Case Study: From “I Don’t Know” to a Purpose-Aligned Direction
We all hit moments in our lives and careers when we need support. But not all support serves the same purpose or leads to lasting change.
Advice tells you what they would do.
Mentorship often shows you the path they took.
Courses offer frameworks, but not always the clarity to apply them.
Therapy helps you heal patterns and process emotions.
Mentorship coaching, the way I practice it, offers something different. It’s a space to integrate your lived experience, name what’s no longer working, and reconnect to the truth of what you want next. Paired with the strategic support to actually begin that’s based on decades of leadership and career research and training.
This kind of support doesn’t hand you answers but it helps you reclaim your inner authority and make purpose-aligned decisions, even when the external world feels uncertain or unstable.
That’s why it works. Especially in seasons when your career path feels foggy, or the ground beneath you has shifted.
It’s not about giving you a blueprint or formula. It’s about helping you uncover your path and offering grounded insight and strategy when you're ready to act on it.
That’s the difference. And it’s why things can shift fast even in just three sessions.
Let me show you what that looked like for Aida.
From Disillusionment to Direction in Three Sessions
Aida and I connected through the Coaching Collaborative, which offered pro bono coaching to professionals impacted by the early 2025 federal workforce instability. She had just returned to her role after a USAID project suspension, carrying both gratitude for return to work and deep professional disillusionment. Once we worked with some career grief and shock, we dove into a bigger question:
How do I build something more values-aligned and more stable that is less dependent on systems that can collapse overnight?
Her career wasn’t broken. She didn’t need fixing. She needed a clear, grounded plan.
So we shifted from the panic of “I need a way out” to building something regenerative - a business and life rooted in purpose and sustainability.
By our third session, Aida had:
Identified a certification that wasn’t about overproving, but about positioning so she could solidify her professional identity and build long-term connections.
Sketched out a 3-pronged business vision that combined organizational leadership, social impact evaluation, and thought leadership.
Created a strategic launch plan grounded in her current capacity of working and raising a young family: one pro bono client, one case study, and a light-touch online presence.
Redefined what success looked like: not hustle, but alignment. Not more, but better.
Why This Shift Matters
Aida didn’t walk away with a 5-year plan. She’s building resilience into her career not by doing more, but by doing it differently. She walked away with something better:
Confidence. Motivation. And a clear starting point rooted in her lived experience.
A slow-build strategy that honored her full-time job, caregiving role, and energy rhythms.
The self-trust to stop chasing and start creating.
This is what I help clients do.
Not fix. Not push harder. But slow down, sift through the noise, and name what actually wants to emerge.
When we center regenerative careers, we stop contorting ourselves to fit crumbling systems. We build from the inside out—with purpose, integrity, and resilience.
If you’re ready to explore what your version of this could look like, I have a couple spots open for summer coaching. Let’s co-create your next chapter—one that doesn't ask you to hustle, hide, or prove. I help professionals diversify their careers by navigating uncertainty with clarity, reconnecting to purpose, and integrating their lived experiences across sectors and roles.
With clients like Aida, we explore what sustainability and security really mean in the face of career shocks, shifting power dynamics, and global instability. Through intentional coaching conversations, we unpack the trade-offs between local and international work, name what’s no longer working, and open space for new, more regenerative possibilities.
Together, we challenge your inherited narratives around prestige, permanence, and productivity and instead, build adaptive, meaningful career paths rooted in resilience, self-trust, and purpose-aligned action.
P.S. Curious but unsure where to start? Hit reply or book a connection call. Let’s talk about the right question before rushing into the next step.