
Brave Transitions Podcast
By Peggy Titmarsh & Cindy Hurley-Leister
Hosted by Peggy Titmarsh and Cindy Hurley Leister, corporate veterans now executive coaches.

Brave Transitions PodcastDec 16, 2021

#17 Yes and... with Shannon Hughes
➡️OVERVIEW
Shannon Hughes is an experiential facilitator and communications coach with a practice called, Enlivened Studios. Leaders hire her to ignite their persona genius and energize their teams. She does this through improv-inspired teaching and story sharing.
✅ YOU'LL LEARN
How to tap into your expressive, creative energy
How to say no and then yes and ...
How to have a plan without knowing you have one
🎊 FUN FACT:
Shannon did engage a career coach as one of the steps along her transition.
💡 MORE INFOS
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannondeanhughes/
Get tips on how to enliven any virtual meeting with improv techniques:

#16 Create more, consume less - with Michael Bellmann
=> OVERVIEW
Michael Bellmann is a musical theater composer and digital marketing manager at Stay Friends in Berlin who had left his steady corporate career for a year of self improvement in Berlin. He has got that spirit to go against the norm and live a life full of purpose, creativity and positive energy.
✅ YOU'LL LEARN
How to find balance between marketing and music
How to find out 'something is wrong'
How to have this "difficult" discussion with colleagues, bosses, friends and family
How a dating platform can help to find a job
🎊 FUN FACT:
Michael has a neoclassical/electrochill band called Fred van Bell
💡 MORE INFOS

#15 Joy as my Guide - with Deeptha Umapathy
ABOUT
Deeptha Umapathy is a joyful research and strategy consultant at Break Free from Plastic in Cambodia. She believes in keeping people at the center of her work. It shapes how she manages teams, clients and projects - people centered work.
Deeptha is passionate about innovating and improving how data can be used to make decisions. She took a big leap in leaving a secure job in India to start a totally new career in design research, a field she was not formally trained in.
✅ YOU'LL LEARN
Who do you need to surround yourself with in times of transition? How to find the people who see the world from your angle?
How to use joy as your guide.
How to make a transition into a new career without formal training in that field.
How to negotiate with your employer that you need a sabbatical.
🎊 FUN FACT
Deeptha is the sister of Nirupa whom we interview in episode #14, and they both have a very similar voice, so don't get confused.
💡 MORE INFOS
linkedin.com/in/deeptha-chittoor-umapathy-b479b93
https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/

#14 Transition with Joy - with Nirupa Umapathy
✅ YOU'LL LEARN
How to move through fragile times when transitioning - still being in touch with old friends and finding new communities and tribes.
How to study tools and mindsets from books (Design your Life, Strive) AND real life in Nirupa's case traveling.
How timing - again - is key. Time comes to you.
How to build a financial bridge - for Nirupa it was two years of financial permission to travel, play around and experiment.
How to go against the conditioning of the wind/world, move through loneliness and find some like-minded people.
And... how to integrate work and life on your own terms.
🎊 FUN FACT:
Nirupa's great transition hack was to travel for 180 days with a planned budget directly after leaving corporate. She also created the highest ever-known number of Design Your Life Odyssey plans.
💡 MORE INFOS
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nirupa-umapathy-b213454/
www.radicaleverything.com
www.salonsforlife.com

#13 Passion & Purpose with R. Evon Benson-Idahosa
OVERVIEW
R. Evon Benson-Idahosa, the founder and Executive Director of Pathfinders Justice Initiative, is a Nigerian native, a leading expert and thought leader on the subject of modern day slavery in sub-Saharan Africa. She is a trained English Barrister and American lawyer. When her passion and compassion called her to address gender-based violence and the sexual exploitation of women, she left her work as a partner in a New York defense law firm to became a full-time advocate.
✅ YOU'LL LEARN
How to "let your life speak" and what it meant for Evon - turning in her resignation and becoming a full-time advocate for women
How a sense of purpose, passion and savings really help when taking the big leap
How it's still scary in the moment, never as scary in hinesight and still not easy to give up all the corporate luxuries
How to integrate your roots into your future - for Evon this meant dedicating her work to women in Nigeria out of her home town New York
🎊 FUN FACT:
Evon realised wearing a barrister wig at graduation already didn’t feel right.
💡 MORE INFOS
https://www.linkedin.com/in/r-evon-benson-idahosa-esq-0ab95869/
http://pathfindersji.org/

#12 Listen & Learn with Dr Ruby Campbell
➡️ OVERVIEW
Dr Ruby Campbell is a the Managing Director and Global Executive Coach at ProVeritas Group - a coaching and consulting firm. She is also the author of "Scientists in Every Boardroom: Harnessing the Power of STEMM Leaders in an Irrational World", a UNSW Business School Adjunct Faculty, DEI and Climate Action Advocate.
✅ YOU'LL LEARN
How rejection means redirection - Ruby wanted to integrate her family need's with her leadership career which was not possible back then and forced her to redirect
How to find your tribe - which is so important when you start all over again
How to un-learn old and re-learn new patterns of success - from honing perfection in the pharmaceutical industry (Haven't we also heard this from Marina's corporate story !?!) to setting learning goals
How to uncover limiting beliefs - e.g. "you're not good enough", where they come from (your family's story) and how to lovingly let them go
🎊 FUN FACT:
We did not know who Manfred Kets de Vries is, now we do , an INSEAD professor for organizational development and leadership (ketsdevries.com).
Ruby and Cindy are both fellows of Harvard-affiliated Institute of Coaching.
💡 MORE INFOS

#11 Your Story with Helen Krug von Nidda
Helen Krug von Nidda is founder of With Helen - a boutique coaching, training and consulting practice for global women. Before becoming independent, she worked for the United Nations. Yet, the bravest transition she calls out on our Podcast, is leaving her job and home town Geneva, Switzerland, to live in NYC - the city of her dreams.
✅ YOU'LL LEARN
How a tunnel vision can help - knowing what you actually want to transition towards is key and was Helen's asset after she had a blissful moment at Times Square.
How to manifest your dream - Helen listened to Frank Sinatra's NYC love song every day, had a visual on her phone and committed to one action towards her dream every down.
How to follow your story - Helen hired a Coach early on, because she wanted someone Professional in her corner, a cheerleader to help her achieve her dream. And to be able to stop listening to others, telling her why her dream is not possible.
How to ask your network for support - Helen felt confident to ask her network, because she new exactly what she was looking for.
🎊 FUN FACT: Helen and Cindy met in NYC and (almost) had coffee with Seth Meyers.
💡 MORE INFOS
www.linkedin.com/in/helenkrugvonnidda/
www.with-helen.com
Copyright 2020 All rights reserved.

#10 Passion & Hard Work with Kathy Davies
Kathy Davies is the Managing Director of Stanford's Life Design Lab and CEO of DYL Consulting, LLC. She helps people around the world to design the life they want. You might have heard of the #1 NYT Bestseller "Design Your Life". One of the authors was Kathy's former professor and helped her to transition from an Engineering career into teaching. The other brave transition she calls out (to which Peggy and Cindy very much relate) is becoming a mom.
YOU'LL LEARN ✅
How to integrate your past into your future - Kathy's alma mater gave her a new direction
How a safety net can get you taking action - for Kathy it was a two year time frame to try out the new thing
How being passionate is only the start to becoming really good at something
And again ... side hustle and main gig ... ultimately swapping.
FUN FACT 🎊
Kathy is a recovering ultra runner...
Cindy and Kathy met at the DYL for Women Workshop in NYC in 2019 - highly recommended and now available as a virtual offering.
MORE INFOS 💡
www.linkedin.com/in/kathyhdavies/
www.designyourlife.com/
designingyour.life/women/

#0x On us revisited - summary of 2020

#9 Putting things into numbers with Marina Martins Monterosso
Marina is a social entrepreneur with an international career and impressive corporate background making it up to partner level with EY in Brazil. She is now based in Hongkong and combines her business skills with her passion to impact the world's to do list.
YOU'LL LEARN ✅
How an analytically-trained corporate mind can make the jump
What role - again - finances play especially as a female breadwinner
How to leverage your corporate skills and un-learn others in a new environment
FUN FACT 🎊
Peggy and I love Marina's motto - Connecting great people and business to do good. We're also inspired by her energy
MORE INFOS 💡
www.linkedin.com/in/marina-monterosso/

#8 Exiting Corporate - Just Do it with Cissy Ma

#7 next Business Card with Astrid Varchmin
Astrid has over 20 years of international experience in the facilitation, leadership and change management arena. She has recently left Munich to move to Auckland, New Zealand, her husband's home country. Yet, she calls her bravest transition when she left Accenture to become an independent Coach and Consultant.
YOU'LL LEARN ✅
How visualization your future is the starting point for everything.
How one hopeful endeavor can fail and lead to another one - a project with friends getting her out of the corporate world and being a starting point for her own company.
How long it takes to find out what is really important to you - in Astrid's case being autonomous over her time and location.
FUN FACT 🎊
Astrid and Cindy met in a Working Out Loud circle, both hoping to connect with Australians and New Zealanders and ending up with another German.
MORE INFOS 💡
www.linkedin.com/in/astridvarchmin/
#coaching #bravetransitions #change #nextbusinesscard #wol

#6 know thyself with Andy Storch
Andy's passion is talent development and connecting professionals around the world. He himself is multitalented with endless energy - conference host, speaker, podcast producer only to name a few. How did he get there? From the outside, his life was good with a family, a well-paying job in a consulting job. Yet, he wasn't learning and growing what is crucially important to him - and his key motivator for brave transitions ever since.
YOU'LL LEARN ✅
Andy gives so many great tips and insights valuable for all of us. He will soon publish a book around owning your career, owning your life.
For Peggy and Cindy the three key takeaways are:
1) "that is a failure vs. I am failure" - as a key mindset to grow from experiences that didn't go as intended and also that not trying is not an option if you want to grow. Don't play it safe!
2) don't compare yourself with others that have already progressed on their journey, take it as an inspiration for your own growth
3) validate your own goals, so often we chase other people's goals and don't take the time to define what success means to us. Know thyself.
FUN FACT 🎊
Andy's pivotal moment was inspired by the book "Miracle morning" by Hal Elrod.
MORE INFOS 💡
andystorch.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/andystorch/
miraclemorning.com/
#coaching #bravetransitions #talentdevelopment #ownyourcareerownyourlife

#5 sail into the future with Dr Anke Blomberg

#4 dignity & respect with Jamie Getgood

# 3 yellow brick road with Nicholas Wai
Nicholas has gone through a number of transitions from Hong Kong around the world and back. He is one of those ever calm people with a clear mind, endless curiosity and strong desire to grow. Leaving a family business on good terms is not easy, one of his toughest decisions, especially in a Chinese culture. He thinks clarity, a good network and mastery helped him on his ‘yellow brick road’. Nick is now working as a leadership facilitator, executive coach, speaker, author, president of Hong Kong International Coaching Community and recently transitioned into fatherhood, maybe the biggest life transition.
YOU'LL LEARN ✅
How transitioning between 3 careers doesn’t feel brave at the time
What can trigger a transition - both positive and negative
Secret advise for logical thinking and how to manage yourself during transitions.
www.linkedin.com/in/corporatecoachinghongkong/

#2: inner spark with Blythe Frank
Blythe Frank has been creating since she was a child. Her energy, positivity and level of mastery are a source of inspiration, yet she doesn't like to talk about herself -and we all know this feeling. A former neighbor of Cindy in Jersey City, New Jersey, it was through this interview, we learnt some new incredible things about Blythe's journey to becoming an independent film producer. And realizing how bringing stories to life are her true calling.
YOU'LL LEARN
In different life stages, following your inner spark is easier than in others, yet it's always a little bit crazy and daunting.
Sometimes you need a little help from friends and masters around you, to find out what is in you. In Blythe's case - her professor's saw the producing talent in her.
Keep on exploring to find out what you love and what the world needs.
MORE
www.linkedin.com/in/blythe-frank-1060194/

#1: heart & brain with Dr Miriam Kolter
Miriam is one of the smartest, analytical people we know. That's how she got through the highly-competitive recruiting process at Boston Consulting Group more than then years ago. She also has a big heart for people. Though she enjoyed being intellectually challenged, having steep learning curves and working with super smart, successful people, she was missing the human connection in her actual client work. Having an idea, not yet a plan, she used BCG's sabbatical program to explore the field of psychotherapy. It then took more time, money saved up, support from friends and spouse, and a solid plan to transition her into her current professional field of clinical psychotherapy. She is now ready to fully tackle her current transition into a leading role at a clinic for ambulant treatment around personality disorders, sexual disorders, forensic risk assessment located in Bavaria, Germany.
YOU'LL LEARN
How totally different jobs can trigger different skill sets
Thinking long-term about your career journey, yet starting early to adjust
Being firm around the type of work you want to do and flexible on the context - in Miriam's case the specialization she ended up in
Once one transition is done, the next one is waiting around the corner - stay tuned on Miriam's next challenge
MORE
www.ivs-nuernberg.de/dozent/?ID=510
CONTACT
podcast@cindy-hurley-leister.com
www.cindy-hurley-leister.com/podcast
www.3stepscoaching.com
