This is a bi-weekly series where I share stories from others who are redesigning careers that align with their values, interests, and lifestyle.

Ellie and I have been LinkedIn friends for a while, and I was so honored to be on her podcast a few months ago (you can listen to the episode here!)

IMO, Ellie is so good at bringing light, fun energy to everything she does. Whether that be making AI approachable, the content she shares on LinkedIn, or the events she hosts as part of her community, MOXIE.

She inspires me to shoot my shot, pivot when things don’t go to plan, and dream BIG for my career. I KNOW she’ll be an inspiration for you too.

Probably that I get bored really quickly and am always chasing something that feels slightly out of reach. I started as a strategy consultant at Deloitte, which gave me a peek inside lots of different companies—but at some point I wanted to actually be inside one, rather than giving advice and getting out every couple of months.

Then a super senior job at a traditional insurer came my way, leading their digital transformation. In awe of the salary and the title, I took it, but a few months in, I noticed nothing moved fast enough for me.

That job did lead me to Lemonade (global fintech, NYSE: LMND), where I led European operations as GM: my own team, my own P&L, the closest I could get to being a founder. So founder was the next step. Now I run MOXIE, the AI club for ambitious women.

I've wanted that my whole life, but I don't come from an entrepreneurial family. I spent years thinking "what company could I build?" and running side hustles and projects while employed. 

Even MOXIE took a long time and lots of pivots before landing where we are now. If I could give my younger self any advice: just get started, and fully immerse yourself in a problem that genuinely interests you.

The first version you build likely won't be the one with product-market fit but the longer you stick around, the more sideways paths and ideas you'll find to build something that actually fits.

MOXIE started as an ed-tech: expert-led courses for women early in their careers. So many great courses and communities existed for senior women (hi Chief 👋), but nothing for ambitious women five years in. I still stand by that problem—it still exists—but solving it was hard.

We spent 1.5 years building a course platform while AI commoditized knowledge and L&D and DEI budgets got slashed. The course market was in decline, and we were building right into it.

It was very painful, probably more painful than any romantic break-up I've ever had. She's my friend, my cousin, and we went from building a big dream together 24/7, to figuring out it didn't work, to parting ways.

It took some time to find my feet again as a solo founder, and in all honesty, I was about to quit altogether, which is exactly where the next chapter starts.

Right when I was about to quit, I decided to post one last time on LinkedIn: an open call to ambitious women, asking who'd want to help think through the next version of MOXIE. The post went viral and I ended up speaking to 200 women, who all told me the same thing: community is what we need.

That's when MOXIE shifted to a community for women building big careers. We were AI-focused from day one, but I went all-in on the AI club when I realized how many women are eager to get going with AI—they just need ideas on what to build and some help on how to leverage it.

Omg, so much haha. I always thought I'd build a tech company—my GM experience set me up to manage a P&L and think in churn, LTV, CAC. Now I'm learning how to create belonging. People join MOXIE for the AI skills, but they stay for the extraordinary network of highly ambitious women. There's a lot you can automate, but warmth isn't one of them.

A thousand tiny decisions go into it, and honestly, I'm more of a big-picture girl, so it doesn't always come naturally. I'm lucky to have a wonderful group of founding members who help organize events and think through details like who needs to sit next to whom at dinner.

My main advice is very unsexy: just start posting. Don't think through your content pillars if you haven't posted yet. Post and see what resonates with both you and your audience. Building in public—writing about it before you've truly figured it out yourself—is really smart; it's how you build your founder brand as early as possible.

Growing on LinkedIn (or any platform) takes a lot of time, so the earlier you start, the better. There are no hacks—just consistency and getting your reps in. I mostly post about the highs and cries of founder life, AI tips, building a big career (from getting promoted to starting your 5-9), and gender (in)equality.

I simply reach out to anyone I think is cool haha. It's very selfish, honestly—I just ask, "who do I want to spend an hour with and learn from?" Founders, experts, leaders: if I think I or the MOXIE community can learn from them, I reach out.

A lot of guests come from straight-up cold outreach on LinkedIn. I've gotten so many more yesses than I expected.

Two tips. One: think YOLO, LFG—just send it. Especially on LinkedIn. If someone has a big following on IG or TikTok, they might not be used to getting reached out to on LinkedIn, so you stand out way more there than in their flooded IG DMs.

Two: it's a bit of a ladder. First you land a guest with 10K followers, then 50K, then 100K... I've now had guests with over 500K, which makes it easier for others to say "oh, if she was on, I'll come on too."

A big US chapter! I'm heading to NYC, SF, and LA this fall. MOXIE is growing on both sides of the Atlantic, and I'm excited to build IRL density in the US the way we have in Amsterdam and London.

And honestly, just more of this—more workshops, more dinners, more women locking in on AI together.

LinkedIn is my main spot, come say hi :). If you want to meet incredibly ambitious women and up your AI game: getmoxie.ai.

I'm also very early in sharing some BTS on Instagram, so come giggle at my attempts. And of course, I yap with incredible women weekly on careeryap—on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and in written form at careeryap.substack.com.