Anna

Career Field: Nonprofit Marketing Communications

Years of Experience: 10+

My Career Challenge: I knew I needed to make a career change and leave my dysfunctional organization, but I was so burnt out I couldn’t focus on figuring out what I should do next. I sought a career coach to help me stay motivated and gain a fresh perspective.

How Coaching Helped: Career coaching helped me explore new avenues I otherwise wouldn’t have considered. Without it, I would have either stayed in a miserable position or rushed to something else out of desperation. Along the way I refined my personal brand and learned to market myself much more effectively. I felt like my confidence was restored too. My instincts were always correct that I should leave my flailing organization, but I kept trying to make it work, and didn’t realize how much I had been hanging on to trying to create a successful career at a dysfunctional organization.

Outcome: Less than six months later, I was out of the toxic work environment and enjoying a successful start to a freelance consulting career, which offers ideal work-life balance for an ambitious mother of three young children.

“I can honestly say that I am happier than I’ve been in years—and that means my family is happier too. Ellen’s objective insights helped me see that my organization wasn’t going to change, and that I alone had the power to improve my situation. Through careful exercises and conversations, I learned what I most wanted to do (and not do) professionally, and I gained the confidence to enter the ‘gig economy’—something I never thought possible before.”  - Anna