When longtime attorney Helene Godin gave up her legal career without a plan, she felt directionless. She’d turned away from it after feeling overworked yet content with everything she’d accomplished in the field.

Her journey included working on copyright cases for famous novels, screening Saturday Night Live scripts for defamatory language and overseeing Audible’s sale to Amazon. Eventually, she wound up at Bloomberg and the intense work environment pushed her to the max. She always strove to be the best and, after two years, she realized she needed to do something totally different.

The problem was that her identity was wrapped up in being an attorney, and she didn’t know what to do with that was gone. It took just a few days without a job for Helene to feel lost and in need of another label. So she filled her time with taking professional baking classes, where an instructor mentioned the growing trend toward gluten-free baked goods. Around the same time, Godin noticed the gluten-free section expanding in her grocery store.

She decided that her next “hobby” would entail opening a small bakery in her community, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. She researched the business concept with the same intensity she’d reviewed NBC’s Saturday Night Live scripts for defamatory language. She opened By The Way Bakery almost exactly a year after walking away from the legal profession.

What began as a hobby evolved into a growing small business that now includes four shops in the metro New York City area and providing goods for Whole Foods around the Northeast. On this week’s episode of Rally, Hearst Connecticut’s new podcast about business leaders facing failure and bouncing back, Godin tells her store of struggling to find a totally new career direction.

Business reporter and Rally host Macaela J. Bennett has spent a year collecting these stories of hardship and missteps in people’s careers to share with listeners inspiring examples of overcoming obstacles.

Follow Rally_Podcast: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Email: [email protected]

Media:

Reflecting Emotional Piano and Strings Midtempo by Jason Garner

A segment of “Room with a view” by Jahzzar is licensed under CC BY 3.0

Inspired by Camera Sintetica

You Inspire Me by Aaron Stepanik

Hong Kong by MagnusMoone

Distant Feeling by Brandon Ficquette

Moments of Inspiration Piano and Strings Midtempo Wedding Song by Jason Garner

A segment of “Prelude No. 8” by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Links:

Learn more about By The Way Bakery

+http://www.btwbakery.com/

+ "By the Way Bakery to bring its unconventional goodies to Greenwich” https://www.greenwichtime.com/business/article/By-the-Way-Bakery-to-bring-its-unconventional-9969491.php

+Dinner a love story blog http://www.dinneralovestory.com/

+ “Kosher bakery opens in downtown Greenwich” https://www.greenwichtime.com/business/article/Kosher-bakery-opens-in-downtown-Greenwich-10813603.php

+ “Why This Woman Quit Her High-Powered Job As A Lawyer To Open A Bakery” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/helene-godin-by-the-way-bakery_us_571e3cf2e4b0d912d5ff2cc5

+ “By the Way Bakery expands with giant Pleasantville kitchen” https://www.lohud.com/story/life/food/2016/09/21/by-way-bakery-expands/90778882/

+Helene Godin named to list of most influential women by Westchester Magazine

http://www.westchestermagazine.com/Westchester-Magazine/Women-in-Business/WIB-2015-Honorees/