In 2015, when I started my business, I spent a lot of time and experimented with MANY tools to take the leap, to believe in myself and to know in my bones that this whole vision was possible.

Beyond the hours of training and certification, practice and feedback from mentors – I found my own rituals to rev my energy and to take the essential risks required for change.

One of these is something I still use 8 years later.

It’s free. It’s fun. And it gets results.

It’s your Power Song, people!

In the early days – and for the entire first years of my business – my Power Song was “Brave” by the incomparable, Sara Bareilles.

Before each potential client session, I reserved 5 minutes for my Brave dance party.

Then I expanded the ritual to dance it out before corporate partnership conversations and other high stakes meetings.

It felt both disruptive and empowering to be a little wild before these buttoned up chats and frankly, it reminded me of who I am and why I chose this path.

The feeling in my body was always the same.

Alive. Worthy. All the way lit up.

It shook me loose from my death grip on my mind and allowed me to BE, to be me, to speak from my gut and from all of the internalized preparation.

After a while – I only used the Power Song for something new – like my first Chief meeting or my first in-person workshop after lockdown.

And the songs have changed over the years. Dancing On My Own, Dog Days Are Over, Empire State of Mind and Juice, because Lizzo!

I recommend a Power Song to all of my clients as they prep for interviews or negotiate or resign after getting the big next job. Have you ever tried 9 to 5?

Why not make leveling up fun?

Please, share your Power Song with me so I can begin putting a rev up playlist together and let me know how it worked for you!

You may remember that I offer a 30-minute Complimentary Clarity Call to potential clients who think they may want to work with me.

In that call, my job is to truly listen and to give the human in front of me an opportunity to be heard.

It’s also crucial for me to be fully who I am, coach how I coach, and to clearly articulate what I offer and what I don’t.

In my program, I include a career transition framework with a series of tools that help people find their answers and create a plan to go after what they want.

The clients who want to work with me often say, “I LOVE the structure. It helps me understand what concrete things we can accomplish together.”

And then there are those who hear all about my offering. We have a lovely conversation and when I follow up they say, “Your program has TOO much structure for me.”

Completely valid. And good that they know what they need.

The exciting news is that there are MANY skilled and inspiring coaches out there. They are my colleagues, my community and I refer them often.

What’s important for you, as the client, is to think about WHAT you need and WHO you need to help you.

Three things I recommend considering when you choose a coach are…

1. Style

What kind of person tends to motivate you the most? Who do you respond best to in a challenging or vulnerable moment? I would call my style compassionate tough love with space for both tears and laughter. Some people need a bit more of a tougher edge than I provide and still others are looking for more time to talk about feelings and where they’re stuck. I recommend you trust your intuition on whether or not you feel chemistry with your coach.

2. Specific expertise

Where do you want to focus your energy in this coaching engagement? What are your goals? I focus on Career Transition Coaching and no longer offer Leadership or Executive Coaching. Some of my colleagues are Business Coaches and Public Speaking Coaches. You can probably name a type of coach you’re looking for these days and find someone.

3. Unique gifts and offerings

Are there nice-to-haves that would sweeten the deal for you? Would it be nice if someone came from a specific industry prior to coaching? I love connecting people so I’m often creating a community in my Office Hours, pairing up clients for accountability or introducing clients to my own network for conversations. It’s one of the things that my clients don’t necessarily expect from their coach, but love that they get this as a bonus.

As with job searching, finding the right coach is truly about fit. If you can’t decide among all of the coaches you’ve spoken with – my guess is you don’t currently have the bandwidth or desire for coaching OR you haven’t met the right one.

If you think you’re ready and we may be a fit, feel free to schedule a Clarity Call with me at the end of August when I return from vacation.

In the past couple of months, I’ve been leading discussions around boundaries for all of my many groups. And I’ve noticed something. 

My body is on fire. 

There’s a visceral current. All the energy and flow and a wee bit of sadness when the discussion comes to a close. 

In my work with clients, I would call this a “career clue.”  Career Clues are those topics you discuss, events you plan, projects you lead, moments you mentor – when you feel sparky and alive in your body. A physical sensation. 

My learning curve with boundaries has been an evolution in both my business and personal life. 

As a mostly people pleaser, rule follower kid – I remember a rush when I said no, or went my own way to do the unpopular thing. 

It felt like a high-five with my true self. 

That’s typically how I know I’ve set the right boundary for myself now. While some “no’s” are a “hell no” and easy to say in the moment. There are still many that push me to the edge of my comfort with my own worthiness and the belief that I can have, or even create what I want. 

My boundaries practice is tested when I…

Stand firm in my rates.

Guard my free time.

Choose values-aligned communities, clients and projects.

And even if the lead up  is hard, when I hear the inner slap of that high five, that full body relief on the other end – I know I made the right choice. 

If you’re having challenges setting boundaries in your career – whether it’s about the time you’re putting in, the way you’re being compensated…or recognized – let’s talk it through. 

Is there something you want to ask for?

Something you need to say no to? 

A redistribution of tasks and labor at home?

I help clients with scripts and examples for how they can put these boundaries into words, so they can own what they want in their language – and then get the practice asking for those things, out loud, with another human. 

Looking forward to talking with you in a boundary-strategy session! 

You’ve seen the headlines. The first five months of 2023 were tough for jobseekers. After 2022, an unprecedented year for both my business and my clients nailing their right-fit roles, 2023 definitely started slow. 

Between layoffs, budget cuts,  hiring freezes and the collapse of a few key banks–I was absolutely setting expectations with clients. 

I know this process works. Yet–in this climate, your search is possible AND will take longer. 

And now, I’m pleased to report momentum has returned. Traction in searches is happening. June was hot! In June I had SIX clients who landed their roles. And it’s only been continuing to pick up from there. 

So, consider this your gentle and compassionate push. 

You can figure out your priorities for your next role. You can network over the summer when many of your contacts have more flexibility and less to do. 

And if you feel like you’re going to need support, there are two ways to work with me right now. 

1. My 1:1 Coaching Program which includes 6 sessions and my career pathing framework (10+ video modules and worksheets). 

2. My NEW Self-Study Program where you can buy the entire framework and add on single 1:1 sessions, as needed. 

I’m looking forward to helping you find your answers to all of your career desire questions.

Recently, in a client session I heard the same word coming through over and over. 

It’s one that I hear often when it comes to career paths. 

A word that prompts driven humans to seek me out. 

Let’s just get it out of our systems. 

Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. 

There, you said it. Now, let’s talk about how you’re really feeling. The feelings behind stuck. 

Frustrated that you haven’t figured out what you want to be when you grow up. 

Angry that the situation you thought would be a fit, isn’t what it seemed. 

Shame that you don’t feel as far along as your peers. 

Overwhelm with options and tactics and opinions and oh so many terrible job descriptions. 

Fear that the right thing isn’t out there for you. 

You may be feeling all of these things and yes, you also may be feeling stuck. 

But that doesn’t mean you are. 

Often people use the word stuck when they don’t yet have the answer. 

When they’re anxious about sitting in the uncertainty. 

And yet, it’s in the permission to keep moving in the uncertainty and getting out of your routines and experimenting and taking risks even when you don’t know the answers — that you will find your answers. 

It’s in the forward movement. 

In the trust of your intuition.

It’s in the belief that you are on your path to figuring something out. That it may not be perfect or the one dreamiest dream jobbiest next step. But it is worth trying if it matches your terms and you feel that physical pull of energy toward this inevitability. 

So, the next time you feel the inertia–the suck of stuck–I invite you to use this stuck releaser:

I'm on my path.
I don’t yet have the answers and that's OK.
I trust my inner wisdom and I will find them.

The more you allow yourself to feel the actual feelings behind your inertia and begin taking action without knowing the outcome, you are practicing self-trust and building momentum toward your career goals. 

Sending you energy and support and a path to rise from the stuck. 

July 4th is complicated. While there are many aspects of our country to love and celebrate – there’s so much about it that is challenging and oppressive – especially right now.

In addition to sourcing the obligatory red, white and blue outfit and a bbq – on this day, I like to reflect on what freedom means to me.

This practice reminds me of what I’m looking to create individually, with my family and my community. And what I’m fighting for every day.

Here are some prompts to get you thinking…

What is the freedom you desire in your life?

How are you helping to create that freedom? For yourself and for others?

Where are you not free?

Who’s benefiting from your lack of freedom?

What kind of support or help do you need to find the freedom you seek?

Freedom doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. In fact, oftentimes freedom comes as part of a community and belonging somewhere.

I’m grateful to be in community with all of you! Please let me know the results of your reflection. I’m curious how freedom looks for you. Where you’re feeling it and where you’re not. What you’re working toward and where you feel like you’ve truly landed.

As I've been mentioning in previous newsletters, I’m in the process of healing some childhood wounds around body shame and a lifetime of normalized food restriction egged on by the $72 billion diet industry and my well meaning, but misguided, parents.

On a personal level – my goal is to break this cycle in my family AND give fewer (if any) fucks by the time I hit 50 about how close I am to the manufactured thin ideal.

I’m walking straight into the fire on the path toward accepting my genetically predetermined body size and learning to trust myself when it comes to desire – with food and beyond.

On a macro level, I’m beginning to see the impacts of diet culture on women’s careers.

How we spend endless amounts of time planning and counting and tracking and dialoguing with our internalized rules instead of creating and innovating and advocating for our place at the table. Or building a new fucking table.

How we hunger for influence and joy and agency, but accept rice cake crumbs and pretend we are satisfied.

There’s so much to share about how this Anti-diet and Body Liberation work intersects with my own mission of helping women design careers on their own terms.

New ways to think about organizational cultures, inclusive spaces, setting boundaries in relationships, plus corporate wellness programs !

And, of course, it’s me so there are PODCASTS. So many podcasts.

All the ideas are percolating.

Yet, for now, I’m still in the messy middle of working through my thoughts and feelings. My grief and all of the hard truths I’ve been avoiding by distracting myself with diets and "wellness" as it’s now called (same restrictive rules, new marketing).

Getting back to the title of this post, I promise that today, I did set out to write about self-compassion. As it turns out…I did.

I sat down and let my fingers type out the words my body wanted to share. I trusted this was the message that needed to come through – ready or not.

I honored my desire to tell the truth. To be who I am and who I continue to become.

So yes, self-compassion FTW.

I’m here for you and your connection to your desires. I’m grateful we’re in community to chip, chip, chip away at the Patriarchy with its goal to keep us small and without energy to fight back.

In this intense end of school year month (see last week’s post for acknowledgement and validation of your power parenting efforts), I find myself with less than my normal energy.

To put it simply…I’m damn tired.

So when I was working with my Online Business Manager to plan for the next few months – I noticed I kept saying the same phrase to describe projects that got the green light...

"Yes, I like it. It sounds like a light lift.”

This isn’t my season to shoulder heavy tasks that require deep thinking, focus and intensity.

As I learned from last summer, it’s a season for me to take extra time for myself and connect with people I love. To see theater and take in all of the arts New York City has to offer. It’s a time for me to receive inspiration and to refuel.

It’s my time to rest. Contrary to what our hustley, productivity-obsessed culture will have you believe, rest is an essential part of how I find meaning, creativity, flow and financial success in my business.

The beauty in the handful of light lift projects I’m working on is that they will make a BIG impact for the people in my community.

Some on the list are:

• Opening up my monthly Office Hours sessions to everyone for free - even for those who haven’t yet worked with me. (Learn more about that here!)

• Creating a Self Study version of my Career Command Framework - currently in soft launch if you want to check it out.

• Building in more ways for my current and former clients to connect with each other.

This insight comes as a reminder that work doesn’t have to be hard or a struggle to be meaningful or important.

Rest is radical and it’s something I want to model for my kids.

So, while June will be intense until the very last day of the month, I know relief and recharge are coming.

I’m excited to share more about my “light lift, big impact” projects as they are ready and I encourage you to think about what yours will be.

What can you do that feels easy, energizing AND ALSO important?