206: Client Showcase: Understanding the Impact of Trauma on Success and Connection with Sherry Lukey

In this week’s episode of the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast, originally broadcast in March 2025, I interviewed my wonderful client, Sherry Lukey, an extraordinary executive and life coach who helps successful professionals worldwide unlock their full potential, cultivate meaningful relationships, and create a life of purpose, peace, and presence.

Sherry shared her inspiring journey into the world of coaching, emphasizing how trauma can significantly impact both personal and professional success. 

We talked about the disconnect between outward success and internal struggles, especially within corporate environments, plus the importance of creating safe spaces for healing and exploring how the subconscious mind plays a crucial role in shaping our beliefs.

 

In this episode: 

• [00:00:00] Sherry shares her journey into coaching, influenced by her family dynamics.
• [00:02:59] The disconnect between outward success and internal struggles faced by clients.
• [00:06:52] The feelings of isolation experienced by successful individuals in corporate environments.
• [00:10:07] The difference between conscious and subconscious minds and their roles in trauma.
• [00:11:34] Discussion on the different types of trauma and the ingredients that contribute to it.
• [00:13:27] Insights on how early experiences shape negative narratives about oneself.
• [00:16:16] Discussion on the disconnect between rational thought and bodily feelings related to safety and trauma.
• [00:17:16] How addressing trauma can transform long-standing patterns and behaviors in clients.
• [00:18:24] Creating safe environments for deep coaching work and personal transformation.
• [00:21:58] Advice on conducting body scans to maintain awareness of emotional states throughout the day.
• [00:23:36] Discussion on how women often feel guilt for others' emotions and strategies to overcome this.
• [00:24:32] The dangers of taking on others' emotions and the need for clients to experience their own breakthroughs.
• [00:26:10] Challenges faced in pricing coaching services appropriately for transformative work.
• [00:29:14] Discussion on the disparity in pricing between genders in coaching and the need for women to charge appropriately.
• [00:31:59] Sherry discusses her decision to double her prices and the mental challenge behind it.
• [00:34:35] The hidden struggles of seemingly successful individuals.
• [00:35:06] The value of understanding everyone's unique story behind their success.
• [00:36:27] The importance of women achieving financial independence and success.

 

Key Takeaways: 

• Healing trauma unlocks success. Many high-achieving women unknowingly hold themselves back due to past experiences that created deep-seated fears around visibility and success.
• Trauma isn't just 'big' events. Trauma can stem from experiences that left us feeling shocked, isolated, and powerless - even if they don’t seem significant from the outside.
• The subconscious mind runs the show. While we may consciously want success, our subconscious fears can sabotage us - like avoiding opportunities, procrastinating, or feeling deep discomfort when we try to step up.
• Women tend to ‘freeze’ or ‘fawn’ under stress. Instead of fight or flight, many women default to people-pleasing or shutting down, which keeps them stuck in unhealthy patterns.
• Your next level is waiting - if you’re willing to claim it. Success often requires shifting from ‘Why me?’ to ‘Why not me?’ and confidently stepping into your worth. Once you change your internal narrative, everything else shifts.

 

Quotes: 

“It's certainly something that I think all of us as coaches see, we have clients who come to us and they are so outstanding as individuals. They have this amazing potential, and quite often they have things that are already going really well. But for whatever reason, there are these deep traumas sometimes really holding them back and old narratives that don't serve them, but everything just feels completely tangled up and they can't move forward.” - Jessica Fearnley

“We can heal trauma and we can have patterns that have plagued us for decades. You always kind of know that you're destined for great things, and every time it's in front of you, you manage to swerve. But to actually be able to heal those patterns, it changes everything.” - Jessica Fearnley

“When the subconscious perceives a threat, whether it be real or perceived, that stress response comes on and then your options are fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. And fawn being people pleasing, which is one of the things that women really, really tend to do.” - Sherry Lukey

“What people don't realize is that really a trauma at any level has three ingredients. One is shock, it's sort of like you've been blindsided, something that just totally came out of nowhere, a feeling of isolation and a feeling of powerlessness. And if you have those three ingredients, you end up with trauma.” - Sherry Lukey

“People have to break down to break through. And so by you taking that on, you're actually preventing their breakthrough. And it completely turns it on its head to be like, ‘oh, this is a massive disservice to take this on for someone’ because you subconsciously and energetically, you're actually saying to them ‘you're not capable of handling this. So I'm going to handle it for you’.” - Sherry Lukey

 

Useful Links

Sherry: 

Sherry’s website - sherrylukey.com

Jessica:

Buy Jessica’s book, Too Much, on Amazon

Get in touch with Jessica to discuss your consulting business

Leave a rating and review for the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast

Jessica’s LinkedIn

 

Guest Bio

Sherry Lukey is an extraordinary executive and life coach who helps successful professionals worldwide unlock their full potential, cultivate meaningful relationships, and create a life of purpose, peace, and presence. Using her unique expertise and Tap into Power Method™, she guides clients to break free from deep-rooted subconscious patterns and biases, empowering them to lead confidently and leave a legacy.

Sherry's expertise has been showcased in top media outlets like Forbes, Beyond the Couch, and the Fearless and Successful podcasts. She captivates audiences with powerful presentations, expertly moderates events, and delivers game-changing insights on panels.

When she's not empowering leaders to lead with greater compassion for themselves and others, you'll find her pursuing her passions for personal growth and pottery in her home studio. She shares a beautiful life in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband of thirty-seven years and takes immense pride in being the mother of adult twin daughters.