3,2,1 iRelaunch

We’ve compiled the best advice from recent podcasts, we hope you enjoy hearing from our amazing guests, some with incredible relaunch stories of their own, some to share guidance, all inspirational: Jennifer Andrews, equity & diversity lead at Guardian Life; Elizabeth Andrew, TEDx speaker and global leader & motivator; Ofer Sharone, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachuset...

Today, we welcome Evan J. Kopelson. Evan began his career as an in-house business affairs attorney for Capitol Records, followed by 20 years in the entertainment industry and creative pursuits, including songwriting. A song he wrote for Vanessa Williams called 'Where Do We Go From Here," hit three billboard charts and and won a BMI Pop award. Given that the songwriting industry can be fickle, unpr...

In the run up to the iRelaunch October Virtual Return to Work Conference, we are revisiting this special edition on resume advice, from our iRelaunch recommended resume expert, Heidi Ravis. Heidi has over 30 years experience working with relaunchers in a wide range of industries and situations. She's a relauncher herself and has a first-hand understanding of relauncher résumé challenges. In this e...

Today, we ask you to join us in revisiting the previously aired excerpt, The Black Relauncher’s Perspective Panel, a webinar hosted recently by Mocha Moms, Inc. + iRelaunch. This panel highlights the professional return to work stories of four Black relaunchers, Catherine Duffy, Country Leader of Bermuda, AIG; Kuae Kelch, National President of Mocha Moms, Inc.; LaBrena Settles, SVP, Program Manage...

Elia O'Rourke, a native of Mexico, found her career path after moving to New York City, where she met her husband during an exchange program. Elia took an eight year career break to raise her three daughters. During this time, she learned English by watching TV, and went through the process to validate her Bachelor's degree in accounting earned at a university in Mexico through World Education Ser...

Ashley Miller spent the first 19 years of her career working in the NBA and WNBA organizations. After a two-year career break, Ashley pivoted her career by joining Goldman Sachs in private wealth management via Goldman’s Returnship program. She later became Chief of Staff for Diversity Recruiting and leader of the Returnship program. From there, Ashley moved to Yum! Brands, parent of Pizza Hut Glo...

Rowena Zahn took a 15 year child care career break during which time she completed a dual degree master's program in Food Science (MS) and Business (MBA). Having left a pharmaceutical sales career before her career break, Rowena's relaunch ultimately led to her career in account management in global life sciences. Her key accounts include global pharmaceutical companies in the biopharmaceutical in...

In 2006, Heather left her role as a Senior Programmer Systems Analyst at Discover Financial Services to begin a five year childcare career break. She ultimately relaunched her career by returning to Discover, where she has been promoted six times over the 13 years since she has been back. Heather is currently the Senior Director of Information Technology at Discover. She is a big supporter of rela...

Felicia Williams spent over 20 years as a director in accounting, finance, and audit at a major US railroad before electing to take a career break. In 2022, she relaunched her career and made a significant career pivot when she joined the Return to Work program at Vanguard. Hear how Felicia determined that a side interest should become the focus of her relaunch, and learn about the training she re...

What's the one step you cannot skip in order to successfully relaunch your career? Carroll Welch, Career, Executive & Leadership Coach, and one of our longest-serving iRelaunch coaching partners reveals the answer in this multi-faceted conversation. Note: The iRelaunch BootCamp referred to in this episode has been replaced by the iRelaunch RoadMap, the comprehensive, step-by-step guide for returni...

Mary Catherine Malley is Director, Assistant General Counsel for Juniper Networks. Her route to this huge role for a global, NYSE listed, multi-billion company following an 11 year career break is the topic of our conversation. A surprising conversation with a neighbor jumpstarted her relaunch, and ended up in a returnship-like role for his company. Mary Catherine details the key role networking p...

Today we welcome Ofer Sharone, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst whose research focuses on career transitions, unemployment, and aspirations. His new book, The Stigma Trap: College-Educated, Experienced, and Long-Term Unemployed shows how the stigma of unemployment renders all workers, including those who are highly experienced and hold advanced degrees fr...

We are pleased to present you with a special broadcast of a previously recorded interview where Carol Fishman Cohen, host of the 3,2,1 iRelaunch podcast, CEO & Co-founder of iRelaunch, sits on the opposite side of the podcast mic and answers questions regarding her relaunch and more on the "Disrupt Yourself Podcast" with Whitney Johnson. We hope you enjoy this insightful and inspirational conversa...

Elizabeth Andrew is a top-producing technology sales executive, startup advisor, and TEDx speaker who has established herself as a leader, motivator, and role model. Elizabeth achieved career success by breaking down barriers in the San Francisco technology space at nearly 50 years old and after a 17-year career break, with no technology experience. Elizabeth has been a three-time VP of sales work...

Janet Peterson is Diversity Lead at iRelaunch, and like many on the iRelaunch team, Janet is a relauncher. Prior to her five-year career break, Janet held leadership roles in sales, marketing, and training and advocacy at Johnson & Johnson, and at Xerox Corporation. She served as board member for the American Diabetes Association and was a liaison for the National Urban League, NAACP and La Raza....

Today's episode is a rebroadcast of an earlier podcast full of tips on how to bring your best self to the table. When Carol asks for Selena Rezvani’s best advice on how to “be a fierce self-advocate” as Selena says, and how to reach out to people to help in a job search without coming across as opportunistic, Selena explains this is all about demonstrating executive presence! Selena is a popular L...

Jennifer Andrews is an equity and inclusion expert who relaunched her career in 2015 as part of Credit Suisse's Real Returns program in their second cohort. After eight and a half years at Credit Suisse, Jennifer took on a new role leading the equity and inclusion efforts globally at Guardian Life, where she is today. We speak with Jennifer about her job search and experience relaunching through a...

Looking back at the many stories we've aired over the last year, we wanted to share the best bits of advice from our incredible list of guests. Today, the great advice continues as we hear from Keita Young of FanDuel and her exciting story of reaching a senior level after her relaunch; Samantha Orlando of Lockheed Martin and her relaunch after a life-threatening illness; Chip Conley, founder of Mo...

Looking back at the many stories we've aired over the last year, we wanted to share the best bits of advice from our incredible list of guests. Today, we'll hear from Kerry Carter, who relaunched and had a long career at Staples before becoming CEO of non-profit Hope & Comfort; Avanti Tilak, astrophysicist turned data scientist; Shweta Sharma, who relaunched in tech after three career breaks; star...

Today, we are pleased to share an excerpt from The Black Relauncher’s Perspective Panel, a webinar hosted recently by Mocha Moms + iRelaunch. This panel highlights the professional return to work stories of four Black relaunchers, Catherine Duffy, Country Leader of Bermuda, AIG; Kuae Kelch, National President of Mocha Moms Inc.; LaBrena Settles, SVP, Program Manager, Bank of America; and Tiana Sou...

Today we welcome Heidi Ravis, our iRelaunch recommended resume expert. Heidi has over 30 years experience working with relaunchers in a wide range of industries and situations. She's a relauncher herself and has a first-hand understanding of relauncher résumé challenges. In this episode, we speak with Heidi about her career journey, and get her best resume recommendations. Listening to this episod...

Ying Chen Axt spent six years as an Infrastructure project finance consultant before taking a nine year career break. While on career break, working around her child’s schedule, she studied for and passed the three rigorous and notoriously difficult Chartered Financial Analyst exams to gain the highly regarded CFA credential. “It turned out the experience of studying for the CFA was instrumental:...

Christine Fay is the Human Resources Manager at Grenova, a biotechnology start-up focused on waste reduction solutions. A human resources professional with extensive experience in human capital consulting across a variety of sectors, from Fortune 500 companies to federal government agencies, Christine relaunched her HR career after a seven-year career break. Christine serves as the Director of Lea...

Author, Speaker, Educator and Coach Steven Campbell joins Carol to discuss the power of the brain and how destructive negative self-talk can be, especially during a prolonged job search. Steven points out “your brain believes everything that you tell it” and having a more positive discussion with your brain can change your life. He will also discuss how his personal experience changing a negative...

Priya Venkatesan works as a Business Systems Analyst at University of California, Davis. She relaunched into her position with UC Davis after a 16 year career break. Her relaunch involved many job applications, interviews and rejections before she ultimately found success. She became a certified Scrum Master during her career break, and since she's been back at work, she has achieved her Lean Six...