How do you heal, grow and create a fulfilling new path when the company and career you’ve poured your heart and soul into ends unexpectedly? Lizzie Azzolino is joined by founder and strategist Heidi Hackemer to explore the concept of a “soul break” and the overlooked importance of rewriting the story of our past.

Heidi shares her unconventional path through five chapters: advertising, entrepreneurship, collaborating with the Obama White House, serving as an executive at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Oatly, and her newly emerging homecoming. Her personal story illustrates why and how to listen to our intuition, the real work of knowing who we truly are, breaking free from external expectations and leading a career and life that’s fulfilling and uniquely yours.

They also talk about:

• The emotional and professional pain of closing a soul-driven business
• How breaking points can make way for something greater to emerge
• How to rewrite our stories and reframe the past to create a stronger foundation for the future
• The loneliness of leadership, spiritual lessons of entrepreneurship and the opportunity to redefine leadership now more than ever
• How intuition beyond logic always leads to the right next step and what happens when we go against it
• The vital importance of turning down distractions from technology to know what we really want
• The lessons found in reconnecting with nature, such as quitting her job, buying a truck, and driving across the country in her early 30s, and her current chapter which she calls “witch in the woods”
• Her experience saying yes to the call from the Obama White House
• What she’s learned from the Indigenous community about how to navigate societal and political challenges
• The power and clarity that comes with age

Get in touch with Heidi Hackemer:

• https://hackemer.co/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidihackemer/
• Substack: https://heidihackemer.substack.com/

Get in touch with Lizzie Azzolino here:

• https://www.workwithlizzie.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzieazzolino/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizzie_azzolino/

What do you really want? In this episode, Lizzie welcomes Bonnie Wan, author of The Life Brief: A Playbook for No Regrets Living, to explore the deceptively simple yet transformative question of desire — and the courage it takes to answer it honestly. In a time when many are facing what feels like a midlife crisis — which Lizzie describes as a crisis of desire — they discuss what it takes to uncover our truest wants and align our careers and lives accordingly.

Bonnie shares how she originally developed her “life brief” process during a challenging period as a mom of four young children and her family’s sole breadwinner. Now, she teaches this process to help others close the gap between the lives they’ve built and the lives they truly want to live, helping them break free from limiting beliefs and inherited expectations. Bonnie also shares for one of the first times publicly about her current transition leaving a 30-year corporate career as a brand strategist to reimagine her life again.

They also discuss:

• The art of “taking our time” and Bonnie’s journey to redefine time for herself and her family
• How and why writing reveals hidden desires and new possibilities
• The role of desire as a guiding force and the impact of limiting beliefs
• Practical steps to create a life aligned with one’s deepest values
• A new perspective on “midlife crisis”
• Bonnie’s current career and life transition and how she’s forging a new path centered on service and purpose
• Navigating new relationship dynamics with aging parents

Get in touch with Bonnie Wan:

• https://thelifebrief.com/
• Bonnie’s book, ‘The Life Brief’ https://tinyurl.com/5h6b5fv9
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonniewan/

Get in touch with Lizzie Azzolino:

• https://www.workwithlizzie.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzieazzolino/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizzie_azzolino/

What happens when the path you’ve been on for so long is no longer your path — by choice or by chance? In this first episode, Lizzie shares how one of the hardest times in her life led her to transform her career and life, and what she’s learned from a decade of coaching people in transitions and crossroads. She talks about why the pace of change is quickening now and previews what’s to come in future Now at Work episodes.

Next, mystic, marketer and musician Will Cady joins for a live tarot reading that answers: What is the future of work? The two challenge the traditional approach to building careers that leave so many feeling unfulfilled, and preview a future where uncommon careers will soon become the norm. Will opens up why he recently chose to leave a long-time leadership role at Reddit without knowing what he’ll do next, how he’s learned to use his anxiety to his advantage, and how he’s successfully navigating the unknown.

They also talk about:

• How to tell your story in the middle of a transition
• The lessons they’ve learned from taking bold leaps of faith
• What happens when you reframe the question, “What do you do?” to “How can I help?”
• New ways to find your true direction, with lessons from Will’s book ‘Which Way is North’
• How anxiety can be transmuted into powerful creative energy
• The ‘why’ behind the collective shifts we’re experiencing and what it means for the future of work

Get in touch with Will Cady:

• https://www.will-cady.com/
• Will’s book, ‘Which Way is North’ https://tinyurl.com/2rekjhd8

Get in touch with Lizzie Azzolino here:

• https://www.workwithlizzie.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzieazzolino/
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lizzie_azzolino/