Career Crossroads

#70 - Isil Uysal Cavelli grew up in Izmir, Turkey, and didn't have a lot of role models.  Consequently, if you told her that she couldn't have a specific career she would believe you without giving it much thought. Dancing? No, she was a chubby kid and it was unlikely she would become a professional. Doctor? No, it was too stressful and required too much studying to become a professional. Artist? No, it was not a stable career and art is more of a hobby anyway.

Influenced by her family, Isil decided that what she really needed was a good stable career with a respected employer where she could separate work from her personal life, so she headed off to Istanbul to study Management. During her studies what she really enjoyed was marketing, but upon graduation, she was fearful about not getting a job quickly enough. When the job offers did not come, Isil quickly pivoted to accept a job as an auditor for a barge bank and left her marketing dreams behind. The work was far more technical than what she wanted to do but there were also many positives to working at a bank, specifically the stability and having a respected employer. She was also good at it and over time moved up the ranks to become part of a global team working all around Europe and this allowed her to travel to fancy balls in Vienna (which is how she met her Italian husband - but that's a story she'll talk about in the interview).

Eventually, Isil became unfulfilled in her career, and by now she was living in Munich, Germany. Her role had become overly technical and she needed more freedom to be creative and more one-on-one work with people. How could she pivot thought when this was all she had done? She had this one specific skill set and was a foreigner so she was concerned about who would hire her. In this episode, Isil shares the journey that led her to her career crossroads and all the steps she took to overcome it. 
______________________

To buy a copy of Isil’s new book, The Gift of Being Unfulfilled at Work, click here.

Join her workshop, Unwrap Your Gifts on April 17th, 2002 from  4 PM - 7 PM CET. Register by clicking here.

You can sign up for Isil’s newsletter here, and listen to her podcast, Unique Careers, Unique Lives, here.

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton

#69 – Priya Sam grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, and was torn between two interests. Should she explore her interest in teaching, something she developed entirely on her own, or should she work towards a path in journalism, a career her parents suggested she had a specific skillset for? 

In this episode, we talk about how Priya chose journalism, and how she ended up teaching in South Korea for six years immediately following her post-secondary education. We hear about her rise to becoming the co-host of CTV’s Your Morning News and the things she noticed about the industry that led her to leave it behind – at least for now. Priya also tells us how someone with experience in journalism ends up working at Hoostsuite as a Solutions Engineer and how she gets to utilize the transferable skills she picked up from her broadcasting career on the daily

This episode is for you if you want to learn:

• How putting in extra work in your chosen field can pay off
• When to make the decision that it’s time to move on
• Practical steps to figure out how to pivot when you’re unsure

Find Priya on Instagram (@priyasam) and Twitter (@priyasam) or by searching her name on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Find Turning Point at these locations:

•  YouTube
• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton

#68 - After eight weeks off, Career Crossroads is back! I'm rested and somewhat recovered so it's time for an update on what's been going on with me and the podcast. 

This episode recaps everything that's gone on in the time I was off, including;

• Rediscovering old passions
• Some podcast achievements
• Changes to the podcast
• The future of the podcast

Starting next week we'll be back to new interviews, and in the meantime, please take a second to subscribe to the NEW Career Crossroad's YouTube channel by clicking here, or searching for Career Crossroads on YouTube.

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton

#67 - This week is the fourth and final episode of the Best of Career Crossroads series before I return with new episodes. This week we're revisiting my interview with Lindsay Graham from March 2021.
_____________________

Composer, voice actor, sound designer, and host. These are some of the words you can use to describe what Lindsay Graham does in his current career as a full-time podcast creator. He's the man behind American History Tellers, American Scandal, Business Movers, and many other hit podcasts that are part of the Wondery network, however, podcasting has really only comprised the last handful of years of Lindsay's career. Prior to that, he worked in insurance sales, marketing, accounting, and a variety of other roles that are not directly related to what he does today. So how did he go from those jobs to podcaster? You’ll have to check out his Career Crossroads interview to find out.

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton

In episode #3 of the Best of Career Crossroads series, we revisit my interview with Ashlee.

Being LeBron James’ first intern is a pretty cool way to start your career, and that’s exactly the job Ashlee Ammons was recommended for while attending university. All her involvement in university paid off as others were noticing her talents, work ethic, and how she was able to balance her extracurriculars with her Broadcasting, Mass Communications, and Public Relations degree at Baldwin Wallace University just outside of Cleveland, Ohio.

In her role as LeBron’s intern at LRMR Ventures in Cleveland, Ashlee took on every opportunity she was offered from answering phones to sorting mail and cleaning the office. Again, Ashlee was noticed, and her hustle allowed her to be exposed to the event management side of the business. That experience was what she needed to live her dream and move to New York City when she was hired as an Executive Assistant for the CEO of a luxury hospitality company. Over a number of years, she worked her way up in the company until she became an Events Manager and was working on events for brands like Monet-Hennessy and Coca-Cola.

With all her success also came the burnout that many people experience and Ashlee realized she needed to make a change. As she was exploring her options, she attended a conference to try and network but came home frustrated with the lack of good opportunities to make connections with other attendees. As she explained this issue to her mother, they began brainstorming and a question was asked – why don’t we create a better way for people to network and meet others at events? They got to work immediately and Miztroz was born.

Hear Ashlee tell me how she and her mother built a product that can best be summed up by their tagline - “We Connect Humans”. Along the way, they became the 37th and 38th Black women in America to raise $1 million for a start-up.

Find Miztroz online at mixtroz.com, on social media @mixtroz, and find Ashlee on social media @shemixalot87

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton

In episode #2 of the Best of Career Crossroads series, we revisit my interview with Kait.

Kait’s journey to her current career took her through a winding road in her late teens and early 20’s.  She tried multiple educational paths and finally settled on fashion as her career of choice.  But the path to being a Merchandising Manager was bumpy, and she turned to a more stable office administration role where she thrived.  With a constant urge to better herself, and with the support of her colleagues and friends, she moved across the country, again, to begin a marketing program at Humber College. Going back to school as she was turning 30, she wanted to have the traditional student experience she had heard about and joined the Humber College First-Year Experience program; a decision that proved to be very beneficial to her long term.  After two lectures with her Organizational Behaviour professor, she had a conversation that changed the whole path of her degree.  Listen now to how Kait ended up in a career in Human Resources.

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton

As I take a break from posting new interviews I'll be hightailing some of my favorite episodes from the past year and a half. This is week one of the Best of Career Crossroads series of episodes. Today, we're featuring Robbie. 

Robbie Berardi's story of becoming a skilled blacksmith starts when he graduated high school with plans to work at his local gas station. With a number of twists and turns along the way, he was able to train under master blacksmiths in Germany and the United Kingdom. A number of injuries from a variety of jobs kick-started his interest in health and he is now pivoting to take on a new challenge as a Massage Therapist. Take a listen to his story.

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton

#63 - We’ve had twelve new interviews since Career Crossroads one year anniversary so it’s time for another update episode. Let’s talk about both the good and the bad of the last three months of running Career Crossroads, and what changes are coming in the short term.

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton

 #62 – Dakota LaMarre has never thought of his career as a way to make money. Yes, making money is necessary and yes, it’s a by-product of the jobs he has had over the years, but he needed more out of a career. He needed to find a career that would allow him to live the values his parents instilled in him when he was young: achieving his potential, doing something great, and helping people.

While he tried to figure out what career path would provide that fulfillment, he spent his free time learning and growing as a person. Even then, being a hard worker doesn’t mean there won’t be bumps in the road. Dakota’s story involves ‘accidentally’ quitting a job, getting fired from another, and buying a one-way ticket to Barcelona, all in the name of finding a career that he loves. 

Did he find what he was looking for? Yes. Now, as a professional co-author, Dakota helps people put their ideas on paper, and his first book, I Love Mondays, looks like it will be the first of many in a successful writing career.

Where you can connect with Dakota:

Website: dakotalamarre.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dakota-lamarre

Instagram: instagram.com/dakotalamarre

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton

#61 - With influences like Stephen King and Lemony Snicket, Robert Kingett, who was born blind and with cerebral palsy, realized at a young age that writing was a fantastic way to express himself.  Initially setting out to start his writing career as a journalist, Robert built up a portfolio by writing about anything and everything from human interest stories to sports coverage. While he had a solid plan for how to get noticed by the big local Chicago newspapers, it didn't take long for Robert to realize that newspapers did not value the stories he wanted to write about.

As he considered how to pivot, blogging became an obvious way for him to express his opinions and educate people about topics surrounding the disability and the LGBTQ communities, a crossroads in which he sits at the intersection of.

His blog was a hit, but not with the audience he expected it to resonate with, and that opened up a number of unexpected doors for Robert. Now, he works as a web accessibility consultant as well as an expert witness for lawyers in accessibility cases. Between these jobs and his work in the Audio Description industry, Robert has built up a safety net that allows him to spend time writing works of fiction. These works allow members of his intersecting communities to see themselves reflected in the characters and hopefully, the stories will allow Robert to one day join the ranks of his esteemed childhood influences.

Find Robert’s work on his website blindjournalist.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter @wweirdwriter

___________________
You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media:

Instagram: @career_crossroads

LinkedIn: Career Crossroads Podcast

Facebook: Career Crossroads Podcast

TikTok: @jonathancollaton