From Breakdown to Breakthrough with Laura Cooke
From Innerspace: Deep, Meaningful Conversations with Brett Kaufman by Brett Kaufman
April 20, 2026 · 59 min
About this episode
Laura Cooke shares her journey of transformation from a successful career to building a company focused on emotional intelligence and well-being.
Laura Cooke had everything that should have made her happy — successful career, beautiful family, dream job as assistant head of school at Wellington School in Columbus. But her body was keeping score. Stress-related illnesses forced her to confront a hard truth: she was walking around pretending to be happy while making choices that led to misery. In this conversation, Laura shares her journey from a CompuServe founder's dinner table to building Positive Foundry, a company that brings emotional intelligence and well-being tools to frontline workers. She opens up about the moment Martin Seligman's book "Flourish" changed her trajectory, why she walked away from her dream job, and how installation crews are now having "feelings meetings" because of her work. This episode explores the courage it takes to rebuild your life from the inside out, the power of conversation to create real change, and why the inner work isn't just for people who think they need it. Laura is creating generational change one conversation at a time, proving that transformation happens not through information but through connection.
People in this episode
Host: Brett Kaufman
Guest: Laura Cooke
Topics covered
- emotional intelligence
- well-being
- personal transformation
- stress-related illness
- career change
- mental health
Keywords
- breakthrough
- mental health
- emotional intelligence
- career change
- well-being tools
- stress
- transformation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Positive Foundry, Wellington School
Books & works: Flourish
Places: Columbus
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