Sheena Tanna-Shah is a leading mental health & wellbeing speaker, bestselling author and founder of Inspiring Success. A qualified therapist and mindfulness coach, she draws on both clinical expertise and lived experience to inspire change.
Her journey from award-winning optometrist to mindset coach was shaped by her own struggles with anxiety and depression. Today, she uses that story to empower others through self-acceptance, resilience and practical wellbeing strategies.
In this exclusive interview with The Motivational Speakers Agency, Sheena explains why embracing imperfection is a strength. She shares lessons on authenticity, mental health and resilience that continue to resonate with audiences nationwide.
Your career began in optometry, yet you shifted into coaching. What inspired you to pursue mindset work and build a platform for supporting others?
So it started with my own journey. I’ve always had a huge passion in psychology, all the way from doing a psychology A level, but also I struggled with my own mental health journey and struggled with anxiety and depression, which was at full peak when I went to university.
So I was studying to become an optometrist and during that time it was a pretty difficult period, and that’s when I had my first professional support and it made a huge difference to me. And so I decided, well, if something like that can help support me then I really wanted to use that to help other people on their journeys as well.
So as soon as I qualified as an optometrist, I started to train as a life coach and every other therapy that supported my own journey, I trained in all those therapies as well to then set up my company Inspiring Success and use those techniques and coaching, mindset coaching, meditation, mindfulness, everything I’ve learned for myself, but then really using that to implement and support other people on their journey as well.
You often speak about being “perfectly imperfect.” How does embracing imperfection help people find authenticity and self-acceptance?
So perfectly imperfect for me means embracing your authentic self. And it was something that I struggled with greatly. And because of that, I struggled with anxiety because I wasn’t accepting who I was, and I was always highlighting my flaws and imperfections.
But over the years when I started doing that inner work, I began to embrace myself and we all have our perceptions and how we see ourselves. So we see our strengths but then we also really highlight what we believe might be our weaknesses or our imperfections. But I truly believe that actually these imperfections, whether they are our quirky habits and things like that that we have, I think it’s a strength.
And we all have our journeys, we all have our stories, and really that story is our strength. So it’s embracing every single part of you. And really it’s about accepting who you are and having that deep self-acceptance. And I always feel like if you’re able to accept who you are then you’re encouraging other people to be accepting of themselves as well.
And so I always feel, especially now I’ve got children as well, just to embrace every single part of you because every part of you is beautiful. And I don’t believe in perfection. There is no such thing for me in being perfect. I feel like it’s a progress. It’s a process. It’s a journey. It’s growth. And to embrace yourself, but that journey that goes with it as well.
Having personally experienced anxiety, how has that shaped the way you connect with clients and deliver your coaching?
So I think it’s had a profound experience in terms of my coaching and the biggest part for that is the deep empathy I have for other people now. So when people come to see me for one-to-one coaching, especially when they’ve got anxiety as well, then I actually get quite excited because I know how they may be feeling. I can fully resonate with them as well.
So, as much as I can put in the theory and the practical tips and techniques to support their journey, I also know that I can talk from personal experience as well. I know what it’s like to feel overwhelmed or overthink all the time or have their stresses and worries.
So I know what that person may be feeling on the surface and what they’re coming up with and what they’re showing up with, but I know the invisible and internal battles they may be feeling as well. And so for me, working with that individual, I can give that personal support from my own experience but also that practical support through their theory as well.
When audiences leave one of your talks, what lasting message or feeling do you hope they take with them?
I really hope that they can leave feeling they are able to embrace their perfectly imperfect authentic selves. And I really hope they leave feeling supported and not alone. A lot of the times when we are struggling with well-being and mental health issues, it can be a lonely journey.
So I really hope they feel they are never alone, that they have support and that they have hope that there is a beautiful future that is waiting for them and absolutely available for them going forward.
This exclusive interview with Sheena Tanna-Shah was conducted by Roxanna Hayes of The Motivational Speakers Agency.
