Carla Sridevi Cohen: On Igniting Success with Strategy and Soul

Carla Sridevi Cohen is not your typical coach — she’s a Business Strategist and Emotional Intelligence Expert with a gift for helping ambitious women achieve tangible success while staying deeply aligned with who they are. With a career that bridges Hollywood storytelling, high-level business strategy, and transformational coaching, she empowers her clients to scale their income, navigate leadership challenges, and break free from hidden limitations — all without sacrificing joy, integrity, or wellbeing.

What sets Carla apart is her ability to operate on multiple levels at once — blending business acumen with emotional, spiritual, and even physical awareness. Her clients describe the experience as nothing short of transformative —the kind of coaching that delivers results while honoring the whole person. As Regional Director of Global Woman Club Orange County, she also champions collaboration and sisterhood, proving that when women rise together, they rise stronger.

Now, Carla is on a mission to show women that confidence, wealth, and leadership are not about over- giving or burnout — but about leading with clarity, alignment, and purpose.

“Success isn’t about pushing harder or playing by someone else’s rules. True leadership and wealth come when women align strategy with heart, honor their worth, and lead from a place of clarity, purpose, and joy.”

As a Business Strategist and Emotional Intelligence Expert, you guide women to align business growth with deeper personal transformation. Why do you believe this holistic approach is so important today?

Because the old model of success — “work harder, push more, sacrifice yourself” — is outdated and unsustainable. Much of business has been patterned after masculine systems that reward over-efforting and constant competition. While those structures have their place, women thrive when they integrate a more feminine approach — one that values connection, intuition, and sales rooted in authenticity rather than pressure.

The alignment piece is key: if women are unaware that their subconscious is running the show — and that they’re disconnected from their body and emotions — it can lead not only to burnout, but to deeper health issues. I’ve seen clients whose stress and unprocessed emotions manifested in illness, anxiety, or exhaustion. The tragedy is that since they are not as in touch with their emotions as they could be, they don’t connect that their health issue is a reflection of missed emotional signals from their body. When they begin aligning business growth with personal transformation, they’re no longer just “pushing through.” They’re building success from a place of wholeness, which allows both their business and their wellbeing to thrive.

You integrate strategy with emotional, spiritual, and even physical awareness. Can you share an example of how working on multiple levels creates breakthroughs that pure business coaching alone cannot achieve?

One client of mine had a strong business plan but was constantly undervaluing herself and burning out. If we had only worked on strategy, she might have improved her systems but still carried the same inner limits. Instead, we rewired her beliefs about worthiness, released the scarcity patterns keeping her in “prove yourself” mode, and paired that with sales strategies designed around her strengths as a woman — empathy, connection, and intuition. Within months, she doubled her income. More importantly, she began to enjoy selling because it felt authentic, not forced. That’s the power of integrating multiple levels: women rise not just in numbers, but in freedom and joy.

Your background ranges from Hollywood story development to transformational coaching. How does storytelling continue to influence the way you help women reframe and rewrite their success narratives?

Storytelling taught me that the narrative you live by determines the life you create. Many women I work with are unconsciously stuck in someone else’s story — one where their sensitivity is framed as weakness, or where they believe they have to shrink to be accepted. I help them rewrite those narratives: sensitivity becomes a superpower, intuition becomes guidance, and ambition is no longer something to downplay but something to honor. When women reclaim authorship of their story, they stop settling for less and begin creating outcomes that once felt out of reach.

Many women unknowingly carry “scarcity codes” that limit both their income and fulfilment. What practices help them identify and release those hidden patterns?

Scarcity codes often disguise themselves as “normal” behavior: discounting your rates, over-giving to prove your value, or saying yes when your body is screaming no. I guide women to notice these moments, decode the emotional root, and then replace the old programming with aligned practices that honor their worth. This is where a feminine approach matters: instead of trying to bulldoze through the block with more hustle, we pause, tune in, and reset from within. From that space, women begin to attract abundance naturally — and realize they never had to settle for crumbs when the feast was always meant for them.

Your clients often reach new levels of financial success while staying in integrity and avoiding burnout. What’s one powerful mindset or strategy shift that supports that balance?

The most powerful shift is realizing you don’t have to succeed by playing a man’s game. For decades, women were told to toughen up, tone down their emotions, and “sell like men.” But in reality, what makes women extraordinary in business is their ability to listen, empathize, and create trust. When clients learn to sell by leading with heart and sensitivity — rather than hiding it — they stop feeling pushy and start feeling magnetic.

At the same time, balance is key. Being heart-based doesn’t mean giving your services away or overcompensating with compassion. Been there, done that. It means honoring your value, setting clear boundaries, and allowing your rates to reflect your worth. When women find that balance — bringing heart to their business without undercutting themselves — their energy and passion stay alive, and their business becomes a source of both joy and abundance.

You’ve navigated health challenges, career pivots, and leadership crises. What inner work and strategies helped you transform those experiences into resilience and reinvention?

Each crisis taught me that I had two choices: contract or expand. I chose to expand — to let every challenge deepen my wisdom and teach me resilience. I learned how to listen to my body, honor my sensitivity instead of fighting it, and use emotional intelligence as a compass for my next steps.

What many women don’t realize is that resilience isn’t just about mindset — it’s also about paying attention to your toxic load. Not just emotionally, but physically: what you’re putting on your skin, in your body, and in your environment. When stress, suppressed emotions, and toxic inputs compound, the body will eventually demand attention. My health challenges forced me to clear what wasn’t serving me — emotionally, energetically, and physically.

That experience showed me that setbacks are not a signal to shrink your vision — they’re an invitation to reach higher, care for yourself more deeply, and rebuild with alignment. The women I coach learn the same truth: that thriving in business requires honoring the whole self — body, mind, and spirit — so they can sustain success without sacrificing their health or joy.

As Regional Director of Global Woman Club Orange County, you foster a culture of collaboration and sisterhood. What role do community and connection play in women’s long-term success?

Community is a mirror. When women gather in sisterhood, they’re reminded they don’t have to do it all alone or pretend to be tougher than they are. Sensitivity and vulnerability become sources of connection, not shame. And collaboration helps women dream bigger than they would on their own. That’s why I believe women’s long-term success depends on these circles of trust — they give us the courage to rise higher and the support to sustain it.

Emotional intelligence is at the heart of your work. How do you help leaders bring emotional awareness into decision-making without losing focus on results?

I teach leaders that emotions are not noise — they’re data. A leader who can feel into a situation often sees angles a purely analytical mind might miss. Sensitivity allows them to anticipate team dynamics, client needs, and even risks before they surface.

But here’s the distinction: being heart-based in leadership doesn’t mean being overly accommodating or letting compassion override strategy. It means weaving empathy and emotional awareness into decisions while still staying anchored in clarity and purpose. This balance is what keeps leaders effective, respected, and deeply connected to their mission — without draining themselves or losing focus on results.

Confidence and self-worth are often misunderstood in the business world. What’s one myth you wish every ambitious woman could release right now?

That confidence is something you earn by working harder or proving yourself. In reality, confidence begins the moment you decide to stop settling and own your value — even before the world applauds it. Self-worth isn’t negotiable. You don’t have to hide your sensitivity, you don’t have to mimic someone else’s way of leading, and you don’t have to accept less than what you know is possible.

Looking forward, what’s your vision for women leading businesses — not just with profit in mind, but with alignment, joy, and sustainable impact at the core?

My vision is of women leading unapologetically with their feminine strengths: intuitive, creative, emotionally intelligent, and deeply impactful. At the center of this is being heart-based — making decisions that honor people, purpose, and prosperity equally.

When women lead from the heart, they redefine success: wealth is created without burnout, leadership inspires without fear, and impact is made without compromise. And when that heart-based approach is balanced with honoring their worth — not undercharging, not overgiving — it keeps their passion alive while ensuring their business grows sustainably.

I see a future where women no longer settle for less — where sensitivity is a strength, joy is non-negotiable, and success is measured by how fully we thrive in purpose, prosperity, and love-driven impact.