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Women Just Like You is here to democratize the middle of our careers. If you are curious what other women in similar career stages are up to, join Audrey Utchen as she navigates her own mid-career journey and brings her “coffee chat” conversations direct to you. She’ll talk to women who went back to school, are living their dream career, and who have done pivots into new industries. After each episode you’ll say “she’s just like me. If she can do it so can I” and be inspired to take an actionable step toward planning the career you deserve.
Join the mailing list to stay up-to-date on the launch and get access to the behind-the-scenes process of starting a podcast and career development recommendations on Instagram @audreythecareerwoman
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Meet the 8 Guests on Season 1
Arissan: From Corporate to Career Coach!
Arissan is a certified and internationally nominated Career and Confidence Coach and Workforce Empowerment Expert, who Audrey met through a career development program at work. She is absolutely incredible — helping women get the confidence to do the exact same big career pivot she has done not once, but TWICE! Arissan empowers her clients to take control of their careers and leads women through the job search process from the inside out.
Arissan's career has taken her from Seattle to Singapore, from international trade to children's healthcare, and now as a founder of two companies: Seattle Self-Defense and her coaching business. Fun fact — she's a certified black belt in Tae Kwan Do!
Arissan's career has taken her from Seattle to Singapore, from international trade to children's healthcare, and now as a founder of two companies: Seattle Self-Defense and her coaching business. Fun fact — she's a certified black belt in Tae Kwan Do!
Kim: Former Teacher to Legal Operations
Kim is a former teacher and principal, whose career started off in a teaching fellowship program in Washington DC. She spent 12 years teaching students and managing schools across the country before deciding to leave the field during the pandemic. Kim and Audrey were paired together through a Phi Beta Kappa mentorship program at that time (so you know she’s a smart cookie) and was sure to leave education with a plan. She was strategic about her decision to transition out of teaching and proactively sought out help by getting involved in mentorship programs and professional groups. And now, she successfully transitioned into legal operations first at Meta and now Netflix!
Tina: DEI Advocate and Community Organizer
Tina is a first generation Chinese American and was the first in her family to go to college. She started her career in community organizing within San Francisco’s Chinatown and after several years, she connected the dots between community, technology, and diversity, equity, and inclusion work to become a global talent program manager at Visa today. Alongside Tina’s 15 years of professional work, she is also heavily involved with volunteer groups in and out of the workplace, and sits on the board of several non-profits.
Jennie: Pairing Hospitality and Wine Sales
Jennie has spent the last 9 years working her way up the food chain in hospitality sales and taking ownership in her career growth. She juggled restaurant, catering, and event jobs down in San Diego before moving to Sonoma to sell the Hyatt from initial inquiry to closing the final tab at a hotel that was central to wine country tourism. Then she moved to San Francisco to sell her DREAM property, the Hyatt Regency on Embarcadero, before the pandemic took it all away 4 weeks later. She didn’t panic and instead used the covid layoff to learn more about wine, and is now combining her love for both industries into a fruitful career marrying Hyatt hotel sales during the week with wine sales in Sausalito on the weekend.
Ashley: Mindfully Navigating a Tech Layoff
Ashley is a first generation latina who was hired as a recruiting coordinator on the spot after college, and has spent every year since trying out different parts of the Human Resources world until she was laid off several months ago during a tech layoff. Ashley has faced challenges and had to advocate for herself throughout her career and emphasizes the importance of asking questions, networking, and being resourceful in career development. Her involvement in employee resource groups (ERGs) has had a significant impact on her career progression, allowing her to advocate for fair compensation and secure a title change as well as given her opportunities outside of her day job.
Deanne: Taking on IT
Deanne Bhamgara is a Revenue Operations and Salesforce CPQ systems expert, and grew up in Nigeria, started her career in marketing in India, and later transitioned to revenue operations in California where she became a liaison between users and technology.
She emphasizes the importance of community and learning from others, as well as taking leaps of faith and pursuing additional qualifications or testing out different job structures (think leaving a full-time role for a contract job). She encourages women to pursue a career in RevOps and offers tips for getting started, such as joining a bootcamp and finding a supportive community. Deanne also highlights how women are the perfect type of people to work in RevOps because of our natural communication and collaboration skills!
She emphasizes the importance of community and learning from others, as well as taking leaps of faith and pursuing additional qualifications or testing out different job structures (think leaving a full-time role for a contract job). She encourages women to pursue a career in RevOps and offers tips for getting started, such as joining a bootcamp and finding a supportive community. Deanne also highlights how women are the perfect type of people to work in RevOps because of our natural communication and collaboration skills!
Katherine: Data Scientist in the Making
Katherine’s journey from wanting to be an astronaut as a kid to a pivotal player in data analytics shows the impact continuous learning and transformation can have on your career journey. She dives into her switch from urban planning to data analysis, emphasizing the importance of embracing new challenges -- like branching out as a consultant -- and the instrumental role of feedback in career growth.
Theoni: Mom, Lender, and TikTok Expert
Theoni’s career as a loan officer starting as a social media internship at a bank freshman year of college and she never went back, combining both interests to build her brand as Not Your Daddy’s Lender and disrupt the mortgage industry, get speaking gigs, and set-up multiple businesses to get to BILLIONAIRE status one day. She’s now using TikTok and Instagram to generate leads for her mortgage business and has created an entire backend system to support going viral on her page TheoniTheLender, which will be super helpful as her second child is due this summer and she’ll need to take some time off as her family grows. Theoni also gets real with us about being a working mom, including the honest truth about maternity leave in her world and how hard it is to set boundaries while trying to grow her mortgage business. She shares her motivation with us and it’s a super inspiring discussion making me want to do what she’s doing after listening to this! But more importantly, this interview will leave you thinking “If she can do it, so can I” which is the WHOLE point of this show.
AVAILABLE NOW
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