As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I’m in San Diego this week! As a Californian who never gets used to the NY winters, I’m excited to soak in some sun. ☀️ 

I’m more excited though because I finally pivoted from 10 years in product marketing to event and retreat planning. It’s a full circle moment.

🌴 A little context

Last February, I was working at Asana and flew to Orlando for our first Global Sales Kickoff. At this point, I had already expressed interest in events, so my manager asked me to create the Chief Revenue Officer’s welcome keynote.

I remember thinking to myself… creating another slide deck isn’t really what I asked for, but hey, I have to do it anyways, and it could eventually lead me to land a role on the events team.

Overall, the keynote was very well-received and the event was a major success. With this win under my belt, I thought I had a real chance to land an events role and spent the next few months proactively pursuing it.

I set up time with the event manager in NY, her boss, her boss’ boss, and our CMO. I proactively scoped out projects that would benefit both the understaffed events team and help me gain new skills. I spoke onstage at a conference in SF. I even spent the day with the events team as we did a site visit in NY.

When two roles on the events team opened up, it felt like I had positive momentum.

When I began the process, she delivered some tough news. While I was killing it on the PMM team, the business needed someone who had events experience and ultimately, she didn’t have time to onboard me.

I was upset. Here I was thinking I had a chance at a “perfect” opportunity to transition internally and avoid the tough job market.

In reality, it wasn’t the perfect opportunity. It just seemed like the easiest opportunity at the time.

While I was disappointed, I finally got clarity. I knew that I needed to leave.

🔄 How I made the pivot

The good news was that I had already started to make connections outside of Asana.

I helped a mutual friend who started her wedding planning business onsite at a few weddings. 👰 

I got connected from a former colleague at Slack with the Head of Production at her event agency. 🤝 

And finally, the reason I’m in San Diego is because I kept in contact with a LinkedIn connection I made two years ago who started her own retreats business, Recess. 🛝 

Essentially, I…

1. Found people who were in the roles I was interested in

2. Offered to help them

3. Kept following up!*

*(Not in a super annoying way, but every few months I would see what they were up to). My persistence was the reason Recess wanted to work with me!

🤓 What I learned

The story I told myself—that an internal pivot was my only option—wasn’t true.

You can pivot your career, even if someone is telling you you’re not ready or you don’t have the right skills.

Looking back, everything happens for a reason.

I wasn’t meant to stay at Asana because if I was still there, I would never have been able to be in San Diego this week for a retreat!

💬 Your Turn

What are you looking to pivot into next?

🌟 Upcoming Events

• A Belated Capricorn Celebration: I can’t attend this one but if you like astrology, this might be up your alley! There will be astrology & tarot readings focused on career and finance and 7-minute sits with financial planners and coaches.

• Vision Board Collage Day at Haricort Vert 🎨: Let's make our 2025 vision boards together! We'll gather in haricort vert williamsburg and explore their magazine and ephemera archive to leave with a tangible reflection of your 2025 vision!

✨ Weekly Feels

• Feeling like a facilitator: I hosted my first IRL gathering at my apartment last week. It was such a cute evening, and I met three new people that found the event through Elpha!

• Feeling like a pop star: Went to karaoke this week 🎤, one of my fave activities, and sang a few duets from Wicked ❤️ 

📖 Keep Reading

• How I’m attracting aligned career opportunities (and how you can too)

• How to get out of your own way to achieve your 2025 goals

💼 Ways to Work With Me

• Reply to this email to learn about 1:1 private coaching! (Special discounted rates for my first 3 clients)