Cerice Berndsen is the COO and Systems Architect at Soul Soothing Co., a company that helps women entrepreneurs build AI-enhanced systems and self-managing teams that restore spaciousness, flow, and creative freedom. She helps clients design streamlined processes and implement automation so they can delegate effectively, reclaim their time, and lead their businesses with clarity and calm.

Leah Hielsberg is the Chief Implementation Officer and Co-founder at Soul Soothing Co. She teaches women entrepreneurs how to organize their operations, manage their tech stacks, and leverage automation to eliminate redundant tasks.

For many women founders, success can start to feel strangely heavy. The business they built to create freedom begins to run their lives instead. Instead of clarity and flow, their days fill with decision fatigue, constant firefighting, and a quiet sense of overwhelm. Is it possible to build a business that sustains your creativity instead of draining it?

According to Cerice Berndsen, a systems strategist who helps women reclaim their time and freedom, the answer begins with structure. She explains that most businesses operate with everything living in the founder's head, creating chaos that ripples through the team. Documenting processes, implementing automation, and weaving AI into operations isn't about rigidity but about creating spaciousness. Leah Hielsberg adds that these systems are really a form of self-leadership: the discipline to design a business that supports your well-being as much as your goals. Together, they show how clarity, automation, and team empowerment can transform a business from a source of stress into one of true creative freedom.

In this episode of The Soul Soothing Podcast, Cerice Berndsen and Leah Hielsberg of Soul Soothing Co. are interviewed by Chad Franzen of Rise25 to discuss how women founders can build self-managing businesses through systems and AI. They share how to recognize the three stages of business maturity, why documenting your "business DNA" protects your vision, and how AI can lift your team instead of replacing it. They also provide insights on finding peace, presence, and purpose in the process of scaling sustainably.