One breath at a time

After 15 years in the demanding world of oil and gas, Elliot Berard hit a breaking point. She had built a successful career, but at a cost—80-hour work weeks kept her away from her three young children, then just 1, 3, and 5 years old. Exhausted and burned out, she made the difficult decision to step away. 

But even after leaving her job, the anxiety remained. So much of her identity had been wrapped up in her career that, without it, she felt lost. Who am I now? She wondered. 

Then, a friend made a suggestion that Elliot initially laughed off: Have you tried meditating? 

Skeptical but in need of a change, Elliot agreed to a 21-day meditation challenge. She had no idea that those three weeks would send her life down a new path. 

“I was completely transformed,” she recalls. “I knew I needed to learn more, and I needed to share this with others.” 

Ready to deepen her practice, Elliot enrolled in a two-year meditation certification program. Once certified, she considered opening her own studio, but with three little kids depending on her, stability was a priority. 

That’s when a friend and longtime Schwab employee mentioned an opening for an Executive Administrative Assistant in the company’s Lone Tree, CO office. Elliot applied, landed the job, and found herself in Schwab’s Compliance organization. 

Here, it didn’t take long for Elliot’s passion for meditation to surface. And when she shared it with her leader, she was met with encouragement: Go for it. 

So she did. 

Elliot began leading twice-weekly meditations for the Compliance team—what she calls “grounding bookends” for the work week. At first, she wasn’t sure how it would be received. Would people think I was crazy? she wondered. But the response was overwhelmingly positive. 

“People started sharing with me how meditation was impacting their days and weeks, and word began to spread,” Elliot says. 

Soon, she was being asked to guide meditation sessions for leadership offsites and other teams across Schwab. 

Elliot also found a meaningful connection with the Women’s Interactive Network at Schwab (WINS), an employee resource group open to all employees, where her personal story resonated deeply. 

“As women, we take on so many roles—we are the CEOs of every area of our lives,” Elliot explains. “It’s incredible that we can take on so many things that we were never able to do, but we also carry so much. We have to prioritize taking care of ourselves.” 

In her mediation with WINS, Elliot spreads a message that she wishes someone had shared with her: You don’t have to have it all together all the time. You need to take care of yourself, to take care of others. Self-care isn’t selfish. Even just taking five minutes a day to breathe at your desk can make a difference. 

Looking back, she wonders: If someone had introduced her to meditation earlier, would she have avoided burnout? Maybe. But then, she wouldn’t be here now, in a career she loves, making an impact not just in her work, but in the well-being of those around her. 

And that’s just where she wants to be.