A Story of Struggle, Revelation, and Small Steps That Made Her a Thriving Coach

Episode Highlights

Watch the Full Video Here

▶ 01:10 How it all started for Neha

▶ 14:50 Lessons learned from building her mental health practice

▶ 21:20 Redefining what it means to be a “healer” and entrepreneur

▶ 33:10 Advice for anyone afraid to start

THE INTERVIEW

Welcome to the Second episode of Creator IRL.

From the Behind the Scenes Podcast with Sapna Sinha

There's a moment in everyone's journey when they realize that the person helping everyone else heal is still fighting their own battles every single day. For my guest Neha S Kumar, that moment became the foundation of her life's work.

But this isn't your typical "I overcame adversity and now I'm perfect" story. This is messier, more honest, and infinitely more valuable than that and how it became her strength to train 90+ women struggling for the same.

Subscribe to the Creator IRL newsletter

The Professional Helper Who Needed Help

Picture this: A nutritionist turned Trauma-Informed Coach for Women, leading 90+ high-achieving women in stress, depression and self-harm management. From the outside, Neha looked like she had it all figured out. But behind closed doors, she was living with something that would challenge everything she thought she knew about strength, success, and what it means to help others.

"I have something called recurrent depressive disorder, meaning that it is not a one-time thing. I have had it for at least a few months once... So it's something that has been going on for a decade now."

Let that sink in. A decade. Not a phase, not a rough patch, not something she "got over." A decade of learning to live with, navigate, and ultimately transform her relationship with mental health.

The Ugly Truth About Mental Health (That Nobody Posts on Social Media)

Here's what Neha taught me in our conversation, and it's something that needs to be said louder:

Your brain has the capacity to lie to you.

In a world where we casually throw around terms like "I'm so depressed" or "I'm having anxiety," Neha brings a different perspective-one earned through lived experience, not textbook knowledge.

"When we get sad we call it depression, when we get a little tensed or stressed we call it anxiety. In that world, to actually talk about hey that's not what it is, it is more severe than that-I wanted to create more space for that."

The real markers? Duration and control.

• When feelings of hopelessness stretch into weeks and months.

• When you feel like you're losing control over your own emotions and life.

• When your body starts paying the price with unexplained pain, digestive issues, and that bone-deep exhaustion that sleep can't fix.

The Coach Who Cancels Calls (And Why That's Revolutionary)

Here's where Neha's approach gets really interesting. Two weeks before our podcast, she did something most coaches would never admit to: she cancelled all her client calls for an entire week.

"I just told them, hey, I'm in this thing. I won't be able to do the call this week. But if you have anything really pressing you message me, I'll help whatever I can."

This isn't a professional weakness-it's professional wisdom. It's understanding that you cannot pour from an empty cup, and more importantly, modeling for her clients that it's okay to not be okay.

The Money Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About

Let's address the elephant in the room: good mental health support is expensive. Neha doesn't sugarcoat this reality.

"I don't think it is just a notion that it is costly. I do believe it is costly... There were so many times I stopped after some sessions because I didn't have the money anymore to afford it."

Her solution? Creating accessible support for young women who are "still figuring things out, the demographic that's often overlooked because they can't pay premium coaching rates. Sometimes the most important work isn't the most profitable work.

The Small Habits That Actually Work

Forget the morning routines of billionaires. Here's what actually helps when you're drowning:

• The 15-Minute Rule: Create a post-work ritual that's just for you. It could be moisturizing your skin, listening to an audiobook, or doing face masks for dark circles. The activity doesn't matter-the boundary does.

• Movement Without Pressure: Don't walk fast trying to "get your steps in." Walk slowly. Feel the air. Get out of your head and into your body.

• The Response Gap: "The control I have in my life lies between the moment a trigger happens and my response to it." That's where your power lives-in that pause between what happens to you and how you choose to respond.

The Hard Question We Need to Ask

During our conversation, I realized something that gave me goosebumps: How many people are suffering in silence because they think they're the only ones going through this?

Neha's answer changed how I think about community and healing:

"I did not want anyone to go through life like I did, and I wanted to be the person who I needed at that point in my life."

What This Means for You

Whether you're a creator, an entrepreneur, or someone just trying to figure life out, here are the questions worth asking:

1. How long have you been feeling this way?

2. Do you feel like you have control over your emotions and responses?

3. Is your body trying to tell you something through unexplained pain or symptoms?

4. When was the last time you had a conversation about your mental health that didn't minimize or dramatize your experience?

The Most Important Thing

If you take nothing else from this newsletter, remember this: Your thoughts can be lies. That voice telling you you're not good enough, not trying hard enough, not worthy enough? It might just be wrong.

And sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is say "I'm not okay right now" and mean it-without immediately following it up with how you're going to fix it, handle it, or push through it.

Want to hear the full conversation?

Listen to the Behind the Scenes podcast on Spotify or YouTube, where Neha and I dive deep into the messy, beautiful reality of mental health, boundaries, and building a business around healing others while healing yourself.

If you also have an awesome journey and wants to share with the world

Connect with me on LinkedIn or Substack

What boundaries have you had to set that made you the "villain" in someone else's story? Hit reply and tell me about your journey to self-advocacy. I read every single response.

Until next time,

Sapna

P.S. If this newsletter resonated with you, forward it to someone who needs to hear that they're not alone in this journey. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is remind each other that struggling doesn't make us broken—it makes us human.

What's Next for Creator IRL

This is just the beginning. Creator IRL exists to celebrate the builders, the problem-solvers, the dedicated creators who are shaping our world one person at a time.

We're not interested in the highlight reels. We want the real stories. The messy beginnings. The moment of doubt. The simple message that changed everything.

If you know someone building something meaningful — not for the gram or the algorithm, but because it matters-we want to hear from them.

Help us keep sharing real stories