Her Next Chapters

I considered walking out of a tiny Tokyo restaurant because it felt uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and way too hard to navigate in English. It seemed like every head turned when we walked in, the menu was handwritten in Japanese, and then a “free delicacy” landed on the table that looked like chopped-up worms. That moment could’ve ended with us retreating to the nearest convenience store and calling it a night.

Instead, I took a bite. It was raw baby squid, and it was actually delicious. That tiny choice sparked a conversation with a local man named Hiro and, somehow, turned into the funniest, sweetest connection of our entire Japan trip. We talked, laughed, and even sang Country Roads together when it started playing in the restaurant. It reminded me how rare real connection can be when most interactions as a tourist are quick, polite, and transactional.

You never know what's waiting on the other side of an awkard moment. This episode is a reminder to stay open, say yes, and not walk away too quickly — in travel, in networking, and in life. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more women can find Her Next Chapters. 

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

Career pivots rarely happen in a straight line.

In this episode of Her Next Chapters, Christina talks with Brenda Brusegard, founder of Informed Tech Solutions, about her unconventional career journey from middle school science teacher to international educator to tech and AI consultant helping business owners streamline their operations. 

Brenda spent more than 15 years in education, teaching in the U.S. and internationally in Ecuador, India, and Panama. Along the way, she discovered a love for technology, research, and problem-solving that eventually led her to start her own business helping entrepreneurs simplify their tech and automation systems using AI.

In this conversation, Brenda shares how small decisions and unexpected opportunities led to a major career shift, and why paying attention to what comes naturally to you can point toward your next chapter.

Christina and Brenda also tackle a topic that many career returners and career changers feel intimidated by: artificial intelligence. If AI feels overwhelming or unfamiliar, this episode offers a practical and encouraging starting point.

You’ll hear about:

• How following small “breadcrumbs” can lead to meaningful career pivots
• Why networking and real conversations still matter in a tech-driven world
• Simple ways to start using AI in everyday life and work
• How AI can help with tasks like planning, research, and productivity
• Why AI should do about 80% of the work, with humans responsible for the final 20%

Connect with Brenda:
LinkedIn: Brenda Brusegard
Website: informedtech.io
AI Course: Build Your Dream Team

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

What happens when a lifelong identity no longer fits the season you’re in?

In this episode of Her Next Chapters, Christina sits down with Kiersten Lortz, former professional violinist turned women’s empowerment coach, author, and founder of the Possibilities Conference. After a 25-year career in music, Kiersten made a bold midlife pivot to support women navigating identity shifts, career transitions, and the emotional complexity of the empty nest years.

Together, they explore:

• Letting go of long-held professional identities
• Career pivots in midlife and starting over from experience
• The emotional realities of the empty nest transition
• Reclaiming your relationship with your spouse, your adult children, and yourself
• Why women often feel lost after their kids leave home
• Coaching vs. therapy and how forward-focused coaching supports real change
• Small, sustainable action instead of “massive action” during busy life seasons

Kiersten shares her journey from performing on major stages as a professional musician to launching a women’s empowerment conference and building a coaching practice centered on helping mothers reconnect during the college transition years (ages 16–24). She also discusses the loneliness many women experience during this phase and why community and structured support matter.

If you are navigating a career reinvention, identity shift, or the emotional complexity of midlife motherhood, this conversation will remind you that you are not starting from scratch—you are starting from experience.

This episode is for women who are ready to release old chapters, redefine what’s next, and step into their next season with intention.

Click on these links to learn more about Kiersten’s Possibilities Conference and coaching programs.
Or grab a copy of her book: Possibilities: Partnering with God to Become Your Best Self

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The hardest part of interviewing isn’t your qualifications — it’s knowing how to talk about them.
Let’s fix that.
Book your Interview Clarity & Confidence Session HERE.

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

What happens when grief, divorce, and a career crossroads all arrive at once? For parenting coach Alyssa Smith, they arrived together in 2022 — and changed everything.

After 17 years in the classroom, Alyssa walked away from teaching, moved back to the States from South Korea, and spent six months coming home to herself. What she found on the other side was a completely new chapter — and a calling to help parents raise confident, compassionate kids while growing into their own next version.

In this conversation, Christina and Alyssa dig into identity shifts, growing out loud alongside our kids, the power of high warmth and high expectations, and why the next brave step — however imperfect — is always the right one.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Free resource: Name the Hard, Model the Hope
• Group program: The Parent Reset (runs quarterly) 
• Alyssa's website: alyssasmithcoaching.com
• Follow Alyssa on LinkedIn
• Follow Alyssa on Instagram @parentlikeahuman 

Navigating your own career pivot? Christina's Interview Strategy Sessions help you clarify your story and walk into your next interview with confidence. → [LINK]
 
 

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

In this episode of Her Next Chapters, Christina sits down with Missi Bantner, an integrative neuro rehab, fitness, yoga, and nutrition coach and founder of Whole Life Health.

With over 24 years in the wellness field, Missi shares her deeply personal career journey, including early burnout, recovery from an eating disorder, multiple professional pivots, and how her own healing led her to a truly holistic approach to health. Her work integrates neuroscience, nutrition therapy, movement, mindfulness, and behavior change to help clients heal their relationship with their body, brain, and beliefs.

This conversation explores why sustainable health and habit change is not about willpower, punishment, or January 1st resolutions, but about understanding readiness, nervous system capacity, and aligning change with the natural rhythms of the seasons. Missi introduces practical frameworks such as the stages of behavior change, habit loops (cue, routine, reward), and how stress and overwhelm can block progress even when motivation is high.

Christina and Missi also discuss:

• Why winter is a powerful season for reflection, planning, and contemplation rather than forced action
• How neuroscience explains why change feels hard and how to work with your nervous system instead of against it
• The role of self-awareness in weight loss, nutrition, and long-term health
• Why your body is not a “trash can” and how childhood food beliefs still show up in adulthood
• How pain, inflammation, and discomfort can become powerful catalysts for change
• The importance of meeting yourself where you are and choosing entry points that feel supportive, not overwhelming

This episode is especially relevant for women navigating midlife transitions, career shifts, or a desire to feel better in their bodies without extremes or quick fixes. Missi’s approach offers a compassionate, science-backed path to whole-life health that honors both the body and the brain.

Connect with Missi:
livewholelifehealth.com
Early 2026 Coaching Offer

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

What if your most aligned work sits at the crossroads of what you’ve done and what you’re drawn to now? Aimee Gindin’s career is a masterclass in the "winding path," featuring significant pivots from crisis counseling and a pre-med detour at Harvard to a 14-year climb up the marketing corporate ladder.

At age 40, Aimee walked away from the C-suite to build a career rooted in empathy and human connection. In this conversation, we deconstruct how she leveraged transferable skills, strategic volunteering and self-trust to reinvent herself multiple times, eventually finding her "nexus" in weight-inclusive health and intuitive eating.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The "Why" Behind the Pivot: How to recognize when you are chasing status instead of satisfaction.
• Strategic Volunteering: How Aimee used an unpaid internship to land her first marketing role with zero prior experience.
• Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: How a coach's powerful question—"How dare you not share your gifts?"—sparked Aimee's entrepreneurial leap.
• Intuitive Eating 101: A research-backed look at why 95% of diets fail and how to rebuild trust with your body.
• Building Community: Inside The Full Plate, a space for food neutrality, myth-busting, and weight-inclusive provider directories.

About Our Guest: Aimee Gindin is an intuitive eating counselor, certified nutrition coach, and former mental health therapist. She is the founder of The Full Plate, a community designed to help individuals make peace with food and their bodies through a weight-neutral lens.

Connect with Aimee:
The Full Plate Newsletter   &   Full-plate-nutrition.com
LinkedIn.com/in/aimee-gindin

Books referenced in the episode:
The Pathfinder, by Nicholas Lore - a book on choosing careers that changed Aimee's life.  (Note: This is an affiliate link, which helps support the show!)

Intuitive Eating, by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch - The go-to resource for building a healthy body image and making peace with food, once and for all.

(Note: Both books are affiliate links, which helps support the show!)

This conversation explores midlife career reinvention, transferable skills, and how intuitive eating and weight-inclusive care can reshape both personal health and professional purpose. 

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

Instead of New Year’s resolutions that fade fast, this episode explores choosing a word of the year—and why present became my anchor for 2026. We talk about what it really means to be present in midlife: not stuck replaying the past, not waiting for “someday,” but recognizing when the future you planned for is already here.

I share the moment my husband said, “the future is now,” and how that landed as we're launching young adults into the world, entering a new season of life, and realizing how often we postpone joy while waiting for perfect conditions. Being present, especially for women and moms in transition, is about letting yourself enjoy what you’ve already worked toward.

We also unpack the double meaning of present—being fully here and sharing your gifts (presents). This episode connects presence, purpose, and energy. 

If you’re choosing a word of the year, I also share how to use AI to brainstorm and refine a word that truly fits. 

What’s your word for the year? Send me an email and let me know! 

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

December is often written off as a slow time for job searching, but it’s actually one of the best times of year to network.

In this episode of Her Next Chapters, we’re talking about holiday networking and how to talk about your career during the holidays in a way that feels natural, confident, and human. If you’re in a career transition, returning to work after a break, navigating a layoff, or quietly thinking about a job search in 2026, this episode will help you show up to conversations with more clarity and ease.

You’ll learn:

• Why December and the holiday season are a unique opportunity for networking
• How to reframe networking so it doesn’t feel awkward, forced, or transactional
• What to say when someone asks, “So what are you up to these days?”
• A simple elevator pitch structure you can use right away
• How referrals work and why networking matters more than online applications
• Common mistakes to avoid when talking about your job search
• How small, low-pressure asks can lead to warm introductions

These holiday networking strategies are especially helpful during end-of-year gatherings, but they work any time of year - at school events, community gatherings, volunteer roles, professional associations, and everyday conversations.

Whether you’re restarting your career after a break, pivoting into something new, or preparing for a job search in the new year, this episode will help you think about networking as socializing with purpose - during the holidays and beyond. 

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

In this week’s episode of Her Next Chapters, I sit down with mindset coach and former school principal Renee DeVore, whose story is one of the most powerful midlife reinventions I’ve heard yet. After a 25-year career in education — including 16 years as a principal — Renee walked away from her six-figure job, sold everything she owned, and moved to Mexico in search of alignment, authenticity, and a life that actually fit.

But her transition wasn’t linear. And it definitely wasn’t easy.

In our conversation, Renee opens up about the deeper reasons she entered education, the years of ignoring the whispers that she was on the wrong path, and the panic attack that finally forced her to choose herself. She talks about trying (and failing) to transition into corporate, facing hundreds of rejections, and the moment she realized she had a gift she could build a business around.

We walk through every chapter of her evolution — from launching an Etsy shop, to failed partnerships, to retreats, to TikTok growth, to finally creating Sol School, a year-long coaching and community experience for high-achieving women ready to leave burnout behind and design work on their own terms.

This episode is a powerful reminder that:

• Reinvention in midlife is not only possible — it’s normal
• Your transferable skills can take you further than you think
• Pivoting (again and again) is part of the process, not a sign you’re lost
• Taking action — even small, messy action — is what creates clarity
• You don’t have to burn it all down to find your next chapter
• The life you actually want might be on the other side of letting go of other people’s expectations

If you’re a woman navigating a career transition, thinking about entrepreneurship, craving more freedom, or just trying to figure out what’s next after burnout or a career pause, Renee’s story will hit home in all the best ways.

Doors to Sol School open December 8. Click HERE to learn more and/or email Renee and follow her on any of her social accounts:

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/coachreneedevore
Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@yoursoulgrowthjourney
Instagram: www.instagram.com/soulgrowthalchemy

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

As we head into Thanksgiving next week, the holidays can feel full, quiet, joyful, overwhelming, or… a mix of all of the above. In this episode, I’m sharing three simple ways to navigate the holiday with more ease, more intention, and a lot more compassion for yourself.

First, I walk you through my 24-hour gratitude practice — a realistic, grounding approach to gratitude that actually works, especially during stressful seasons.

Next, we talk holiday conversations: how to avoid the awkward stuff, redirect questions you don’t want to answer, and start meaningful, low-stress conversations around the table.

And finally, I’m acknowledging something we don’t talk about enough — not everyone spends Thanksgiving around a big table. If you’re navigating an empty nest, working, spending the holiday alone, or doing it differently this year, I’m sharing ideas to help you feel connected, supported, and grounded.

Whether you’re gathering with family, spending the day solo, or still figuring out your plans, this episode will help you move into Thanksgiving with a lighter heart and a clearer head.

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at [email protected]

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina