How small, brave choices can make a big difference

EP035 with Alison O'Leary & Suzi Lawrence

Re-centre, clarify, then take action

In this episode I’m joined by the wonderful Suzi Lawrence who is a former client, inspiring human and all-round wise owl!

Suzi comes to share her refreshingly honest story of how small, brave choices helped her reclaim her spark, confidence, and a sense of work-life happiness.

After spending 17 years with the same organisation and climbing the ranks to Managing Director of Talent, Suzi found herself feeling stuck, undervalued, and completely misaligned with the environment around her.

Rather than diving headfirst into a huge, risky career overhaul, she worked with me to gently re-centre herself, clarify what mattered most, and explore new options on her own terms.

It’s a powerful story of how Suzi made meaningful changes to her career path based on her values and interests, WITHOUT the need for a full-blown career change.

I think you’ll love this one so come join us!

In this episode we get into: 

  • What happens when you feel like a shell of yourself in a role that no longer fits
  • The emotional weight of being in a toxic work environment (and how easy it is to downplay it)
  • Discovering your non-negotiables and aligning your career to fit around you, not the other way around
  • How maternity cover roles in the charity sector helped Suzi build confidence, resilience, and a new sense of purpose
  • Why part-time senior roles do exist – and how to find them
  • The power of testing the waters (hello portfolio career mindset!) before committing to big changes
  • Volunteering, mentoring, and making impact outside of a job title
  • How Suzi now knows she’s content – not in a passive way, but in a joyful, energised, calm-in-your-skin kind of way

This episode is for anyone who feels like they’ve outgrown their current work life but doesn’t know where to begin.

If you’ve ever told yourself, “I’ve been here too long,” “I can’t afford to start again,” or “I’ll just stick it out a bit longer,” then pour a cuppa and settle in – this one’s for you 😊

A bit more about Suzi Lawrence

EP035 – Guest Suzi Lawrence

Suzi Lawrence began her career in the wonderfully niche world of built environment communications working client-side and quickly rising through the ranks, and finding her true passion in supporting the people around her. She evolved into becoming the Client Services Director, where she could blend her strategic insight with her natural people skills.

Eventually, Suzi made the leap to focus entirely on people, taking on leadership of the agency’s Talent function. This move marked a turning point and resulted in her leaving the organisation she had grown up in professionally, a move bringing both challenge and opportunity. It also gave her the space to realise that her passion for helping others thrive could be something with purpose too.

In recent years, Suzi has brought that purpose to life through maternity cover roles in the voluntary sector, where she’s found not only fulfilment but a deep sense of alignment between her values and her work. Volunteering has also become a meaningful part of her life, offering new ways to give back and grow.

If you would like to know more about Suzi or would like to connect with her, please do head over to LinkedIn to do that.

 

There is a community with this show

If you enjoy this podcast show, then you will definitely enjoy being part of the Dream Chasers Unite community.

Come and meet, learn from and be inspired by awesome, like-minded people who are on their own Dream Chaser journeys (at various stages).

Find out what’s possible, by seeing what other people are doing to determine and go after their ideal careers and lives.

Join the group here.

Curious about changing your career?

Book a call with me to chat about how I work with people just like you every day. Life shouldn’t be hard at work.

Finding what lights you up, brings you joy and gets you paid at the same time – well, that’s a eureka moment. Right?


Find out about my Career Transition Programme and book a call with me.

Questioning your options to change careers?

You may like to wander over and check out my Work Wonderland™ Course. You can use this as a temperature check to make sure that what you are thinking of, in terms of changing your work or job, makes sense.

The course and web application are a low investment to help you to confirm what you are thinking, or give you some routes that you hadn’t considered possible. Read all about it here.

 

Ways to watch and listen

Listen on the go, on your mobile phone:

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If you want to watch with auto-generated captions – click the captions icon on the YouTube play bar menu at the bottom of the video.