“The Chronicles of the Canadian Career Coach.“ | From Building Confidence to Careers : Meet Emily Rezkalla

Meet the unstoppable force of career wisdom, the Canadian based Career Coach, Emily Rezkalla . With a captivating online presence as @emrezkalla, Emily has established a strong community of 175,000+ Gen Z and Millennial audience of job seekers. She excels in sharing her professional and personal persona through simplified career advice on TikTok, Instagram and Youtube. Emily's 10 years of experience branches across corporate, government and not-for-profit work in a variety of industries such as business consulting, policy, finance, IT and content creation. Her transferrable approach to interviews and networking helped her stand out as a candidate with a high job offer rate which led her to start career coaching people so that they can land the jobs they deserve.?

Her content focuses on teaching job seekers how to tell their professional stories, negotiate salaries, network and navigate their career growth. Emily and her expertise has been featured in Business Insider , ELLE Canada magazine , The Financial Post , Yahoo and the Toronto Star. Her content has also included partnerships with 雅虎 , IT Cosmetics , monday.com , Headway, Notion and Talentfly. Beyond work, you'll find Emily either snowboarding in Whistler, longboarding on the Seawall in Stanley Park, hiking mountains (not quickly), reading at a cozy coffee shop or enjoying her “The Office” TV show fix.

Miss EmpowHer: What does women's empowerment mean to you? Why is it important?

Emily Rezkalla: Women empowerment means contributing to a continuous collective of confidence in women to me, by being a role model or showing admiration to other women that provides confidence in them in an area that may feel somewhat exclusive regardless if it is due to their gender. It's super important to build other women up in their confidence, especially in their career where ambition can be seen as a conflicting trait to everything women have to navigate in their professional and personal life.

“Women empowerment means contributing to a continuous collective of confidence in women.”

Miss EmpowHer: What advice would you give to other women looking to succeed in your industry? What qualities are the most important and what skills should they focus on developing?

Emily Rezkalla: I would remind a lot of passionate women looking to succeed in their industry that your self-worth is not reliant on your work. I personally care so much about my work and can take it personally when I don't succeed when in reality, detaching myself from the outcome is the best thing you can do to ensure you're always learning. The best qualities and skills in my opinion to be the most successful in ANY industry is adaptability, coachability, communication, patience, accountability, and leadership. All of which would set anyone up to not just succeed, but learn and reflect at a rate that provides the most impact on the people they work with and the most purpose felt in their career.

”Your self-worth is not reliant on your work.”

Miss EmpowHer: Tell us about a woman who has influenced your career and how their guidance has impacted your professional growth.

Emily Rezkalla: It's extremely cliché, but my mom has always been the most supportive and influential person in my professional growth. As early as I can remember, my mom demonstrated the best work ethic, patience, empathy, and adaptability I've witnessed in a woman professional. Every time I decided to pivot careers, she was there, without any doubts - and trust me, I pivoted a lot. She never sugarcoats her feedback, asks all the right questions and guides me in a way that has helped me become the decisive and confident professional I am today.

”My mom demonstrated the best work ethic, patience, empathy, and adaptability I've witnessed in a woman professional.”

Miss EmpowHer: How do you handle work-related stress and pressure, and what techniques or practices do you use to maintain your well-being while pursuing a successful career?

Emily Rezkalla: If I find myself extremely stressed about a specific project at work, I typically go for a quick walk first to let my thoughts just flow so that I don’t get all consumed by my stress. I usually end up figuring out the source of the stress, whether it’s timeline, resources, pressure, team dynamics or satisfying results. I try to never let my work stress linger into the next day as much as possible, so that way I’m not taking it home into my personal life. A good way to avoid letting the stress linger is writing down on a scale of 1-10 how hard the problem is to solve - it helps me put my capabilities into perspective instead of just relying on a bunch of stress-related thoughts. Work related stress should never be more than a 5, or else something larger is going on in which I definitely do more deep thinking about long term solutions.

”A good way to avoid letting the stress linger is writing down on a scale of 1-10 how hard the problem is to solve - it helps me put my capabilities into perspective instead of just relying on a bunch of stress-related thoughts.”

Miss EmpowHer: Can you share any lessons or insights you have gained from failures or setbacks in your career, and how you have turned them into opportunities for growth and learning?

Emily Rezkalla: Failure is a better guide than success in my opinion. I’ve failed a lot… If I stuck to all the things I was just successful at the start and did not venture out into areas that I was more likely to fail, I would likely be super unhappy in my career. I remember the very first time I failed and persevered at something I didn’t end up being good at until years later. I ran for student elections in highschool EVERY year and lost every year. I then decided to run for the Board of Directors elections to an $11 million association back in university a few years later and won. I also learned a lot after losing my father that failure isn’t really that painful - it's the ego wanting to be accepted. Specifically in my career, what’s more painful to me is complacency and stagnation which led me to pivot my career multiple times. This gave me the opportunity to learn that a career is not just a job that grows, it’s the path you make with the skills you acquire.

”Failure is a better guide than success in my opinion.”

Miss EmpowHer: Can you share any strategies or tips for building a successful network and fostering meaningful professional relationships that have helped you in your career?

Emily Rezkalla: Learn to listen and ask questions well. Everyone wants to learn how to talk but not enough of us are learning to listen and ask the right questions. A great listening exercise I do when I network or even in job interviews is I repeat the last sentence the person said in my head before responding (an old actors exercise). Asking questions well helps with getting into deeper conversations and that’s really at the core what most of us want - even in our professional careers. Small talk is great but being able to get past that hump with your network is what builds meaningful relationships. Asking “How” and “Why” questions typically help with this because it provokes opinion.

”Asking questions well helps with getting into deeper conversations and that’s really at the core what most of us want.”

Miss EmpowHer: What motivated you to choose your current career field, and what do you find most fulfilling about your work?

Emily Rezkalla: Honestly, the people in my professional circle are what motivated me to become a Career Coach - I cannot take full credit. My colleagues constantly asked for my support in their job search and career growth journey’s and trusted me with my expertise from the start. In addition to Career Coaching, I made connections in the entertainment industry which motivated me to take my knowledge to content creation. The most fulfilling part of my work is seeing all the messages I get and comments from job seekers who landed the job or negotiated the salary they deserve because of my content and coaching.

Miss EmpowHer: Can you discuss any specific trends or changes in your industry that you see impacting careers, and how you are preparing to adapt to these changes?

Emily Rezkalla: I've noticed a lot of people are not looking to get promoted to 'people leaders/managers' as much as they used to. I'm hearing more and more that people want senior roles in their field that allow them to grow their hard skills more. This may be a symptom of the pandemic, economy and lack of proper training currently affecting the career space. I've been thinking deeply about how this will affect companies in the long run and am preparing ways that they can navigate this struggle for their employees and properly incentivize them not just with money, but with time - because at the end of the day, the new generations are valuing their time more than money.

Miss EmpowHer: What advice do you have for individuals who are starting their careers or looking to make a career change, based on your own experiences and lessons learned?

Emily Rezkalla: Practice patience with your thoughts and the 'existentialism' that comes with you associating your identity to your career. It comes and goes and starting your career or making a career change are two of the biggest times those will happen and the more you practice patience and acceptance of those feelings, the faster they will process and the easier it will be to make decisions in your career overall.

Miss EmpowHer: How do you approach professional development and continuous learning to enhance your skills and stay relevant in your industry??

Emily Rezkalla: I approach professional development by looking at my goals and deciding what I need to learn or enhance to get to that goal faster. Right now, I want to enhance my content creating skills so I can engage with job seekers better which has led me to start taking acting classes the past few months and loving it! In terms of the HR and Talent industry, I work with multiple recruiters in different industries and gain insights through their experiences while also career coaching 1:1 with candidates.

Miss EmpowHer: Can you discuss any significant achievements or accomplishments in your career that you are particularly proud of and what you learned from those experiences?

Emily Rezkalla: I'm super proud of the fact that I've actually written an award-winning research paper on Canada's innovation ecosystem and SMEs. I'm a researcher at heart and it was my first lesson that originality is not rare, but eloquently explaining your original thought or putting it out into the world is. That was the moment that made me realize that people want to listen to new and relevant opinions.

”I'm a researcher at heart and it was my first lesson that originality is not rare, but eloquently explaining your original thought or putting it out into the world is.”

Miss EmpowHer: How do you balance your career ambitions with other aspects of your life, such as family, hobbies, and personal well-being?

Emily Rezkalla: I am fortunate to live in the beautiful city of Vancouver that frequently reminds me with its beaches and mountains only 10 min away from me to slow down and enjoy life outside of work. I grew up in Toronto and it was good for a season, especially for my career. However, I found that changing my environment was the best thing I did to help balance it all. Not saying everyone needs to make such a large move, but it really came down to changing my environment. As soon as 5pm hits, I need to step out of my home to remind myself that it’s time to finish or take a long break.

Miss EmpowHer: Are there any specific books, podcasts, email newsletters, thought leaders/influencers, or training courses/programs that you would recommend for personal or professional growth?

Emily Rezkalla: Books you should definitely add to your shelf: The 10x rule by Grant Cardone, The Creative Art: A way of being by Rick Rubin, How to Work with Almost Anyone by ?? Michael Bungay Stanier , Do Interesting: Notice, Collect, Share by Russell Davies.

Email newsletters I'm subscribed to: The Assist , Girlboss , Morning Brew .

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