Faithful Career Moves Shelley Hunter

From Hiding to Thriving
Growing up shy, Rebecca Greenhalgh ran upstairs to hide in a toy box whenever someone outside her family came to the house. There she would stay until her mom came to fetch her a few moments later. The two repeatedly played this "game" of hide-and-seek for no apparent reason other than Rebecca's later explanation that people made her nervous.

Though she would eventually view this shyness as part of being an introvert, as a youth, Rebecca had to push herself to endure social situations so she could attend school, attend church, and get a job. However, when she entered college with education and career goals in mind, this timid teen decided she would need to adopt some outgoing characteristics to get where she wanted to go.

Rebecca recalls, "I would look around me and see other people being successful by being extroverted, and I thought I know what I want to achieve and I know what I want to do. ...And so I started putting myself in situations where I would have to practice being an introverted extrovert, and that started making a difference."

Now an accomplished content and course creator for Harvard Business School Online, Rebecca sees her more quiet and reserved qualities as superpowers because she uses these skills to interview and connect with people on a deeper level before retreating to her solo self to write and research after the meetings. "It literally is the perfect mix," she says.
Have a Listen: In this interview, Rebecca shares strategies she used to get "outside of her bubble a bit," the types of jobs she excels at, and how her career has evolved (and is still evolving) thanks to divine guidance and inspiration.

What You'll Learn In this Episode:
How Rebecca got to Boston and how she discovered the HBS opportunityWhy she quit working after having her first childHow being an introvert is a gift she now appreciatesHow she and her husband make decisions togetherWhat calms her "forward thinking" mind when making decisionsWhy she said "yes" to an opportunity she didn't have time forA leap of faith she had to take to get where she is nowAn unexpected blessing that came from following the promptingsHow she's seen the hand of God in her careerAnd so much more.Mentioned on the Show:
QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop TalkingHarvard Business School Online~~~~~
PLEASE: Rate and Review this podcast so other women can be inspired in their faithful career moves.

Visit the website:
FaithfulCareerMoves.com: Faith-based Career Coaching for Stay-at-Home Moms
Get the book:
Return to Work with Confidence: A faith-based guide to help stay-at-home moms re-enter the workforce
Follow us:
Instagram @FaithfulCareerMoves Facebook @FaithfulCareerMoves

The story of Jenny Doan and how she (and her family) created the incredibly successful Missouri Star Quilt Company.

Work Your Magic
Have you ever worked for a company that required employees to cross-train in multiple jobs in case someone called in sick or quit unexpectedly? I have, and it doesn't work very well.

At the start of my programming days--over 30 years ago--the organization required each programmer to rotate through the other job functions in the department. We all took the same leadership training classes, learned how to run applications on the mainframe, took turns doing production support, and more. When I got to do the rotations I enjoyed and excelled at, I loved my job. When I had to take my turn on the mainframe or do support, I struggled and felt deflated. I'm embarrassed to admit that when others rotated into my wheelhouse, I thought those who couldn't do the work lacked smarts and probably didn't belong at the company. Only later did I realize how silly it is to make everyone do the same job regardless of their aptitudes and interests. Doing so is not good for the employees or the company.

This week, I'm speaking to Jenny Doan, co-founder of the Missouri Star Quilt Company. In addition to telling us how she and her family started a business that transformed their lives, revitalized a town, and modernized the entire quilting industry, Jenny says that people work best when their jobs align with their "magic"--the things they are really good at and enjoy doing. She also explains how she discovered the power of sharing her own magic.
What You'll Learn In this Episode:
What prompted the Doans to start a YouTube channelHow the Missouri Star Quilt Company evolved Why Jenny says YouTube is the great equalizerWhat this business means to the people of Hamilton, MissouriHow to work together in a family businessWhat it means to find your magic and why it matters so muchStories of people who found healing through watching JennyAnd so much more.Mentioned on the Show:
Read Jenny Doan's book: How to Stitch an American Dream Visit the Missouri Star Quilting Co: Website and YouTube ChannelDiscover your magic! Pick up my book: Return to Work with Confidence.Take my course: I'll walk you through the process.Connect with me: LinkedInFind out when a new podcast drops: Join the Mailing List~~~~~
PLEASE: Rate and Review this podcast so other women can be inspired in their faithful career moves.

Visit the website:
FaithfulCareerMoves.com: Faith-based Career Coaching for Stay-at-Home Moms
Get the book:
Return to Work with Confidence: A faith-based guide to help stay-at-home moms re-enter the workforce
Follow us:
Instagram @FaithfulCareerMoves Facebook @FaithfulCareerMoves

Dr. Susan R. Madsen is challenging the entire state of Utah to step up and ensure that Utah women and girls thrive in critical areas by 2030.

MAKING A BOLD MOVE

By her own account, Dr. Susan R. Madsen is unlike the role models of her youth. Raised in a traditional family with a dad who worked and a mom who stayed home, she expected to parent her kids similarly. And for a few years, she did.

But as much as she loved being with her children, Dr. Madsen felt unfulfilled as a stay-at-home mom. She remembers, "When I had my first baby, I thought that all of a sudden, I would enjoy being at home. It just didn't kick in for me."

Instead, denying the part of herself that longed to pursue educational and career goals led to situational depression and discontentment that continued until she made a big move.

Rather than solely being at home with her kids or spending her days at school or in an office, this then-mother of two (eventually four) dared to do both. En route to becoming Dr. Madsen, Susan cared for her kids while returning to school, working part-time, volunteering in the community, serving at church, and more--all with the support of her husband and encouragement from above.

"Through every single decision to go to school and to do all the pieces I've done, I have been on my knees and sought guidance from God... Sometimes you yearn to do things and think you can't, but then you figure out, maybe it's not either-or. Maybe there's a space in between," says Dr. Madsen.

Of course, finding that space and building a career while raising kids is challenging. But in her case, single-tasking was not an option. God needed her to move forward fast.


TO MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
Nearly 14 years ago, Dr. Madsen started the Utah Women in Leadership Project  (UWLP) to research why so few women in Utah attend college and graduate. Though intended to last only a couple of years, the assignment evolved into more than a decade of finding ways to strengthen the impact of Utah girls and women. The organization now delivers research, resources, and training to "inform, inspire, and ignite growth and change for all Utahns."
But it's not enough.
Listen to the full interview to better understand the breadth of the issues, the depth of Dr. Madsen's commitment to solving them, and how you can get involved.


Mentioned in this Interview
Utah Women and Leadership Project (UWLP)A Bolder Way Forward (BWF)How Change Happens by Leslie R. Crutchfield~~~~~
PLEASE: Rate and Review this podcast so other women can be inspired in their faithful career moves.

Visit the website:
FaithfulCareerMoves.com: Faith-based Career Coaching for Stay-at-Home Moms
Get the book:
Return to Work with Confidence: A faith-based guide to help stay-at-home moms re-enter the workforce
Follow us:
Instagram @FaithfulCareerMoves Facebook @FaithfulCareerMoves

Brittany Ratelle wanted to be a wife, mother, and practicing attorney. To be all three at the same time, she had to get creative.


Brittany Ratelle is an attorney. But she doesn't work in a fancy, downtown law office. She doesn't wear dark power suits, put in 60-80 hours a week to make partner, or argue cases in a courtroom. Instead, her business is the opposite of that in almost every way.
She works online, wears colorful attire, is present for her kids, and does everything possible to keep her clients out of court. Besides taking her legal practice seriously, everything else about her business is fun and creative. So how did she devise this unicorn legal practice? Brittany says she "fell into it."

But upon further examination, we learn that's not the truth--and Brittany knows it.
During questioning on this podcast, Brittany divulged key evidence proving she took deliberate steps to build a family-friendly law firm, even if the resulting business wasn't premeditated. I submit the following examples:
Brittany worked in the marketing department at a law firm after getting an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University. Although she wanted a law degree, Brittany didn't like the typical "law firm" experience. However, she enrolled in law school anyway.As the mother of a newborn at the time, Brittany could have delayed taking the bar exam until she had more sleep and more time to study. But she studied while up with her baby and took the exam anyway.Unsure of where to apply her new legal skills, Brittany chose family law because she could build a part-time practice that worked for her schedule. And though she found the work emotionally draining, she kept practicing to remain an active member of the Bar.When creative friends asked for legal assistance building and protecting their online influencer businesses, she used her expertise to help.And when another friend told her to listen to a podcast about online marketing, Brittany did.Each step nudged Brittany closer to creating an online law firm that helps other creatives build and protect their online businesses. Though she may not have intended to create this one-of-a-kind firm, the evidence is clear she made conscious choices to get there anyway. Her success is not accidental.
But that doesn't mean she didn't get pushed.
Brittany says, "I really got a strong answer that I was supposed to go to law school and that Heavenly Father was basically saying, 'I know you don't know what that will look like and what that will look like having a family...but it will unfold in time, be patient with the process.'"

So she did, and she was. She enrolled in law school, sought personal revelation in making each career move after that, and allowed God's will to prevail in her life. Now a successful online attorney, Brittany helps other women "fall into" dream businesses of their own--all of which she sees as an answer to their prayers and her own.
Listen to the interview to learn more. It's another great example of how God knows our desires and wants us to use our talents and abilities to help oth
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PLEASE: Rate and Review this podcast so other women can be inspired in their faithful career moves.

Visit the website:
FaithfulCareerMoves.com: Faith-based Career Coaching for Stay-at-Home Moms
Get the book:
Return to Work with Confidence: A faith-based guide to help stay-at-home moms re-enter the workforce
Follow us:
Instagram @FaithfulCareerMoves Facebook @FaithfulCareerMoves

Seeing A Problem She Could Not Ignore

Rachel Joy Baribeau quit working as a sportscaster to change the narrative in college sports and help people find more joy.


Rachel Baribeau had a dream job--seriously, the kind that sports fans worldwide covet. She worked as a college football sportscaster for nearly two decades, interviewing top players and coaches on the sidelines and in Fox Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, and SiriusXM studios. But don't let the glamour of it all fool you. Rachel had to break gender barriers, fight to be seen for the right reasons, and overcome personal challenges to reach this goal. And she loved it until she didn't.

In 2016, the news she covered turned overwhelmingly from inspiring stories to tales of scandals, domestic violence, assault by players on campuses nationwide, and more. In response, she wrote an article entitled "College Football is Breaking My Heart."

The article went viral and, more importantly, led Rachel to decide she needed to leave her dream job to fight for change.


Using Her Platform to Make a Difference
Rachel developed a movement called #ImChangingtheNarrative to help student-athletes find purpose, develop better mental and emotional health, and drop habits that lead to the headlines nobody wants their name to appear in.
Then in 2020, when events shut down due to the pandemic and many of her speaking engagements were canceled, Rachel pivoted again. She launched an online business to help people, including herself, find more joy in their lives. A few months and interviews later, she got a book deal and is minutes away from releasing her new book, "Relentless Joy: Finding Freedom, Passion, and Happiness (Even When You Have to Fight for It)," along with a membership called JoyStarters Club.
Listen to the interview to learn more about Rachel's new book, the message she wants people to hear, and how you can invite more joy into your life. It's good stuff.
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PLEASE: Rate and Review this podcast so other women can be inspired in their faithful career moves.

Visit the website:
FaithfulCareerMoves.com: Faith-based Career Coaching for Stay-at-Home Moms
Get the book:
Return to Work with Confidence: A faith-based guide to help stay-at-home moms re-enter the workforce
Follow us:
Instagram @FaithfulCareerMoves Facebook @FaithfulCareerMoves

Taking Turns Building Their Careers
Lisa Valentine Clark is not living the life she planned. After several years of supporting her husband's artistic career, raising five kids, and working freelance to be at home and provide for the family, Lisa's husband, Christopher Clark, got diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) and later passed away. 
The story is tragic, but it's not entirely a tragedy because she has no regrets about the choices they made together. Toward the end of her husband's life, Lisa recalls Christopher saying, "I don't have regrets. I went for it, did as much as possible, and did the best that I could." 
She agreed. 
At the start of her career, Lisa taught junior high and high school English before transitioning to at-home work to start a family. From there, she got creative, literally and figuratively. Lisa took on various projects, from developing an online curriculum to voiceover work, acting, writing, and more, to earn income while her husband pursued master's and doctorate degrees. But Lisa had goals too. She also wanted an inspired career.
Her husband agreed.
Together, the couple supported each other in building the life they wanted, primarily by taking turns. Lisa said, "it worked because it wasn't about the money. It was about supporting our family, using our creative gifts, making a difference in our little corner of the world, and making it count. I feel a lot of satisfaction that we earned that together."

Trading Places 
By all accounts, the family had a beautiful life packed into too-few years. Then, just as Christopher reached the pinnacle of his career, he told Lisa he was ready to switch places and stay home more, so she could pursue her career more earnestly. Unaware of the foreshadowing in that statement, his health declined until he eventually lost the ability to move and speak, forcing him home on permanent disability. With the loss of his income, Lisa sought full-time employment to get health benefits and a salary--not quite the career "leaning in" she longed for, but a move that would turn into an unexpected blessing.
BYUradio hired Lisa to host a podcast in a time slot that, by divine design, lined up perfectly with her family's schedule so she could work and still be her husband's primary caregiver. After he passed in 2020, she slowly returned to a little freelance acting and writing in addition to her work on The Lisa Show.
Despite the unfairness of the plot twist, Lisa remains faithful and grateful, describing her feelings as a "weird mixture." She explains, "I didn't get what I wanted. This isn't my Plan A, but I have to be careful to express the gratitude that I really do feel. It gets so complicated with grief...being so grateful and seeing 100% the Lord's hand in caring for my family and me" while suffering simultaneously.
Listen to the episode as Lisa shares her journey with heartfelt authenticity and her typical sense of humor. She is grateful for all she's experienced, God's guiding hand, and the unexpected blessings received. So it's worth the listen.
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PLEASE: Rate and Review this podcast so other women can be inspired in their faithful career moves.

Visit the website:
FaithfulCareerMoves.com: Faith-based Career Coaching for Stay-at-Home Moms
Get the book:
Return to Work with Confidence: A faith-based guide to help stay-at-home moms re-enter the workforce
Follow us:
Instagram @FaithfulCareerMoves Facebook @FaithfulCareerMoves