Uncharted Careers

With a master's in counseling and emphasis on career, Shell Mendelson has helped hundreds of ADHD adults and young adults over the past 35 years find a fulfilling and sustainable career direction. On this week's episode of Uncharted Careers, hear how Shell has navigated her own share of jobs in order to help her realize her strengths. She has built her business on the tenants of exploration, joy and honoring your own unique strengths. Most recently, Shell has published a workbook to help folks find the best career for them. To learn more, visit passiontocareer.com/course-book-live If you enjoy this episode, please be sure to subscribe and rate Uncharted Careers 5 stars wherever you listen to podcasts! To follow all that Shell is doing, go to careercoachingwithshell.com. For For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

This week, Courtney's sister Samantha joins the conversation. Sam is a few years out from having graduated with her undergraduate degree from Tulane University in New Orleans. She had an incredible experience there from volunteering within the community to internships in various parts of the music industry. Hear how Sam took advantage of what New Orleans has to offer while balancing college, and how she changed her studies along the way. After graduating and figuring out what was going to be next, she also had to contend with COVID which brought much of the music industry to a standstill. On this episode, you'll hear how Sam made a transition in her career to being a paralegal. She discusses what the day-to-day of what that entails and what surprised her about working in law. If you enjoy this episode, please be sure to subscribe and rate Uncharted Careers 5 stars wherever you listen to podcasts! For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

On this episode of Uncharted Careers, Courtney talks with Sandy Lenner who spent his four decade long (and counting) career as a Certified Public Accountant. Listeners will gain an understanding of what it takes to become an accountant, the benefits of becoming a CPA, how to distinguish yourself in a big accounting firm and become a partner, and what it can look like to be self-employed and run your own accounting business. Sandy's gained a ton of success in his industry and works with clients directly today on more niche accounting processes. Courtney had a ton of fun talking to Sandy and learning more about how he balanced his ambitions for his career with his personal life. Make sure to tune in this week for an informative chat with Sandy. Be sure to follow Sandy on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/sandy-lenner and get more from him on his website, www.ahca.cpa. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Shara Ruffin is now a mentor and coach guiding social workers to pass required exams, as well as an author, therapist, podcaster and LinkedIn Advisor. On this episode of Uncharted Careers, Courtney learns all about Shara's journey becoming a licensed social worker herself. Along the way she was publicly documenting her challenges which created an incredible network for Shara to connect with. She built her company, Journey to Licensure, from this experience and is passionate about helping others to become great social workers. Journey to Licensure provides licensure exam prep, professional mentoring and wellness consultation to social workers, and is ever growing and expanding. Don't miss this episode if you've ever struggled to overcome obstacles as Shara's journey is incredibly inspiring and her energy is instantly contagious. Listen to the Journey to Licensure podcast and follow Shara Ruffin on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/shararuffin For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Dr. Sadaf Lodhi joins Courtney to discuss her journey from medical school, to working as a Gynecologist while expanding her work to include intimacy coaching, podcasting, and opening her own clinic. Dr. Sadaf has over 22 years of experience as an OBGYN, working in private practice, hospitals and community health centers. On her work spreading sexual health knowledge through her practice and podcast, The Muslim Sex Podcast, Dr. Lodhi says, "It's important that we get out the proper information because I feel like a lot of times...where do people get their sexual health information, right? If they're not getting it from their doctors if their doctors are not trained, then where are they going? They're going on the internet. They're going to porn...they may grow up with a lot of sex negativity that they're not able to navigate...but they bring it into their relationship and then it manifests in different ways." For more information about Dr. Sadaf Lodhi, visit drsadaf.com and listen to her weekly podcast, The Muslim Sex Podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Andrew McKenzie is living the dream, having turned his passion of playing music into his full-time career. On this episode of Uncharted Careers, Andrew joins Courtney to talk about how he started playing guitar at a young age and started to take paid gigs in High School. He continued to play music on the side while working in technology sales, and then within the past three years decided to make music his full-time job. You'll learn about how to set yourself apart as a professional musician and his tips for networking and finding new gigs. If you're interested in following Andrew's music, follow him on Instagram @andrew_mckenzie. If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to Uncharted Careers to listen to each episode and rate/review wherever you listen to podcasts. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

This week on Uncharted Careers, Courtney talks with her cousin, Josh, who is a Senior Client Experience Manager at a publicly traded healthcare technology company, Phreesia. Josh graduated from college in 2018 and found a job at Phreesia as a Business Development Representative. He spent a lot of time putting in the hard work as a BDR, making many cold outreaches per day looking for opportunity to bring to the sales team. From there, he was promoted in the Client Experience team and has continued to grow in his responsibilities under that arm of the organization. Listen to this episode to hear Josh's tips on growing within a sales organization and the value of finding good mentors. He places a lot of emphasis on feedback and development, which has allowed him to experience a lot of success during his tenure at the company. If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to Uncharted Careers to listen to each episode and rate / review wherever you listen to podcasts. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

If you've ever had a thought for a business and just didn't know what to do next, this episode of Uncharted Careers will be a great listen for you. Join Courtney as she talks with Melissa Lenner about how she took the idea for a business with her husband to full operalization. Hear about what sort of software Melissa used to start her business, what helped her to build her brand and online presence, how they grow their business and gain new customers while retaining existing ones and what Melissa learned the hard way so that you don't have to. You'll gain firsthand insight into what it's like to start your own business and grow organically without outside investment. Visit prettyeasypodcasts.com for Melissa's podcast production company, or follow her on Instagram @prettyeasypodcasts. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Chad Montgomery and his wife have most recently started a blog, Parent Intel, that is now generating extra income for their household that includes three young kids. He's also had a long career, however, in various fields including an electrician and construction estimator. Hear about how Chad charted his own path through various trade schools and various experiences. If you've considered starting an online business for additional income and are curious where to start and how to monetize and grow your site, this episode of Uncharted Careers will be a great listen! Visit parentintel.com for Chad's website. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Aless Heinen joins Courtney on Uncharted Careers to discuss her work as Director of Media Operations at a marketing agency. On this episode, listeners will hear about Aless' experience working at the same agency for over 8 years and how she worked with her company to build her own path to growth and develop her own position. Listen to this episode to gain advice on how to stand out in the digital media world. On current trends in marketing Aless says, "I've seen some really cool success on TikTok and I think it's really interesting because there's a level there of following a viral moment which requires action and you have to turn around a piece of creative quickly and not all brands are able to do that but when you find that is willing to lean into that it's really fun to see it work in real time and you can really start to see if something goes viral." For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Alex Oosterveen has a remarkable story to share. After graduating from college, he went into the finance world and felt he was burning the candle at both ends. He was jolted a few years in when he started to experience some significant health issues that would force him to evaluate how he was living his life. From there, he looked to found a company in a field he felt he could help people. Alex looked to work with people he knew that were smart, inspired him, and added different experience than he did. Now Alex is the CEO and co-founder of Caribou Rewards, a caregiver incentive management platform for homecare agencies. Listen to this episode to learn more about Alex's experience in finance, how he sought out investment to start his own company, and how his personal and professional priorities changed along the way. To learn more about Alex's company, Caribou Rewards, visit www.caribou.care For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Courtney talks with five-time Emmy winner, Chris Jones, about his accomplishments in feature producing and what he learned along the way. With a passion for sports, Chris searches for and develops human interest pieces and short documentaries around Bay Area athletes. His welcoming and opening demeanor help him to relate and guide the production of these stories that can have profound effects on viewers. After producing a story about former NFL player, Gary Plummer, Chris says, "His wife texted me and basically said 'Hey Chris, just want to let you know that we got a phone call from someone who went to one of our speaking engagements and told us that basically his son was going through depression and was very serious about ending his life. But he watched the feature story you produced on Gary, my husband, and because of that feature story he decided to go to therapy and turn himself around and is now you know doing much better.' She basically said that watching the feature story save this kid's life." Chris' work in sports feature producing is profound. Hear his story on Uncharted Careers. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Michael combined his passion for sales and his entrepreneurial spirit to found a software company that maximizes revenue from company's existing client base. Listen to this episode to learn more about Michael's journey from being a top sales performer at Chilipiper to building his own company. Michael discusses the importance of relationships and loose connections that helped him to navigate through the challenges of launching Callypso. His book, Crafting The Sale, is available September 2023 and already made Amazon's top-sellers list the week it was announced. In his book, Michael says... "One of the important elements that I noticed from leading teams is people tend to be really really rigid and overly prescriptive with sales methodologies and there's actually a lot of research out there from academics that say the best salespeople aren't that rigid actually with customers. Yes, you should have sales methodologies in place but they're tools in a toolbox to deploy at the right moment because not evey buyer is the same. They're not at the same point in their journey and so there's one part of the book where I talk about this idea...where the top performers are deploying the right thing at the right time using situational awareness and then middle performers are more likely to be the really rigid ones." For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Dr. Erika Bach joins Courtney to discuss her path to becoming a licensed clinical psychologist and starting her own private practice. Learn about what drew Erika to embark on this incredibly fulfilling journey guiding clients through life and facilitating major positive personal developments. She discusses the various tracks to becoming a therapist and how she decided to earn a PsyD, which requires at least 5 years of post-bachelors schooling. Listen to this episode to learn more about what Erika recommends for anyone who may be interested in becoming a psychologist, and how best to set yourself up to be a clinical therapist. On what it's like building boundaries over time with patients, Erika says, "Say a patient has the image of they feel like they're drowning in the deep end. Earlier on I felt like I was getting in the water with them and drowning with them because I feel what they're going through so much that I feel the same way they do and that's empathy...throughout supervision, because I've had such great trainers over the years, they've taught me how to be sitting on the edge of the pool with my legs in the water so it's like I'm here with you, and we can stay here as long as you need to, and I'm going to be here and I'm feeling it with you. And, when you're ready, I'm here with my hand out so we can sit on the side of the pool together." To inquire about Erika Bach's private practice, visit Psychology Today or her website at www.drerikabach.com. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Courtney's mom, Robbin, joins Courtney this week to discuss her 35-year tenure at the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, where she just retired from. Hear how Robbin became a supervisor in the Case Advisory Bureau and how she managed a team of ADAs to help them gain experience and move into more specialized bureaus depending on where they're looking to make an impact. Robbin had a super successful career, and helped many others to grow in their law careers along the way. Listen to this episode to hear about the thrill of being a trial attorney, what the day-to-day looks like being a prosecutor, and advice Robbin has for building a good reputation in a District Attorney's office. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Chris moved to New York to be a video game designer, and as he was exposed to different types of design including user experience he found his career interests changing. He became so fascinated with the field of UI/UX, because it is, as he describes it, "the crossroads of technology and human behavior." Join Courtney as she learns more about how design fits into the product creation process, how Chris leads exploratory creative exercises within his company to engage other teams on his design work, and his overall philosophy toward UI/UX. "From a UX perspective, I think the biggest wins are when we are able to interview our users and learn that the changes we made, made their lives easier, made their workday easier. For me, a big win is when we get positive feedback from our users that our product has improved their lives and improved their workflow. That means we have heard them and accurately integrated their needs into the way that we built the poduct. That's the ultimate satisfaction for me - that we improved someone's life in this small way." For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Lauren is the Director of Customer Success at a software company that supports over 75% of all schools in the US. She leads high retention teams with a huge focus on diversity and equity. Lauren discusses how she values the relationships of the clients and colleagues she works with, what psychological safety is and why it's important in the workplace and creating space for folks that don't look and sound like her. "One of the learnings I've had in my career is to give it a couple tries and if you're not getting that respect that you are really looking for or you're not able to be your authentic self at work and you don't see a path to making that happen because of the leadership at the company…I'd recommend just leaving. And I know that's an easy thing to say. It's not always possible in the moment but really finding that path to get out of that situation and find a place where you can actually live out your values." For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Julia Martin is a Manifestation & Business Coach whose mission is to help women ignite the fire & passion in their lives & careers. After a successful 12 year career in Business Development at Google and Twitter, Julia realized it was time to start sharing what she knew about manifestation with the world. She combines her deep understanding of the power of mindset with proven business strategy to help her clients transform their lives & catapult their careers. Julia's main focus today is on helping motivated and passionate women manifest their own flourishing & soulful coaching businesses. Julia practices what she preaches: as a mother of 3 young kids, she embodies everything she's learned about the Law of Attraction to create a life of balance, love & happiness. She believes that we all CAN achieve balance with the right tools, practices & mindset! Link to the Wheel of Life exercise & journal prompts. IG: @dreamyourlifenow E: julia@dreamyourlifenow.com Website: www.dreamyourlifenow.com For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Talking with Matt always feels like a "blueberry day" - a Greek term for when there's not a cloud in the sky and the temperature is perfect. Hear how he and his wife moved with their three kids from their house in New Hampshire to full time remote travelers currently living abroad in Syros, Greece. Matt majored in Finance and minored in Geography at University of New Hampshire, and has since married those two passions to travel the world while maintaining his work in Finance. On going against the traditional paths, "I definitely feel like there's a level of American culture where you buy a house, you settle down, you raise your family and you just wait until 62, 65 to retire and then you live your life and travel and do whatever but it's a grind until you get to that point....but things happen that you just realize that life is just too short." Hear how Matt made the decision to move abroad, balances work and travel, and about his new venture - Financial Consulting on his own. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com

Chris took a circuitous route to working in software as he moved from the idea of practicing law, to working in finance and then found himself at a software-as-a-service company in customer service. Hear how he made the move into product, and how after an illustrious career in technology companies since, he's now joined Redesign Stealth as a co-founder and Chief Product Officer. When taking inventory of his career decisions, Chris discusses the importance of building your own eulogy, while building your resume. He says, "I kind of went through an exercise of those things of how do I want to drive my career forward because I know that I want to be able to provide for my family in the future. But, I also want to make sure that I'm actually leaving impact and a legacy because that does matter to me." Listen to how Chis has became an inspirational people leader and how he's approaching his newest venture where he gets to inject his own DNA into a company from the very beginning. For one-on-one career coaching inquiries or to get in touch with Courtney, visit www.unchartedcareers.com