When You’re Ready for What’s Next: Why I Became a Career Coach

There comes a point in almost every career when you start thinking about what’s next.

Maybe you’re ready for a bigger role. Maybe you’re considering a career change, returning to work after time away, or looking for an opportunity that better reflects what you’re capable of. Or maybe you simply know you’re ready for something different, but you haven’t figured out what that looks like yet.

Those moments can be exciting. They can also bring a lot of questions.

What am I really good at? What opportunities should I be considering? How do I communicate the value of my experience? And how do I make sure my next move is the right one?

Helping people answer those questions is why I became a career coach. But in many ways, I was doing this work long before I ever called myself one.

It Started at Purdue

As a freshman engineering student at Purdue University, I joined the Women in Engineering Program.

The program connected students with mentors and brought in women working in engineering to talk about their careers.

I remember listening to these accomplished women and being in awe of what was possible. They gave me a picture of a future I could see myself in and the confidence to pursue it.

By my senior year, I had the opportunity to become a mentor myself, encouraging a freshman engineering student through the same difficult classes and challenges I had faced.

I didn't know it then, but that experience would become a recurring theme throughout my career: someone had helped me see what was possible, and I loved doing the same for others.

From Building Satellites to Building Careers

After Purdue, I joined Boeing as a propulsion engineer building satellites.

During my 11 years there, I moved through positions in engineering, project management, and program management. As my own career grew, I also found myself helping younger engineers grow theirs.

I reviewed resumes, helped people prepare for interviews and new opportunities, mentored engineers, and trained people in their roles.

Later, I became a senior manager for an electrical engineering group at Northrop Grumman. I continued mentoring and developing employees and worked with engineering interns who were just beginning to imagine what their own careers might become.

By then, I knew something about myself: I genuinely loved helping people recognize their strengths, build confidence in what they had to offer, and pursue opportunities that were right for them.

Then It Was My Turn to Decide What Was Next

Eventually, my priorities changed, and I left Northrop Grumman to stay home with my two young sons.

It was a significant career decision and one that gave me a new perspective on something I now see with my clients all the time: career decisions are personal.

The right next step isn't always about climbing higher. Your goals, priorities, interests, and circumstances can change throughout your career.

What matters is understanding what you want now and making an intentional decision about where you go next.

Even after leaving corporate leadership, I never lost the desire to help people navigate those decisions.

Eventually, I realized the work I'd been drawn to throughout my career could become the focus of my career.

Why I Love Career Coaching

Today, I get to bring together the parts of my previous work that I found most meaningful.

I help people better understand their values, skills, and interests. I help them recognize experience and accomplishments they may be overlooking. I help them strengthen their resumes, prepare for job searches and interviews, and make more confident decisions about what comes next.

Because career coaching, to me, isn't simply about helping someone get a job.

It's about helping you understand what you bring to the table and where you want to take it.

Sometimes we're so close to our own experience that we have trouble seeing it clearly. The skills you've spent years developing may feel ordinary to you. An accomplishment you barely think about may be exactly what makes you stand out to an employer. And the career path you assume you "should" pursue may not actually be the one that fits you best anymore.

Having another person in your corner can change the way you see your options.

Ready for What's Next?

I still think about what the Women in Engineering Program gave me all those years ago: confidence, encouragement, and people who helped me see possibilities for myself that I couldn't yet see on my own.

That's what I offer my clients today.

You don't need to know exactly what you want your next move to be before you reach out. You might be pursuing advancement, considering a change, returning to work, struggling with your job search, or simply trying to understand what would make sense for you now.

You bring the experience. My job is to help you recognize its value, get clear on where you want to go, and confidently take the next step.