Posts tagged Planning
Take Charge of Your Career

The pandemic is becoming something we’re learning to navigate in the background of our lives.

The women in my orbit are beginning to step out of survival mode and realize…I want more from my career. I want to get to that next level in my organization. I want to walk away from that toxic culture. I want to work in a way that works for me.

Career Command was designed to help these women define who they are and what path they need to take to grow closer to their vision. Then with the support of their coach (that’s me!) and their new squad of 15 women, they take action to make their vision a reality.

You’re someone I know who could use this group program filled with other supportive women who are proactive about their careers.

But here’s the reason I know I can help you. It’s because I helped Laura tap into what she truly wanted in her career and helped her realize it was nothing like the rigid box of a vision she thought she had to settle for.

You see, when Laura started working with me, she was stuck at her job of 11 years and kept looking for THE ONE next path. She was at a very niche job and knew that she wouldn't find another version of that role. She felt really limited and stuck with her options--like there was only one way forward.

So she sought me out.

What I told Laura is the same thing I’m going to tell you. Which is that there is not ONE right path out there for you. There are MANY!

By first looking inward at your strengths, what you want to learn and the impact you want to have in your career – we can then figure out the right roles that connect to what you want and get clear on all the transferable skills that can be used to position you for those roles.

It all starts with what YOU WANT.

Yes, Laura was as shocked as you are. And it was that very thing that broke her free, allowing her to leave her job of 11 years and start a new job in a different industry.

In her own words...

“Gaining a true understanding of my superpowers and passions was instrumental to this next step - Rachel was instrumental in guiding me through that.”


If you’re feeling stuck. You don’t know what you’re good at anymore. Or you’ve lost the spark that used to light up your vision.

I can help you find your answers. Your vision. Your spark.

The Career Command Four-Month Shift will provide you with a clear career pathing framework to lead you through every step of your transition.

With Four-Month Shift you’ll get access to:

  • The Career Command Process: Video training and resources to help you shift your mindset, identify your superpowers, and create a solid networking and job search strategy.

  • Weekly Live Video Support Calls: Dig into the lessons and modules within the Career Command Process, share insights with your crew and get real-time feedback from me, your Career Coach, on where you may be feeling stuck (Thursdays at 12pm ET.)

  • One Private 1:1 Session with me and the option to purchase additional sessions at a discounted rate of $250.

  • Curated Career Pods: Connect with a group of like-minded women who will be your team, your supporters, and your accountability partners.

  • Resume & LinkedIn Audit: After reviewing resources on best practices for both your resume and LinkedIn profile, our team will provide you with customized feedback on how you can optimize both to maximize your search and your personal brand.


There are only a handful of spots left for this cohort of Career Command Four-Month Shift and registration closes on Sunday, April 3rd at 10 PM ET.

Do you want to feel energized and excited by all the new opportunities in your career, like Laura?

The women who have already joined this group are talented and creative…and hungry for a change, like you. I can’t wait to see you there!

Why I’m Proud of Myself: 2021 Edition

It’s been one long year. I know I said that (and we all said that) about 2020. And yet, rounding out year two of this pandemic has been overwhelming, disappointing, confusing, exhausting and all 83 of the other emotions and experiences Brené Brown writes about in her latest book, Atlas of the Heart. Damn straight I’m reading that right now--and I highly recommend that you do too to make meaning of this cluster of a year.

And yet still, I feel hopeful. Optimistic. Grateful for so many things in my life and work.

One way I find my way back to hope is to review my year and take an inventory of my moments of pride. Moments I’ve shown up for my people and my work, despite all the obstacles.

Of course, there are moments I could have done better. There always will be. I’m human after all. Yet focusing on these moments sends me spinning, rather than building momentum along my path.

So, here I am. Documenting my top five list of what I did well. And you can do the same as a reminder of all you’re capable of accomplishing...and being.

1. After four years of coordinating care for my Uncle Ray who struggled with Parkinson’s for over 25 years, I helped guide him through his last days listening to his favorite jazz tunes, hearing the words from people who loved him and receiving the best care possible to ease the transition.

2. Even with the experience and memories of my own fraught Bat Mitzvah that was just one year after I lost both my parents in a car accident, I supported, loved and cheered on my daughter through her Bat Mitzvah milestone. It was also complex with covid restrictions--and yet in some ways the intimacy and the sole focus on the ceremony made it even more meaningful.

3. I experimented with and launched new, lower cost ways of working with women to broaden my impact and serve more women whose careers suffered the most during the pandemic. It was out of my comfort zone to talk about what I do and sell my programs at this scale--and yet at the end of it were women getting new opportunities, claiming their worth, making more money and believing in the possibilities that were out there for them.

4. I created a podcast! A dream of mine for the past seven years. Yay!

5. I lived and parented another year in a pandemic, making hundreds of risk assessments every day, setting boundaries and sticking with them even when others didn’t like my lines. I advocated for my lines, worked hard to keep my family safe and jumped to get them vaccinated as early as possible.

I encourage you to make some time for this end end-of-year reflection and I’d love to hear more about your top moments of pride from 2021. Feel free to send me a note about what’s carrying you through the endlessness of this pandemic.

Vision Boards With Kids

Welcome to 2016, all! How’s it going for everyone? I’ve been making the rounds with talks and trainings about New Year’s Resolutions, why they don’t work and how to create meaningful change in 2016. I was happy to see people were pumped to tap into their strengths and use tools like visualization to help them achieve their goals this year.

As part of my 2016 planning process (which is still evolving in February because that’s how I roll), I decided to create a Vision Board.  You may have heard about Vision Boards from books and movies about “The Law of Attraction” like “The Secret.”

For those who haven’t heard of the concept, the basic idea is that you cut out images and words that can help you visualize things you want in various areas of your life like health, family, relationships, spirituality, home, fun and career. You arrange all of your stickers and cutouts on paper or poster board and you hang it in a place where you’ll be able to view it often. You can spend time looking at it daily or several times a week and not only think about those things on the board, but feel the feelings you would have if you had those things in your life. The feelings are critical! The hypothesis is that by thinking about and visualizing those things, you will attract more of them into your life. 

I haven’t created a collage since my teenage years when I regularly cut out my celebrity crushes and assembled them on prominent poster boards in my room—hey it was the suburbs and I didn’t play sports—so I had plenty of quality creative time.

Channeling back to those teenage creative days, I was pretty excited about the project. I decided to get my daughters involved and treat it as a creative craft time with their coachy but fairly un-crafty mom. I figured this would be a no-brainer for my 7.5 year old, but may be a stretch for the 4.5 year old. I bought some beautiful scrapbooking materials and stickers to enhance our magazine cutouts. I’d recently Marie Kondo’d the apartment so it was slim pickings as far as magazines go. We were able to borrow some catalogues and mags from my Aunt Marilyn who jumped in to help us (I mentioned I was un-crafty, right?).

Before laying out the materials, I asked the girls to close their eyes, take a deep breath and answer these questions in their minds:

What do you want for your life?

What do you want to do for fun?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What do you want to learn?

Where do you want to live?

Where do you want to visit?

What do you want to do with your friends?

What do you want to do with your family?

Then, I asked them to open their eyes and either write or tell us what they pictured.

After writing a few things down, I presented all of the materials and explained that we can now find pictures and words to put on our paper either from what we wrote down or from other images that inspire us along the way.

I could see my older daughter, Jane, starting to sweat. “I don’t understand. I don’t get it.” She said. She was starting to cry.

Of course, I’m thinking, this is supposed to be fun bonding time. I don’t want to stress her out! “I’m really blowing this whole craft project thing!” I tried explaining it three other times and we seemed to be in the same state of panic. Finally, I backed off and said, “Why don’t you watch me and maybe you’ll want to do it then.”

I started to create: sparkly letters, affirmation stickers, bright photos of Costa Rica, runners, healthy foods, peaceful flowers and grass…I was on a roll and loving it!

Jane quickly got it and started off on her own board with gymnasts, ice skaters, berries and nail polish. Brilliant. Later it clicked that Jane is a visual learner and I may have hit the ground running if I brought a sample board with me. Lesson learned!

Meanwhile, my 4.5 year old, Roxanne is a fairly abstract thinker and she got the project immediately. “I love mangos so I want to put a picture of a mango. I want to be a vet and I want to go to Africa and play in a treehouse!”

We all got into a creative flow and had a blast once we got the assignment. Jane even commented, “Mom, you’re really into this!” And she was right.

The girls were beaming with pride over their boards, hanging them in their rooms and showing everyone who comes into our home.

Mine is in the home office where I can spend some daily QT with it. I left some space for a few more pictures to be added over the year, but overall, I’m pleased with this visual reminder of the life I’m choosing every day.