Championing Professional Development: My Career Coaching Business Journey

Did you know, on average, graduates may have as many as 12 different jobs throughout their careers? This statistic* underscores the importance of adaptability and exploration. In part, this is what inspired me to create my career coaching business, YourCareerWings, but there is more to my journey.

Community Building

I have always been passionate about community-building and helping others. The ability to network is quite helpful, something I truly value, as it allows the opportunity to build genuine connections with others. As a volunteer, I led my business school's local alumni chapter in the Bay area, re-igniting the chapter with strong engagement and participation. Additionally, I initiated a new program as a board member of an internationally recognized non-profit aimed at attracting young leadership.

Perhaps its no surprise, that I discovered Quora.com several years ago, a Q&A community platform, and began actively engaging with it. I simply responded to questions that I was most passionate about, and have accumulated over 3 million views on my responses, primarily around professional development.

Professional Journey

Professionally, I know what it's like to transition between functional expertise, geographies, and industries. As a marketing leader, I've managed a globally distributed team of marketers. Additionally, I've overseen a team comprising various disciplines, providing coaching for one employee's promotion and aiding another in securing full-time employment post-internship.

I started to realize my passion and experience could help others, and a gap in the industry from personal experience. I had engaged a life coach when I was looking to transition as a marketing leader in consumer goods and retail to the tech industry. I didn't want a junior role, as I already had significant experience. The life coach I hired required me to sign up for a one-size fits all package even though I explained what I was solving for. She was recommended, so I decided to move forward. Unfortunately, her motivations were not aligned with mine, and soon after, realized she never worked in industry.

Client Success Stories

Now I work with clients all over the world. What I love the most is that I know I'm helping others elevate their professional growth.

Each client has their own objective, and have shared a few below.

Client objective: transition from consulting to an operating role

A consultant from Brazil, with over 10+ years of experience, was looking to transition from consulting to an operating role; he was successful in landing a new opportunity in a few months as we honed in on his transferable skills, and industries he was most passionate about.

Client objective: gain leadership experience

A paralegal at a popular ride-share company headquartered in San Francisco was not looking to go back to school and desired leadership experience. We explored many opportunities and how to influence fellow employees to support her. She created a new group around her passions, and achieved executive sponsorship at the company. I strongly believe a team makes the experience better and easier, than tackling a leadership opportunity alone. Have you ever experienced a successful leader acting alone?

Client objective: enhance executive presence

A public relations professional based in New Jersey had started a new position in financial services, and struggled with being heard by management. We went through various exercises to elevate her executive presence, and through her actions and ability to get feedback, as an iterative process, was able to make the impact that was meaningful for her, and for the firm.

Client objective: identify next role & build network

An operations analyst in the entertainment industry in the United States was ready to move to Asia, but wasn't sure how to approach a new role in the industry. He didn't feel he had much of a network as was early on in his career. We defined a criteria that enabled him to identify 2-3 roles of interest, and then developed a plan for informational interviews to learn more, and ultimately grow his network.

Advice

Your professional development matters. I know too often, professionals don't have a manager, mentor, or peer to rely on for advice when facing challenges to overcome. Just like in business, there is more than one solution to a problem and there is more than one opportunity that is right for you and a path to achieve success.

Keep learning, exploring and being open-minded to the opportunities that will arise in your path. If you are seeking to engage a professional career coach, message me on LinkedIn and we can set up your 1st coaching session!

*Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics