The Success Lie: Chantell Preston on Identity, Trauma, and Rebuilding After the Exit

The Success Lie: Chantell Preston on Identity, Trauma, and Rebuilding After the Exit

From Innerspace: Deep, Meaningful Conversations with Brett Kaufman by Brett Kaufman

March 9, 2026 · 56 min

About this episode

Chantell Preston discusses her journey of identity and trauma after selling her healthcare company and the challenges she faced in redefining success.

Chantell Preston sold her healthcare company at 41 and thought she'd finally made it. What followed were the two hardest years of her life. In this episode, Chantell traces the full arc: a childhood defined by divorce, abandonment, and a controlling home in Oklahoma. A teenage relationship that turned physically abusive and why she couldn't leave. The drive to prove herself that became the fuel of her entrepreneurial career, and the price she paid for it in every relationship that mattered. When the business sold, so did her identity. The title was gone. The family was fracturing. And for the first time, she had to sit with the question she'd been outrunning her whole life: who am I without all of this? Chantell is now an investor, author, podcast host, and co-owner of a professional volleyball expansion team in San Francisco. But the most meaningful work she's doing today can't be put on a business card. This is a conversation about what success actually costs and what it takes to finally come home to yourself.

People in this episode

Host: Brett Kaufman

Guest: Chantell Preston

Topics covered

  • identity
  • trauma
  • entrepreneurship
  • success
  • self-discovery

Keywords

  • identity
  • trauma
  • entrepreneurship
  • success
  • self-discovery
  • Chantell Preston
  • Brett Kaufman

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Oklahoma, San Francisco

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