Stephanie Rice details why she chose to resign from her role as CEO

The day after sharing her journey from director to CEO, Stephanie Rice opened up about why she ultimately chose to resign, leaving her unemployed.

The video series comes one week after the Olympian returned to social media following a one-year hiatus, explaining that, for the first time in her life, she was officially unemployed and crediting that choice to her God.

Last week, Rice explained that after getting married and moving to Dubai, she felt like she was at capacity, deciding to take a year off posting.

But after 18 months, she claimed God had “really been speaking to me,” encouraging her not only to share the highlights of her life but also to let her 139,000 followers in on all the ups and downs.

So, on July 17, she posted a video detailing how she was hired in her “first-ever employment role” as director, and within eight months was asked to step up as CEO, an idea she said God had originally supported.

But now, as she took to Instagram to share part two of the story, she revealed: “God had other plans”.

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She said she was shown a time in her life when she had to make “big, key decisions”, detailing when she had just become the fastest 14-year-old swimmer in Australia and decided to leave her coach.

“So, of course, I was a little bit confused because at first, God said, ‘The offer is good, sign it,’ and now a month later He’s showing me revelations of past decisions where I need to leave a certain place to go to a new place to get me to the Promised Land, which I knew was like leaving this company, needing to step into a new company,” she said.

While she was confused by the apparent change of mind, Rice said it all became clear when she wrote her resignation email.

She explained that since she had accepted the offer to step up as CEO, a replacement for her role as director had already been hired, so she couldn’t go back to where she was before.

“The fact that He said initially yes, followed by a no, just closing every door, just guiding me like, ‘There’s just one door out, Steph. Follow it. Trust Me’,” she said.

“And I’m sitting in the place now of complete trust. Having resigned, I’m now formally unemployed. I’m no longer in the past, and I’m not yet in the future. And... I’m just really excited.”

Rice retired from professional swimming in 2014, having won three Olympic gold medals. She went on to manage her own sponsorships, endorsements and appearances as a motivational speaker for years.

While Rice didn’t grow up religious, she found faith later in life, marrying pastor Mark Lassey in February 2024 and moving to Dubai.