Fearless and Free: How Smart Women Pivot and Relaunch Their Careers
There is an expression – you write what you know. I say I’ve pivoted so much in my career, I’m pirouetting. “Fearless and Free: How Smart Women Pivot and Relaunch their Careers” was inspired by my own journey of trying to stay relevant as technology disrupted the workforce, blowing up certain industries — including my field of media and communications.
Traditional journalism was on life support. Newspapers were folding. TV news was transforming. Everything was going digital. The vernacular was changing too. What we used to call articles or news segments was now “content.” Social media channels, “influencers,” and a hybrid form of “branded or sponsored” content that wasn’t news and wasn’t traditional advertising was taking over. This was an evolving wild world of storytelling and I wanted in.
I got a job as a fulltime freelancer at Grey advertising, leading what was supposed to be an innovative “content” studio at Grey. I was pumped. This was the frontier where media was headed and it merged all of my various skillsets: writing, branding and media strategy. Six months later, the gig ended. Grey couldn’t figure out how to monetize the content studio and I was suddenly unemployed. After losing my job, I hustled hard believing I should work — must work – at the bright, shiny media startups popping up in New York City.
If I didn’t get in now, I worried that I would soon become a dinosaur. At over 40 years old, I felt my clock ticking. But this one didn’t have to do with my eggs shriveling. This was my career currency fading. And I had a good reason to be concerned. The people who were now interviewing me were in nursery school when I was in college. While to me they looked like they could be my kids’ babysitters, they were now the boss of a young industry emerging.
As I shared my diverse experience as a Capitol Hill press secretary, an Emmy award winning TV news producer, an editor in chief of a website, a public relations executive, a CNN contributor and an already published author (“How She Really Does It: Secrets of Successful Stay-at-Work Moms”), I realized that my rich background wasn’t resonating; it was confusing. They didn’t know what box to put me in.
At one particularly jarring interview, a bearded Millennial couldn’t mask his horror when he noticed my Capitol Hill experience on my resume. The Hill was the Google of my generation. It had always opened doors for me and for many people, it was the entrée into big careers. But this guy bristled at the job. “Here, we have good relationships with reporters. I wouldn’t want you slamming down the phone on anyone.” Huh? I explained that when I worked on the Hill I was 21 years old representing a 36-year-old congressman in a crowded Miami media market. I wasn’t hanging up on anyone. I was begging reporters to cover my congressman.
As I slunk out of the office, grabbing a fistful of kale chips and a coconut water, I realized that my personal career pivot was going to be harder than I expected. I was going to have to repackage my narrative and rebrand my skillset. I needed to own my experience but reposition my pitch. I might even need to take a big pay cut and move backward before I move forward again.
So I turned to Silicon Valley for answers. After all, it’s our current cultural crush influencing everything from how we work, to the work we do, to how we consume our entertainment and news. I looked to the celebrated ideas that bubble up out of the tech world, including embracing failure and leaning into what works, to engineering serendipity, growing networks, developing a narrative, cultivating a brand, and ultimately behaving like an entrepreneur. I wondered what if women followed some of these lessons — what if we embraced risk and the action first, fake-it-until-you-make-it ethos of Silicon Valley
This formula isn’t typically a female one. Women tend to be cautious. We overthink our next moves, become paralyzed by fear and simply don’t act. We might be safer, but we are also stuck.
In Fearless and Free, I spoke to women from Millennials to Baby Boomers, across industries, who all have pivoted and relaunched themselves. Many had epic fails and sometimes more than once. All have emerged with incredible strength and hard earned advice.
Ultimately, I want my book to empower women to take risks. I want them to understand that they can grow their confidence and take steps forward that lead to momentum that lead to change in their careers. I want women to see how they can successfully tap into networks, lean into their skillsets and create opportunities for themselves.
I believe that Fearless and Free is for women at all stages of their professional journey. Some may be looking for a total relaunch while others are just looking to stay relevant. And other women may be looking to get back into the workforce after taking time off raising kids. Studies show that it is a lack of confidence and fears of failure that can hold women back. We are the generation of women who were raised in a culture to march forward. Now we must also learn how to pivot.
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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