Think for a moment about the original blueprint you once had for your career. What did you want to be when you grew up? How did you envision your life would look? And what has your actual experience been like?

If you’re like most people I cross paths with, your career trajectory has been very different from what you imagined. Your ability to roll with the punches and absorb the shocks that inevitably come up along the way of any professional journey can make a huge difference to where you end up.

Broadway musical star turned web engineer Carla Stickler explains how she managed to balance multiple career endeavors while pivoting into a brand new industry on episode 99 of the Career Relaunch® podcast.

In the Mental Fuel® segment, I’ll also explain how to embrace and manage the inevitable messiness of career transitions.

Key Career Change Insights

1. Sometimes, you can just tell when you’re excelling and making the most of your strengths in your career. The more positive feedback you get from others, the more this reinforces the fact you’re on the right track.


2. You never know when you’re going to turn a corner in your career. With enough patience and persistence, you may eventually have your big breakthrough.


3. Think of your first job in a new sector as an opportunity to clarify exactly which aspects of this new work appeal to you and aligns best with your interests.


4. When you’re considering opportunities that may feel like a reach, instead of just saying, “why me?” try saying, “why NOT me?”

Resources Mentioned

• Carla mentioned a couple of resources to help people learn coding including Freecodecamp.org, the Grace Hopper bootcamp, and the Flatiron School bootcamp that episode 77 guest Erika Russi joined.

Listener Challenge

During this episode’s Mental Fuel® segment, I challenged you to identify one area in your career where your desire for the ideal set of circumstances may be resulting in procrastination and getting in the way of you starting the next chapter in your career. Are you still waiting or the perfect solution to come to you? Are you waiting until the moment when you feel completely ready to take a plunge into something new?

Try and accept that pivots are imperfect and imprecise. Acknowledge that there may be no perfect time to make your move. Understand you may never have 100% clarity on exactly what you want to do next. And understand that the biggest challenge is not tackling but rather accepting the uncertainty of it all. Rather than getting stuck in a state of inaction and paralysis, just do your best to just take one action that creates some progress in the face of this uncertainty.

Episode Chapters

• 00:00:00 – Overview


• 00:01:07 – Introduction


• 00:03:00 – Chat with Carla Stickler


• 00:45:54 – Mental Fuel


• 00:52:59 – Listener Challenge


• 00:53:24 – Wrap Up

About Carla Stickler, Broadway Star Turned Web Engineer

Carla Stickler is a Web Engineer at Spotify with over a decade of performing in musicals under her belt. She is best known for her performance as Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway and has performed her own cabaret as a guest entertainer onboard Norwegian and Disney Cruise Lines. With a BFA in acting from NYU-Tisch and masters degree in theater education from NYU-Steinhardt, she was a voice teacher in New York City and made appearances as a teaching artist and guest speaker at Thespian Festivals around the country.

Carla is passionate about reframing the narrative of the “starving artist” and encourages young artists to take agency over their careers by developing skills that can provide them with financial stability alongside their artistic journey. She’s also involved with Artists Who Code, a growing group of artists exploring the world of tech, where she mentors other artists as they are beginning their journey into tech.

Find out more about Carla by listening to this episode of NPR’s Up First podcast (where I first heard about her), reading this HuffPost interview featuring Carla, or checking out this NPR interview she did with Scott Simon.

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Thanks to Harmoni for Supporting the Career Relaunch® podcast

Thanks to Harmoni Design for supporting this episode of the Career Relaunch® podcast. The Harmoni Standing Desk offers a smarter, healthier way to work with its simple design that fits into any workspace. It’s the standing desk I’ve used myself for years, and Career Relaunch® podcast listeners can get 15% off any Harmoni order by visiting CareerRelaunch.net/Harmoni and using discount code RELAUNCH when you check out.

Interview Segment Music Credits

• Podington Bear – Pulsars


• Isobel O’Connor – King of Forest Green


• Podington Bear – Tweedlebugs


• Podington Bear – Turqoise


• Podington Bear – Raw Umber


• Bio Unit – Idiophone


• Lama House – Oceans and Infinity


• Orbit – Corbyn Kites</