectives provided by my colleagues, including industry experts, military officials, nonprofit executives, healthcare change makers, and disaster management professionals.

“The online format did not diminish my sense of connection to the community, making the transition challenging and rewarding. LSUS has created a remarkably supportive virtual environment with regular check-ins, vibrant discussions, and strong peer, staff and faculty support.”

LSUS’s program mixes students in its concentrations of leadership studies, disaster preparedness and emergency management, and health communication and leadership together in its academic classes.

The program focuses on practitioner-scholars as opposed to research-scholars, meaning that Berry, who is 58, is conversing with experienced peers in their respective fields who have lived experience.

“This school community consists of experts with wildly successful accomplishments who combine their humility with a desire for deep learning, and it’s inspiring,” said Berry, who has a master’s degree from Cornell University, where she later worked in media relations.

Berry fits in reading and her academic work while traveling to speaking engagements and between client calls.

This “mompreneur” still makes time to connect with the LSUS community at large as a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society and The National Society of Leadership and Success.

Despite a rigorous academic course load consisting of two classes every seven weeks, Berry is mindful to not burn out while still managing her obligations.

“It’s definitely a juggling act,” Berry said. “I have a family (son and spouse) to spend valuable time with and a business to run.

“As someone who has burned out and recovered, you have to be non-negotiable about when you rest, workout, run your business and do schoolwork. My well-being depends on structured systems and routines, meditation and prayer, and strong self-care practices.”

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PHOTO CUTLINE: Michelle Courtney Berry, a best-selling author and internationally-renowned speaker and consultant in the corporate and wellness space, speaks with a group about her 2022 book "Keeping Calm in Chaos." Berry is enjoying her time in the LSU Shreveport doctoral program in leadership studies. This “mompreneur” was named a Top 20 Empowering Women in the United States by Womenpreneur in 2024. 

CREDIT: Rachel Hogancamp