Ari K.
From Leading Member Experience at Women’s Health Start-up to Growth Strategy & Ops at Mental Health Start-up
UCLA Anderson ‘21
Ari was in a state of transition when we started working together. She was about to become a new mom and was getting ready to leave her first post-MBA professional home.
These changes were thrilling (welcoming her son!) and unnerving (what was next?!).
Ari wanted to think expansively about her career. She had been very successful as an impact investor pre-MBA and as a start-up operator post-MBA, but still hadn’t found a path that was “it.”
As we dove into Ari’s operating principles and strengths, we realized that her love for deep learning and human connection would be well-suited for professions such as therapy or academia.
Ari was intrigued and excited about those options. She also felt relief seeing how she could use her natural strengths to deeply impact people.
However, Ari knew she wasn’t ready for a complete pivot right now. She wanted to continue to learn from strong leaders, build career capital and maintain stability and flexibility for her family.
We created a near-term strategy to find growth strategy roles which would allow Ari to focus on the type of projects she enjoyed most in previous roles, harness her strengths and meet those priorities.
Ari quickly found the right role leading a growth initiative at a mental health start-up, working with an excellent manager, culture and work-life balance.
In Ari’s words:
“Cydnee was a grounding force for me during a period of tectonic life shifts. Working with her provided the accountability, structure, and confidence building I particularly needed at this juncture.
Cydnee helped me clearly define — and importantly, accept and truly embrace — my strengths and my evolved operating principles (now a combination of ambitious millennial woman & caring mom). And in doing so, she helped me balance a tension: developing a plan that works for my needs today while also helping me understand how it ladders into my longer-term roadmap.
What I believe especially differentiates Cydnee from other coaches is how impactful she is at guiding BOTH the big picture, deeply personal, and often vulnerable reflection process… AND the tactical, strategic job search executional support (networking emails, resume, interview scripts). This combination in one person is so rare.”
