NFL Cheerleader to Counselor: Finding Your Identity After the Spotlight with Hannah LeBeau

Former NFL Cheerleader Hannah LaBeua joins Jazz to share her raw, authentic journey from the intense visibility of the spotlight to finding true fulfillment as a Mental Health Counselor.

This episode is for every entrepreneur, creator, or visionary who has tied their self-worth to their accomplishments, feared being perceived, or struggled to pivot away from a familiar identity. Hannah's story is a powerful lesson in navigating the internal conflict of shedding an old self while embracing a new, more aligned path.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why the "cheerleader bubble" made the pressure of body image and performance burnout inevitable.
• The key lesson: separating your job from your identity to protect your well-being.
• How to give yourself permission to evolve even when you're still working in the old space.
• Hannah’s vision for sports counseling and providing mental health support to professional dance and cheer teams.
• A look at Project Sideline, her nonprofit offering mentorship to aspiring professional dancers while prioritizing mental health.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Are you sitting with thousands of hours of b-roll content and telling yourself, I'll start posting tomorrow? Are you in your head worried about your friends and family thinking your friends were choosing to be visible? Are you chasing trends instead of building influence? Welcome to the Visibility Standard, where the visionaries of today are changing the roles of their industries and letting their voice be heard. I'm your host, Jasmine, and we are setting the standard. She also has a nonprofit, The Sideline Projects. And so I'm so excited to share more of her story here, how she got into mental health, how she pivoted. So Hannah, thank you so much for joining me today.

SPEAKER_01: 0:57

Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00

So you started off as a cheerleader.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03

I did. Yep. I made the team when I was 19 years old. It was about two years in college and then two years out of college by the time I was done. So I was a full-time student studying psych. So I was always interested in the mental health field, but I was also a competitive dancer my whole life. And I wanted to try to find a balance of like how can I pursue the thing I've been working on for so long and my passion and still keep that going, but also being able to pursue my education for when I can't dance anymore because, you know, our bodies aren't going to last forever, especially, you know, in like intense work like that. So that really gave me the ability to do both. I mean, it was not easy, that's for sure, but I was able to do both and set myself up for success when I was done in the NFL. So that's how it all happened.

SPEAKER_00: 1:53

I love that. It's like forward planning, forward thinking, but also allowing yourself to explore a passion that not a lot of people like experience. We see it on TV, we hear about it, and we know of like the cheerleading side of football, but we never really get to hear like a story from somebody in that space, or it's not really highlighted within media. So what was it like to be in that environment?

SPEAKER_01: 2:26

It was a lot, and a lot of it isn't a lot of it isn't highlighted because I'm sure, you know, a lot of what people see on media, there's not really there's a lot of positive, you know, things about being in there. Like it's one of the best chapters of my life, and I can't talk as positively about it. I love it. Um, but like every job, there's negatives and you know, what you see on TV with like the body image issues and the heightened anxiety of trying to fit this role because if you don't fit the role, then your dream gets snatched out from underneath you. So, like that pressure to be and act and present yourself as exactly as the organization wants you to be, it's really stressful. And it's not only you, but it's all of the people surrounding you that are also on the team that have this pressure on them. So it's almost like you're, I like I call it like the cheerleader bubble. And we're in like this little bubble, and then there's this outside world, and what we do here is so normal, and like we don't realize how different and odd the things that we consider to be normal are. But if there's an outside person looking in, they're like, what the heck are they doing? And why do they think this is normal? So the environment, like I said, it has its positives and negatives. But when I reflect on it now as a grown woman, because I was so young when I was on the team, I look at it now and I just wish I was able to see and do things a little bit differently to maintain my mental health and my physical health and my well-being, because I always say that it takes a, it takes a lot much more time to get yourself out of the hole that you dug yourself into. Um so it took a while to kind of recover mentally and physically from the intensity of those environments. But again, would I do it all over again? Probably not. But I'm really thankful for everything that I experienced and learned because I took so much with me now as a woman, and I learned so many things on the team that I apply to my everyday life. So it really is just a balance and yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 4:37

Yeah. What would you say was the most impactful lesson that you learned while being a cheerleader?

SPEAKER_01: 4:43

Oof, that's a heavy question. There's so many lessons. I guess I could do like a professional one and maybe a personal one. Professionally, I learned everything that you need to know to be a functioning adult in a professional environment. So, like I said, I was 19, so I didn't know anything about professionalism. So I learned how to public speak and I learned time management and organization and how to network myself and how to represent myself as a professional as well as like a top-tier organization. Because when I was cheering, that's when they were winning. Luckily, I know they're not really doing that so much now, but when I was there, they were top-notch and we were unbeatable. So we had to represent them because we were constantly in the spotlight. So just being able to maintain that role to the best of my ability, I learned so many things about myself as a professional and as a young woman and maturity. Cause I mean, I grew up with a single mom and she helped me do everything and she loved helping me do everything. You know, we didn't have much, but she would do anything and everything to get me to where I wanted to go. So being able to rely on myself was really difficult. So that's definitely the biggest lesson I learned professionally. And then the biggest lesson I learned personally, I think it was really just like at the end of the day, a job is a job no matter what it is. And if you and if you don't maintain who you are within that job, it's going to carry out later because I was not going to be an NFL cheerleader forever. I knew that. Probably not going to be a counselor forever or in this environment. I'm going to do other things because I am pursuing my LMHC. So I'm going to be in a more clinical, you know, setting. Um, so you know, I knew that wasn't going to last forever, but I treated myself as if it was. And I I treated my personal life as if I would like I carried what I was supposed to be as an NFL cheerleader into my personal life, and I wasn't able to find that balance. I think the biggest lesson is that like you have to be able to separate the two. And if you don't, there's gonna be some pretty heavy overlaps that can be detrimental to your health and your well-being.

SPEAKER_00: 7:01

Oh my goodness. What you just spoke to is the importance of maintaining your own identity essentially and not allowing your work to consume that. And that is so important even in the mental health field. I think so many of us identify as our jobs or our roles or the populations that we serve or how many clients we have on our caseload, outcomes that we're able to accomplish. And we tie that so much to our identity and our self-worth. And it is truly so detrimental. And I think it's one of the hugest contributors to burnout. And so I love that you bring that point up, and I think that's a perfect segue into talking about your mental health journey, like getting into this work. And it sounds like you were able to really learn a critical lesson very early on.

SPEAKER_01: 7:57

Yes, very early on. And I mean, I wish I realized it sooner, but I think the intensity of kind of losing my own personal identity. I'm a competitive person. So I was I was my biggest competitor. So I was like, not only do I want to be on the team, but I want to be a captain. I want to go to Pro Bowl. I want to, I want to accomplish everything you can. So I engulfed myself in that identity. And I mean, like I said, I was 19. And those, I feel like 19 to 23, which was how old I was on the team, those are prime years of like cognitive development, figuring out what you like, what you don't like, what your genuine interests are, breaking out of your small town like norms and really branching off. And I didn't really have the ability to do that. I mean, I did, but I didn't. So I think I wish I had learned that lesson early on. But I mean, like, you know what they say, everything happens for a reason, and like you go through stages of life to learn certain lessons, and it took me a little bit longer, but I think as far as timeline goes, I wouldn't have changed a thing. And I'm happy to, you know, understand the things that I know now.

SPEAKER_00: 9:03

Yeah. 19, I mean, gosh, at 19, we firmly believe that where we are is where we are going to be. And it's so hard to see outside of that bubble. We're curating like this environment and making it so much of who we are. And 19 is also just the age where we begin to learn who we are in the world.

SPEAKER_01: 9:26

Yes, exactly. And I always think to myself, too, like, not only am I engulfing this identity that someone else wants me to be, like, I'm changing my hair color because someone because a person told me to change it. I'm losing weight because someone told me to change it. But on top of that, Instagram came out in 2014. So the first post I ever posted was in my NFL cheerleader uniform. I was like at a promotional appearance. So even online, as an online presence, I had never been anything else except for an NFL cheerleader. That is the identity that I built for others to see me. So now as a 31-year-old woman, you know, I'm going out to like, you know, a restaurant or a bar or something like in my hometown. And I'll have people come up and be like, Were you able to meet the players? And it's like, oh girl, like this was 10 years ago. But I also like that's the identity that I carried, but I also built and no one has ever seen other than just NFL cheerleading. So it's like, I want to carry this to represent myself and it's what I love. But now it's also I can't break out of this because no one else has seen me as just Hannah. And it was really difficult. And when you're 19, 20, 21, like that external validation, like you crave it, you know, you want to fit in, you want community. And so I think the combination of that natural like need and like want for external validation, and then being in the spotlight, and then also Instagram coming out, it was just like a recipe for disaster for me. It's not everybody, but fitting in and community was something that I really struggled with. Like I was never bullied or anything to a large extent in school, but I never really like I didn't get invited to parties. Like, I wasn't cool, you know what I mean? So I think like finally I have this spotlight, and I was like, oh my gosh. So like that validation really messed with me a little bit for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 11:26

I mean, when I hear that, I just hear a lot of pressure because the average 19-year-old is like, okay, well, what's my major? What clubs am I gonna join in college, or what trade am I gonna do? Like your experience is so unique at such a critical age, and especially if you didn't grow up popular, if you didn't, especially if you didn't have like those typical high school experiences that we see on TV. It's like you're in a prime like opportunity to literally like experience a once-in-a-lifetime, like fame, and in some sense, like notoriety, visibility, like all of that at such a young age. I'm thinking of like the 19-year-old brain, it's like it's a lot of pressure, that's a lot of like self-image work, that's a lot of identity work, and that's a lot of I mean, how you blend in with your surrounding. It's like so much happening at once.

SPEAKER_01: 12:29

Yeah, all at once. And you even mentioned trying to figure out your major or your trade or, you know, like what you want to pursue at that age because you're breaking out of, you know, what you learned in high school. A counselor that I know actually made a really good point. Like, from the time you're born until the time that you're 18, you are following the timeline of not only yourself and like what your parents or your guardians like expect, but also everyone around you. You're all in the same timeline. You're learning the same things, you're moving at the same pace. And dance was my whole life. So then by the time I got to college, dance was my major. And I love my mom, mom, if you're watching this, I love you so much. Her and I have already talked about this, but I had a crazy dance mom. She was nuts, and she wanted me to dance so badly too. So I knew I always wanted to do psychology, but I went into college as a dance major because I had this little extra pressure to continue that identity, which I already knew. I'm already starting to fade away from the dancer that I've always been. So I did that for a year, and the mental pressure of trying to fulfill my needs and what I want for my future, and trying to fulfill someone else's was so difficult. And even just letting go and letting myself choose to pursue psychology, that in itself, I was 19 when I chose to break off of my dance major route and go psychology. And then I make the team. So now I make this like high-caliber dance team, but I'm also letting go of it. And it's like I think of it now and I was like, my poor little brain, like, what did I put her through?

SPEAKER_00: 14:00

Well, you're literally like shedding the old self and stepping into the new at the same time, and then not even really shedding the old self because you are now in the environment of the dancer at such an intense rate. And so it's like, oh, I'm holding on to this whole old identity for a little bit while I'm exploring the new identity. And honestly, I think a lot of us don't give ourselves permission to do that. I think when we have the new identity, we feel this pressure to try and embody it and live it out. And uh the conflict, the internal conflict that you're discussing right now, I think is the reality of a lot of it is I'm still in this old space, old identity, old patterns, and I am only figuring out what this newness looks like for me.

SPEAKER_01: 14:51

Yes, yes. I I couldn't have explained that better myself, like stepping into the new identity and letting go of the old one. That external pressure of having to have it figured out so early on and needing to know your route. Like, I can't even tell you how many times I have my students coming into my office and they tell me, you know, like my goal is to make 100k a year by the time I graduate college, or, you know, like I want to do this and like this is my route and this is what I want to do. I counseled a student, they wanted to go into finance because they knew that the money was the best route or like option for them, and that was the biggest like stability that they could find. But their heart was saying that they wanted to be a couples counselor because they come from a divorced family. And that is what, you know, what that's what their passion was. That's what fueled them. But they're choosing like this is my safe option. Like, I'm gonna choose this and I'm gonna hold on to it because that's what I should be doing. I have to have it all figured out before 30, like all of those things. So you're totally right by like having to hold on to that identity and the pressure of like not giving yourself permission to let it go. And I think that's another one, one of the biggest lessons I learned is that as difficult as it was to step into a bunch of different identities, because even after NFL cheerleading, like I I made some crazy decisions, but I was I always allowed myself to do it regardless of how difficult it was going to be. It's been a journey for sure. So definitely.

SPEAKER_00: 16:26

What is it like for you now in terms of perception? Do people still see you as a cheerleader? Do you still find yourself having to continue amplifying that new voice? What is it like?

SPEAKER_01: 16:40

I definitely feel like I still have to amplify it a little bit. And I've just recently started to be okay with showing up as more authentic on like social media and on TikTok and stuff, because I got I gained a not a big following in comparison to like the Alex Earls of the world, but I gained a following pretty early without really trying. Like when things could go viral easily, like back in like 2016, 2017, it kind of just stayed there. And I've been really afraid to show up as just like this with just my hair up or you know, just like being silly and whatever. But there was also a part of me where I'm like, I'm not getting any views or anything like that unless I'm talking about NFL cheerleading. Like I posted something the other day, and I think it was like one of those little question things on Instagram asking people like, what type of videos? Do you like long form content? Do you like voiceovers? And I had a person say, Okay, I need to know, is your experience in the NFL the same as what we're watching on DCC making the team? And I was like, I'm asking if you like long form content. That's not even what I was asking. It's like sometimes it's almost like people find like gateways. And like there was even this one time I remember I was like out at like a just like a small bar, like in my hometown. Like everyone knows everyone. And I didn't know this person, but they started chatting with me and they were like, So, like, did you do any sports in high school? Like, were you a cheerleader or anything? And I was like, Okay, so you clearly know this piece of information about me, and you're trying to find ways to get me to talk about it. So it's like it, I do feel like I don't think I'll ever be fully detached. But it's I'm also okay with that because it is a really large part of my identity now, like not necessarily the sparkly uniform and the pom-poms, but the things that I learned and the things that I was able to overcome from that time period is who I am now. But again, like the balance of like, can I just talk about something else sometimes? You know what I mean? I think that's really it. I guess like long story, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:50

Yeah, I mean that totally makes sense. You have a public image that's already been created, and you are essentially working to morph those two identities together, and that doesn't happen overnight. And I I think even when people shift their content, even the average person when they shift their content, people have an expectation. Oh, you used to talk about cheerleading and you talk used to talk about sports, and now you're talking about business and finance, and it's like, wait, you just switched up on me. And yeah, I think that is the reality of growth too, though. I think that we get to give ourselves permission to say, I'm gonna show up, and the people that want to stay and see it will stay and see it. And then the authentic, aligned community starts to grow from there. Um, but now you're transitioning into clinical mental health. So what has that journey been like?

SPEAKER_01: 19:59

It I've never felt more like myself than I have pursuing this, you know, career. I've I told myself, I think I was 11 years old, that like I knew I wanted to be a counselor to some capacity. And I I thought that being in a school setting was my dream and my goal. I idolized my middle school guidance counselor, Mrs. Graves. I like I credit her to anything that I ever loved about just like community and doing things for people, and like she just handled things so gracefully. So I idolized her at a very young age, and I thought that school setting was like my dream, summers off, like you love it. And I've been doing it for a few years, and I was kind of always back and forth between clinical and academic. And, you know, after a couple of years, I said, I think I, you know, I think clinical is a little bit more of my path and what I'm gravitating towards. So I'm really glad I pursued guidance counseling first and I was able to get into that academic setting because now I'm like, okay, like now my decision's made. Like I made the wrong one and that's okay. But now I'm able to go the route that I was always kind of like, am I sure I want to go over here? Like I think I want to go this way, and now I am. And like I said, I haven't felt more like myself and so comfortable in an environment than I think ever. So it's it's been really great so far. I'm in like the I'm in the last kind of leg of my program in my internship right now, you know, the clinical hours and like all of those things. So I'm doing that. I was at a dance competition this weekend because I'm also a dance teacher. So I got a dance competition all week, but also doing like my homework and my clinical journals like during breaks and like at awards. So I mean, you get it. It's been busy, it's a really busy route to take, but I I love it. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

SPEAKER_00: 21:52

Absolutely. And I love that you've I mean, with teaching dance, you're able to incorporate all the things like all of your journeys in one, working with kids and dancing, and then you're allowing yourself the space to explore a new chapter, and I think that's such a beautiful way to do it. It's being able to hold on, figure out what it looks like in your life to maintain it, and allowing it to still be this thing that excites you and interests you and breaks up a lot of the monotony of clinical work.

SPEAKER_01: 22:25

Yes, yes, exactly. It's giving me purpose in a bunch of different places and a bunch of different settings. I've really come to find out that dance and mental health, they go, they go hand in hand, especially high competitive dance and just like even working on like mental blocks with my students and hearing the things that they're saying, and I'm able to kind of like reflect back and see, I'm like, ooh, like I used to say this as a kid or while I was on the team, and I'm like, I see so much of myself and all of the kids that I teach, whether they're eight years old or 18 years old, and the way that they go hand in hand and the way that I'm able to incorporate the things that I know and the things that I learned within my classes without being like, this is a therapy session. You know what I mean? Like it, it really is so interesting to observe and put yourself in after you've lived it and now understand it. Because when I was living it, I didn't get it. I'm like, oh, like I'm just afraid of the pressure. Like I just have mental blocks because I fell on this one thing. It's like, oh no, it like cognitively set you back. It is really cool to be able to kind of mesh the two and excel in both areas. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 23:36

What's your vision for clinical mental health work?

SPEAKER_01: 23:41

My vision, I think I eventually want to go into either like sports counseling to some degree. I mean, this is like kind of a long shot, but I envision having an office, but then also having a dance studio kind of off of it. So if I'm working with like a dance client, like we can do half hour of like one-on-one and then go do like mental block work, like it just like something like that. Like I can kind of, but I think of even, you know, kids who get a full boat scholarship and then they end up getting like a DUI, or there's a baseball player that, you know, gets like Tommy John and he can't play baseball anymore. Like I think of all of the identity stuff that gets ripped away from not just dancers, but it just athletes in general and how much can change. And I mean, if you get your scholarship taken away and you're not allowed to play anymore, like that happens overnight. And then, and then what? Like you're just a like a business major? Like you, like you're at the school because you got a full ride. So, like I look at all the things like that, or even professionals who like get injured on the team and they can't play anymore, or they get traded, or they're all of a sudden just like a free agent. Like, that's how I see myself because I want to be someone that can counsel them from a place of saying, I understand what you're saying. But then I also, I don't know, I feel like I have so many ideas, but that's like kind of the main route that I want to go. Another route that I would really want to go in is being the mental health program for NFL and NBA dance and chair teams because I think of the resources that we had. We had a personal trainer, we had a nutritionist, a lot of other teams have those same resources as well, but there was never any mental health offered to us, and it's so important. And I would love to end up being like a professional program for teams and even college dance teams. I mean, they're prepping for that type of stuff. So um there's a lot of opportunity. I'm just not exactly sure which one I want to go with yet.

SPEAKER_00: 25:42

So and that's I mean, that's the beauty of this field, is like you don't have to know, and it gets to continue to evolve. And I I mean, hearing you talk about it, I feel the excitement, and so I have no doubt that you are going to be able to execute whatever like route you choose to go. And I'm so excited for you.

SPEAKER_01: 26:06

Thank you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00: 26:08

So tell us about the sideline project.

SPEAKER_01: 26:10

Ah, yes. So I've had this idea in my head for quite some time, and I was just kind of looking for the right way to launch it or make it happen. And so I launched it on the way home from a road trip with my boyfriend from Florida on like a random, I think it was like a random Sunday, and I was like, you know what? I don't really have any plans, I'm just gonna go for it. I create a project sideline for men and women who are interested in auditioning for NFL and NBA teams. Right now, that's the niche, but I plan to branch out, and it's a mentorship, a one-on-one mentorship for men and women who want to audition, but who also really want to find the balance of mental health and how it can impact their performance. So I've I've been really lucky to work with some amazing people so far because I launched it like right before audition season, which was unintentional, honestly. I didn't even really think about that. I was like, I just want to do it right now. And then in a couple months, people were like, I'm auditioning, I need some help. But I kind of just I navigate it through like kind of a week-to-week process, and I do check-in calls or I'll do like dance privates. It's really depending on the person. I see that there's so many training programs out there that are just giving them what they give everybody else. And it's like, well, what this person needs is not necessarily what this person needs. And their lack of confidence or something along those lines can stem from so many different areas. So you can't just hand someone a program and be like, this is gonna get you to where you need to go. And I've been seeing so much of that with, you know, without experience and without knowledge and without depth of really what the industry brings. So I was like, I know that I have a lot of those tools and a lot of that knowledge because I was in it for a long time and I also put myself really through the ringer while I was there. So that's what I'm doing right now. It's still very early. So kind of working out like the little kinks here and there of what works and what doesn't. But it's been working because I feel like I'm just catering it to whoever comes to me. I tell them right when I like board them on with me, is that I'm not gonna hand you a pamphlet and tell you to follow this. We're gonna talk it out for a couple of weeks and now we're gonna identify what you need, and then I'll start giving you resources. So I feel like it's been pretty successful so far, and we'll see where it goes. If I was auditioning back then and I was able to have a mentor, you know, to kind of guide me through not just what you need to be a successful dancer, but what you need to be a successful human in the dance industry, I would have grabbed it in a second because she sure needed it.

SPEAKER_00: 28:59

Is there a way that people can support or get involved?

SPEAKER_01: 29:03

Yeah. So I do have an Instagram account for it. It's project sideline underscore. And then I also have a TikTok, it's the same project sideline underscore. So I'm there was a little pause on content that I just had from, you know, I was just at a dance competition with my students and school transitions and things like that. I just moved, but I'm really starting to amplify it again. I have a ton of ideas. That's really the main like source of knowledge and stuff that I have right now. But hopefully want to have a website within a couple of months or a couple of not months, a couple of weeks. I have a lot of ideas. So yeah, if you just want to like follow my socials, that'd be cool. But that's really a good idea.

SPEAKER_00: 29:39

Absolutely. Everything will be linked in the show notes for people to uh check it out, follow along, reach out if they're interested. Hannah, this was such an amazing conversation. I think so many people can relate to just transitions and shifting into new roles, new identities, and finding ways. To maintain the past because that also makes us who we are today. As a closing question for all of my guests, I'm asking, what is your commitment to yourself for 2025?

SPEAKER_01: 30:12

Oof, what is my commitment to myself for 2025? I think my commitment to myself would be just giving myself a little bit more understanding when my structure doesn't always happen the way that I want it to happen. And I'm I'm such a perfectionist and I want things to go as planned, and I'm really hard on myself when it doesn't, even if it's not in my control. So I think my commitment is just allowing myself to navigate those tougher areas, but get back to it slowly and understand that I have the ability to get back to it when it's not always the way that I had planned it to be.

SPEAKER_00: 30:56

That is a word I could even take a note from that as well. Thank you so much again for joining me.

SPEAKER_01: 31:04

Thank you for having me. This is awesome.