The Power of the Messy Middle: How Estelle Rose Helps Women Redefine Success

By Rosa Ali

For years, Estelle Rose looked like the woman who could do it all. From her early career in performing and visual arts to coaching creatives, raising a family, and building a life on the English coast. But beneath the polished exterior was a version of Estelle few people ever saw: exhausted, overwhelmed, and constantly battling the invisible weight of tasks she couldn’t keep up with.

Like so many late-diagnosed women, Estelle spent years believing she simply needed to “try harder.” More discipline, more organization, more effort. Except no matter how hard she pushed, burnout always seemed to catch up. Her mind raced endlessly, her to-do lists multiplied faster than she could complete them, and what others found simple often felt impossibly draining. It wasn’t a lack of ambition. If anything, she cared too deeply. But operating without understanding her neurodivergent wiring left her living in a constant cycle of overperformance and collapse.

Everything shifted when she sat in a doctor’s office in her early forties and heard the words she never expected: ADHD.

The diagnosis felt like a spotlight switching on in a dark room. Suddenly, her entire past made sense: the masking, the perfectionism, the exhaustion, the emotional intensity, the chronic feeling of being “too much” and “not enough” at the same time. It brought relief, but also grief. Grief for the decades spent misunderstanding herself. Grief for the tools she never had.

Instead of letting that grief swallow her, Estelle used it as fuel.

She dove into understanding ADHD from every angle, studying emotional regulation, executive function, burnout recovery, and the psychology of neurodivergence. She became certified in Burnout Coaching, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), not for the titles, but to rebuild her own foundation. Through that personal healing, she realized how many adults, especially women, were quietly struggling just like she had.

That realization became the catalyst for everything that followed.

Today, Estelle is the author of five books, including the bestselling Empowering ADHD Workbook for Women, which have reached over 15,000 adults with ADHD around the world. Her writing has become a lifeline for readers who finally see themselves reflected in her pages. Many tell her, “This is the book I wish I had years ago,” not realizing she wrote them for that exact reason. She created the resources she desperately needed during her own diagnosis.

Beyond her books, Estelle hosts online training, group programs, and coaching sessions where she guides adults with ADHD through the emotional and practical realities of life with a neurodivergent brain. She brings equal parts science, humor, and empathy, balancing the neuroscience of ADHD with the lived experience most clinical texts ignore. Her approach is rooted in self-compassion and the belief that progress matters far more than perfection.

Across social media, Estelle cultivates honest conversations about burnout, masking, shame, productivity pressure, and the “messy middle”, the space between who you used to be and who you’re becoming. It’s a place she still inhabits herself, and one she believes deserves celebration rather than judgment.

For Estelle, the heart of her work is simple: success is not a finish line. It’s a process. A movement. A series of imperfect steps forward.

Her message to women everywhere, especially those who feel like they’re constantly falling behind, is one born from lived truth: don’t wait for perfection to start. Build while you heal, share while you learn, and lead while you grow. Success happens in motion. You are and will always be a work in progress.

Connect With Estelle

www.estelle-rose.com

Instagram: @estelleroseadhd