Business owners are often praised for their resilience, adaptability, and capacity to carry responsibility. Over time, however, those same qualities can lead to leadership fatigue—where stress, emotional overload, and identity pressure quietly accumulate beneath visible success. Rather than viewing burnout as a personal shortcoming, this conversation reframes it as a leadership sustainability issue—one that emerges when organizational growth outpaces emotional capacity. Participants will explore how emotional exhaustion manifests uniquely in founder-led businesses, how leadership identity intensifies the risk of burnout, and what it means to pursue growth without collapse. This session offers practical, reflective tools to help business owners lead with clarity, maintain energy, and sustain success without sacrificing their wellbeing.
Presenter: Djuan Short
Djuan D. Short, LCSW, is a trauma therapist, leadership wellness expert, and Founder of Dahlia Rose Wellness Center. With over a decade of clinical experience, she supports high-achieving women and women business owners navigating burnout, anxiety, workplace stress, and leadership transitions. Djuan emphasizes a holistic approach that uniquely integrates therapeutic practices with leadership coaching. Her philosophy centers around the idea that self-awareness and emotional intelligence are key drivers of sustainable leadership and personal growth. By equipping her clients with tools to manage their emotional wellbeing, she empowers them to break through the traditional success paradigm and cultivate a balanced, fulfilling leadership style.
Her work bridges mental health and leadership development, helping women understand how emotional regulation, identity, and capacity shape their leadership and growth. Djuan speaks to professional and leadership audiences about sustainable success, burnout prevention, and redefining achievement beyond overwork, offering grounded, accessible tools that support clarity, resilience, and longevity in leadership. She has been featured in Real Simple, Bustle, Reader’s Digest, and Boss Today.
