Host of The Everygirl Podcast and founder of Wellness by Josie, Josie Santi is pulling back the curtain on curated calm and calling out the burnout hiding behind beige aesthetics and biohacked morning routines. In this fearless conversation, she redefines what real wellness looks like and why it starts with radical self-trust, not another green smoothie.
Josie is calling time on the polished, Pinterest-packaged lie we keep selling to high-achieving women: that success will save us. That calm is something we can hack. With wit, warmth, and an unapologetic voice, Josie is redefining what wellness really means in a world where soft life trends and hustle rewrites still leave women silently unraveling behind the scenes. “You were never meant to be perfect. You were meant to be free,” she affirms, and in this raw and revelatory conversation Josie speaks on burnout in beige, the emotional labor of curated ease, and why healing doesn’t happen in isolation. Whether you’re over “that girl” routines or questioning if journaling is enough, Josie’s take on modern womanhood is the refreshingly honest reset we all need.
Glamour: You've said the soft life isn't soft—it's burnout in beige with a eucalyptus candle. What was your breaking point?
Josie Santi: My breaking point didn't look dramatic; it actually appeared annoyingly perfect. I had the Pinterest-worthy wellness routine, daily workouts, clean meals, and a nighttime ritual straight out of TikTok. Externally, I was thriving; internally, I was exhausted and numb—classic wellness burnout. My "aha moment" hit when I asked, "Healthy for what?" The real goal of wellness isn’t to be perfect or as optimized as possible—it’s to feel joy, to actually live. The second it causes stress, the soft life becomes burnout disguised in prettier packaging.
Glamour: Women appear to finally be choosing ease. But are we just repackaging perfectionism with prettier filters?
JS: Absolutely—it's perfectionism with better branding. We're lighting candles, taking hot girl walks, and labelling it as ease. Yet behind this curated calm, we're still performing, obsessing over aesthetics and chasing unrealistic standards. True ease isn't aesthetic; it's messy and authentic. It's about genuinely enjoying your coffee without worrying if your Instagram followers approve. Real ease happens when you feel worthy whether or not your life looks "soft" online. The filtered soft life isn’t true wellness—it’s performative self-care.
Glamour: Has hustle culture evolved rather than disappeared?
JS: We’ve swapped spreadsheets for smoothie bowls, but it’s still hustle culture dressed up as wellness. We obsess over our routines, we measure our worth by how fit or “toned” our bodies look. It’s still hustle culture, just rebranded as self-care. Even the reaction to hustle culture (quiet quitting or anti-hustle movements) become another mask we wear when it’s about being afraid to be seen trying. We’ve become so scared of failure that we preemptively opt out. That’s not healing or self-worth, that’s another version of performance. Instead I think we should aim for aligned ambition: ambition rooted in purpose and pleasure. Hustle culture is all about what you're doing, but aligned ambition is about how you're doing it and why. The true opposite of hustle isn't apathy; it's authenticity.
Glamour: Many women still feel empty despite journaling and affirmations. Why isn’t the "healing era" actually healing us?
JS: Because we’ve turned healing into a solo sport, and wellness isn’t meant to be lonely. Your nervous system doesn't reset in isolation with gratitude journals or another greens powder. It resets with hugs, belly laughs, when you remember oh yeah, this is what it feels like to be alive. True healing happens in community, not isolation. The healthiest societies aren't filled with biohackers, but the ones where people share meals, experiences, and belonging. You can have the perfect morning routine and diet and still feel depleted if you're not experiencing joy, intimacy, and belonging.
Glamour: What emotional toll does curated calm take on high-achieving women secretly unraveling inside?
JS: It's chronic invisibility. High-achieving women have been conditioned not just to succeed, but to succeed gracefully or easily. It’s not enough to hit every milestone or goal, we’re also expected to do it while radiating ease, making everyone around us comfortable, and without letting anyone know the cost. This version of “calm” is just emotional labor– it’s a constant dissonance that causes you to feel so deeply disconnected from yourself.
Glamour: Your wellness platform is honest and subversive. What does ‘real’ wellness look like beyond the content?
JS: Real wellness is radical self-trust. It’s trusting your body over wellness influencers, diets, and programs. I don’t mean this always has to look like self-love. I still have days where body positivity is tough—but I've learned to trust my body’s signals implicitly. The wellness industry thrives by convincing women their bodies aren’t trustworthy, but your cravings and symptoms aren’t sabotage; they're communication. My version of authentic wellness is acknowledging our bodies tell us exactly what they need to be healthy; we just have to listen.
Glamour: You've said: “You weren't meant to be perfect; you were meant to be free.” What's freedom for you now?
JS: Freedom happened when I realized there might be nothing wrong with me. It’s radical self-trust, a refusal to abandon myself—even if it disappoints others. Freedom is not about achieving or doing anything, it’s actually an unlearning. It’s stopping mid-routine to ask, "Am I doing this for me or because a girl on TikTok said I should?" Freedom is listening to yourself and your intuition first. You can access this freedom every honest question you ask yourself, and then choosing to listen. This kind of freedom in wellness is liberating.
Glamour: Advice for the woman who's done everything “right” but still feels wrong?
JS: Forget wellness clichés and pay attention to two things: your stress and your joy. Science shows chronic stress harms your health faster than pizza or late nights. Communities with strong bonds and abundant joy consistently outperform those relying on strict wellness routines. True wellness prioritizes joy, laughter, and connection over perfectionist wellness standards. Chronic stress, as well as lack of joy, will be the first and most impactful factors to negatively affect health.
Glamour: What would a truly soft life look like without aesthetics, algorithms, or expectations?
JS: It would actually look like a lot of laughter and fun, instead of this idea of peace and quietness we think it does. Not beige and minimalist, but vibrant and fully alive. It’s laughing until your mascara smudges, eating for both nourishment and joy without guilt or fear, and dancing terribly because it feels good. It would mean letting yourself get messy, feel deeply, rest when you're tired, eat what you’re craving, and stop when you’re full. A truly soft life is one where your choices are aligned with your experience, rather than how other people experience you.
Glamour: If you could rewrite the script about success, womanhood, and wellness, how would it go?
JS: I’d remove the word "enough" completely. Instead of measuring ourselves by external validation ("thin enough," "successful enough"), we’d ask: "Am I fully alive? Is this life mine?" Women would also love what’s big in them, instead of valuing what’s small. Whether it’s our pants size, being polite with our opinions in conversation, or physically trying to get smaller on a crowded subway or in the boardroom, we are constantly trying to shrink ourselves. Instead, women would love their biggest parts: your loud laugh, big aspirations, curvy hips–they’d love their bigness so much that they would stop wishing to feel small. And lastly, empathy would be seen as our superpower, not something we apologise for or suppress.
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