Some coaches are strategy-first.

I put the self first.

A thorough plan won’t build a life you love if it’s motivated by self-doubt or supposed-to’s. (Ask me how I know…)

Like you, I’ve been the striver, the achiever, the star student and high-performing employee. I also know what it’s like to follow the plan, do it right, and do it well, then look around and think, “This isn’t it.”

Here’s what I discovered, though, that changed everything:

Until we distinguish our work from our worth, fulfillment continues to elude us, wrapped up in a vicious cycle of proving ourselves.

It turns out that finding work you love is not something that an epic amount of reasoning or strategizing alone can solve.

If you’ve been doom-scrolling through job postings or making 12-point plans in search of that elusive “dream job,” it’s no wonder that you’re still on that discouraging treadmill. You’ve been taught to look outwards for a dream job instead of going within and listening to yourself first.

But I’ve got two pieces of good news for you:

→ All the expectations, pressures, standards, shoulds and supposed-to’s… they’re made up. What’s real is your inner knowing that there is another possibility.

→ And together we can bring yourself, the Self, back online and to the forefront. 

You are your light at the end of the career-dread tunnel – you just need a guide back to the Self.

I’m Emily Pantel (she/her), your coach and career confidant. 

Like you, I’m more than my resume. In my own career adventures…

  • I’ve worked for minimum wage on a sales floor AND six figures in a corner office.

  • I’ve worked a job that looked great on paper but was toxic IRL.

  • I’ve held on to a job that rang true in my heart but wasn’t financially sustainable.

  • I’ve had a job that felt like I failed, that I felt ashamed of.

  • I’ve taken a job that was just a paycheck.

  • I’ve been underestimated and condescended to AND I’ve been fast-tracked and recognized for my leadership.

My journey towards becoming a coach wasn’t exactly a straight line.

Spoiler alert: That’s okay (and normal!)

I was told I had a lot of potential, but I never really knew what I wanted to be “when I grew up” – and that haunted me. I blamed myself for not figuring out what I was meant to do with this potential, and so I doubled down on the shoulds instead. Fulfillment would come along with the promise of success, right?

Well… not quite. Following the shoulds compromised my health in major ways until I quit my fancy job on Park Avenue and landed in retail. At the time, I thought I had failed. Our culture told me this was a step backwards, a failure, a waste.

But that “step backwards” turned out to be a step back to myself.

Over 9 years in retail management, I followed my curiosity into workplace culture strategy and team leadership. I discovered interests and strengths I didn’t know I had. I came to know myself as a leader. I found my love of training, facilitation, and entrepreneurship. And I discovered coaching.

In hindsight, it wasn’t that I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up – it was that I didn’t see myself reflected in the paths that were traditionally deemed good enough. And I thought it meant I wasn’t good enough, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Tackling the inner work of distinguishing between my work and my worth was a profound personal and professional awakening, and now I’m here to guide you through it too. 

With me as your coach, you’ll have a confidant who is a practical, analytical and detail-oriented planner-in-chief who also holds space for what you can’t quite explain but nonetheless know and feel.

(Around here, you don’t need to impress me or make sense all of the time. Phew.)

I’m here to help you learn to channel your brainpower – together with your heart and spirit – toward goals that honor who you are (in a way that honors who you are).

Not only will the end goal be fulfilling, but you’ll be better equipped to navigate bumps in the road and enjoy the journey along the way.

Here’s (some of!) the fuel for my fire.

These core beliefs are the foundation of your new world we’ll build together.

  • Sometimes conventional wisdom is just convention, not wisdom. You have a lifetime of experience in your own existence, which makes you the authority on you. I won’t tell you what to do, because this work is less about what “makes sense” and more about what feels right, and only you know that. I’m your Career Confidant – someone with career development chops who isn’t actually your manager, which means your fulfillment is my sole metric of success.

  • Time is our most precious resource. While you’re striving, hustling and searching, your life is happening – right now. The collective experience of The Great Resignation/Reshuffle/Reimagining is not just about work, it’s about life itself – how we want to spend it, and what we’re no longer willing to tolerate at its expense.

  • All this inner work may sound like a long road, but it’s really just a lifelong practice. You’ll feel relief in the very near term just by getting started because there’s an intersectionality to this work. Being true to who you are at work spills into being true to who you are in other parts of your life. Stepping into your truth and authority changes everything.

  • The task is to understand your unique specialness outside of the narrow concept of what we’ve learned “counts” or is “enough.” And when you understand your unique constellation of strengths, gifts, values and experiences, you can accept, embrace, and share them on your terms.

  • A safe bet is still a bet. The truth is none of us really knows what’s in store, so you don’t need to have it all figured out before you start. Chasing control or certainty just tires you out while you try not to be tired out anymore. Instead we’ll cultivate agency through self-trust because you’re what’s real.

  • You are so much more. We spend a lot of our lives working, so the “right” relationship to your work is yours to define. You get to decide the role that work plays in your life. To do that, first we’ll distance your self-concept from work, gain some perspective and reconnect with yourself, then start to reintegrate in a way that honors who you are.

If you made it this far… let’s talk!

You’re right on time, and I’m so glad you’re here.

Your fullest expression of you, in your life and your career, is waiting for you, lovingly and patiently.

You haven’t missed the boat, and you haven’t fallen behind – you can reconnect with the Self and see what’s within you, ready to be shared.

Stay in touch (with yourself)

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