A day after sharing her journey from director to CEO, Stephanie Rice revealed why she ultimately decided to resign, leaving herself unemployed.
The video series comes a week after the Olympian returned to social media after a year off, explaining that she was officially unemployed for the first time in her life and attributing the choice to her God.
Stephanie Rice took to Instagram to reveal why she decided to step down as CEO. Instagram/@itsstephrice
Rice explained last week that after getting married and moving to Dubai, she felt like she was at full capacity and decided to take a year off from work.
But after 18 months, she said God “really spoke to me,” prompting her to not only share her life’s highlights but also tell her 139,000 followers about all the ups and downs.
So, on July 17, she posted a video detailing how she was hired for her “first job” as a director, and eight months later, she was offered the CEO position—an idea she said was initially favored by God.
But now, as she took to Instagram to share the second part of the story, she revealed: “God had other plans.”
She said she was shown a time in her life when she had to make “big, key decisions”, detailing how she had just become Australia’s fastest 14-year-old swimmer and decided to leave her coach.
“So of course I was a little confused because first God said, ‘The offer is good, sign it,’ and now, a month later, He’s showing me revelations about past decisions where I had to leave a certain place to go to a new place to get to the Promised Land, which I knew was like leaving that company and having to go to a new company,” she said.
Although Rice was confused by the apparent change of heart, she said everything became clear when she wrote her resignation letter.
She explained that since she accepted the offer to become CEO, a replacement had already been hired for her director position, so she could not return to where she was before.
“The fact that first He said yes and then He said no, just closed every door, just led me like, ‘There’s only one door, Steph. Follow her. Trust Me,” she said.
Rice married Mark Lassey in January 2025 after meeting in February 2024.
“And I’m sitting now in a place of complete trust. Having resigned, I’m now technically unemployed. I’m not in the past, and I’m not in the future yet. And… I’m just very excited.”
Rice retired from professional swimming in 2014 after winning three Olympic gold medals. Over the years, she continued to engage in sponsorships, endorsements, and speaking as a motivational speaker.
Although Rice did not grow up religious, she found her faith later, marrying Pastor Mark Lassey in February 2024 and moving to Dubai.