Lane Switch Podcast

I sat down and spoke with Ashia Barnes who was a former teacher turned principal for over 7-years before leaving the classroom.

We discuss her journey from being a classroom teacher to then moving into an administration role across 2 different charter school systems.

She highlights some tips and tricks teachers can take to make that leap of faith outside the classroom. Ashia now serves as an Educational Consultant for Curriculum Associates.

I sat down and spoke with Robyn Lee who was a former high school physics and math turned into a STEAM Educator for over 14-years in the Northeast.

She then spoke about how she outgrew that role and finally took the leap of faith and landed a new role as a Partnership Plus-Educational Consultant with an Ed-Tech company.

In June of this year, Robyn launched CoLearn Collective. CoLearn Collective is a community-based homeschool ecosystem that helps families find their people, access trusted local support, and participate in meaningful real-world learning experiences.

I sat down and spoke with Amber Letters who shares her unconventional journey from an English and communications grad who started teaching in a Florida alternative school with no formal pedagogy training, she learned quickly that relationship-building is the core of effective teaching.

Her story offers a candid look at the emotional toll of COVID-era teaching, the deep bonds formed by looping with students from 6th–8th grade, and how systemic pressures and unsustainable expectations can push even deeply committed educators to reconsider their path beyond the classroom.

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Dani Patterson was the teacher who saw an unused SMART Board in the library and asked if she could put it in her classroom.

Soon, other teachers were asking how she was using it. Her principal began involving her in professional development, and an interest in classroom technology eventually became a master's in instructional technology and a move into district-level technology leadership.

Today, Dani is a Customer Marketing Manager at PowerSchool, after first spending about three years training educators on PowerSchool products.

In this episode of The Lane Switch Podcast, Dani shares how following the work that energized her opened new career opportunities—and why teachers should look closely at the skills they're already using before assuming they need to start over.

Jess and David Maldonado entered teaching together, eventually worked in the same school and department, and supported each other through the challenges of the classroom.

But they also knew teaching wasn't necessarily going to be their forever career.

David eventually found an opportunity training educators to use curriculum, with Jess making her own transition months later. Roughly a decade after leaving the classroom, they've each built different careers around parts of teaching they still value.

In this episode of The Lane Switch Podcast, Jess and David share how teaching skills transferred into corporate roles, why leaving doesn't mean abandoning the parts of education you love, and how teachers can start identifying what they actually want from their next career.

Bailey Bray left the classroom early in her teaching career without corporate connections, referrals, or a guaranteed next step.

She initially explored curriculum development, but something interesting happened during her job search: her transferable skills kept getting more traction in sales.

Bailey took the opportunity and started as a Sales Development Representative in 2024. She later became a Team Lead and, in March 2026, stepped into her current role as Manager of Sales Development at PowerSchool.

In this episode of The Lane Switch Podcast, Bailey shares how she translated teaching into sales, handled rejection, discovered strengths she didn't expect to use professionally, and why teachers shouldn't assume their first post-classroom career idea is necessarily their best fit.

After 10 years teaching first and second grade, this former educator found her next opportunity somewhere surprisingly familiar: a company behind a math program she had already used in her classroom.

That experience helped her transition into an Implementation Manager role, where she learned tools including Jira, ClassLink, Clever, and Salesforce while supporting school districts across 36 states.

But her career transition didn't end there. After more than four years, a layoff led to another difficult job search and eventually a new entrepreneurial chapter with Pace and Pages.

In this episode of The Lane Switch Podcast, she shares how classroom experience translated into corporate work, the reality of career setbacks, and why teachers shouldn't overlook the products and skills they already know.

I sat down and spoke with Kyle Stern who discussed how he moved from New York to North Carolina to begin his 9-year teaching career as a Social Studies and History Teacher.

We discussed how the lack of state support, resources, and pay for educators was a major factor in him stepping away from the classroom.

Kyle took a leap of faith into a sales role in his first job outside of education. He now has worked his way up to a Sr. Educational Sales Consultant for IXL Learning.

After years as a teacher, principal, and state-level education leader, Edmund Mitzel began exploring what could come next in his career—but figuring out the right direction wasn't automatic.

Instead of forcing himself to answer, “What do I want to do?” Ed started identifying what he didn't want. That process helped him recognize how professional learning, relationship building, coaching, and supporting educators aligned with his experience.

Today, Ed is a Professional Learning Specialist with Curriculum Associates.

In this episode of The Lane Switch Podcast, Ed shares how he navigated his career transition, evaluated opportunities beyond traditional K–12 roles, and why transitioning teachers should consider more than just a job title when deciding what comes next.

I sat down and spoke with Derek Sarver who explains his 5-year teaching journey across the country.

Moving to Texas helped provide him some growth and experience to explore more opportunities outside the classroom. Also highlighting the need to do what's best for yourself as an educator. He was able to pivot into a Professional Development Specialist role.

Derek now finds himself as the Professional Learning Solutions Director for Imagine Learning.