Choosing Intuition Over Expectations: Leah Zaccaria on Building a Life (and Business) That Feels Right

Written By Courtney Hartman

It’s easy to get trapped by a life you’ve built, especially when it looks successful on paper. We hit the milestones, collect the credentials, and secure the external markers of success, only to realize the day-to-day reality doesn't actually feel like our own.

In this episode of The Glass Sessions, we sit down with Leah Zaccaria, former corporate CPA turned community builder, entrepreneur, and founder of Shefayoga, to talk about what happens when the professional path you've carefully designed no longer fits who you are. Leah shares her journey of spending 15 years in corporate accounting with a Masters in Taxation before undergoing a profound personal transformation that led her to walk away from corporate stability to open her own business.

We look honestly at the friction of leaving a predictable career, how to translate your hard-earned corporate skills into an entrepreneurial space, and what it really takes to drop external expectations so you can lead with intuition and confidence.

Key Takeaways & Actionable Insights

Recognizing when external success masks internal misalignment

  • Audit your fulfillment, not just your achievements: It is easy to convince yourself that a role is working simply because it provides status or safety, but true alignment requires regular self-evaluation.

  • Pay attention to persistent professional friction: If your day-to-day work requires you to continuously suppress your instincts or values to meet other people's standards, that tension will eventually show up as burnout. Tracking which tasks give you energy versus which ones drain you can help you identify these patterns before they spiral.

Bridging corporate expertise and creative entrepreneurship

  • Translate your existing tools instead of discarding them: Making a massive career pivot does not mean erasing your past experience. Leah highlights her position as an anomaly in her industry - a dedicated yogi who is also an expert businesswoman. Her accounting background became a powerful foundational asset that allowed her to build financially stable, operationally sound boutique studios.

  • Lean into your unique professional intersection: You do not have to fit into a prepackaged box or settle for standard industry labels. Using your experience to spot process improvements or manage structural cross-team challenges from your past life can differentiate you and build immense credibility as a founder.

Navigating the unglamorous realities of a major transition

  • Accept the discomfort of the beginner state: Major career transformations rarely happen cleanly or overnight, and stepping into something entirely new requires a high degree of humility. Leah describes burning the candle at both ends - working full-time as a CPA for two years while opening her first studio, navigating a divorce, and parenting her daughter. Growth is inherently uncomfortable, and learning how to manage that stress productively is a skill that serves your entire career.

  • Pivot deliberately when unexpected hurdles arise: When expanding her business to a new market in Venice Beach, California, Leah faced the start of COVID and a complete lockdown on the exact day of her grand opening. Instead of panicking, she spent a month living out of the isolated studio space to protect her business and develop a digital presence to keep her community connected. True resilience means focusing on the strategic outcomes within your control and adapting gracefully when business conditions shift outside your influence.

Moving Past Fear: The Grounded Reality of Transition

  • Fear isn’t a sign that you are making a mistake; it is simply a predictable part of walking away from safety. When you leave a well-trodden corporate path, the fear of failure, financial instability, and judgment from your peers will naturally show up. Moving past that fear doesn't mean waiting for it to magically vanish before you make a move. It means acknowledging the discomfort, getting honest about your baseline parameters, and building forward momentum through deliberate action.

  • When stepping into an entirely new industry or launching a business, you are essentially returning to a beginner state. Embracing that blank slate requires a high degree of humility, patience, and a willingness to handle mistakes transparently as you learn the ropes. Instead of avoiding the natural stress that comes with growth, learning to manage it productively is a fundamental skill that will serve you for your entire professional life.

  • Taking a massive leap also means confronting the predictable internal narrative of self-doubt. That nagging voice telling you that you aren’t truly qualified or that you don’t belong tends to get louder during transitions or moments of significant growth. To steady yourself when these feelings shift from healthy growth into limiting beliefs, it is essential to separate your temporary emotions from objective facts. Writing down your specific triggers, tracking what you are afraid of, and relying on a trusted support system of mentors or professional coaches can help you maintain clarity when fear tries to blur your perspective

For the Professional Preparing for a Shift

Stepping away from a well-trodden path requires structural preparation and a clear understanding of your personal operating style. If you are currently standing at a career crossroads, keep these principles in mind:

  • Clarify your values before making a move: It is highly recommended to do deep values work while you are still employed to create true career clarity. Building momentum in the right direction ensures you are moving toward a meaningful goal rather than just running away from a tough environment.

  • Separate feelings of self-doubt from objective facts: When you leave a familiar identity to challenge yourself or take on a new project, feelings of inadequacy often tag along for the ride. Write down what you are feeling alongside the objective facts of the situation, and rely on your support system to remind you of your worth outside of your job title.

  • Lead with kindness and clear communication: Whether you are navigating a business transition or managing cross-functional friction, focus on resolving conflict in a healthy, plainspoken way. Keeping your relationships clean and objective ensures your professional network remains resilient long after you leave.

Links & Resources

If you are currently evaluating your path, mapping out an exit strategy, or learning to navigate the tension of a major career pivot, check out these companion resources from our archive:

Courtney Hartman
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