Desert Roots Wellness
Samka Keranovic
Co-Founder, Desert Roots Wellness · Holistic Life Coach · Former VP & COO · Executive Contributor, Brainz Magazine
Who Is Samka Keranovic?
Samka Keranovic has spent much of her adult life working at the intersection of human behavior, leadership, and high performance.
Before co-founding Desert Roots Wellness, she built a career spanning more than two decades in business and leadership, including serving as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in the transportation education industry — overseeing a $5.2 million P&L and leading teams across operations, sales, marketing, human resources, finance, and organizational strategy.
At the same time, she spent 16 years coaching privately, often working confidentially with professionals navigating burnout, boundaries, indecision, people-pleasing, performance pressure, and major life decisions.
The two careers kept revealing the same pattern: many of the people who appear strongest from the outside are not struggling because they lack discipline or capability. They are struggling because they have become exceptionally good at overriding themselves in order to remain successful, dependable, or accepted.
That insight became the foundation of Samka's work at Desert Roots Wellness.
Areas of Expertise
What Samka Is Known For
Burnout
Samka challenges the idea that burnout is simply a workload problem. For many high achievers, exhaustion develops alongside a deeper pattern of repeatedly ignoring internal limits, values, and needs in order to continue performing.
Self-Abandonment
Always available. Saying yes before checking capacity. Absorbing responsibilities that belong to others. Avoiding difficult conversations. Measuring personal value by usefulness. Samka helps people recognize these patterns before exhaustion or resentment forces a larger change.
People-Pleasing & Boundaries
Samka approaches people-pleasing as more than difficulty saying no. It can become a decision-making system in which other people's reactions carry more weight than your own judgment. Her work helps clients develop boundaries without becoming rigid or disconnected.
Self-Trust
Her coaching focuses on helping clients rebuild the ability to make decisions from their own values rather than constantly seeking reassurance, permission, or approval from others.
Sustainable High Performance
Samka does not teach high achievers to become less ambitious. Her work asks a different question: How do you remain ambitious without requiring self-sacrifice or chronic overextension as the price of success?
Scope Note
Coaching is not therapy. Samka does not diagnose or treat mental-health conditions and refers clients to licensed professionals when clinical support is appropriate.
Frameworks & Concepts
Samka's Signature Ideas
Self-Abandonment Disguised as High Performance
Some behaviors that receive the most praise in high-performing environments can also become unsustainable: constant availability, extreme dependability, difficulty delegating, absorbing other people's responsibilities, and rarely admitting that capacity has been exceeded.
The Reliable One Trap
Being dependable can be a strength. But when being 'the reliable one' becomes part of someone's identity, saying no can begin to feel like a threat to their worth, reputation, or relationships.
Resentment Is Data
Resentment is not always evidence that other people are asking too much. Sometimes it is information that we have repeatedly agreed to things we did not genuinely want or have the capacity to carry.
Capable Does Not Mean Responsible
One of Samka's most frequently used questions: 'Just because I can carry this, does it mean it is actually mine to carry?' The distinction matters in leadership, relationships, family systems, and personal wellbeing.
Sustainable Ambition
The goal is not to abandon achievement. It is to become more intentional about what you are ambitious for and whether the life being built still reflects the person building it.
Background
From Executive Leadership to Desert Roots Wellness
Samka's leadership career began long before Desert Roots Wellness existed. She built extensive experience in business operations and eventually served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of U.S. Truck Driver Training School, leading the organization across operations, sales, marketing, human resources, finance, team management, and strategic decision-making.
Her leadership in transportation was recognized by the Women in Trucking Association, which named her a Top Woman to Watch in Transportation in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
In 2026, Samka transitioned from executive leadership to publicly expanding the coaching work she had practiced privately for 16 years. She co-founded Desert Roots Wellness with Tyler LaBarge in May 2026.
Today, her work combines the realities of executive leadership with long-term coaching experience to help people understand both the human and organizational consequences of unsustainable high performance.
Coaching Training
Media & Recognition
Writing & Press
BestCompaniesAZ
25 Skills That Will Become Increasingly Valuable to Arizona Employers
Expert commentary on the skills becoming non-negotiable for Arizona employers — September 23, 2026
Brainz Magazine
Your Burnout is Raising Your Kids
First authored article as Brainz Executive Contributor — September 10, 2026
Meditech Today
Ways to Celebrate Small Wins: Impact on Mental Health & Progress
Expert roundup on celebrating small wins — September 9, 2026
PharmaTech News
Time Management Techniques: Experts Share Their Secrets to Reducing Burnout
Expert roundup on time management as boundary management — September 22, 2026
PharmaTech News
Prioritizing Mental Health: Tips For Healthcare Workers
Expert roundup on clinician mental health — September 9, 2026
PharmaTech News
Staying Focused: 25 Strategies To Combat Procrastination
Expert roundup on beating procrastination — September 9, 2026
Financial Tech Times
Hiring and Payroll: Balancing Growth and Financial Stability
Expert roundup on sustainable hiring — September 9, 2026
Fast Company
This Habit Leads to Burnout. Are You at Risk?
Published in Fast Company's Leadership section — July 14, 2026
Brainz Magazine
Executive Contributor
Writing on burnout, boundaries, self-abandonment, people-pleasing, and authentic leadership.
Authority Magazine
Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started My Consulting Business
Full feature interview — July 16, 2026
Desert Roots Wellness · Practitioner Report
2026 High-Achiever Burnout & Self-Abandonment Practitioner Report
Evidence-informed insights on five recurring patterns beneath burnout in high achievers — August 2026
Speaking & Interviews
Topics Samka Speaks On
Media & Podcast Inquiries