She Won Her Industry's Top Prize and Felt Worse Than Ever
Seven years after vowing to reach the stage, Chelsea Ryckis got there and realized the applause did not fix what the chase had cost her.
Women Under Pressure · How To Pursue Ambition with Intention, with Chelsea RyckisIn 2024, Chelsea Ryckis walked onto a conference stage to accept the biggest award in her corner of the business world. Ryckis runs Ethos Benefits, a firm that helps employers improve health benefits and make costs clearer. She was probably the youngest person ever to receive the honor, and only the second woman. The lights were on her, and hundreds of people were applauding.
Seven years earlier, she had sat in the audience at that same conference as what she called an absolute nobody. She and her business partner had just started their company, money was tight, and she was watching someone else accept the prize. Ryckis remembered looking up and thinking, "I'm going to be on that stage one day and I'm going to help hundreds of thousands of people."
That vow worked. She spent seven or eight years sacrificing her health, her time, and her weekends to build a business she was proud of. The idea, she said, was "to have a life where I can live differently than most." She poured everything into work, grew the company, and in 2024 the award was hers.
She said she had never felt worse. Her marriage was strained, and she and her husband were fighting a lot. She was avoiding the signals her body was giving her, ignoring them completely, while she poured everything into the work that won the award and grew the business. She had made the sacrifices and reached the stage, and it still was not enough.
Afterward, she said she needed to feel differently about herself if she wanted growth in her business, marriage, and family life. She said she needed to know who she is, stop looking for outside approval, and listen when her body tells her to rest or decide differently.
She now talks about having the time to pause. Ryckis said she "started going to Pilates later in the morning," a small tweak in her schedule that she said transformed her space and clarity. Because she is no longer sleeping with her baby, she gets "an extra hour of sleep in the morning," and those little changes mattered in a way the prize did not.
Questions people ask
What exactly is Advisor of the Year in her industry?
It is an annual honor for benefits consultants, the independent advisers who help employers shop for health plans, control costs, and explain coverage to workers. Winners are usually recognized by industry publications and conferences for client results, innovation, and leadership. For Ryckis, it was the top peer prize in her field.
What does a benefits consulting firm do?
Ethos Benefits advises employers on health benefits, with an emphasis on transparency around prices, fees, and plan performance. Instead of simply renewing the same insurance plan, the firm tries to help companies design benefits that cost less and work better for employees. That kind of consulting often involves data, vendor negotiations, and employee education.
Is it common for success to feel hollow like that?
Not necessarily, though it depends on the business. Research on burnout finds that exhaustion, cynicism, and self-criticism often rise with long hours and constant responsibility, even as income and status improve. Ryckis described that split directly: the company was growing while she felt worse about herself.