Preventing Burnout with Career Clarity while Having Faith, with Ashley Powell

Feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or burned out in your career—even though you’re doing everything “right”? 

In this powerful episode, Ashley Powell reveals why burnout isn’t always about working too hard—it’s often about lacking clarity, alignment, and direction. She breaks down how to reconnect with your purpose, identify what truly fulfills you, and build a career path that actually fits your life—not drains it. Through real talk and practical insight, you’ll discover how faith, intentional decision-making, and career clarity can help you move from survival mode into a place of confidence, impact, and long-term success. If you’ve been questioning your next move, feeling exhausted in your current role, or wondering if there’s something more for you—this episode is your wake-up call to reset, realign, and move forward with purpose.

About Ashley Powell

Ashley Powell is the founder and owner of Connections Career Planning & Services, where she specializes in helping individuals connect to their ideal careers with clarity and confidence. Through her firm, she offers resume development, career coaching, interview preparation, job search strategies, and professional development workshops—equipping her clients with the tools they need to stand out and succeed in today’s competitive job market. Her personalized approach ensures that every individual she works with is not only prepared, but empowered to take ownership of their career journey.

In addition to her business, Ashley serves as a Non-Profit Project Manager, where she leads workforce development initiatives and creates awareness around high-demand, high-paying career opportunities for underrepresented communities. She is passionate about breaking down barriers to employment and helping individuals access sustainable, meaningful career paths that lead to economic mobility and long-term stability.

Ashley holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public and Non-Profit Administration from Grand Valley State University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Phoenix. With over a decade of experience in professional development, she has dedicated her career to serving diverse populations through coaching, education, and large-scale workforce initiatives. Her mission is simple but powerful: to ensure that every individual has the knowledge, tools, and belief needed to build a fulfilling and successful career.

Connect with Ashley and take the next step in your career journey:

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coachash8
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connections_career_ps
Website: https://www.connectionscareerplanning.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Unapologetic Leadership. If you've felt stressed, overwhelmed, wrestling with the imposter syndrome, wondering if you're just not good enough, then this podcast is for you. So here's your host, Corey Dunham.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Welcome to this episode of Unapologetic Leadership. I'm your host, Corey Dunham, and I have here Ashley Powell, who is a career strategist, workforce development leader, speaker, founder, and connections career planning and services and defined app creator. So welcome, Ashley.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

I'm happy to be here. Thank you, Corey, for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yes, you're so welcome. You're so welcome. So tell us about what you do and how you serve people.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Yes. And so currently as a career strategist, I own Connections Career Planning and Services, where I help individuals kind of have some career clarity. I also make sure that they have professional development documents prepared, such as resumes and having a LinkedIn post and then also having a career plan because that's extremely important with career clarity. And so that's one of the aspects as a career strategist. Another portion, I am a workforce development leader. So I work with nonprofits to do some talent pipeline building. So as you kind of see, I play in that intersection of career development and workforce development. And so I connect with education, industry, as well as community organizations to make sure that that workforce ecosystem is working together to build those talent pipelines into high-demand, high-paying careers. And then aside from that, I have recently and is still working on it, by the way, my app called Defined App. And essentially I realized that AI was coming down a turnpike with certain rules and things that are happening. And so I said, okay, how can I be ahead of the curve? So my defined app is essentially me in an app, what I provide in an app. So essentially, yeah. So aside from being able to run my own professional firm, providing career clarity and prepping professional development documents, working with nonprofits to be able to build workforce ecosystem, making sure that we're building those pipelines, developing the app, and then I also speak about career empowerment to youth and adults. So yes, very multifaceted, but still under the same umbrella.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yeah, I have a fondness for youth and just a lot of through doing Bible study for the last 34 years with junior high, high schoolers. I have come to just love that area of youth leadership and really reaching back at that, the next generation coming up and investing in them. So I think that's awesome that you're doing that as a piece of what you're sharing in terms of your value and career development and really developing people to be successful.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Yes, absolutely. I do find that being able to have those career plans and those career clarity sooner rather than later, you will be able to yield a more fulfilling life. And unfortunately, that wasn't my story. I had to go through a lot of ups and downs to finally figure out exactly where I wanted to be, but that's kind of the reason why I started these my businesses to be able to help and give back.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yeah, no, I think that's awesome. And I think it to me, it would seem like I know back, what was it? I graduated in 1986, and then I graduated college at Eastern Michigan University in 91, December of 91. So back then, that's basically right around the time when the internet became a thing. It became public. And at that time, I graduated manufacturing technology. And as I've been hearing before, as I was trying to reach out into the job world or job market, I was going to go into manufacturing of some sort, some type of leadership position or supervisory role, something. So I was learning a lot of manufacturing and industrial concepts. It wasn't the information age yet with the internet. But even then, I still had a hard time finding a job or career because they said, man, they want two years of experience and a degree in the areas I was looking at. Do you find that's the same today that just it's a difficult thing for people to find careers, or are they popping up all over all kinds of opportunities because of the internet, because of AI, because of all this technology?

SPEAKER_02 4:43

And so there's a twofold there too, Corey. And so when it comes down to having that career plan and that career clarity, sometimes industry has a difficult time aligning with the rest of the ecosystem. And so that's where you're coming out of whatever educational institution to get credentials or further your education to really get that pipeline into roles. But it's like when you get there, it's like, uh-uh, no, we need to make sure you have two years of experience and so forth and so on. And so that's essentially my role is to make sure that connection is happening. We're bridging that gap. So you're not coming out of these educational institutions not knowing where you're headed and not knowing where you're going. You know exactly what you're gonna get into, and we're bringing industries to the table to make sure, hey, let's not do the two years of experience. Let's make sure we're aligning with the credentials so that they can go straight to work. And so that is kind of a part of being in workforce development, is my role to make sure that happens. But that's what I find.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Yeah, no, that's fantastic. That's fantastic. I know my youngest child, I have three, but my youngest one, who's 18, just graduated Dexter High School, southeastern Michigan area. And I know she got a lot of work experience, and there's tech schools now, or or even the universities like Washington Community College, they can start to get credit in high school for college credits, and they allow them work transitions or getting into the space. Whereas they didn't offer that as much, I felt back when I was growing up. But I thought that is awesome because yeah, some people may want to be a doctor, a teacher, a bus driver, engineer, whatever they want to be. A homemaker, whether that's a man or a woman, doesn't matter. Um, but a lot of times you don't have the experience. What is that, as I call it, boring day-to-day gonna look like that you're gonna have to do for the next 30 or 40 years? I mean, that was back when I was graduating. Most people stay in their careers for 20 plus years. Now people may stay in an industry sometimes for maybe a few years, and they may pop in and out of different industries because technology and everything is moving so fast. But you have you found that your connection of the way things are handled today with young people and then adults moving forward, are they able to get some of that experience or feel for what it's like being in that position? Because when you're in formal school through 12th grade basically, and sometimes through college, you're learning every day, you're innovating, you're learning new things, so it's not always the same thing, you know. So some people may crave the same thing, but other people crave that. Ooh, how am I gonna stay passionate with what I'm doing? So, do you find it's better now toward keeping people's passion and definitely, as you said, you're connecting people.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Yes, I do find it that's better now because there's so many different options. Now, I think at a point of time, when it came down to connecting youth to careers, it was about what they saw. And it's still kind of the same way, right? Like, what are your parents doing? What do they kind of say, hey, these are the roles that you can get into, but that's all you knew, right? So that's where it's and whether that's your passion or not, that's what you went into. But now they're having a piece where not only allowing youth to have career exploration events to kind of see what's all out there, they also have work-based learning opportunities or apprenticeships. And then essentially, for some of the youth, too, they have it what you call a dual enrollment, career and technical education to where they're getting that exposure. And while they are learning in high school, they're also gaining those credentials into certain industries. So now they're bridging that gap. And that was not necessarily there before. You did not have that bridge, and you didn't have that opportunity to say, hey, I can be exactly what I want to be. It was just more so focused on let's get into the careers that are high paying, right? Or let's get into the careers that we absolutely know of, versus really figuring out who you is, who you are as a person and what you will be passionate about to learn more about. So I think that is shifting and it yields a better career trajectory when you are stepping into a career that you absolutely love versus just doing what everyone else is doing because you feel like, oh, your parents saying you're supposed to do this, so you'll do that. So I think that has changed tremendously over time.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

No, I think that's great. I think that's amazing. And do you find that with you said there are a lot of options out there earlier on? You said because there are a lot of options. What did you mean by that?

SPEAKER_02 9:15

So, as far as options, I mean as far as career pathways that you can take. And so there's different options that you can look into. And really now there's just you know, those career assessments that exist now that can kind of help you figure out your personality and what you truly align with, and that opens up for more options. For an example, too, Corey. I grew up where my parents weren't career coaches or resume writers or anything like that. And so I took something that I absolutely loved and turned to into a career. So sometimes what's out there is out there, but you also have the opportunity to create something. As long as there's a demand, you can always be that supply.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Yeah, yeah, I find that very interesting. Another I had a conversation with an entrepreneur the other day, but just talking about the whole idea that, as you said, if the demand's out there, that's definitely a great area to look at and how you can solve those challenges. However, like when the smartphone became a thing, and I think it was 2007 when smartphones became into existence, but the day before that, basically, there was no demand. So they had to kind of create demand, which I found very interesting. And I thought, oh my goodness, yeah, there are some people on the front edge of that. It takes a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of education, and and because of that, now we have better technology and better ways to communicate digitally, at least. And do you find that with the people that you're working with, or just this day and age, that there's a lot of people that are potentially going into business more, or is that something that you guys also help with, or is it just mostly working for another organization?

SPEAKER_02 10:58

And so what we kind of help with is being able to figure out what direction you want to go in. Rather, it's entrepreneurship or working for an organization. Servicing career changers is a huge thing right now. So I service career job seekers, career advancers, and changers. And changers are definitely, or transitioners, if you will, are very much interested in entrepreneurship as well. So we do help navigate if they want to go to another organization in the industry or if they are looking to go into entrepreneurship.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

No, I think that's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah, I just can compare me growing up, like I said, 30 years ago, pre-internet, as my kids say, Hey, what did you even do during that day? I'm like, I don't know. I don't know what we did. Yeah, we're outside, but it was dangerous because dinosaurs are walking around and crazy stuff. I I know. It's like, what are you thinking? Yeah, I've heard the joke. Some people would say, Hey man, I'm so old, I was born when the earth was cooling. Or my kids was like, hey dad, how what was it like to play with Jesus on the playground? I'm like, oh my gosh, wow. Really? Yeah, I know. But different things like that. So I think that's pretty funny. But yeah, just the uh back in the day, it was toward I think I remember talking to my guidance counselor in high school. Hey, Corey, what do you like to do? Well, I was quiet, introverted, I was a numbers guy, science guy. So engineering, or I forget some of the other areas that were there, but engineering was one of the top things. But I just thought back then I am good at those things, but I'm not passionate about. So I was like, I had no idea what I wanted to do. And it took me three and a half years at Eastern Michigan University for them to send me a postcard back then to say, hey, Corey, you need to declare a major because right now you've been here for three and a half years and you haven't declared any major. So at that time I ended up looking at all the credits I had, which are mostly math and science. And I also just in my junior senior year, since it took me five and a half years, I ended up getting a private pilot's license. So I'll come to find out, Eastern had an aviation school, and I just said, Well, let me check with them if they'll give me credit for it. And they said, Yeah, even though you took your lessons, your ground lessons, your written everything, and past all of them, you got to get a beer better. And since you took them from Ann Arbor Airport off campus. So I said, if you got beer better, we will give you credit for. I'm like, what the heck? I'm so glad I asked. So I did get a beer better. I got three credits, which gave me, I think, the exact 120 credits or whatever it was that I needed to graduate with this manufacturing technology degree. And it's funny to use the word technology before the internet. Because you're like, what kind of technology calculators? You know, those that was tech. That was tech back then. So it was funny just back then. But really looking at my skills, I it was what I was good at, but not what I was passionate about or at. So is there anything that you guys do to help people develop their passions? Because sometimes also the advice was, hey, don't, you know, one of the biggest ones in our household and my sister loved doing artistic things, drawing, creative stuff. But my parents are pretty much like, do not do that. There's no money in that, you know, unless you're a great artist who's died 100 years ago. Then there's great money in it. But they never supported that. So how do you find or do you help people with also what they're passionate with and not just good at like I was?

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Absolutely. So what we tend to do at CCPS is that we give personal assessments in that way that we can really get knee deep into who you are as a person. Because if you're an introvert, my first thought is not to say, hey, you probably want to do public speaking or so forth and so on, right? So we try to get a deep dive into our clients to really see, okay, what have you done before? What was draining you? What excited you, right? And once we kind of figure out those aspects and what skills they bring to the table, then we're able to kind of formulate a few job roles in certain industries to see if that is of interest, and then from there build a career plan that they can follow. And so that's kind of what we do to make sure that they are not just finding a role that brings in that high pay, but also making sure it's something that they're interested in as well, because there are so many different ways you can get the money at some point, but just like you were saying, how at a point in time they were like, Oh, yeah, artists, they don't necessarily make a lot of money unless they're, you know, a certain caliber. How do you think they get to that caliber, right? They start somewhere. So it's all about giving a clear plan to say, hey, may not be initial, but you keep at it. Essentially, this is where you will be. And so that's kind of what we do at at CCPS, figuring out what their passion is and then connecting a map for them to kind of follow to get there.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

I think that's awesome. And the thing I thought of when you said that, just the whole idea that, yeah, you can make good income in certain industries. It may not be what you're you like. So, in one way or another, it could create burnout in that person, just of either disinterest, too much working, because there's too many high demands when you're making that kind of income. There could be a number of different areas. But uh, do you ever deal with people in terms of burnout, or is that something maybe you don't see with how you help people to get started and connected career-wise?

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Oh, yes. We have a lot of our clients that, and sometimes, specifically in our career transitioners, they have that burnout and they're ready to switch, they're ready to change. And sometimes we got to back up a little bit, especially some of them are like, I really love what I do, but I want to transition because there's a lot going on, it's overwhelming. So then we try to talk to them about setting boundaries and making sure that they can kind of take care of themselves. But if they are extremely interested, like, no, it's not that, then we try to again go back to the basics.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Yeah, no, that's very nice. I'm sorry, didn't say that last part again.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

We go back to the basics to help them transition.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Excellent. No, I like that. Yeah, and I like that because it's to me, it sounds like very individualistic. There's no one size that fits all.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

Not at all. And so it's one thing to really remember, and this is something that I always tell my clients like, we want to always thrive versus survive. And so I always make sure I preach that to say, hey, let's think about what we treat life, because you think about it, 50% of your time is spent working, regardless if you're an entrepreneur, sometimes 60, right? And then the other half is life. And so if you're not, you know, taking care of yourself and being fully present in both ways, that can play a huge part of your mental health. And so we do have referral programs if they're struggling mentally to partners that we have to connect with mental health professionals as well to kind of navigate those things.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yeah, yeah. And since I deal in leadership with my coaching of executives and entrepreneurs, what's one of your biggest leadership lessons throughout either whether personally you've learned or that you've seen or that you've learned over time?

SPEAKER_02 18:19

One thing I had to learn over time is that I can do anything, but I cannot do everything. Sometimes I try to conquer the world by myself and I cannot do it. I can't. Okay. And so it's all about making sure when you are leading, is that you're collaborating and you're delegating. And that's so important to make sure that you that's a part of self-care, right? And that's where the that burnout and that overwhelming feeling, or feeling like you have to be over-responsible. And so, with me being a natural builder, and sometimes I don't have those clear lanes, like, hey, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna do everything. So I've learned over time setting boundaries, delegating, collaborating is the secret sauce to leadership.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yep, I like that. That is so important. I've had to learn that. And one simple framework that I teach is the three D's of delegation, if you will. So either you can do it now, you can do it later, or you delegate it to somebody, but you don't have time for everything, like you said, that you want to do, but you have time for the priorities and the top things that you choose to do. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's huge. Because and one thing I see with YouTube, TikToks, everything else, all kinds of ideas, start up this opportunity, create six-figure income next month, do this, do that, create your own app. I mean, all kinds of things. And I saw this back in the day when we were doing with our marketing company that's actually 46 years old since 1980. That's 46 years old this year. But we start to see when some of the do-it-yourself WordPress sites and those similar types of database-driven sites, that all of a sudden people are like, Oh, I can design my own website, I'll do it myself. And of course, they're a plumber or they're a teacher or they're a whatever. And all of a sudden, they've got more things they're trying to do at a C level progress or C as an A, B, C, D, E, F, G grade level. And then same thing with Google Ads and everything else. Do it yourself, do it yourself. So I love that the idea that you talked about collaboration and knowing your own limits and self-care. And so tell me more about self-care. Do you have any either routines you have for yourself or that you've suggested for others that, and maybe for you personally more if you're willing to share, that have worked for you? Because usually we can see it best in ourselves, like, well, this works for me. May not quite work for everybody else exactly. But in terms of self-care, can you define what that means for you? Yeah, and also maybe a routine or something's elements that help.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

No, absolutely. And so for me, when it comes down to self-care, I always make sure I can plan out time for myself. Rather, it's doing certain things that I love, like listening to a podcast or reading a book or being able just to take a second to step back. And one of the questions that I always ask myself, does this align with what I'm trying to do? This is a question I have to ask myself a lot too, Corey, especially when I see a new initiative or something that I want to do. And again, I'm like, oh, I want to be able to do that. But if I don't have the bandwidth, I have to ask, how does this align with my goals? And so what I tend to do is give myself a twice a month self care on a Saturday where I get to do whatever I want for a solid hour. I plan for that. And I make sure it's like it's on my calendar, Corey. You're laughing, but it's on my calendar. I said, oh no, this is my time, and so that helps me. And then just ensuring that I'm not only delegating things that I don't need to take on, but also setting those boundaries. So setting those boundaries and planning days for myself is how I practice self-care.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah, the only reason I was laughing about that is because I've had to learn to do that same thing. Cause I've kind of been the A-type transactional. Let's just do things. Let's not be as intentional. Let's just get stuff done. But as I've learned to do that same thing you're talking about, I wanted to say, hey, let me jump on that bus where you're going for that hour, you know, to be able to do what you want and to just give yourself free reign to say, hey, this is for you. This is for your passion. This is for your enjoyment. And I've had to learn to love that and lean into that, which is why I was laughing because you just almost made me almost like melt or something. Like, oh, I could just go there right now.

unknown 22:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

That sounds so enjoyable. And because I know it now. I've experienced it. So that is huge. That is very good. Yep. And once again, just hitting back on the topic of we don't have time, or we only have 24 hours in the day every day, and we only have limited time to work on the things that are most important to us with our values, our purpose. And you have to set boundaries, like you said, to get those things in and schedule time on your calendar. I totally agree with that. You have to schedule it. And then the other piece I would add to that, because I've seen it with myself at times and other entrepreneurs and executives, that they don't honor the time they set in the calendar. Have you ever been in a position where you've had it set when you started doing this? That at sometimes either you couldn't honor it or you just forgot or left it alone or anything like that. Or have you always been boom? I'm doing what I said I was gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

No, Corey, it took me a while to really practice what I preached. I put it on the calendar, but actually fulfilling that time, it took me a while to do it. And I'll tell you an example. What was the switch for me to make sure I honor that? For weeks straight, I didn't lift my head. I was back then back. I had a lot of clients and then I had work and I just let everything pile up. I had a speaking engagement where I somewhat kind of like just I practiced a little bit and I was like, okay, yep, I got it. But instead of taking my scheduled self-care time, I was like, I'm just gonna practice this speech. I'm gonna make sure I get it. So then when I go to speak, I go up there and I don't know what happened, Corey, but it was like, oh no, my mind went blank, and I'm just like, what am I supposed to talk about? So then luckily, luckily, I had my assistant was like, and look at my slide, and I was like, all right, boom, and I got right in there. But if I had taken that time for myself, I would have delivered it a little bit differently, and I wouldn't have had a total blackout at the beginning. And we all know that first few seconds of you speaking is probably the scariest, right? And so me just sitting there like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

And it's also the most impactful for the audience, too. And how you start off because it sets the tone. So absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

So after fumbling around and catching my footing, I did deliver, but at that point, that was a lesson. I said, never again, I will make sure I stick to my self-care. So gives me that half full glass, and I'm not there just empty tank trying to, you know, speak. So it was important.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I love that. And I actually love the nuance of that, the half full glass rather than the half empty glass, because if you're coming from that perspective of abundance and everything else, that's gonna make a huge difference too, and how you show up because we all have glitches and things that happen in life, you know, but it's how we handle that and how we move forward. So I love the learning on that. I love the learning of don't skip out on that joy time, that self-care time. So I think that's important. What roles has has your faith or inner conviction played in how you handled a fear or tough decision?

SPEAKER_02 26:04

And so actually, just my faith has been that foundation for me. Um, there has been times or seasons where I've had a vision and I felt like the vision was bigger than me, and I just couldn't necessarily fulfill it. And I'm just like, oh man, how am I supposed to do this? Like, but then it's that voice that tells you this is why you have that vision. This is your purpose. How can you follow that? And so sometimes it felt like it was unstable, but having that faith that I can get that done and like this is what's in front of you, then I was able to kind of step on that. And so having that faith to believe that I can be able to make it happen was so important because there were times that I doubted the vision. I'm like, you sure this is what's supposed to happen? You question it because you undersell yourself a little bit. And I speak for myself, I undersold myself a bit. And I'm like, I don't know if I can do this.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

You speak for me too, trust me. You speak for me too.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

I don't know if I can do this, and so that's why faith is so foundational for me because it gives me that boost to go through those seasons when I'm unsure and I'm uncertain and make sure that I'm fulfilling that vision and meeting my goals and doing that with that compassion and humility, right? So it's so important to have that as a foundation.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

That's cool. And if you don't mind me asking about your faith life, kind of how did that start? Has it improved or certain routines or things you do or scripture? How do you stay for that? Because I know when I've gotten off track or I have not been because I'm a Christian and I haven't been in the Word, haven't been praying, or going to worship, or I do go to worship, but I'm a million miles away when I go there, even though I go there regularly, but I'm just not present enough. But when I take that out of my routine, just like if you don't eat three meals a day, or you don't eat regularly at least, whatever that is for you, then yeah, you get a little tired in that area or fatigued in that area, and then you start getting off course. And I've seen that with my faith, my direction, and my peace that I have. So do you have anything, small tips or a tip that has helped you to stay aligned instead of getting off course, maybe?

SPEAKER_02 28:17

And so for me, I like to take some time to kind of go over some scripture to be able to have that practice because for a while, I know you probably agree with this. When something happens in your life that is so devastating, you break that off, you start to question, right? And you're just like, I don't even no, I don't want to be a part of it. And then at some point I said, Okay, I have to get back. And so I started to make sure that even if I can't, because sometimes I'm extremely busy to the point where I can't necessarily attend certain services, so I have my own services to make sure that I stay aligned with the word so I can stay aligned. But yeah, it was years, Corey, where I was lost and I didn't have that connection because of something happening, and I'll be forthcoming at a point I have gone through a divorce, and that is what changed, and I just broke away, and I was like, nope. And so after years of trying to heal, it was something missing, and so that's when I had to get back into my word and get back aligned there.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Yeah, well, thank you for sharing that because I wasn't aware of that of the divorce. I appreciate you sharing that. Yeah, yeah, it's so true that when devastating things happen, that's kind of what's happened to me over the last three years, too, with you know, the pandemic, the fallout of that, some relationship challenges with my wife, business, economy, up and down. It was like, oh my gosh, what did I do wrong, God? Well, why am I being punished? And of course, that's the wrong focus. God isn't looking to punish me. And what I ended up realizing was is God was just saying, Hey, Corey, I've been telling you something for 30 years, and I'm telling you the same exact message, just follow me, go on this faith walk and trust in me, even through some of these challenging times. And as some scripture says, to be thankful in all things and count it all joy. And like, what is that supposed to mean when that terrible things are happening all around you? Including now when people are either dying in the freezing cold that we have going on right now, or the snow, or the riots and people being upset with the government and Minneapolis and other different areas, things going on all around. That's very disconcerting. But how do you stay aligned with all of that? And I totally agree that calling that God whispers to us many times, at least to me, and it said, Hey, Corey, I'm over here, I'm over here, where most of my life I'm like, I got it, God, I got it, I got that. Haven't you seen what I've been doing the last 50-something years? God's like, Okay, okay, okay. I'm still here for you. I still love you, and I want you, I want a relationship with you. But yeah, and he probably giggles at times, you know, thinking, yeah, Corey, you think you're doing this all on your own. You haven't done a thing, barely, Corey.

SPEAKER_02 31:00

And you know what's so interesting too. It was because once I married again, it just looked, things changed for me. And it's just it was that one thing to say, no, you gotta get back. Like I it's that voice, like, no, I know you were lost for a little bit. Come back here, and then we'll see. And once I was able to align and connect again, that's when everything changed.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

That's amazing. Well, that's awesome. So I have one more question for you because we're near the end of the episode, and I really appreciate you, Ashley, for all that you've shared, all your wisdom and your insights here. So, what's one bold move you've made, even though you felt unqualified or unsure?

SPEAKER_02 31:42

I would have to say the boldest, and there were two situations. The first one was when I launched the business of connections, career planning and services, because um I launched it during the pandemic when everything was shut down. There were no job, no cook, no one could work. And I'm like, well, who resume am I gonna update now? Who job am I connecting them to? And so I had to pivot, and and that's when I started doing virtual webinars, talking about building resumes, talking about career clarity, and it started to catch. That was one part. And the second part where I felt just unclear is when I stepped into leadership essentially. Because I was like, am I qualified to help others figure out what they need to do? How can they succeed? Because it's different when you are a high performer and you're a great player versus being a leader, those are two different things, and it takes different types of emotional intelligence, and I didn't think I had it, but I stepped into it. It was rough at first, but then I figured out a way to pivot and excel. And I do think that since then I was able to kind of lean on others and resources to be able to help me thrive in those spaces. But there were two times where I was like, I don't know. I don't know, and I felt unqualified to be able to step in those spaces, and so yeah, that I had to realize, okay, it's what I want to do. I can't sleep at night, I gotta do these things.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

So I I love that, and just your whole idea of pairing that with taking action, not leaps necessarily, but just taking steps forward to see what you learn, to see what connection you make, and to see what you can develop. And that's where I feel the confidence comes in when we connect the possibilities to taking action, which is where the rubber meets the road and doing things. And then all of a sudden, here you are today. And this is not the end of your journey, but this is a piece of it, which is pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Yeah, so thank you, Ashley, so much for being here and sharing. I really appreciate it. Do you have a good contact or how can people reach you?

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Yes, so I have my website, which is www.connectionscareer planning.com. And then you can also reach me at ceinfoccps at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Okay, awesome. All right, well, thank you again, Ashley. Wonderful episode.

SPEAKER_02 34:13

Awesome, thank you, Corey.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Yes, yes. So thank you for listening to this episode of Unapologetic Leadership, where it's so important to set boundaries, to stay aligned and get aligned with your passion and what you're interested in pursuing, and learn to love the things that you're doing and that you're a part of because it's not just making a ton of money is going to get you to where you want to go. It's also having that peace and that purpose and that passion inside your heart that's being fulfilled. So thank you again for being here. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

So that's it for today's episode of Unapologetic Leadership. Head on over to wherever you listen to podcasts and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes will win a chance the grand prize drawing to win a twenty-five thousand dollar private VIP day with Corey Dunham himself. So head on over to Unapologetic Leadership Podcast dot com and pick up a free copy of Corey's gift. And join us on the next episode.