Rise From The Ashes
"Burnout to Brilliance: Great CEOs, No Burnout"
Leadership is tough. Burnout makes it tougher.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Rise From The Ashes is the ultimate podcast for visionary CEOs and executives who refuse to let burnout rob them of their brilliance, legacy, and impact.
Hosted by Baz Porter, this show isn’t just about surviving leadership it’s about transforming it. Each week, we delve deep into the art and science of thriving at the top, combining actionable strategies, spiritual alignment, and raw truths that reignite your purpose and optimize your energy.
Here’s what you’ll get:
- Bold Frameworks: Learn the exact steps to conquer decision fatigue, streamline your mental energy, and reclaim control of your leadership.
- Spiritual Awakenings: Explore the intersection of purpose, alignment, and success to lead with clarity and connection.
- Transformational Insights: Hear unfiltered stories and practical wisdom from world-class leaders who’ve turned their burnout into brilliance.
This isn’t just a podcast it’s a revolution for leaders ready to rise, inspire, and leave a legacy that outlasts them.
Rise From The Ashes
She Was Attacked, Erased, and Betrayed Then She Rebuilt Herself Into a Weapon of Purpose
What happens when your entire identity is ripped away in one violent moment?
After surviving a brutal school assault and the gut-punch betrayal of a system that denied it ever happened Eleni Anastos lost everything she'd built over 30 years. But what she gained? Was far more powerful.
In this raw and riveting episode, Eleni shares her fall and rise.
From rocking in trauma to rising as a force for truth, she reveals how she turned betrayal into breakthrough and pain into purpose.
💥 How she rewired her identity after institutional gaslighting
💥 The truth about forgiveness that sets you free
💥 Why sharing your scars, not your wounds, changes lives
💥 How to stop performing strength and start living it
💥 The choice that separates survivors from the stuck
This is for every woman who's been silenced, shattered, or sidelined and is ready to rise anyway.
🎧 Listen now if you're done letting pain win.
Listen, if you're a female executive who just listened to another incredible transformation story on Rice Me Issues and thought "That's amazing... but could I actually do that?"
Stop right there.
That little voice whispering you're not good enough? It's lying.
Here's the thing every single guest Baz Porter interviews on this show started exactly where you are right now. Struggling with self-worth. Questioning their abilities. Wondering if they had what it takes.
But here's what separates the women who break through from those who stay stuck: they take action on their inner game FIRST.
That's why Bass created something special just for high-achieving women like you who are tired of playing small despite their success.
It's a FREE 5-Day Meditation Series designed specifically for female executives who are ready to silence that inner critic once and for all.
No fluff. No generic affirmations. Just proven techniques that work for busy, ambitious women who need results fast.
Ready to finally feel as confident on the inside as you appear on the outside?
Grab your free meditation series at CEO IMPACT
Because your next level of success is waiting... and it starts with believing you deserve it.
Or Check Out www.bazporter.com
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Rise from the Ashes. I have an amazing guest with me this morning. Today, I don't even know what day it is or night. Her story of transformation is incredible and she's come from rags to ruins into finding her true purpose, and not just herself, but so many other people. This is what rise from the ashes is all about your stories, your version of a reality where you've come from, what you've done and also where you're going next. Eleni anastos is my next guest. Eleni, it's a pleasure, a privilege to have you here today, and I hope I said the name right. Please introduce yourself and what you do.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh, I'm so happy to be here, Baz. Yes, I am Eleni Anastos and I am grateful and blessed to. I work with entrepreneurs and executives and I help them address their BS bust through the shit that's holding them back, because I see so many people that want more income or they want to make more impact, they want to live a more fulfilling life, but they stay stuck and they circle the drain, and I know you know that well, and it's an honor to help people achieve goals that previously they didn't think was possible for themselves.
Speaker 1:And I love that purpose and mission that you have. What many of us, we all have a story. You weren't always on this path. A few years ago, there was something that happened for you that changed the trajectory trajectory of your entire life. Can you just share with the audience of what happened until that, the version of events that happened?
Speaker 2:yes, yes, well, for many moons I was a special education teacher in a public school setting and absolutely loved my work. Loved working with the children, and it still goes back to helping individuals achieve things they didn't think was possible for themselves. Incredibly dedicated, never really saw myself doing anything else until my world turned on a dime. There was an assault in the school. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was knocked down and violently kicked repeatedly by a mob of the teenagers in the high school and, as weird as this may sound, I didn't even take it personally because I did not know them. They were not my students, but it was the after effect, everything that happened beyond that. When I'm at home in pain and neck brace and struggling and dealing with PTSD, it is my belief that the district staged a cover-up because they said that event never happened. So, almost overnight, this wonderful 30-year career that I had dedicated to children with special needs was over. Life as I knew it no longer existed.
Speaker 1:So many things come to mind here because, firstly, you didn't judge people. Secondly, you saw for what it is an opportunity, and I'm going to paraphrase this very lightly but essentially it was a burnout situation for you or a redirect. Is that correct? That's correct from what I'm hearing. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah well, when I was stuck in the pain and literally circling the drain because I've always been a person that just gets fired up about the future there's always a next chapter to look forward to. Yes, what do we have to look forward to? Because for me and my mom was always that way, god bless her, so I know I inherited it from her If we don't have something to look forward to, how do you stay excited and motivated about life, personally or professionally? But I found myself like, okay, my whole identity has shifted. What was my lifelong career is no longer an option. Now what? But I'll never forget the moment. I'm sitting in my living room and I was like rocking back and forth, just freaking out, because I couldn't see what was next. I couldn't see a new chapter, and that scared the hell out of me. That was like the kick in the ass that I needed to say we got to do something here, we've got to change. And that's when I began the slow but powerful journey to my own reinvention.
Speaker 1:I love that, and there's a question that I want to ask you which is quite interesting, and this is a very good time to think, to inject this, this what was your lowest point from? Was it this bit or was it something else compounding on top of that? And how did you go from that bit into the what you'll be coming and what that journey was?
Speaker 2:No, I appreciate that question. It was, in part, not being able to have something to look forward to, absolutely, but it was also constantly coming up against the betrayal. People that I trusted, people that I knew for years. I couldn't get past the betrayal and then I realized I have to stop making this about me, even though I was the one on the floor begging and screaming for my life. If I focused on what they did to me and I appreciate that you said, life happens for us, not to us and I'll never forget the first time I heard that, because it really annoyed the hell out of me.
Speaker 2:I'm like what do you mean? This happened for me. That because it really annoyed the hell out of me. I'm like what do you mean? This happened for me. But when I realized that I was focusing more on the betrayal and that was helping to keep me stuck, not being able to see a next chapter, I went into. There has to be a lesson in this. This is happening for me. There has to be a lesson in this. And what can I learn? What can I extract from this situation that's going to help me moving forward?
Speaker 1:essentially what you're going to start to question the trajectory of what was going on and specific questions, but they were deeper than that, because these are what you're speaking to now.
Speaker 1:These are scary questions for a lot of people yeah, I mean, it's a place where others are like, no, not for me, I'm not gonna do that, and they shy away from it. But you didn't. You did what most people, ordinary people, would say no, I'm, I'm done, thanks, I'm going to live a quiet life in a nice deserted island somewhere and be a hermit. You did the opposite. And what was that? And I, appreciate it.
Speaker 2:People just don't want to hurt, people want to stop the pain and I respect that and I appreciate that and, lord knows, I can relate to it on every level. But I had to find a purpose for the pain, like I didn't want to waste my pain, and that's why I believe without question and I know you can appreciate this, baz that all of the trials and tribulations that we go through and survive can become guides for other people as they navigate their journey. And that's part of what helped lift me up. You know what? I didn't ask for this, I didn't deserve it. It was flipping, miserable, horrible to go through, but I'm going to use it to help lift somebody else up, and that helped me get back up as well and that helped me get back up as well.
Speaker 1:And this is where I love interviewing people like yourself, because there there's two, two things I've noticed about human beings. One, the first one we do things for status, for validation, or to be seen, heard, love worthy, et cetera, et cetera. There's a long list. It comes down to one word in that status. It's not a word you have judgment on, it's just, it's the other thing we do, and there's a small percentage of people that are selfless, completely small percentage of people that are selfless completely. What you did there, despite the norms, the frustration, the anger, the betrayal, all of these feelings, the through the psychological concepts, the spiritual concepts, the mental concepts. Betrayal is one of the core things that are the hardest to get over.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And it? What if you learn to forgive, which it sounds, I'm assuming, I don't know, but it sounds as if you did. But you forgave something else, by the sounds of things as well, and that was yourself. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:absolutely 100%. And when I finally was able to get to the point first to forgive those involved, to forgive those that betrayed me, it was so freeing and I remember sharing it with somebody, a close friend, and she said how the hell can you forgive them for what they did to you? And I said, now, hold on. I said forgiving them doesn't mean I like them. Forgiving them doesn't mean they're back in my life. Forgiving them means they no longer control me, they don't have a piece of me anymore, and I just wish more people would practice forgiveness to free themselves. It doesn't mean you got to care about what happens to the person that done you wrong, but I don't want to see people stay in that self-imposed prison, and especially where yourself is concerned, whether, oh, I chose to be there or I should have made a different decision, any number of things but I believe actively every day. Forgiveness is like a muscle we have to exercise it for it to be effective and strong. I love that.
Speaker 1:It's a very difficult wrong word. Challenging concept for a lot of people. Challenging concept for a lot of people and myself. Forgiveness and self-forgiveness is so difficult to come to and resolute. This is why I like having these conversations. So if you're listening now and you're like, what the hell are you on about? But no idea who's this, first of all subscribe, share. Share this message. It will, I promise you, change someone's life. Secondly, learn from this interview. Get a pen and paper, go back. I'm sort of Gen X era. So if you remember the old rewind VHSs, go and do that. But in the millennial version, press rewind and go back, listen to it again and take some notes. The whole reframe from this is incredible because the stacking of betrayal not just the physical element of being violated, which is what this is a huge violation of self, the mental recovery, the physical recovery. Most people would class this as a complete failure. I'm done. Who did the opposite? You went. I'm cray-cray. Let's go and do it. I'm going to learn and build or rebuild something better.
Speaker 2:Yes, 100%. Rebuild something better? Yes, 100. But getting there was like trying to run through quicksand. You just it's not.
Speaker 2:Nothing was easy about it, in fact, I remember the first time I spoke publicly about the school assault and then starting my life over in my 50s and I was at a personal development conference and I shared my story on stage. A woman came up to me afterwards and she grabbed my hands and she said honey, I just don't understand. I said what don't you understand? She said you were horribly victimized. I said you understand that perfectly, and then she stepped back and she said but nothing about you says victim. I said you understand that perfectly. And then she stepped back and she said but nothing about you says victim. I said you understand that perfectly as well, because that part was my choice. I could have stayed in that pity party, poor, pitiful me.
Speaker 2:Everybody on the planet has been victimized in some way or another. But 100%. It's always going to be our choice whether we choose to remain a victim or not. And I'm very grateful that I made the choice to not remain a victim and I was telling this lady at the conference and I said they no longer have a piece of me because I can talk about it like I am now. I'm not having an emotional meltdown, and that also I want to caution for anyone that listens to this share your scars, not your wounds. Please share your scars and not your wounds. Take whatever time you need to heal, get the support that feels right for you and when you're able to share, you're going to know because it's not going to have that emotional electrical charge that just knocks you out.
Speaker 1:And before we end part one, because this is huge, I love this Can you just explain the difference from your perspective, the difference between a wound or a scar, because that's a concept I'm aware of, but some listeners may not be. I think you're a perfect person and an example in motion of them. Differences.
Speaker 2:Yes, because we all know what a physical wound looks like. There could still be blood, it could still have risked the chance of infection, and then the scar is when the skin has healed over it, where it's not causing that kind of pain. And I feel absolutely the same emotionally, because I have cautioned people that have tried to share their stories too soon. They were still wounded, because if it rocks your world emotionally, if it just levels you because you had to keep reliving it, then you are still wounded, you're still bleeding, you need to do the inner work on yourself and again, whatever kind of support that fits you, and then, when you're able to talk about it because it was an event in your life, you control the narrative. So that's why I really caution people. It's so important to share your scars, not your wounds.
Speaker 1:All that's up and thank you very much for sharing that part of the journey. I'm looking forward to what comes next. Thank you very much for sharing that part of the journey. I'm looking forward to what comes next. Before we transition into stage two, episode two or part two, sorry, not episode two a really really good advice from your own experience you would leave with the listeners to allow them to open up and express their authentic truth, whatever that may be.
Speaker 2:Yes, their authentic truth, whatever that may be. Yes and authenticity to me is a huge key in living your best life. And there is so much guilt and shame out there with having been victimized, whatever it was, from any kind of assault. So I want people to know that again. It is not your fault, the guilt and the shame and the blame that people try to put on each other. It serves to keep people stuck. No healing can happen in that place and we all know that shame thrives in secrecy and guilt is I did something wrong, shame, something's wrong with me, and if you've been hurt or victimized, you don't deserve to have somebody put that shame onto you. So please know that when you are able to speak your truth, share your authentic voice, you are going to feel like you just climbed the biggest mountain. You will benefit from it, even if it scares the hell out of you before you've started hello.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing that. That's a very good message. Ladies and gentlemen, this is rise from your shoes. Burnout to brilliance. This was episode one. Sorry, wrong episode. I can't even remember now so many. This is going to be part one of two parts with Elena, and I don't know what I'm going to call it. I don't think it's something to myself. I'll see you on part two. Remember, share and subscribe. You will change someone's life. But also remember this before I go You're a solution. You're not a challenge or a problem, so be a solution for yourself. From myself, I'm Elinor. I will see you on part two very shortly. Take care.
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