The Burned Out Assistant

The Burned Out Assistant is about coming back online after burnout. I write for people who are tired of optimizing and ready to listen to themselves again.

profile

Hi, I’m Jessica.

For a long time, I thought the thing I was best at was organizing other people’s lives.

I spent more than a decade as an Executive Assistant and strategic partner, helping leaders untangle complicated problems, spot patterns before they became crises, and make decisions when everything felt urgent.

Turns out, I was never just building systems.

I was helping people find clarity.

That skill became a lot more personal after burnout.

Like a lot of people, I reached a point where the way I’d been living simply stopped working. Recovery wasn’t a straight line. It wasn’t a weekend off or a new morning routine. It was years of slowly rebuilding my relationship with work, with other people, and with myself.

Somewhere along the way, I realized something. The hardest part of change usually isn’t making a decision. It’s understanding what season you’re actually in.

Sometimes life makes that obvious. You lose a job. A relationship ends. Your health changes. Burnout catches up with you.

Other times, nothing dramatic happens.

You just wake up one day and realize the career you worked so hard for doesn’t fit anymore. The routines that once made you feel safe now feel restrictive. The life you’ve built no longer feels like home.

Those quieter transitions can be even harder because there’s nothing concrete to point at. You just know something has shifted.

That’s the work I do now.

I help people slow down long enough to understand the transition they’re actually in.

Not by handing them answers or telling them to reinvent themselves.

By creating space to untangle what’s changing, what’s staying the same, and what deserves their attention next.

Most people don’t need someone to tell them what to do.

They need someone to help them see clearly enough to trust their own decisions again.

How we work together


Most people who reach out to me are somewhere in the middle.


Recovering from burnout. Questioning their career. Navigating divorce, parenthood, an empty nest, caregiving, retirement, or another season that changed more than they expected.

They’re carrying a lot of questions, and they’re tired of carrying them alone.


That’s where my Transition Mapping Sessions come in. They’re structured conversations designed to help you step back from the noise and see your situation more clearly. Together we’ll look at what’s changed, what’s putting pressure on you, what’s still stable, and what decisions are waiting on the horizon.

The goal isn’t to leave with a perfect five-year plan. It’s to leave understanding your next step.


A little more about me

Alongside this work, I’m also a former speaker and educator. I’ve spent years teaching thousands of administrative professionals how to think more strategically, build better systems, and navigate change in the workplace.


Those same skills—pattern recognition, structured thinking, and asking better questions—are the foundation of everything I do today.

Because whether you’re leading a company, supporting one, or simply trying to figure out your own next chapter, the work is often the same.


Slow down.

Pay attention.

Figure out what’s actually happening.

Then move forward with intention.


If that sounds like the kind of support you’re looking for, I’d love to have you here.


You can book a Transition Mapping Session, or if you’d rather get to know me first, my newsletter is the best place to start. Every week I write about burnout recovery, life transitions, curiosity, and the quiet work of building a life that feels like your own again.