Stories from ambitious women who began authoring their own path.
Many Eleva Leadership clients arrive at moments of transition, burnout, uncertainty, or leadership growth. These stories reflect some of the experiences and transformations clients have navigated through our work together in their own words.
Meet Jessica
When I began working with Emily, I felt a little lost in my career. I had been trying to navigate the next step in my career journey, but nothing felt right. My motivation was low, driven down by a clear mismatch between my level and the roles I was applying to / interviewing for. At the same time, I didn't feel ready to aim any higher; in fact, I didn't want to enter the executive level at all, convinced that it would be too much, too encompassing, too challenging. I wanted to keep myself small, protecting my health (as I live with a genetic chronic health condition) and my authenticity. I'd lost all patience with the types of people and environments I was working with.
In our introductory call, Emily brought a new force of energy and enthusiasm into my world. Within the first 5 minutes, I knew that she was exactly the right fit for what I needed. Her vast experience helping others to overcome challenges in her specific niche - one that I fell into - showed me a new path, a different future, and someone I could trust to take me there. She very quickly brought the same level of energy and enthusiasm out of me.
Emily's amazing style and excellent capabilities as a coach led to a genuinely dramatic transformation in my career. She is exceptional at very quickly seeing a person's capabilities and career through a totally divergent lens. This leads to pointed questions that force you to stop and think, reassessing the assumptions possibly holding you back. Over time, she helped to completely reshape my view on levels, roles and environments. The previously fuzzy journey and destination quickly became very clear, and we knew where to optimally focus our efforts.
Her coaching and guidance on my "value proposition" was a big unlock. I had been stuck in a derivative and generic way of viewing myself; Emily identified and articulated my true value through capabilities that were so inherent and natural to me that I didn't even know they were unique. She showed me what was special about me, teaching me how to leverage it and "sell" it. As someone with ADHD, this was so valuable; rather than my "divergent" nature being a hindrance and an embarrassment, I could see a path to it being an exceptional differentiator.
The whole way through our work, I felt as though I had a true ally - and continue to feel that well after. Emily was extremely effective at building a supportive and fun environment conducive to creative thinking, comfortable risk-taking and quick pivots. Areas that previously felt burdensome and boring became interesting and exciting. Having Emily's ongoing positive encouragement was like having a personal cheerleader. And, given her impressive background and experience, I trust and believe what she says to a high degree. As a result, my self-confidence skyrocketed, and my performance and trajectory immediately began to reflect that. This confidence also proved to be the route to unlock other areas I had wanted to focus on, including communication skills, networking skills, salary negotiations, and decision-making abilities. I have begun to operate at a new level across multiple areas in myself and in my career.
Within two months of our engagement, nearly immediately after we finalised the new direction and value proposition, I landed the exact target role with hardly any effort. I am confidently operating in a C-suite role at a global PE-backed tech business, loving my work and full of energy to tackle the kind of problems that I am solving. This is all thanks to Emily, and I couldn't be more grateful.
