55: From Corporate to Coaching: Betting on Yourself | Women and Work

Doing everything “right” in your career but still feeling like something’s missing, you start questioning if this path is really yours.

That’s exactly where Carmelina Piedra found herself—after 25 years climbing the corporate ladder, leading teams, and building a stable career. But when the pandemic hit, balancing work, homeschooling, and raising three kids as an only parent pushed her to a breaking point.

Instead of waiting for things to get easier, she made a bold move—leaving security behind to fully commit to her passion for coaching.

Now, as the founder of My Growth Hub and Career Coaching Pro, she helps others build meaningful careers on their own terms.

What would it take for you to choose flexibility over security?

Struggling to find the right child care? Get a video interview of your ideal nanny at https://www.momsub.com/child-care-options

If you want to learn how to start your own coaching business, check out Carmelina’s guidance at https://www.careercoachingpro.com/.

#WomenAndWork #CareerGrowth #WorkingMoms #Entrepreneurship #CareerChange

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I think working moms are always going to have challenges in the fact that your kids need you, right? At certain hours of certain days, right? So I have one son right now that's in college, so he's a little bit more independent, but then I have my daughter who needs to start driving. And I need to find time to do that, to take her out for practicing. So I can't do that when it's dark, I can't do that when it's raining, I can't do that when it's snowing because she's learning to drive. So how do I find time to put that into my schedule? Also, I have my youngest daughter who's playing cello and volleyball. And so there are times at the end of the workday, right? I would normally be working in corporate where I might have to leave early or work from home so that I can go and pick her up and drop her off. In this case, I have a little bit more flexibility as a coach to be able to do that. So as they get older, you know, I have less and less of a need for assistance or care. But I've always had a sitter or a nanny that was helping me throughout my entire career, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Welcome to Women and Work, the show where we take an inside look at how women are overcoming our own unique challenges as we grow our careers or build a business while nurturing relationships and family. I'm Diane Mocha, founder and CEO of MomSub, the childcare app that connects you to a substitute mom. And I want you to know that work can fit your life. Each week we meet a woman who has done that. And today I'm with Carmelina Piedra. She's the founder of My Growth Hub and Career Coaching Pro. She started in graphic design, doing that about 10 years, and moved into user experience roles for about another 10 years until she became a coach. She took the leap to start her own business five years ago, and now she helps others to launch and grow their coaching career. Thank you so much for being here, Carmelina.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Thank you so much, Diane. It's so nice to be here. Thank you for welcoming me here and what a great setup that you have. Thank you. Yeah, I'm glad you got to take a tour.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

So I see you've had a lot of movement in your career as you kind of rose up the corporate ladder. I wonder if you were ever feeling like you were affected by the glass ceiling and what you think was the biggest challenge you faced in your career because you are a woman.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I do think that there are aspects of that, definitely, especially in technology when you're working with engineers and people that are more masculine when they go into masculine roles for sure. But I was actually a director for 15 years before I decided to pull the trigger and do coaching full-time. So I did go up the ladder to a certain degree. I realized that I loved managing people, and coaching is just an extension of that. So it was a natural fit for me.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

So did you face difficulties in trying to move up? I mean, you were in graphic design, which is probably um a good mix of men and women, you know, or did you find that there were more men at the top, like in so many fields?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Well, I had a manager that I used to work with that was a female. She was my first manager outside of my undergrad, and she was incredible. She was also Latina. Um I'm Italian, but she was Latina, and she was a great role model for me. So I felt like I had female and male managers as I moved up for sure, but I did get my master's degree, which really helped me get into user experience design, which was a natural progression from graph design. So that was something that helped me definitely.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

So when you were younger, did you have some big ultimate goal, you know, getting to the C-suite or having your own business? And how did your career progress in a way you expected and didn't expect?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

My mom actually always told me to do whatever made me happy, and that's what I use with my clients as well. So it's all about your passions, what you feel most comfortable doing. That's where you're gonna make the money, is where you're doing things that you love. I was a great artist growing up, but I knew that I couldn't necessarily go into art, you know, traditional art like sculpting or photography or something like that. So I actually combined business and design together and got a great career out of it, but I didn't really know that that's what I was getting into back then. I just combined the two aspects and then came up with user experience design. So I I got really lucky in in having mentors that I had very, very younger in my career helping me figure out what those things could have been and how that could help me in my career in the future.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

So you said I couldn't be an an artist, a traditional artist, a sculptor or a photographer. Why not?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Well, I think just being an entrepreneur yourself, having your own business, can cause you to, you know, question whether or not you can go into that as an actual career. So that's definitely something that as an early, you know, earlier in my career, that would have been more challenging, I think, because I didn't have a lot of experience. So a lot of what we face is I need experience to get a good job, and vice versa, right? So by gaining the experience first, that opened me up to other opportunities. But now there are places like Etsy that are amazing places for traditional artists. I wish that I that would have been an option for me when I was younger for sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

So with your art passion, you wanted to do something with it, and the opportunities that were available and that others around you helped you to see were in graphic design and then eventually user experience. So you could sort of stay in that field because no one was hiring a sculptor. Right. Right? And so this was how you wanted to have a career and and get work. And then how did your career aspirations change over the years? Tell me about anything that happened in your personal life that may have had an impact on your career and the trajectory of that.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

I think very early on, I started mentoring after I got my master's degree. So that was in 2006, it's almost 20 years ago now. So that is something that made a significant impact in my coaching because I wanted to teach and coach, but I didn't want to go through the university and get a PhD. So I found that coaching was a great avenue for me to use and teach and help and grow others in their career, except I could do that now, you know, with my own business.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

And so what about, you know, your personal life? Did you get married? Did you have kids? Was this uh consideration in in your career? How did it impact your career? You know, the things that you wanted in your personal life?

SPEAKER_00 6:33

I think it's a great question. I actually was a consultant for four years, doing user experience design early in the 2000s. And I was traveling four days a week and I wanted to have kids. So what I ended up doing was leaving consulting behind, even though I loved it. I worked for a number of different companies and was traveling four days a week, and I just knew it was not an option for me to be traveling nationwide and I would be far away from the kids. So I decided to go into government, which was a huge adjustment going from consulting to government. Um, but I thought that would give me the work-life balance that I needed in order to be able to have kids and have the flexibility for home life.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Did it work?

SPEAKER_00 7:16

It did, yeah, it did.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Um, I could clock out a little easier when it's time to go, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:22

100%. I also had a micropremie at the time. So my daughter was born four months early.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Four months.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Yes, she was she was in the NICU for four months. Yeah. And so my second child, I thankfully was able to have some more work-life balance. I was able to take some time off, obviously, to um to be with her. But once I went back to work, I had that flexibility that I needed. Um, I did have a sitter at the time too, which was really helpful. But yes, that was a really big turning point for me.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

So tell me about child care. You know, that's something that um many women struggle with, you know, trying to figure out, you know, who's gonna watch my child, you know, how am I gonna find the right care? You know, is it gonna last? You know, did you know and and research and figure out, okay, this is exactly what I want to do with when it comes to child care, and did it all work out or did it create some challenges?

SPEAKER_00 8:16

So we did use an app. Um, it was an app that we had back then for Northside childcare. Um, I'm forgetting the name of it right now, but um in the city. So I find that finding help in the city is actually a lot easier than finding help in the suburbs. I will say that much. A lot of mothers in the suburbs aren't always working. So they are stay-at-home moms, and so I find that it's just much, much easier to find help in the city. So um for me, I was able to find a couple of nannies that helped me, and they were some of the most amazing nannies that I've ever had through those apps. But, you know, that was before a lot of the technology was out that, you know, they just had it was it was almost like a um classified ads for nannies back then. You know, it wasn't very user-friendly, and it was just a way to kind of get referrals from other mothers that were able to, you know, tell you whether or not you should be hiring this. For me, it was all about can I trust this nanny? Are they going to be able to support me in a way that makes sense? Um and trust is a huge thing, obviously, when you're a parent, right? You want to find childcare that you know they're gonna be dependable, they're gonna show up on time, they're going to take care of their children as their own, right? And so getting referrals from parents was a huge factor for me back then. Absolutely. During COVID, there was a turning point. Um, when I was in the suburbs, I moved back to um closer to my parents, and everybody was staying at home with their kids. And that was a really, really challenging time. I wasn't able to find anyone to watch my kids because a lot of mothers were able to leave their jobs behind and stay at home with their kids so they could homeschool them. So I that was a one major player and reason why I ended up pulling the trigger to do coaching. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

So did you actually quit your job during the pandemic because I you were struggling to you were trying to work from home. You were trying to monitor your kids and make sure they were doing school. Yes. You were struggling every day, like so many parents were, and it a lot of that burden fell on the moms, and you just said something's not working here. I gotta I mean, you knew the pandemic was gonna end. Was this something you had already been thinking about?

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Well, I had been mentoring on the side as a side hustle in coaching and teaching for about 15 years at this point. And I also don't know if you know, but I'm an only parent of three kids. Okay. So you're a single mom. Yes. Well, only parent. Meaning, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:55

What's the difference between a single mom and an only parent?

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Single mom is, you know, you might have 50-50, you might share. I have a hundred percent of my children all the time. So during COVID, that was really challenging. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

And how many children?

SPEAKER_00 11:09

I have three.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Three kids. And how old were they during COVID five years ago?

SPEAKER_00 11:13

My youngest was in kindergarten. And I remember she had a little shopping cart that she put her babies in, you know, her little dolls. And she put her computer on top of the shopping cart and would push it around, and that was like her, you know, homeschool.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

And how old were the other two?

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Um, let's see. I think I had uh some uh one in fifth grade and then another one in third. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

And you've been doing that by yourself for ten years. Wow. Yes. That's a lot. So you felt uh you had no choice, you had to work. Yes. Right? You're the sole provider. Absolutely. You're the sole caregiver. Yes. Uh did you have family help?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

I was home, yes. Um, my parents are a little bit older, so there are five kids in my family, but my mom did help me a little bit here and there. Um, but I was really struggling finding anyone in the suburbs to help me at that point because a lot of mothers were, you know, they were afforded the opportunity to be able to stay at home and not work.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

And so you decided, you know, you had been doing this on the side and you had been making money on the side doing this. Yes. So you knew that it was a viable option. Yes. And when things just weren't working out, were you unhappy with your job in any way? Do you think it would have happened regardless of the pandemic? And and what do you think now looking back on that, you know, that it sort of pushed you in this direction?

SPEAKER_00 12:30

It absolutely pushed me into that direction. It was very risky at the time, but I said if I'm not going to do it now, I'm I'm never gonna do it. So I bit the bullet and it's been five years now.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

And how did you manage? Like a lot of businesses don't make a lot of money in the first couple years, you know, you left something safe and secure, right? And you had three mouths to feed. So how did you find the courage to do that? And how long did it take until you felt like maybe this is the right decision?

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Well, I always knew it was the right decision because it was my passion. So I knew I was going to be successful at it regardless of what I did. But yes, absolutely it was risky. I'm used to getting a paycheck for 25 years. And so having your own business is definitely, you know, it's challenging at times, but I put my fingers and toes into a lot of different places so that, you know, I can kind of work up or down wherever I need. So, you know, I might be teaching for an organization, coaching for my own business, and doing a lot of different types of things like that so that I make sure that there's ebbs and flows and I can handle those as they come.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Did you have naysayers around you? People who are like, you're crazy, you shouldn't do that. You know, you're the responsible parent for these kids, you know, family, friends, advisors, um, even colleagues or bosses saying, no, no, no, you don't want to do that. Or was everyone supportive in your life?

SPEAKER_00 13:53

I think everyone was mostly supportive. I I think that I, you know, there's all obviously imposter syndrome, right? Everyone thinks like, oh my gosh, what could potentially happen? But I had a business plan and I decided there was no other option, right? My kids really needed me at the time. And so I was able to take the risk.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

So you have this coaching business, career coaching pro, and you're growing it and you're enjoying it, and you're making money, and then you decide to do this whole separate thing, create a tech startup. Yes. And we know that's how we met. That's a really challenging world, you know, where there's an expectation you're gonna be losing money. Doesn't mean you have to, but you know, you're gonna put investment into building technology. Of course, you have the tech skills. Maybe you were building some of that yourself. Yes. But why take the leap with that when the other things you were doing were working?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Well, again, I like to put my hands in a lot of different places. And so I thought, you know, in addition to having individuals and businesses that I'm working with, I might as well also work with coaches to help them grow their businesses and share with them all the things that I learned in my five-year journey of becoming successful. Coaches, unfortunately, leave it behind because there's admin-related tasks, there's a lot of things that they're doing on their own, getting leads. Um, it's challenging. As you know, as an entrepreneur, you're doing a lot of different kinds of things. And by the way, your website is amazing. I took a look at it.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

And I know that you've put a lot into the technology and the website. So congratulations on that.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Thanks. And the app. Yes. That was a long, hard journey to get the app into the app store and Google Play and to have, you know, customers. And, you know, it it's it's what fuels me is knowing that we're helping moms out there. And absolutely you know that you're help, you know, most of your clients or all of your clients are women.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Um, I would say the majority are for sure. Um, but I do have men that come to me that need assistance in finding a new role or upskilling or getting promoted or learning how to manage better. So I think coaching is becoming a household term now.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Oh, yeah. I I almost feel like it's getting oversaturated. I mean, there's so much out there saying, hey, just become a coach, charge people a lot of money, and then don't worry about, you know, having to have a job anymore. Obviously, that it's not simple like that. And, you know, you want to have certifications and know what you're doing. Absolutely. But how do you deal with this idea that like every other person seems to be a coach now?

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Mm-hmm. I think certification and trust, um, also looking at client recommendations is really important to make sure that you are going to get some some sort of service and something in the end that's going to actually help you, right? So looking at those client reviews can be really helpful.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Why would someone decide that coaching is for them instead of maybe, you know, therapy, you know, um, you know, because there's coaches out there that will help you, you know, to really focus in on what you want in the same way therapy might, or that they might want to, you know, have a friend group or join an organization where they meet mentors and advisors, you know. What are the different ways that that these fill different niches and and why is coaching something that many people are drawn to and ends up helping them?

SPEAKER_00 17:24

So coaches really help people stay accountable, and we give them different options for their pathway forward. So it's really up to them to take those tools and then act on them. But career counselors are very, very different as an example, or therapists, right? There might be something underlying that we're not certified to help them with that is causing the issues that they're encountering. So it's gonna inhibit them in making that progress that a coach can help them with.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

So you would recognize that and refer someone elsewhere. Okay. Yes. So did you have a coach in your life that made a difference? And did that have any influence on why you went into this or pursued it and opened multiple businesses now in this field?

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Absolutely. Mentors are important for everyone, even coaches, right? To help us, and you want to make sure that you have somebody who has a little bit more experience than you do. That's the challenging part. Um, for me, I have 20 years now, but yes, absolutely. Everyone should have a coach or a mentor to help them grow.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

So, where were you in your life when a coach came along that made a difference? Like what specifically was going on? What were you grappling with and how did they help?

SPEAKER_00 18:35

So, in my past in corporate, it was always a teacher or a manager that kind of was in that actual position to help me and support me and help me grow. But I'm finding that now, because companies are short-staffed, managers are not performing those duties any longer. They're focused on the work and not necessarily helping people grow. So that a coach can actually help with that gap, right? And so I think in if I was in the work field today, I might be able to work with a coach that was outside of my actual organization. But for me, I've always had mentors that were teachers or managers to help me in the past.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

And so all of the change that you've made from having to report to a boss and a workplace and follow their rules to just winging it and doing it on your own and having that flexibility. What has it meant for you as a working mom?

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Well, I think working moms always are going to have challenges in the fact that your kids need you, right? At certain hours of certain days, right? So I have one son right now that's in college, so he's a little bit more independent. But then I have my daughter who needs to start driving. And I need to find time to do that, to take her out for practicing. So I can't do that when it's dark. I can't do that when it's raining, I can't do that when it's snowing because she's learning to drive. So how do I find time to put that into my schedule? Also, I have my youngest daughter who's playing cello and volleyball. And so there are times at the end of the workday, right? I would normally be working in corporate where I might have to leave early or work from home so that I can go and pick her up and drop her off. In this case, I have a little bit more flexibility as a coach to be able to do that. So as they get older, you know, I have less and less of a need uh for assistance or care. But I've always had a sitter or a nanny that was helping me throughout my entire career. And I wouldn't have been able to do it without.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

And so how did you end up, you know, uh finding the tools that helped you to vet to make sure you had the right person, or did you just rely on knowing that those references were there and that was the important thing?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

For me, the references were critical, critical. And I think that that was really helpful. Um, I know that you have videos as an example, and that is something that I wish that I would have had because I spent a lot of time connecting with people that had worked with other sitters and nannies. And so you have to have those conversations, you have to build rapport, and then you have to have a conversation about it. But with these videos, that really shortens that conversation quite a bit. And I love that you've added that as a feature.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Thank you. You know, that um from our perspective, when you said shorten is one of the main things, is it it can take a family 30 hours, yes, you know, over weeks to find the right care. And they end up spending time scheduling interviews and then people ghost them, and it's very um discouraging. And so to be able to just watch a video with someone that you already know fits your criteria and is available and interested um has been a you know game changer for some of our um clients, and and it makes us happy knowing that we've saved them that time that they can then spend with their children or on their career or getting coaching or doing something that's gonna be meaningful in in their life. How do you think that having your own business and doing something that you care about and helping others is different than having a job where you're contributing to a business or government agency for the greater good?

SPEAKER_00 22:12

I think that in many cases you can work for organizations that are helping people. I'm a human-centered designer, right? So everything goes back to the customer and how are we going to help them, right? There's healthcare, there's insurance. You're always helping people save money, make money, or in healthcare be healthy as an example, right? Um, so many times you're in a position where you are helping people. Um, but when you're coaching or when you have your own business, you are more closely tied to that customer and the well-being of those people and really helping to provide. And so you're a little bit closer to those customers, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

So, what's your next step with My Growth Hub?

SPEAKER_00 22:55

So, My Growth Hub right now, we've been bootstrapping. So, we've been building the site for about three years. Uh, and that means having a team of designers, researchers, and developers that have been helping us kind of build the site over time. And we are right now, we've launched MVP. We're still trying to work out a little bit of the kinks as far as the development goes. And as you know, there's that's always going to be happening. It's something that you're gonna be dealing with, you know, for a very long time. But I've been using my experience as a designer and researcher to help me come up with products and services within that actual website to give coaches what they need to start and grow their businesses. So that's kind of where we are right now.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

So, how's that process been for you? You know, that's a long time, several years, you know, to have a vision for something and then, you know, to have that patience to to wade it through. Some people might have given up by then or might have pivoted. You know, what what keeps you going and and how has that process been? You know, what have the ups and downs been like?

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Yeah. So in technology, as I've learned as a designer, you are always adapting to the technology that's out today, right? So right now we're thinking about how are we going to pull AI into the platform in order to help coaches be more self-sufficient and help their customers in that way, right? So we didn't have that as much three years ago, even though AI has been out since the 60s. But so you're constantly evolving the product. So you have an ideal state design, you're building towards that, but you always need to pivot based on the technologies that are out there. You always have a vision, right? In our case, we always had a vision and we always were working toward the North Star, but we have to be flexible and nimble as we're building the product to make sure that we're taking in consideration all of the needs of the users, which may change over time, and or the technologies that are coming as well.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

So you've done all these different things. If you could go back to a time in the past, any time, you know, during your career or life and and change something, knowing then what you know now, what what would that be? What would the most important thing be that you would change?

SPEAKER_00 25:01

I think I would have started my coaching business sooner.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

I hear so many women say that.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

I wish I would have. Because it is really something that is, you know, there's risks involved with it. They're calculated risks, in my opinion. Um, but I think that it is so fruitful and so rewarding to work and help people and be helping individuals grow that I wish I would have done it a lot sooner.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

And you've got to love the flexibility, right? And being your own boss. Yes. You know, it's it's more pressure, but it it's a relief of knowing that you're calling the shots. And if something's not working, you can make a decision. You don't have to ask anybody, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

And it's one of the reasons that a lot of women want to have that control and go into coaching. And we appreciate all that you shared with us today about why it's been important for you and and for others. And if you were inspired by today's story, we want you to share it with a friend, leave a review, or subscribe to meet our next amazing guest. If you or anyone you know is struggling to find the right child care, check out momsub's free webinar that guides families through the steps to find and keep trusted, reliable childcare at momsub.com slash webinar. That's momsub like a substitute mom. You can connect with momsub on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn. Our mission is for you to discover what you want in life, like Carmelina did. Pursue it with intensity, reach out for help when needed, and fulfill your dream, reducing your stress, guilt, and self-criticism, and increasing your calm, confidence, and clarity along the way. Remember, your career, your choices, and your success are yours to define. So keep pushing boundaries and spreading your love and encouragement to other women who need it.