If you’ve ever felt like you’re trying to navigate a new chapter of your life using an old, outdated version of yourself, this conversation is for you. Melissa Vining sits down with Sonya Weigle, an executive consultant and the founder of NextStageBio Advisors and the Catalytic Collective, to discuss the power of career reinvention. Sonya shares her personal journey through multiple career pivots—from global consulting to entrepreneurship—and explains how high-performing women can stop defining success by obligation and start defining it by their own values.

Inside this Episode:

• The Portfolio Career: How to design a multi-faceted career that allows you to wear different hats, stay engaged, and align your work with your personal purpose.
• Crossing the Fear Bridge: Why moving toward your purpose often feels uncomfortable and how to push through that fear to unlock new opportunities.
• Intuition as a Strength: The importance of using “heart-centered” intuition to lead in binary, data-driven industries like biotech and life sciences.
• Designing for Freedom: Shifting the lens of your career to prioritize time, location, and financial freedom over corporate expectations.
• Centering the Self: Why high performers must learn to direct their brilliance inward to become the primary beneficiary of their own talents.

Guest Bio:

Sonya Weigle is an Executive and Leadership Consultant for women in biotech. After more than 20 years as a biotech executive, she saw so many brilliant women struggle to move forward in their careers—not because they lacked expertise, but because they were trying to navigate a new chapter using an old version of themselves. Now, as Founder and CEO of NextStageBio Advisors and The Catalytic Collective, Sonya guides leaders to reinvent their careers and scale their companies without burning out or losing their sense of self along the way.

Connect with Sonya:

https://sonyaweigle.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonya-wilford-weigle/

Episode Timestamps:

00:34 – Meet Sonya Weigle

01:43 – Sonya’s story and career pivots

06:50 – Centering yourself in your next chapter

12:33 – What is a Portfolio Career?

15:32 – Crossing the “Fear Bridge”

21:19 – Leading with intuition in biotech

25:42 – The Catalytic Collective & NextStageBio Advisors

28:19 – Final Advice: Facts vs. Feelings

P.S. If you’ve found this episode helpful and want to support the podcast, ⁠buy me a coffee here⁠! Your support helps me keep creating content that helps high-performing misfits find work that fits.