Curating Career Life Stories: How did I get here?

Join me for the career reflections of Jodi Foster, senior project manager at Ultra Consultants and certified integrative health and wellness coach. A journey that follows her passion for psychology and sociology starting out in the mental health field, pivots into corporate sales, then the discovery of project management and coaching. Loving and thriving in project and program management she’s rea...

Join me for the career reflections of Robyn Burkes, sales leader at CISCO Systems. After abandoning her dream of becoming a lawyer, she finds a job just to get by and is blown away by the sales training she receives. Setting her on a career path that feeds her strong competitive nature. Combine that with always having a healthy level of confidence, she excels quickly in several sales roles, even o...

Join me for the career reflections of Eleanor Allen, CEO of Water for People. A journey that goes left and right and not necessarily always up and to the right, guided by intuition, adventure and where she can make the biggest impact. Oh, and water! After several international assignments, her family is ready to come back to the United States. She accepts a unique assignment in Denver as Chief of...

Join me for the career reflections of Jen Coken, executive leadership coach, Fortune 500 speaker and imposter syndrome expert. A journey that starts in politics, crosses into non-profit organizations, with stints in consulting, corporate and stand-up comedy, and now coaching. Wanting to make a difference in the world and totally inspired by one of her first college professors, she becomes an activ...

Join me for the career reflections of Jamie Walsh, ADHD coach. A journey filled with pivots, which may not seem unusual, except that as time goes on the pivots are more frequent and driven by fear and lack of confidence. A defining moment is getting fired after only four months at his last job, prompting him to finally start managing his ADHD -- something he had been avoiding and downplaying for s...

Join me for the career reflections of Cynthia James, transformational coach, international speaker & best-selling author. A journey with a dream to become an actress and singer -- which she achieves -- performing in theatre, television & films! Find out how dancing on a huge stage at the MGM Grand and performing on a cruise ship prepare her for where she is today. Always curious and advent...

Join me as I recap and highlight key characteristics, strengths, ah ha moments and words of wisdom from the last seven interviews (Ep. 61-67). Normally I create these recaps after 9 interviews, but I had a gap in my interview schedule and thought it better to recap early and post something than to skip a week. I'll include the next two interviews when I recap in Episode 80.

Join me for the career reflections of Tamara Alexander-Johnson, commercial corporate real estate leader. A journey from a rural ranching community to the bustling streets of downtown Denver. After a start in banking at a downtown location, she discovers she loves downtown, but not banking. She loves all the buildings and the commercial landscape, prompting her to pursue a commercial real estate br...

Join me for the career reflections of Georgia David, Community Engagement Manager for an international NGO, Water for People. A journey that starts by following her interests in sports and marketing, landing internships and paid roles in high-profile sports organizations and giving her great exposure to for-profit and non-profit organizations. Her next career choices become more purposeful when a...

Join me for the career reflections of Russell Kyncl, financial planner and writer. The son of a minister growing up in rural Colorado, his plans for college are more about learning to be a better thinker than preparing for a career. He’s drawn to psychology and lands an internship at a mental health facility. While his career starts to advance, he’s surprised when his boss invites him to not only...

Join me for the career reflections of Susie Wargin, realtor, DJ and sideline reporter. A journey that starts with landing her radio dream job, taking risks and saying yes to new opportunities leading her into television, until one day, when the demands of these dream jobs become too much. After two successful decades in radio and television, Susie decides to follow her mom’s advice and pursue a ca...

Join me for the career reflections of Donna Deteau, Mindset & Success Coach. A “crackpot problem solver” she uses her creativity genes to think outside the box. And to successfully navigate leadership roles in both corporate and non-profit organizations, until she finds that she’s really at home being an entrepreneur. Starting and running her own catering and renovation businesses was amazing...

Join me for the career reflections of Michelle McGlade, CEO & founder of Evolutionize Media. A journey of success in whatever field she enters, but that comes with physical distress to her health. After receiving a serious health diagnosis that she cannot ignore, she recognizes a pattern in her career that takes her to the brink over and over. She dives into the sources bringing her success an...

Join me for the career reflections of Nancy Sullivan, Chief Energy Officer (CEO) of Transition Points, LLC. She’s also an author, speaker, facilitator and executive coach. Her first memory of public speaking is in the second grade and loving it. While she didn’t know what her career would look like, she knew she wanted to be on stage. Right out of college she’s selected for a leadership program at...

Celebrating the one year anniversary of starting this podcast! Whoo hooo! And, celebrating Episode 60 -- two major milestones in my podcast journey!   Join me as I recap and highlight key learnings and themes (14 of them!) that I found insightful and interesting over the that last year. I'll describe each learning/theme along with highlights from some of the folks who mentioned them, to give...

Join me for the career story reflections of David Blaha, former executive at American Express now pursuing entrepreneurial and consulting ventures. A 30-year journey that starts in telemarketing because he needs a job, but he then becomes very purposeful about his career moves acquiring the acumen and experience needed to become general manager. With restless and boundless energy, he covers many a...

Join me for the career story reflections of JC Heinen, Executive Coach & Founder of Jessie’s Heart Foundation. A journey with themes steeped in responsibility, risk taking and intuition. At an early age she’s responsible for helping raise her siblings and for her own financial well-being, so of course she would take actions to be responsible for creating her future. For JC that involves taking...

Join me for the career story reflections of Danyle Dupray, Digital Marketing Specialist. A journey that starts with a learning disability, that she wouldn’t trade, because it strengthens her emotional intelligence and her ability to connect with others. Three pivotal moments shape who she is today: the first as a junior in high school; the second a sophomore in college; and the third her first thr...

Join me for the career story reflections of Dr. Debbie O’Reilly, Human & Animal Chiropractor, Acupuncturist & Holistic Healer. Initially her career choices were guided by how fast she could get started. She did not want to go to school for very long because she was ready to get started on her career. An amusing statement when you look at the amount of schooling she’s been through and that...

Join me for the career story reflections of David Harriman, Independent Home & Auto Insurance Broker. David begins working odd jobs at a young age to help pay for his education and other basic needs. Determined that he won’t struggle financially as an adult he seeks counsel from a friend’s parent who is the most successful person he knows. This new mentor surprises him with advice about career...

Join me for the career story reflections of Phillip Aronoff, Chief Number Cruncher at By the Numbers B and A. What starts as a part time job in high school working in his mom’s bookkeeping business ends up a lifelong career in accounting. After several starts and stops owning his own businesses, he’s right where he wants to be -- being a dad, running his own business and connecting and helping oth...

Join me for the career story reflections of Katie Brinkley, Social Media Strategist. As an only child she’s super active, so her parents keep her super busy with sports, horseback riding, acting and modeling. She keeps herself busy by creating a radio show in her bedroom, commercials and all. Thanks to an amazing teacher her junior year and the influence of her dad, she gets involved with her coll...

Join me for the career story reflections of Jennifer Henneman, Associate Curator in the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum. Not knowing what she wants to do for a career, she follows her interest in studio art and French to guide her in selecting this double major. During her college experience she realizes that she doesn’t have a passion for what she wants to say wi...

Join me for the career story reflections of Kelley Colvin, Research Instructor at the Anschutz Medical Campus. A story about pivotal moments at a young age that help her learn and grow into the person she is today. You’d think as a leader of a research lab that Kelley was always a brainiac student, but school was a real struggle for Kelley early on. She was super shy and didn’t know how to read. A...

Episode 50 another milestone in my podcast journey! Join me as I recap and highlight key characteristics, strengths, ah ha moments and words of wisdom from the last nine interviews (41-49).