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"3,2,1, iRelaunch" Career Pivots Mini Series

Brought to you by the 3, 2, 1 iRelaunch Podcast!

Relaunching can also include a career pivot into a different field. Hear how others have handled pivoting in this mini-series.

Career Pivoting: What It Means and How It Works with Marc Miller

Episode 99

Marc Miller, six-time career pivoter and author of “Repurpose Your Career – A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life” talks with Carol about being a professional career changer and the importance of being happy with the environment and people you work with rather than the actual job itself, and also the importance of putting yourself out there and connecting with people based on your past reputation.
Episode 99: Career Pivoting: What It Means and How It Works with Marc Miller

From Corporate Brand Management to Leadership in Academia (and a PhD!): Relaunching and Career Pivoting with Dr. Laura Persky

Episode 127

Today Carol welcomes Dr. Laura Persky, an Associate Dean at Manhattanville College School of Professional Studies. Laura built her career in corporate advertising, marketing and brand management before taking a 10-year career break. Laura and Carol discuss her relaunch back into a senior marketing role followed by her pivot into academia, first as an adjunct professor and ultimately to where she is today. Laura walks us through her career journey, including how she got her PhD along the way.
Episode 127: From Corporate Brand Management to Leadership in Academia (and a PhD!): Relaunching and Career Pivoting with Dr. Laura Persky

How Two Women Changed Careers to Become Electricians, with Darci Spiteri and Shannon Tymosko

Episode 181

Shannon Tymosko and Darci Spiteri are both electrical apprentices with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or IBEW, local 105, in Canada. They are friends and colleagues. Shannon made a career transition from short term lending to become an electrical apprentice and she is also an Ambassador for KickAss Careers, a Canadian organization promoting the trades to young people as a career choice. Darci is a relauncher who originally was a project manager in marketing. After a three-year career break, she received a Second Career Grant from the Canadian government, which funded her electrical apprentice training. Darci and Shannon talk about their path to becoming electricians and get into detail about what they do and how they are progressing.
Episode 181: How Two Women Changed Careers to Become Electricians, with Darci Spiteri and Shannon Tymosko

Career Pivots - Advice & An Actual Pivot From Media to Economic Development, with Faye Penn

Episode 207

Faye Penn is the Executive Director of women.nyc, which is dedicated to helping New York City women succeed in their careers and businesses through innovative programs and partnerships. She is also an Executive Vice President of Initiatives at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she oversees the project startup team. Among her previous roles, Faye was an editor for titles including New York Magazine, The New York Post, The New York Observer and InStyle and an executive at Lifetime Television. Faye discusses her successful career transition from media to her work in economic development, including how she literally mapped out her skills and experience to form a cohesive and persuasive narrative describing how they transferred from one industry to another during the interview process. She also shares why it’s important to treat a career pivot as a job and the critical questions you need to consider when pivoting.
Episode 207: Career Pivots - Advice & An Actual Pivot From Media to Economic Development, with Faye Penn

An Expat Relaunches and Later Pivots to a Cybersecurity Career, with Mai Ensmann

Episode 212

Mai Ensmann is the Senior Program Planner at Cyber Florida: The Florida Center for Cybersecurity. Previously Mai had worked as a program manager and trainer for international higher education programs and non-profit and humanitarian organizations in the U.S. and across Europe, Africa and Central Asia. Mai took an 11-year career break while raising her children in Belgium, Switzerland and Ghana. She spent many hours folding laundry and listening to the 3, 2, 1 iRelaunch podcast while planning her successful return to work. Hear Mai describe the unique strengths that expats/trailing spouses bring to the workforce and how she relaunched in Belgium. She also discusses her career pivot to cybersecurity, how that evolved, and why relaunchers should consider cybersecurity for their next career.
Episode 212: An Expat Relaunches and Later Pivots to a Cybersecurity Career, with Mai Ensmann

How Misbah Sheikh Relaunched as a Salesforce Consultant When She Had Never Heard of It Before

Episode 213

Misbah Sheikh is a Salesforce consultant who spoke on our Successful Relaunchers Panel at our recent virtual iRelaunch Return to Work Conference. She went on career break after the birth of her twins in 2009 – a story in itself. During a career break that was for childcare as well as eldercare, Misbah continued to be an active learner, completing an initial Salesforce certificate program and then moving on to complete a variety of others. Hear about the certificate programs she pursued, how she managed to do the work with all her caregiving responsibilities, and how the certificates ultimately led to her relaunch role. This is a story of perseverance and grit and we have a lot to learn from Misbah.
Episode 213: How Misbah Sheikh Relaunched as a Salesforce Consultant When She Had Never Heard of It Before

How a Marketing & Communications Professional Relaunched in UX Design, with Eraina Ferguson

Episode 215

Eraina Ferguson is a Marketing & Communications Manager who spoke on our Successful Relaunchers Panel at our October 2021 iRelaunch Return to Work Conference. She is a special needs advocate, UX (user experience) designer, journalist, and TEDx curator who took a 10-year career break to stay at home with her four children before returning to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eraina discusses her experiences freelancing during her career break and why it was important for her to share her journey about raising a daughter with special needs prior to her relaunch. She also shares her pathway to relaunching in a marketing and communications career, including how she upskilled by participating in a UX design program that ultimately led to her current full time role.
Episode 215: How a Marketing & Communications Professional Relaunched in UX Design, with Eraina Ferguson

Using Salesforce to Career Transition after a 20-Year Career Break, with Kati Koenig

Kati Koenig is Senior Salesforce Business Analyst at Liberty IT Solutions, a Booz Allen Hamilton Company. Kati took a 20-year career break from a sales and marketing career in the hospitality industry, during which she spearheaded a number of fundraising efforts and initiatives around her community and within the local schools. Knowing her abilities and potential, Kati’s husband suggested she try out learning the Salesforce platform as a first step to relaunching her career. With no idea whether she would like it or have any aptitude for it, Kati dove in and ended up getting two Salesforce certifications. These credentials led to her career relaunch and success in a fulfilling new career path. Listen to the full podcast to get the details of how she did it.
EP 223: Using Salesforce to Career Transition after a 20-Year Career Break, with Kati Koenig

Pivoting Your Career Without Taking a Career Break, with Nadia Gil

Episode 225

Nadia Gil is Head of Business Strategy at Google Cloud, where she is responsible for developing international strategic planning and transforming the operations for Google Cloud's cyber security products. Nadia has over 20 years of experience in strategic transformation and operations with a specialty in strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and integrations. She has an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. After the births of her each of children, Nadia considered taking a career break, but ultimately opted to remain in the workforce on her own terms by redirecting her experience and transferrable skills into new roles. We speak with Nadia today about her process of reinventing her career path to accommodate her changing priorities, and what that looks like today.
EP 225: Pivoting Your Career Without Taking a Career Break, with Nadia Gil

Big Career Pivots: From Professional Dancer to Professional Chef with Steve Konopelski

Episode 249

"Today we welcome Chef Steve Konopelski, a Broadway dancer turned pastry chef who is Chef Instructor with the prestigious Auguste Escoffier Culinary Institute. Steve explains how he successfully navigated his extreme career transition; starting with how he thought of his new career goal in the first place, to how he proceeded to reach that goal step by step. As always, we get into the important details! As different as professional dancer and pastry chef careers seem, Steve reveals how they are related and how he weaved the story that led to his success. Steve's discussion of identifying transferable skills and other connections between the two fields is a master class in career storytelling for relaunchers. "
EP 249: Big Career Pivots: From Professional Dancer to Professional Chef with Steve Konopelski

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