Domonique Worship on Leaving Law for Purpose-Driven Work

Domonique Worship, executive coach and leadership advisor, joins The Female Founder Show with Bridget Fitzpatrick to explore her framework for Exceptional Alignment™ and how entrepreneurs can design careers rooted in purpose rather than pressure. After beginning her career as an attorney at a prestigious Wall Street firm, Worship found herself outwardly successful but internally misaligned. What began as a quiet sense of discomfort eventually pushed her to reevaluate her path, leading her from law into coaching and leadership advisory work centered on impact, connection, and service.

Worship unpacks how Exceptional Alignment™ sits at the intersection of gifts, values, desired impact, and emotional truth. She shares practical tools for identifying misalignment, overcoming perfectionism, and building a supportive community grounded in authenticity rather than transaction. From scaling challenges and delegation frameworks to prioritizing what truly matters, her approach offers a structured yet deeply personal roadmap for founders seeking clarity, confidence, and sustainable growth.

In this episode, we explore:

• Recognizing the early signs of career misalignment
• Transitioning from corporate law to executive coaching
• The four pillars of Exceptional Alignment™
• Morning pages and values audits as clarity tools
• Eliminating perfectionism and people-pleasing patterns
• Delegating effectively using the 10-80-10 principle
• Identifying “rubber” vs. “crystal” ball priorities
• Building authentic, non-transactional professional communities

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Transcript

Welcome & Dominique’s Backstory

SPEAKER_00 0:07

This is the Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur, Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Hi everyone, and welcome to the Female Founder Show. I'm Bridget Fitzpatrick, and I'm so excited about today's guest, Dominique Worship. She's an executive coach and leadership advisor who helps women reach their full potential, not just in business, but in life. Before starting her coaching practice, she earned her law degree from Harvard and built a successful career at the NBA. But even with all those achievements, something felt off. She realized that she was living a life that looked perfect on paper, but didn't truly align with what she was looking for, what she was meant to be. Now she works with women to change that, helping them build businesses and lives that actually feel good, not just look good. Now we're gonna talk about what alignment really means, how to break through when you feel stuck, and what it takes to grow with purpose and confidence. Dominique, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

It's my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

Hearing The Whisper To Change

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yes. Now you have made a big leap, some would say a huge leap from practicing law at a major firm to now doing work helping people find alignment. Can you talk to us about what it was like when you started feeling like this isn't enough and started looking for something more aligned with what you were looking for?

Defining Exceptional Alignment

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Absolutely. So I describe it as what started out as a whisper turned into a scream that I could no longer ignore. And so I first heard that whisper during my time at the law firm. I just graduated from law school. I started my career at this Wall Street law firm. Um, and I found myself feeling deeply unfulfilled, but not quite sure what a more fulfilling path could look like. And so I leaned into my network and just got wildly curious about the sorts of career transitions that other people had made, the sorts of unconventional paths that maybe weren't on my radar. And I was fortunate enough to connect with someone who later became a mentor to me who really challenged me to think about what I actually enjoyed doing. Specifically, he asked me to think back to, you know, my last six months or so at work and to think about a day in particular that felt really energizing, really rewarding. What was I doing? Who was I with? What skills was I leveraging? Um, and his advice was to help me get a sense of what my actual values were. And that exercise and that conversation led me to fundamentally shift the way that I was approaching my career. It sounds wild to say now, given what I do for a living, but it really was the first time that I had ever thought about my career through the lens of doing what I enjoyed doing and what I was good at doing. It was a bit of a novel concept for me. Um, and I realized I had values around connection and service and impact that weren't being honored in my role, which is why I felt so misaligned and unfulfilled. And so fast forward just a bit, I landed at the National Basketball Association, where I served as in-house counsel for the Global Partnerships Group, which was incredibly aligned for me in that season of my life and career. But when I landed there, I had so many people reach out and share their stories with me. They shared that they felt stuck and unfulfilled and they didn't know what a path forward could look like. And I thought, huh, if I had this experience, and now I'm talking to all of these people who are having a very similar experience, clearly there's a need here. There's a gap that hasn't been filled. Um, and this was back in 2017 before coaching was what it is today. Now it's much more widely accessible, but then it was really only available to senior executives, to partners within law firms. It wasn't readily available to folks who were in the early to mid-career phase. And so I decided to get certified as a coach, initially not thinking I would make a career out of it, but just out of a genuine passion and curiosity and desire to help. And it just was the most, was and is the most rewarding and fulfilling and energizing work I had ever done. And the rest is history. It took the leap in 2022 and haven't looked back.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

I love that. I'm sure so many people watching are maybe having that whisper right now. I love how you talked about being a whisper turning into a scream. And then when you start hearing that scream, it'd be time to really start taking, taking some, you know, making some moves there, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Exactly. Exactly. That's how you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Now you speak a lot about exceptional alignment and helping women and men uncover their full potential. What would you say alignment means for someone running their own business?

First Steps: Slow Down And Reflect

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Yeah, such a good question. So you know you're moving in alignment when your values, your goals, and your actions are all moving in the same direction. And what I call exceptional alignment is an even higher bar. So it's a fundamental identity shift, a leadership identity shift from chasing perfection and external validation to focusing on creating meaningful impact with clarity and confidence and in a way that feels true to who you are and what you care about. So in practice, it looks like having a business that fuels you instead of drains you. It looks like having working relationships from your internal team to your partnerships, to your client relationships that are authentic and connected and energizing. It looks like building a version of success that feels true to who you are and what you care about. And that takes work, right? It sounds simple, but it means often making really hard decisions and saying no to things that don't feel aligned with the vision that you have for yourself and for your business. And you know when you're moving in alignment because you can feel it. You feel clear and you feel confident and you feel energized. I remember being in roles that weren't aligned for me and I felt it in my body. Um, I felt depleted. I felt exhausted. I remember the last vacation I took before I pivoted to full-time entrepreneurship. I remember sitting on the plane and crying, real tears, because I was just so filled with dread at the thought of stepping back into this life that didn't feel aligned for me anymore. Um, and so when you're moving in alignment, you feel excited. You look at your calendar for the week ahead and you feel excited about what's to come, uh excited about the people you get to work with and the work that you get to do. And that doesn't mean that there aren't bad days and that there aren't challenges. There certainly are, but there's just a fundamentally different feeling when you're moving in alignment.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Yeah, I think there's so many people right now that feel the way that you felt on that plane and probably just don't even know where to start. So I'm so glad we're having this conversation. It's so important. Um, founders are driven, high achievers that are doing so much. How do you help someone who has the skill set and the drive, but maybe they don't feel, maybe they do feel unfulfilled and stuck, you know?

SPEAKER_02 6:43

It's a great question. So the the first step, and this is so counterintuitive, especially for high achievers, is to slow down. Many of us are wearing so many different hats, and we're juggling so many different things, and we're trying not to drop any of the balls. Um, and we're being pulled in a lot of different directions. And it's really hard to be thoughtful and intentional if you're not giving yourself space to think. So, step one is really just slowing down and checking in with yourself, getting clear about what's working and what's not working, what's energizing me and what's draining me. And just noticing as you move through your day, through your week, um, what those things are for you. I'm actually a really big proponent of journaling. Um, and morning pages is a practice that I heavily leaned into when I was searching for clarity in my career. Um, and so every morning, first thing in the morning, I would set a timer for 20 minutes and I'd find a cozy spot in my apartment. I was in New York at the time, um, and I would just stream of consciousness write down whatever was in my mind. So all of my thoughts, all of my fears, all of my doubts, all my ideas, getting them from out of my head and onto a piece of paper was so clarifying and so grounding. And so finding a practice that works for you that gives you space to really slow down and look inward is a really important first step. The second step is a values audit. So getting really clear on what your core values are, what are the things that matter most to you? I'd say 10 times out of 10, when someone comes to me and they're feeling stuck and unfulfilled, it's because they're moving in a way that doesn't align with their core values. And so getting really clear on what those are for you is a really important step. And then the final step I'd say is to give yourself space and a mission and permission to imagine what a more aligned life and career could look like for you. If you could wave a magic wand and make the career of your dreams or the business of your dreams appear, what would that look like? Um, if you could build anything, what would that be? And it sounds so simple, but so often I connect with women who haven't given themselves the space to really think about that, or maybe they thought about it, but haven't ever voiced it out loud. Because as soon as you begin to come up with this aligned vision, the voice of fear chimes in and gives you all the reasons why you can't do the thing that you want to do, or why you shouldn't, or why you're not enough. Right? So fear is is a feature of this as well. But often it discourages people, and so we don't give ourselves the space to really think about what we want.

Values, Vision & Fear

SPEAKER_01 9:05

No, it's I think number three is probably one of the hardest things. Like you said, it sounds easy, but it's really one of the most difficult because we're constantly constantly looking for that outside validation. And are we enough? We need other things and people to say that we are, but until we are inside, I know that's a mindset shift that has to happen internally before you can really make that big leap, like you did, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Yeah, so it really is. So talk to us about the power of community. I know that for high-achieving women, a lot of times we feel like those connections might not be as connecting. They might be more like just a contact. So, what can we do to make sure that we're finding genuine support and accountability?

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Yeah, another great question. So, so two things. I think the first is a mindset shift away from networking, which can be such a loaded word for so many people, and into relationship building, really setting the intention of building genuine relationships that aren't transactional, that aren't about what you can get out of it, but really focusing on connecting with someone just as a human. Um, entrepreneurship can be so isolating. It really is a beautiful journey, but it's also a challenging one. And I think perfectionism comes in here a little bit. Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to look like we have it all together all the time, to look like we have all the answers and that we have it all figured out. But no one does. Um, and wearing that mask is first of all exhausting, incredibly exhausting. Um, but secondly, it blocks you from the genuine support and connection that you want. People can't support you if they don't know what you're going through. Um, and this is something I've struggled with too. But what I've noticed is that the more open I've been about my own challenges, about the times my perfectionism has gotten the best of me, or the boundaries I've struggled to hold, or the moments I question my decisions, it gives other permission to other people permission to do the same. And so leadership, entrepreneurship has become less lonely for me, not because the challenges have gone away, but because I don't feel like I have to carry it all alone. I allow myself to be supported by others the same way that I support others. And so I think that's a fundamental shift that has a big, big impact.

Community Over Networking

SPEAKER_01 11:19

I think bringing up the perfectionism thing was so important because I think probably more than 90% of the people watching have that same issue. I struggle with it. I'm trying to, you know, let go of some of some of it, like you just mentioned. But gosh, what do you talk to what do you tell people that are struggling with that, with being having, you know, it's not things aren't getting done because you're waiting for them to be perfect.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Yes, this comes up constantly in my work with with high achieving women, and it's a journey that I have navigated myself. I think that so often we believe that our success is contingent on always getting it right. That if we're perfect, then we can prove that we're worthy, that we're competent, that we matter, that we deserve a seat at the table. But at the end of the day, perfectionism isn't actually about excellence, right? Excellence is about the work, but perfectionism is about our worth. And so when we're operating from a space of perfectionism, we're trying to prove something. And it keeps us focused on all the wrong things, particularly as business owners, when you're moving from perfectionism, you are focused on external validation. You're focused on the optics. You're not focused on the impact that you want to create. You're spending your time doing the things around the fringes to make other people happy, to make it look like you have it together, but you're not spending your time and energy on the things that will actually move the needle for you. And so I think getting really clear on, I call it your brand of perfectionism. Everyone has their own brand of perfectionism, but that is one of the first and most powerful steps to releasing your perfectionism. So getting really clear on what does perfectionism look like for me. For some people, it looks like procrastination. For some people, it looks like people pleasing. For some, it looks like, you know, attention to every detail and not being able to delegate and really getting into the weeds all the time, right? It looks a little bit different for different people. And so when you're able to kind of pinpoint what perfectionistic patterns are showing up for you and what they're costing you, where they're getting in your way, then that gives you the space to really shift it, right? You can't shift what you can't see. And so the first step is seeing it really clearly, building that awareness and then releasing it.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

That's great advice. And I'm gonna take it myself because I haven't really thought about pinpointing exactly where it's coming from or what the specific thing is that I'm looking for. I know so many roads lead to I'm looking for validation, but it might not be that. It might be something else. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Of course. Thanks for asking.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Now, you work with a lot of women looking to scale. Um, what's been one of the toughest barriers that you've seen women facing when trying to move from that doing the business to leading and scaling a business?

Perfectionism: See It To Shift It

SPEAKER_02 14:01

Yes, so perfectionism comes up there again. But relatedly, it's it's delegation, or more specifically, an inability to delegate effectively. So often we feel like, and I'm guilty of this thought too. If you want something done right, do it yourself, right? So we think we have to have our hands in all of the things in order to do things right, in order for our business to grow and to scale. But actually, that's the thing that's blocking our business from growing and scaling. And so it's really important that we're able to take a step back and empower the people who we're working with to lead, to lead in their own zones of genius. Um, and so two shifts in particular have been supportive for me here. Um, first is clarity on what my zone of genius is, what is the best and highest use of my time. Um, for me, that's strategic vision. It's creating frameworks, it's the highest value coaching and partnerships. Everything else is where my team gets to shine. And they often do it better because they're bringing different perspectives and different strengths in their own areas of expertise. Um and the second piece is it comes from Dan Martell, but it's the 80% rule. So if a teammate can do something 80% as well as I would, I delegate it. Because waiting for someone who can do something exactly like you would will keep you stuck in the weeds every time. So it's really about giving your creating an exceptional business is about giving your team permission and space to be exceptional themselves, right? That that is where those exponential gains come from. It's not from having your hands and everything, it's from being able to trust and let go and to focus your time and energy on the things that are gonna move the needle most for you.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah, such a difficult thing, but a necessary and critical thing that needs to be done. So for sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

There are probably a lot of people watching or listening right now that are balancing business growth as well as life demands. What advice would you give on how to prioritize without really losing yourself in the process?

Delegation And The 80 Percent Rule

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Yeah, this is such an important question, and I'm so glad you're talking about this. Um, getting clear on your rubber balls and your crystal balls is the most important thing you can do here. And what I mean by that is your rubber balls are made of rubber. If you drop them, they bounce back, right? They're recoverable. Crystal balls are made of glass. If you drop them, they'll shatter. So it's really important to get clear on what's rubber and what's crystal, right? The crystal balls are often your health. Maybe it's an important relationship. Maybe again, it's the strategic work that you can, that only you can do. Maybe it's your well-being. Um, but the event that's on your calendar that you feel obligated to attend, but that's not going to move the needle for you, that's a rubber ball. The project that sounds impressive but doesn't align with your vision, that's a rubber ball. Um, and so, you know, we put so much pressure on ourselves to do it all and to have it all perfectly figured out. But when I got clear on my rubber balls versus my crystal balls, I stopped feeling guilty about what I wasn't doing because I knew what I was protecting. Every no gave me space to say yes that something that was actually to say yes to something that was actually aligned for me. Um, and the hard truth of the matter is that we don't have unlimited capacity. And that's not a weakness, it's just reality. And so it's really important that we're being intentional about what we're saying yes to and that we're doing those things really, really well and letting go of the rest.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

I love that analogy. I think that's so clear. It's good. It's good. So scaling is very exciting because you've come so far and you're at that place where you can start to scale, but it can be scary as well. What advice would you give to those that might be feeling vulnerable or uncertain about the next level of business? What can they what can you do to keep from that doubt that's creeping in?

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Yeah, it's a great question. So I think it's important to know and understand that fear, that doubt, is a feature of the process and not a bug. It doesn't mean that you're doing something wrong. In fact, it often means that you're doing something right. Because when you're stepping into the next level of your business or your leadership, you're doing something that's inherently uncomfortable, right? You're stretching yourself outside of your comfort zone, you're likely doing something you haven't done before, and that can feel really risky. And that sense of risk and uncertainty triggers fear. And so instead of focusing on your fear, focus on what it is that you're committed to. What is your big vision? What's the thing that you're working towards that's bigger than you? And letting that fuel you. And the more that you focus on that and you take aligned steps, even if they're baby steps, right? Sometimes we think that we have to make these big dramatic shifts and overhaul everything overnight. But often the most growth and momentum comes from taking consistent, tiny steps. Um, so let that fuel you. And that the more that you focus on that, the more you focus on your vision and the thing you're committed to that's bigger than you, the more quiet that voice of fear and self-doubt becomes. You notice that you build confidence as you take action. Um, so don't put pressure on yourself to feel fearless or to assume that if you feel fear that you're doing something wrong. Instead, let that fuel you, let your commitment fuel you. Um, and you'll you'll notice a big shift.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Yeah, trust the process, right? Because those baby steps are part of the process too. I know I struggle with that one too, because I'm like, I just want it done now. We live in this instant gratification world where everything comes to us when we want it. And sometimes you just have to trust the process. Start with one step at a time.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Yeah, exactly. Important.

Rubber Balls Vs Crystal Balls

SPEAKER_01 19:29

A lot of founders look successful on paper, and they're actually very successful from a business standpoint, but they feel disconnected inside. Why do you think so many of us end up performing success instead of experiencing it?

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Yes, I think many of us end up performing success because we've been conditioned to optimize, to move in search of external validation rather than internal alignment. And so we learned very early on that success meant checking certain boxes, going to the right school, getting the right job, hitting the right revenue milestone. And for some time that works, right? We achieve the things that we're supposed to achieve. And from the outside, it looks like we're winning. But often we get so good at meeting other people's definitions of success that we lose touch with our own somewhere along the way. So we build businesses that look really impressive but feel hollow. We hit milestones that should feel joyful, but instead it's just right on to the next goal. We find ourselves on what I call the achievement hamster wheel. And so the shift from performing success to actually experiencing success requires us to get really honest about what success looks like for us personally. And that goes back to your values. What's important to you? What lights you up? What's the impact that you want to create? And it's not until we get clear on what that vision is that we can actually live into it.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

I love this conversation. I really appreciate all the time that you've given us. I would like to ask you one more question. Um, you're always giving advice. What is uh what's been the best advice that you've received?

Scaling With Doubt And Baby Steps

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Oh, that's a great question. Um I think the piece around staying focused on my commitment. What it what is it that I am committed to? What is what am I here to do? What's my purpose? What drives me? Um, and allowing my confidence to be derived from that. Because confidence can feel so elusive. Um, sometimes we don't really know where to find it. We don't know what it feels like to be confident or how to become confident. But I've found that staying clear on our commitment, which we get that clarity from slowing things down, from turning within, from getting clear on our values and the impact that we want to create, all things that are within our control, that is where you derive confidence. And so I think taking the pressure off of myself to just magically wake up one day and feel confident and instead understanding what confidence actually is and what it comes from has really transformed the way that I show up in my business.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

So important for women. To hear that. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Of course. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

This has been great, like I said. Um, we'd love to have you on again in the future to talk more about this. Dominique, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been some great, great, great advice and a great conversation. A very important one.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

Yes, thank you so much for having me. I've really enjoyed chatting with you.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

This is the Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur, Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN. If you're a female founder and would like to help other female founders with your inspiring story, we would love to hear from you.