Stephanie Rice has launched a personal rebrand at 38, changing her name and starting a new Instagram account after leaving her job and deciding to begin again.
The three-time Olympic gold medallist is now using her husband Mark Lassey’s surname as she begins a new chapter in Dubai, where she is promoting her work as a business consultant.
Her latest career change follows her decision to leave what she called her dream role as a company CEO, saying she believed God had asked her to resign.
Rice shared the news on Sunday in an emotional post on her new account, Stephanie Lassey, reflecting on the dramatic highs and lows she has experienced since retiring from elite sport.
‘Feels like the perfect time to start a fresh account, in my new name, and with a new commitment to sharing the journey God is taking me on,’ she wrote.
Her bio describes the account as a space for the woman ‘who knows she is capable of more but is tired of starting over’.
Stephanie Rice has begun a personal rebrand, adopting a new name and launching an Instagram account after leaving her job to ‘start again’ at 38
Rice shared an emotional reflection on Sunday through her new Instagram account, Stephanie Lassey, looking back on the highs and lows that have defined her life since retiring from elite sport
‘I’m rebuilding at 38, but this time, with Jesus at the centre of it all,’ she added.
The new account represents another stage in Rice’s remarkable reinvention after she left Australia for Dubai in 2023, announcing that she had purchased a one-way ticket to start a new life with God at its centre.
The Olympic champion acknowledged that abandoning her established Instagram audience to create a new community from the ground up was a significant risk.
‘Probably part crazy to be walking away from 140,000 people, but honestly I’d rather start again knowing the people joining now want to be a part of the story God’s writing, not the one that’s already been written, even if that’s just a small amount,’ she wrote.
Rice also gave a frank explanation of how her understanding of success had changed over time.
‘I’ve won Olympic gold. Made millions of dollars. Lost everything. Found Jesus,’ she wrote beside a photograph of herself in a purple jacket and gold Dior earrings.
‘And now, at 38, I’m rebuilding my career all over again. On the outside I had it all. Don’t get me wrong. It was incredible. But somewhere along the way, I started tying my value to my success,’ she continued.
‘My confidence went up and down, depending on how I was performing, how much money I was making and what other people thought of me.’
The former swimming star said public scrutiny, hateful comments, legal disputes and failed businesses had played a role in some of the most challenging periods of her life.
Rice’s bio says the account is for the woman who knows she is capable of more but is tired of starting over
Rice candidly described how her perspective on success had changed throughout her life
The former swimming champion said public scrutiny, hateful comments, legal battles and failed businesses had marked some of the hardest periods of her life
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She credited her Christian faith with helping her through those struggles, writing that she had been exhausted from trying to turn her circumstances around when she found Jesus
Rice subsequently sold her possessions, packed up her life in Australia and moved to Dubai without a job, friends or a plan for what would come next
She credited her Christian faith with helping her through those struggles, writing that she had been exhausted from trying to turn her circumstances around when she found Jesus.
‘I surrendered it all to him and we started the most incredible journey together,’ she said.
Rice subsequently sold her possessions, packed up her life in Australia and moved to Dubai without a job, friends or a plan for what would come next.
She later secured a role as a company director, where she said she was earning more than she had in years.
‘Eight months into that role, I was offered to become a CEO, my dream position,’ she revealed, adding: ‘But God asked me to resign. I obeyed.’
The decision has left Rice facing another professional reset, despite believing her career would be further along by now.
‘It’s been one of the most testing seasons of my life, but I trust God and I’ve learned I can’t force or speed up his plans or when he opens the next door. But I can control what I do in the meantime,’ she wrote.
Rice is now using her new account to promote her business consulting services, with a focus on women who feel they have untapped potential.
She later secured a role as a company director, where she said she was earning more than she had in years. ‘Eight months into that role, I was offered to become CEO, my dream position,’ she revealed, adding: ‘But God asked me to resign. I obeyed’
She married Lassey (right), a pastor with the Kingdom Church, in January 2025, four months after he proposed
She ended her post with a message of encouragement for those who might be experiencing similar setbacks.
‘You don’t lack dreams or desire, you lack the consistency and system to see it through,’ she wrote.
Rice first rose to international fame at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where she won three gold medals, including world-record victories in the 200m and 400m individual medley.
She married Lassey, a pastor with the Kingdom Church, in January 2025, four months after he proposed.
The wedding took place at a vineyard in Lassey’s native Perth.
The couple met at the start of 2024 and got engaged in September after seven months of dating.
Mark is a father to three sons – Tyler, Joel and Luke – from a previous relationship.