Streaking Into Self Discovery with Noelle Labrie

In this episode, Michael Dargie sits down with Noelle Labrie, a learning and development professional who helps restaurant owners and their teams lead better. Calling in from Miramar Beach on the Emerald Coast of Florida, Noelle explains that she doesn't walk into a kitchen and tell anyone they're bad at leadership. Instead she looks at turnover, staff culture, and online reviews, then works with management and chefs to figure out how they can serve their staff so their staff can serve their guests. Her favourite people to work with are the newly promoted, young not in years but in experience. The awesome line cook or standout server who suddenly gets a supervisory role and has no idea how to hold yesterday's drinking buddies accountable, read a P&L, or control food and labour costs. Nobody teaches them, and that gap is exactly where Noelle likes to work. Her eight-week Carpe Diem Leadership program breaks that learning into small, digestible tasks with an in-theory, in-practice, in-review rhythm each week. Then there's the streak. As of the recording, Noelle had run at least a mile every single day for 3,792 days, roughly ten and a half years. It started almost by accident. A marathon fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society took her to Dublin for her 30th birthday, where she promptly fell in love with Ireland. Years later, wrapping up a work contract in Costa Rica, she decided to run a mile a day until her flight home. Forty days became a hundred, and she simply never stopped. What began as physical health has become far more about her emotional, spiritual, and mental wellbeing, the way she clears her head and sets her intention each morning. The conversation wanders happily, the way the best ones do. Noelle has run six marathons, most recently New York City for her 50th birthday. She's run in a Tahiti airport in flip-flops while crossing the date line, and she's lived and worked in Kuwait for four years, opening a restaurant in Istanbul, a city she'd move to tomorrow if she spoke the language. A quiet moment outside her Kuwait apartment, two single women dressed head to toe in black, one in a hijab, left her with a lasting thought: are we really that different? That thread carries into her answer for the one thing she wishes the world knew, that we are far more alike than we are different, and that a little more compassion and empathy would go a long way. Her advice for rebels is just as human. Be gentle with yourself. Show yourself grace. Know that your best will look different every day, sometimes 100 percent and sometimes 14, and that both are fine. You can find Noelle on LinkedIn and at Tri-Skill Consulting. **Episode Highlights** - \[00:34,000] The Emerald Coast | Noelle calls in from Miramar Beach, Florida, where she followed her retired parents to white sugar sand and crystal-clear water. - \[01:36,000] What she actually does | A learning and development pro who helps restaurant leaders with turnover, staff culture, and reviews, not by telling them they're bad at leadership. - \[02:30,000] Serve the staff first | Her whole approach: help management and chefs serve their staff so the staff can serve their guests. - \[03:52,000] Her favourite people | The newly promoted, young in experience, who were great servers or cooks and now have to lead without anyone teaching them how. - \[06:19,000] 3,792 days and counting | Noelle reveals her run streak: at least a mile every single day for over ten years. - \[07:16,000] How it started | A marathon fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and an $8,000 goal, pulled a non-runner into the sport. - \[08:12,000] Dublin and coming home | She ran her first marathon in Dublin for her 30th birthday and felt she'd come home the moment she stepped off the plane. - \[09:41,000] Costa Rica turns 40 into 100 | A mile a day to close out a work contract became 40 days, then 100, then a habit she never broke. - \[11:01,000] More than physical | Over the years the streak became about emotional, spiritual, and mental health, a daily reset and intention setting. - \[11:38,000] Six marathons | From Dublin at 30 to New York City in 2023 for her 50th birthday. - \[14:09,000] Carpe Diem Leadership | Her eight-week program turns everyday moments into small, manageable leadership lessons for busy restaurant teams. - \[17:43,000] Running in Tahiti | Crossing the date line with a short layover, she ran between the seats of an open-air airport in flip-flops to keep the streak alive. - \[20:43,000] Falling for Istanbul | Living in Kuwait and opening a restaurant in Istanbul, she fell so hard for the city she'd have stayed if she spoke the language. - \[23:21,000] Two women in black | A quiet morning outside her Kuwait apartment left her asking whether we're really that different from one another. - \[25:02,000] The one thing she wishes | That we're more alike than different, and that a little more compassion and empathy would help. - \[30:33,000] Advice for rebels | Be gentle with yourself, show yourself grace, and remember your best looks different every day, sometimes 100 percent, sometimes 14. **Links From This Episode** - Tri-Skill Consulting - Noelle Labrie on LinkedIn - Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - TCS New York City Marathon - Dublin Marathon Full show notes, transcript, and more: https://rebelrebelpodcast.com/episodes/streaking-into-self-discovery-with-noelle-labrie