The Unexpected Career Podcast
Real people’s stories to inspire at every twist and turn of building a career and a life.
Did you know what you wanted to be “when you grew up” when you were small? Is that what you are doing now? Most people don’t and yet there is so much pressure at every milestone in life to know exactly what you want to be doing and make the right decision, as if there are only a few “right” ways to create a life.
While there are cultural differences and systemic barriers that create real roadblocks and heighten this pressure for some, most individual decisions do not set your fate in stone. Most people I know have found themselves in a particular industry largely by accident and have built careers from there; taking steps forward, sideways and complete pivots around great (or terrible) bosses, company cultures that encouraged (or discouraged) them, changing life circumstances and evolving values. I’m excited to share the stories of people who have built their career and life on the winding road.
Episodes
51 episodes
Dr. Nicola Harding: Criminologist transformed by Education
S5E6: Dr. Nicola Harding, is a criminologist and fincrime specialist, who is chief scientific officer at Tuteliq and founder and director of the Financial Crime Lab and Just for Good. Nicola went to university for the first time at 28 years old...
Vivienne Hsu: Following Her Curiosity to Venture Capital
S5E5: Vivienne Hsu started her career in Advertising before several unexpected twists brought her to Venture Capital, where she is focused on helping organisations launch, level or leap to build successful businesses. She has also been recognis...
Jason Spalding: Translating a Career in HR to Leadership Consulting
S5E4: Jason Spalding pursued athletics before building a career in HR and is now building something new to support businesses and leaders as the founder of Intupact Group.Intupact Group: https://www.intupactgroup.com/
Lauragaye Jackson: Making Her Mark as an Executive Coach and Fractional CMO
Lauragaye Jackson built a career in corporate marketing before making the pivot to Executive Coach and Fractional CMO.The Stress Inventory that Lauragaye mentions, Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory, can be found here: https://www.stress....
Jeannie McGillivray: Open to the Journey From Arts to Software and AI
S5E2: Jeannie McGillivray was the first in her family to go to university, where she pursued an arts degree. Her career took unexpected turns along the way and brought her to software and AI. Jeannie is co-founder and CEO of Remote and Autm AI....
Zahra Premji: Finding Her Zone of Genius as a Certified Life Coach
Zahra Premji shares her journey from Occupational Therapist to Founder and certified Life Coach.Zahra can be found on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahrapremjicoaching/
Louise Humpington: Positive Impact - Law, International Development, Coaching & AI
S4E10: Louise Humpington shares her career journey from solicitor to international development and now strategy and coaching, all tied together with volunteering and a strong purpose.https://www.kairosynthesis.com/https://www.dive...
Andrew Ta: People and Technology
S4E9: Andrew Ta started his career in Software Development and has worked in emerging technologies, consulting and now as a management consultant.
Jennifer Makkreel: Building with Purpose in Construction Management
S4E8: Jennifer Makkreel dreamt of building bridges in high school and pursued an Engineering degree and while being an Engineer wasn't ultimately for her, she is building buildings.
Velera Wilson: The Courage to go from Corporate to Keynote
S4E7: Velera has taken chances in her career and has now pivoted from corporate to focus on her business, Positive Identify LLC, and career as a speaker and trainer. And she wrote a book! http://www.apositiveidentity.com/http...
Lulu Laidlaw-Smith: Seeing Beyond - From Hospitality to Tech
S4E6: Lulu Laidlaw-Smith's grandfather gave her her first introduction to reading between the lines and an education in hospitality developed her strategic holistic vision. Lulu is now Partner, Commercial Growth at The IMCC and Founder of Rip I...
Rob Saltrese: Entrepreneurial Graft - Recruitment to AI
S4E5: Rob Saltrese shares his journey into entrepreneurship and what he's building now (and what he learned from facing a divorce and a business divorce at the same time).Rob is Co-founder and COO at Lyra Labs. https://lyralabs.co/
Shemina Jiwani: It's not a straight line to CEO
S4E4: Shemina Jiwani shares her career journey and how it hasn't been a straight line to CEO. There were pivots to new industries and steps backwards on the way to stepping into the CEO role at Ascendant.
Ben Kinning: Corporate Life to Business Owner, Fractional Sales Leader, Trainer and Mentor
S4E3: Ben Kinning is a Business Owner, Sales Leader, Trainer and Mentor with Sales Geek, but after stepping off of the path that had been laid out for him he first created a path for himself in Corporate.You can learn more about the serv...
Susan Walsh: Finding Her Calling in Data
S4E2: Susan Walsh is Founder and Managing Director of The Classification Guru Ltd and turns chaotic business data into something businesses can trust.Following an early career in Sales and then rebuilding after bankruptcy after a retail ...
Nicole Baxby: Carving Her Own Path in Financial Services
S4E1: Nicole Baxby is Senior Vice President of Customer Success and Partnerships at Quantifind and she shares her career journey in financial services and how she has taken risks and showed a bit of gumption to carve her own path.
Season 4 Trailer
In Season 4 we share 10 more discussions with real people about their career journeys and the twists, turns, pivots and lessons learned along the way.
Megan Dunford: Physics Degree to Payments Leader
S3E10: Megan Dunford didn't know what to take in university and ended up getting a degree in Physics and ultimately built a career in international payments and foreign exchange.
Mary Kemp: Nurse to AI Consultant
Mary Kemp, started her career as a nurse and is now the co-founder of AI Potential which helps business leaders create a culture of high performance with AI.https://simplerwith.ai/
Yasmin Ulrich: From Professional Tennis to Emerging Payments Leader
S3E8: Yasmin Ulrich was pursuing a professional tennis career when injury had her face some difficult new career decisions.
John Turley-Ewart: Historian to Columnist and Banker
S3E7: John Turley-Ewart has a PhD in History and a MBA. He has built a career a columnist and a banker.
Geri Valova: Serial Entrepreneur
S3E6: Geri Valova is the founder and COO of MetaSim Learning Solutions, CEO, and founder of Youbee and co-founder of Magna Club, a club and community for executive women.Magna Club: https://magnaclub.circle.so/MetaSim: https://men...
Jennifer: From Entertainment Dreams to Diversity and Inclusion Leader
S3E5: Jennifer had dreams of a career in the arts when she was young, but with a desire for a more stable life she started her career in recruitment and has now found her passion as a leader in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Derrick Walton: Navy to Entrepreneur
S3E4: Derrick Walton started his career in the Navy before transitioning to the world of payments and is the CEO and co-found of Spheros, a data company that allows you to control access and share data across industries and applications.&...