3,2,1 iRelaunch iRelaunch

Elia O'Rourke, a native of Mexico, found her career path after moving to New York City, where she met her husband during an exchange program. Elia took an eight year career break to raise her three daughters. During this time, she learned English by watching TV, and went through the process to validate her Bachelor's degree in accounting earned at a university in Mexico through World Education Services.

In October 2021, Elia returned to work through Lockheed Martin's Chapter Next program where she worked for a year and a half as an associate proposal analyst. From there, she was recruited by BBVA into her current role as a global cash management implementation lead. Join us as we hear Elia's inspiring relaunch journey.

Ashley Miller spent the first 19 years of her career working in the NBA and WNBA organizations. After a two-year career break, Ashley pivoted her career by joining Goldman Sachs in private wealth management via Goldman’s Returnship program. She later became Chief of Staff for Diversity Recruiting and leader of the Returnship program. From there, Ashley moved to Yum! Brands, parent of Pizza Hut Global, where she leads equity, inclusion, and belonging. She spearheads initiatives that champion inclusiveness and foster cultures of belonging around the world.

We speak with Ashley about her career break, relaunch, and career progression, including examining her changing identity during different life phases and imposter syndrome during relaunching.

Rowena Zahn took a 15 year child care career break during which time she completed a dual degree master's program in Food Science (MS) and Business (MBA). Having left a pharmaceutical sales career before her career break, Rowena's relaunch ultimately led to her career in account management in global life sciences. Her key accounts include global pharmaceutical companies in the biopharmaceutical industry and laboratories, from drug discovery and development, to production platforms. We speak with Rowena about her strategy of using full degree programs to relaunch her career after a lengthy break. A proud career relauncher and champion of the benefits relaunchers bring to employers, Rowena takes us through the day to day of her relaunch journey and the step by step stages of her successful relaunch.

In 2006, Heather left her role as a Senior Programmer Systems Analyst at Discover Financial Services to begin a five year childcare career break. She ultimately relaunched her career by returning to Discover, where she has been promoted six times over the 13 years since she has been back. Heather is currently the Senior Director of Information Technology at Discover. She is a big supporter of relaunchers, which she has posted about on LinkedIn, including her enthusiasm for our Normalizing Career Breaks mission. We will also find out how Heather graduated with a fine arts degree and was able to transition to a technical career both before and after her relaunch at Discover.

Felicia Williams spent over 20 years as a director in accounting, finance, and audit at a major US railroad before electing to take a career break. In 2022, she relaunched her career and made a significant career pivot when she joined the Return to Work program at Vanguard. Hear how Felicia determined that a side interest should become the focus of her relaunch, and learn about the training she received through Vanguard’s Return to Work program in order to attain the licenses needed to provide investment and advisory services to Vanguard clients. We also speak with Felicia about her career progression since joining Vanguard as she recently accepted a promotion as a high net worth advisor.

What's the one step you cannot skip in order to successfully relaunch your career? Carroll Welch, Career, Executive & Leadership Coach, and one of our longest-serving iRelaunch coaching partners reveals the answer in this multi-faceted conversation.
Note: The iRelaunch BootCamp referred to in this episode has been replaced by the iRelaunch RoadMap, the comprehensive, step-by-step guide for returning to a rewarding career, available on the iRelaunch website.