Who Moved My Career?!?

Jim Moorhead has been in courtrooms, war rooms, and boardrooms ... and the only career advice he ever rejected was "stay put." A former federal prosecutor, Goldman Sachs M&A banker, statewide political candidate, and crisis communications advisor, Jim built a career that looks like it doesn't add up until you understand what was driving it. Range wasn't an accident. It was th...

Most executives know how to climb. Nobody teaches them what to do when the ladder moves. Julian Lighton spent decades running P&Ls at Cisco and Hitachi, advising boards, and watching sharp leaders stall out at the exact moments they should have accelerated. He wrote Navigating Your Next because he kept seeing the same pattern: people who were exceptional at progression — titles, influence, ext...

Satta Sarmah Hightower quadrupled her salary going freelance. By year seven, she'd crossed seven figures in revenue. By year ten, multi-seven figures. She didn't plan any of it. Two layoffs ended her journalism career during the Great Recession. A cross-country move bought her time. One former colleague hired her for a contract role — and she never went back. Satta is a B2B tech content ma...

He has one question tattooed on his arm: When was the last time you did something for the first time? For Gabriel DeSanti, that's not inspiration — it's infrastructure. He's a full-time content creator and co-founder of Staj who has gone to work across nearly 200 industries, filming two-minute windows into what jobs actually feel like from the inside. Most of our guests figured out their path afte...

A "Mack Truck Moment" is the thing that hits you out of nowhere and takes the plan completely off the rails: Job loss. A diagnosis. A market that shifts under your feet. Omar Garriott coined this term and...yeah. Haven't we all been there. Omar has spent 25 years building a career around one filter: impact. Through Apple, Salesforce, LinkedIn, and Qualtrics, when his Mack Truck came,...

Chuck Hutchinson grew up on a farm in Malvern, Ohio. Baseball was the plan — left-handed pitcher, natural curve — until a fractured elbow at 14 forced a pivot to football. He got knocked around as a freshman. He grew. Woody Hayes showed up at his parents' house, spent three hours with them and five minutes with Chuck, and handed him the 21st — and last — scholarship in the 1966 class. He becam...

Astrid Weisseise spent 35 years building a corporate career that looked exactly like success was supposed to look. Titles. Responsibility. A workload that followed her on every vacation she tried to take. Then she did something most executives only think about: she cashed in two years of banked overtime, booked a one-way ticket, and spent months traveling through the U.S., Hawaii, Bali, and South...

Traci DiMartini has seen it all. As a senior HR executive across multiple federal agencies, including a tenure leading human resources at the IRS. She spent decades making sure employees were treated with dignity during the hardest moments of their careers. She was the person in the room. The one who knew how it was supposed to go. Then the rules changed. And she found herself on the other side of...

Bill Fitzgerald, CEO of FitzDrake Search, returns for round two. In this episode, Nicole and Bill get into the realities of the 2026 job market — still brutal for the long-term unemployed — and why most executives are misreading how recruiters actually work. They cover AI's real (and limited) role in job searching, what your resume is failing to communicate, the mechanics of meaningful network...

Jim Chilton didn’t start his career in technology. He started at Mr. Donut. In this episode of Who Moved My Career? , Jim shares how discipline, grit, and a healthy chip on your shoulder can shape a career far beyond where you begin. From early lessons in work ethic to executive leadership in technology and education at Cengage, Jim walks through the pivots that defined his professional growth — a...

What does it really take to build a great services company—and keep its soul as it scales? In this episode of Who Moved My Career?!, Nicole sits down with Eric Berridge, longtime tech operator, former Oracle exec, founder of IBM Bluewolf, and CEO of Coastal—heading up some of the most meaningful consulting companies in the cloud. Eric traces his journey from Oracle to founding Bluewolf, becoming S...

“Leave when they want you to stay.” That’s a lesson most leaders learn quietly—if at all. In this episode of Who Moved My Career?! , Nicole McNamara sits down with Brian Gallagher , former CEO of United Way Worldwide , for a rare, deeply personal conversation about a career he doesn’t often unpack publicly. Over more than three decades at United Way, Brian helped reshape the organization’s mission...

Scott Barghaan walked away from a big job at a big company — not because something went wrong, but because he wanted something more intentionally designed. In this episode, Scott shares how he’s built a portfolio career around his curiosities: advising, mentoring and teaching. Scott mentions no fewer than 15 people who shaped his path along the way. Managers. Mentors. Sponsors. Friends. People who...

In this powerful conversation, we sit down with Mallory Byers, who went from crushing it at Salesforce to experiencing an unexpected layoff that changed everything. But this isn't just another career pivot story—it's about what happens when you're forced to confront the question: Who am I without my job title? Mallory opens up about her journey from high-performing executive to career coach, revea...

High performers aren’t supposed to feel lost — until they do. In this episode, host Nicole McNamara sits down with Adunola Adeshola , career strategist and Forbes Contributor , to talk about what happens when success stops feeling satisfying. They unpack the idea of being “uncomfortably happy” — that uneasy space between achievement and purpose — and explore how asking for help, redefining your id...

When Emmy Award–winning ABC anchor Larry Miller sits down, you expect headlines. What you don’t expect are French horns, male danseurs , and a conversation that stretches from childhood obsessions to purpose, pivots, and what it means to be one of the few Black journalists on TV in Oregon. Larry’s interviewed me plenty, but this time, he’s on the other side of the mic. We talk about his mom, his m...

A layoff isn’t just a career setback, it’s an emotional reset. In this episode, Nicole McNamara talks with Steve Jaffe , author of The Layoff Journey , about what really happens after the email hits: the grief, the loss of identity, and the surprising moments of humor that help you heal. They unpack how to process the emotions first, rebuild your confidence, and move from victim to architect of yo...

In this episode of Who Moved My Career?! , Nicole sits down with her longtime friend and serial entrepreneur Neil Sands — founder of Lost Irish Whiskey , Clir Water , and a few other ventures that prove bold ideas (and good stories) never go out of style. They met in grad school in Dublin, crossed paths again at Salesforce (Neil hired Nicole!), and now reunite to talk about what it really takes to...

From poker player to product builder to founder of FractionalJobs.io , Taylor Crane has bet big on the future of work — and it’s not full-time. In this episode, Nicole McNamara and Sam Tortora sit down with Taylor to unpack what fractional work really means, why startups are embracing it, and how professionals can build thriving portfolio careers on their own terms. They dig into the flexibility,...

In this episode of Who Moved My Career?! , hosts Nicole McNamara and Sam Tortora sit down with Gavin McMahon — engineer turned storyteller and author of Story Business — to prove that storytelling isn’t fluff; it’s a power move. From boardrooms to job interviews, Gavin shows how the right narrative can do what data can’t: shift perception, build trust, and even move markets. He breaks down the sto...

A year ago, we first met Sam Tortora in Episode 2. Today, she’s back — not just as a guest, but as our new co-host. This conversation sets the tone for the next chapter of Who Moved My Career?! : LinkedIn vs. Reality. Think of it like sitting down with your coworkers after hours, when the polished profiles and “I’m thrilled to announce” posts finally drop away. Together, we unpack the tension betw...

This season on Who Moved My Career , we’re exploring the rise of fractional leadership —why more professionals are walking away from the “one job for life” model and building portfolio careers instead. What happens when the career ladder breaks under you—not once, but four times? That’s the reality Erika Weiss faced. After years of building iconic brands, she found herself navigating layoff after...

Madeline Fetterly has been helping executives own their power and tell their stories long before LinkedIn became the noisy place it is today. As founder of Be The Brand Collective, she’s guided countless leaders to step into their narrative with confidence and clarity. In this episode, Madeline shares why personal branding isn’t about self-promotion – it’s about owning your story, your voice, and...

When Rebecca and Drew—two federal employees—were abruptly fired during their probationary periods, they didn’t just navigate the job loss. They built WellFed : a community-first platform helping fired or tired federal workers find their footing. In this episode of Who Moved My Career , host Nicole McNamara dives into their raw, powerful story—from the emotional fallout of unexpected termination to...

n this episode of Who Moved My Career , Nicole McNamara and Stephanie Wicky get real about the messy middle —that uncertain, uncomfortable space between what was and what’s next. Stephanie opens up about a pivotal chapter in her late twenties when a career crisis collided with a breakup, sending her halfway around the world to Australia. Over a glass of metaphorical wine (and maybe a real one), sh...