An Inspired Chat with Corinne Wainer

We recently had the chance to connect with Corinne Wainer and have shared our conversation below.

Corinne, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
As a writer, researcher, and applied psychologist, I could theorize about compassion endlessly. But what I’m truly most proud of is making it second nature to myself and others.

I embody caring wherever I go, which often helps fortify community. Specifically, I’ve always been interested in women being as upfront-yet-kind to themselves and one another as possible, which oddly isn’t our society’s norm.

Volunteering weekly with animals, most notably LKH Equestrian in Malibu, is one way I show up no matter who’s looking. Over time, I was able to create a group chat of now more than 30 women where we share our love for horses, silly stuff, and often big heartbreaks and wins. We also get together for competitions, dinners, and even quiet afternoons of vision boarding. As you might have guessed, I’m especially proud of this because the equestrian world does not want its ladies getting along.

Essentially, I love being the ethos of SHAKTIBARRE (my former company before Corinne Margo Content Consulting) by contributing to local communities with the simple act of relentless compassion, including when that means standing up for what’s right.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
After founding, building, and officially transitioning away in 2023 from my “then brand” SHAKTIBARRE—which grew from physical studios to a digital app before the pandemic—I dove even deeper into writing and research that empowers. This has taken the form of two paths that live under my “now-brand” called Corinne Margo Content Consulting.

The first is as a content executive for companies across tech, learning, and health. I write to increase awareness and agency in my audiences – turning content from a one-way broadcast into a tool that genuinely educates and uplifts the people reading it.

Second, I’m pursuing my PhD in Psychology to investigate what language in fitness classes best supports women’s psychological wellness. My research focuses on women ages 22-32, that critical decade when our stress responses and self-concepts are still forming, to demonstrate that compassionate language (acceptance-based, acknowledging struggle) measurably reduces stress and increases self-compassion compared to the achievement-obsessed, appearance-focused messaging that dominates the industry.

The goal isn’t just academic: it’s to equip changemakers in fitness, health, and beauty with evidence-based tools to challenge the harmful norms that claim to empower women while actually undermining our wellbeing.

This work is already informing talks I give, courses I teach, and the book I’m writing (Better Body Talk) on transforming how we communicate with and about women’s bodies.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I wouldn’t say I necessarily relished it as much as I needed to do it as a reliable figure for SHAKTIBARRE, but being in the spotlight is one thing I’m currently releasing. My pursuits nowadays are much more behind the scenes…

Part of releasing that “front and center-ness” is ironically experiencing the burnout that the wellness industry promises it’s subverting, part of it is putting my own wellbeing first and realizing how much overdoing it and “tech-ifying” all facets of life drains my spirit, and the last part is I’m gearing up for the next big movement that my research and writing will propel.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Growing up I was treated and teased for my “otherness” by some peers – mainly female. I never knew that would become my superpower… inspiring other girls to be their most wild, wacky, and authentic selves while also realizing we are united by that.

Turning that pain into my passion was the most incredible healing journey. This lived experience is exactly why my research focuses on how language can either harm or heal women – I know firsthand the power of words to exclude or embrace. We stay a team by staying open-minded and compassionate where there is difference: being ‘weird in a good way’ together.

Especially in the face of politics and policies trying to divide us through marginalization of bodies, rollbacks of women’s rights, and systems of control – being healthy, well, and connected is actually active resistance. As gorgeous as it is, compassion is badass too.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
Three lies the wellness industry tells itself: that it cares about women’s wellbeing, that it cares about ALL women’s wellbeing, and that only “it” holds the answers to how we care for ourselves.

Championing wellbeing means examining whether messaging and practices genuinely help women or just capitalize on insecurity while keeping us tethered to the next program, product, or empty promise.

This reveals itself everywhere. In language that treats our bodies as problems requiring fixes rather than vessels deserving protection: “target your trouble zones.” In workplace cultures that preach wellness while burning out their own teams: “overtime is a myth for people who don’t work hard.” In diversity statements like “all bodies welcome” that never translate to actual representation in marketing or leadership. In marketing that erodes our trust in our own bodily wisdom, positioning external solutions as “the only thing that works.”

The truth? Learn to trust your body’s intelligence over all else, choose spaces where your presence matters more than your performance, and question any subtext that makes you feel broken before offering to fix you.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Before starting my consulting agency, I held jobs with major fitness startups, and let me tell you, none of them, except one, were walking the talk of their missions. From constantly moving goal posts to power trips to a serious lack of diversity awareness, it made me sick to be composing for professionals who created such an unwell inner culture.

I realized if I stayed in it I was complicit in it, and so either by being fired or walking away, I left. It became even clearer to me how the industry needs evidence-based tools that champion women.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinne-wainer