The Worst Job of My Life Taught Me How to Lead Myself
On the very first day of my first “real job,” I watched a woman carry a cardboard box out the door. Her desk plant drooped over the edge, leaves brushing against the box as she walked. She had just been fired.
It felt like a scene straight out of The Office—only it wasn’t funny. It was the start of a pattern I didn’t see coming.
A Cycle of Bad Jobs
In the two years I spent at that company, 20 out of 22 employees left. Morale was nonexistent. Sales tanked. Work felt toxic. I remember thinking: this is not how work should feel.
Unfortunately, the jobs that followed weren’t much better. Over the years, I experienced:
Constant micromanagement
Pregnancy discrimination
Undermanagement (yes, the opposite problem!)
Broken promises
No real opportunities for growth
At the time, I believed my managers were supposed to develop me, invest in me, and show me the path forward. I waited for them to take an interest in my career.
One day, a manager said something that stung:
“No one will care about your career as much as you do.”
At first, I was furious. But the more I sat with it, the more I realized she was right.
No One Was Coming to Save Me
That realization was painful—but also freeing.
If no one else was going to lead me, I had to learn to lead myself.
I started small. I leaned into my CliftonStrengths coaching skills and took on projects that actually energized me. I invested in a coach. I rebuilt my confidence. Slowly, I started to design a career—and a life—that felt aligned.
The biggest lesson I learned?
When you stop waiting for someone else to steer your career, you finally start leading your own life.
The Power of Coaching for Working Moms
This shift is what coaching gave me and it’s what I now help other women, especially working moms, create for themselves.
To feel free.
To feel alive again.
To feel present with your kids.
To feel like you have permission to want more.
To feel like your life is your own again.
To feel joy in the here and now.
Through coaching, I give women the space, tools, and encouragement to design a life and career they’re wildly proud of.
What is it that you really want?
If you stopped waiting for someone else to make the change for you, what’s the first step you’d take?
What About You?
If you stopped waiting for someone else to make the change for you, what’s the first step you’d take?
And if you’re ready for support in figuring that out, I’d love to talk. Coaching isn’t about me giving you the answers, it’s about helping you uncover your own.