The “Crazy Moves” that Inspired this Podcast, with Eleonora

That little nudge, “Is this crazy?” can be the most honest career signal you’ll ever get, especially when your life looks great on paper but something inside still wants more. 

I’m Eleonora, and for the very first episode I’m going first with my own story so you know exactly why this space exists and what kind of career and life reinvention we’re here to normalize.

What you'll hear:

• The 6-year dream I kept postponing
• The real life shifts behind the podcast
• The moment everything looked perfect on paper, and something still whispered “is this it”?
• The decision that looked like a step back and turned out to be the door to a whole new world
• How a Japan dream that started almost 10 years ago finally came true

Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s questioning their path, and leave a review so more people can find these stories when they need them most.

Want to follow the journey or reach out directly? Find me here:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleonoravalenti/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humancareersbyele/ 
• Website: humancareers.com/podcast

If this conversation sparked something and you're ready to explore your own crazy idea with expert guidance and a community who gets it, go to https://humancareers.com/podcast and join our next free Turning Point Lab.

Transcript

Welcome - why this podcast?

Speaker 0:07

You're listening to the Is It Crazy? Podcast, the show where we explore the crazy ideas turning to career and life success. Nobody wakes up in a dream career. Behind every success, there are decisions, turning points, moments of courage that most people never talk about. This is where they do. Every episode I sit down with someone who, at some point, heard, is it crazy, but did it anyway? Leaders, entrepreneurs, people who move countries, change industries, parents who made a shift, and professionals from anywhere in the world who reinvented their career to fit their life. I owe my career success to the examples of people who showed me what's possible. This is my way of bringing these people to you. I'm your host, Eleonora, and today for our first episode I sit with myself. Yes, I'm going first. Because before I ask anyone else to share their stories, I think you deserve to know mine. Why I'm here, what brought me to this moment, and why I believe so deeply that the career and life you're dreaming of is less crazy than you think. I've been where you might be right now. Questioning, wondering if, and I build something beautiful on the other side of that fear. This is where it all starts. Let's dive in. What can I say? This is so exciting, and welcome to the very first episode of the Is It Crazy? Podcast. It's me, Eleonora, and I will be your host for this show, starting today with many, many incredible episodes that are about to come. And I have to tell you one secret confession before diving into the story is that I had this dream for six years to start a podcast, and I even started recording it. And and then you know what happened? Life took me on a different path. There was always one distraction after the other until I realized those were all excuses and these stories were meant to be told. So here I am. This is the second try, but this is going live, and you're gonna hear it soon. So you can imagine the excitement that now this is finally happening. And the most important thing that I want to start with is why this exists. Why I started this podcast is because I've always wanted to bring the stories of the people who had a dream, who were doubting, and who had this voice in their head like, this is not realistic, what am I doing? This is not possible, I'm not gonna make it happen. Who am I to do this? Especially if other people were also telling them, You're crazy, this is not happening, who are you to do this? Well, but these people went ahead, did it anyway, and they changed their lives. I've seen it happening so many times, and this is the space where we bring those stories. Not just the easy crazy moment, but also the doubt, the fear, the reasons why they did it anyway. And this mattered to me because this is the story of my life, and the story of so many people who have inspired me along the way. Because without that example, I wouldn't be here telling my story and I wouldn't be living my best life. I'm living in a country that I love, with a career that is tailored around the lifestyle that I want to live, and surrounded by people who lift me up every single day. This is what's on the other side of the easy crazy moment. Because there's a whole world of opportunities beyond what you're afraid of and a life that is meant to be lived. In this show, I will interview entrepreneurs, leaders, people from different

Careers are not the same they used to be

Speaker 4:09

industries all around the world, and we will explore how diverse careers can be these days. Especially now with these technology advancements, there's so much that is possible. And especially if you don't have these examples around you, that's what I'm here for. That's the why I want to bring you this diversity and all these stories. So you also start thinking, hmm, maybe there's another way for me to work and to live. So this will not only make more things possible for you, but you will also feel like your idea is less crazy than you thought. Because probably someone, somewhere, has already done something similar and is already proven that it is worth it. And it is possible not only, it's actually the best freaking decision you can take now. I've never done a podcast before, so I'm totally practicing the beginner mindset here, but my vision, my intention is stronger than any fear and any block. First, my intention is to turn all your crazy ideas, life, career decisions, and make them into well, maybe that's possible. So make that switch in your mind. And for some people, it would be an inspiration. Maybe let's listen. For some others, it will be like, okay, yeah, now this gives me the courage because I see that other people are doing it as well. And in some other cases, it will also inspire you and give you an idea about how, how can I actually make it happen, how it's compatible with my life, how can I really make it and not be super um lost and super scared about it. Last but not least, what I'm sensing and what I'm hoping for is that you will also feel less afraid, less lonely to be in this phase of questioning in the messy middle, because you're not the only one. It's so common, and there's a way out. Why am I telling you this story? First of all, because it's really my life story, and this is what I'm most passionate about. And because I had a few twists and turns along the way, too. You see, people see me as a successful career coach, founder, someone who had a leadership experience in companies and startups, now living my best life in Asia with flexibility, with a freedom schedule, uh, with a career that gives me a lot of joy and creativity, and this is exactly

The real life shifts behind the podcast

Speaker 6:45

what I was dreaming of impacting dozens of people every year to live their most fulfilling and aligned career. And this hasn't always been my life. Not many know that this is not how my story started, because my career was actually quite traditional at the beginning. I started in Nike. I was very lucky to be in an incredible company that allowed me to grow, but after six years, I really I can't remember so visit vividly. One day I was sitting outside the office in a beautiful uh running truck we had in the Nike campus in Europe, and I could feel like wait a minute, like everything on paper of my life is perfect. I just got married, I bought a house, I live in a fun city, I have a job that I love, and yet, why do I have this feeling that there's something more, like a feeling that tells me, is that it? There's something more that I want, but I don't know what it is. Do you know that feeling? Have you ever felt that? That was my first crazy moment, that my first nudge. And it was, is it crazy to be wanting more?

The feeling that wouldn't go away

Speaker 8:03

Is it crazy that there's something else that I feel like I want where everything seems so perfect? And when everyone, my family, my friends would tell me, you're so lucky, you have everything that people dream. And I started my first learning, one of my biggest life lessons was starting to listen to that nudge. And what it told me, what like what it made it mean for me is that there were other experiences that I wanted to live, travel, having other adventures. I thought I'm still quite young and I not I don't feel ready to settle. I don't feel ready to say that this is it and I'm not gonna change anything about my life. And especially with my husband, we had this uh idea, this desire to move to Asia, especially after my best friend got a job opportunity in Tokyo. And I was wait, it's possible that I was so happy for her, but at the same time, it kind of broke a ceiling in my mind like, wait a moment, a woman getting a leadership role in Japan, such a country far away from everything, from like, yeah, I felt that I want to have some adventure too. And then Asia became my goal. And both me and my husband were like, yes, let's find a way to go. But at the time, he had started his own business already. So we felt like it depended on me to have a job opportunity that would be good enough to actually um have a visa and be able to move. So I started looking, and that was my second moment of change where people started telling me, Well, you're even, I started at working as a someone with experience in recruiting. I kind of knew how to move through the job search, but I kept getting rejection, rejection, discouraging feedback. No, it's so it's gonna be so difficult in HR. You don't speak the whatever the local language is required. Probably people won't invest in the visa when there's so much talent already. But I didn't give up. I kept moving. The vision was clear. What I did was expanding a bit the scope, the the list of country, the contact until it clicked. A very close friend of mine that you will get to also know from the next episodes. He was the one telling me, why don't you come to Malaysia? I think you would like working in Mind Bali. And that opened a whole new world for me. Yes, the job offer came to move to Malaysia to work for Mind

The first crazy move — leaving for Malaysia

Speaker 10:46

Bali, and at first I was like, damn, what do I do? Is it crazy to leave such a stable job in such a reputable company to move to an organization that almost no one knows at the time at least? It was not as well known, at least in my family, my closest circle, and for 60% of the salary or even less that I was earning, it really felt like what am I doing? But I had this feeling like it was not only was gonna be okay, that was actually my chance, and that little step back in title and in salary, it would only just be temporary because the potential of growth and development would be so much more than that. So I thought, okay, let's go. And that moment, that decision was the first yes that really unlocked everyone else. And then I will go deeper in in next conversations because I've learned so much from that choice. And I realized that the first yes was so difficult to make because completely outside of my comfort zone. But after that, it's like I kind of started building a muscle, saying yes when something felt when something felt um unsure, new. But I thought, okay, let's do it. And after that, other changes followed because I didn't just stop working in recruitment, I moved to working in HR leadership, and that was my payoff already. See, if I wouldn't have stayed in a bigger company, I wouldn't have grown so fast in other areas of HR. So already that was paying off. But then at the beginning of 2020, I my old soul searching, my search for clarity, I wanted to know my purpose, etc. Finally, things started to click and I got it.

The second leap — starting the business

Speaker 12:34

I was clear about my purpose. I wanted to make sure that people, as many people in the world, could really live their full potential and especially live a career where they would be happy and fulfilled. And that was exactly my journey, but it was clear I want to impact and help other people do the same. So I started coaching as a side business. First, as a passion project, and the more and more I liked it, I thought maybe one day. So it started to be more real that one day I might really want to be an entrepreneur. And other things happened. I moved to another startup in Malaysia, then I was head-hunting to move to Thailand, became VPHR for a really cool, fast-growing organization there. And I've had a lot of challenges in learning, especially because then I had become a mom. So as a mom, whoof, that was super tough at the beginning. How can I

Community, Takeaways, And How To Help

Speaker 13:32

keep working my hours? Especially because I've always been quite determined and I always cared about giving the best value to my teams, but I couldn't sustain 12 hours working day with a little baby. So I remember three years ago, it was another huge transition moment where I felt, for how long do I want to keep working like this? Long day, long nights. Well, while my the rest of my family is on in on the other room. I want to be more present. But at first I thought maybe it's gonna take four or five years. But something happened. Then life gave me a little push, not so little, because there were organizational changes that pushed me out and also made me realize that I don't want to find another organization. Now it's really the time to bet on me. So here I am, two years fully on my business, and then we left the big city. We could live in uh whatever we wanted. We chose to live in Phuket with my family in a tropical island. And it was going so well after starting a female community as well there. But then my husband, that was his turn for the crazy move, the crazy idea, because he had an opportunity to move to Japan. Is it crazy? Did we actually live a life we're just building for finally moving to the country where we wanted to go in the first place? So, yes, it took almost 10 years for the Japan dream to manifest, but I couldn't say no. Come on, it all these micro movements, micro adjustments really brought us to this place. And it's so beautiful now to see all the dots connected because in this year it's very clear to me I didn't just change my career, the position, I really changed who I am because of the research, the things that I've read, the things that I've learned, but especially because of the experiences I had, because of the choices that I made. And this is why I'm here to tell you more it's possible in your life than what you imagine right now. And the best way to make that reality happen is first of all, listen to yourself. And second, connect with other people, listen to the stories of others that have had similar moments, similar doubts, similar fears, and they did it anyway. Because as human beings, I truly believe that we are so much better together. We have more in common than what we are, we are different, and this is how we can help each other. Show what's possible, give solution, get together and support each other when things get really tough. So if I'm here, don't think that, oh well, it's like it's just because she got lucky or something. No, I really have to give credit to the people that were close to me, my family,

What this podcast is here to do

Speaker 16:33

my friends, and the people that have inspired me. And these are exactly the people that I'm gonna bring to you so you can hear from them as well, not just me. This is super important to me. There's really so many people in the world that are doing incredible things. So if you feel like you don't have your community, this is where you will start finding your community. And a final reminder in this episode that the goal is not the career. We talk about careers because they are an instrument. That's how we generally make money, that's how we practice our skills, that's how we become who we are, and I believe that the goal is life. The goal is the freedom, the expansion, the fulfillment, the abundance that you want to live. And if you're not happy in your career, that doesn't mean that there's no other way. There are so many other ways to be happier, to be you, and I want this a space where you start really listening to yourself and finding all these different solutions together. In the next episode, you will hear about people that have inspired me and the people that I love, sharing their stories, their crazy moments, their difficult up and down, until they found what worked for them. So you too can listen to your desires better, your intuition, and also see more clearly, hmm, what is it there for me? There's more goodness to come, and I hope that you will be fired up to jump into the next episodes, get to meet the other people, and even why not, listen more to your own nudge and your is it crazy.

Community, Takeaways, and how to help

Speaker 18:19

Thank you for listening, it truly means a lot. Before you go, if this conversation opened up something for you, I'd love to know what it is. Feel free to share it with me or on social media. This is how stories travel. If you enjoyed this episode, you're already part of this community, and this is how you can help us grow. You can leave a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you're listening from. You can follow the show or you can turn on the auto download so you never miss an episode. Any of it helps more than you know, because it helps other people find the stories when they need them the most. And it really does take just one of us acting on a crazy idea to change not only our life, but the lives of everyone around us. And if you two have a nudge, a crazy idea running in your mind, and you're looking for guidance to turn it into reality, follow the show notes to connect with the guest and find more resources from Human Careers. Thank you for being here. And see you in the next episode!