Career Change Maker | Career Clarity, Career Opportunities, Career Pivots, Burnout, Corporate Job, Portfolio Career
***Top 1.5% Global Careers Podcast For Corporate Women***
Are you navigating a mid-career transition and wondering what’s next?
Have you built a successful corporate career but realised you don’t want your boss’s job?
Do you feel the tension between wanting more freedom and not wanting to sacrifice security?
If you’re ambitious but no longer willing to burn out for another promotion, you’re in the right place. I’m glad you’re here.
This podcast helps high-achieving mid-career women gain career clarity and confidently design their next chapter, whether that means evolving inside corporate, exploring a portfolio career, or building a hybrid path.
If you’re ready to stop default climbing and start making strategic, aligned decisions about your future, this podcast will give you the insight and tools to move forward with confidence.
Hey 👋 , I’m Janine Esbrand, corporate lawyer turned career strategist and executive coach.
For years, I had my eye on the corporate partner title. I kept my head down, worked the long hours, and chased the next big deal because that’s what success was supposed to look like.
Then I became a mother. And I realised I didn’t want to build a life around my career, I wanted to build a career around my life. So, I stepped off the default corporate path and designed a portfolio career that allows me to work on my terms, create meaningful impact, and show up fully, both professionally and personally.
Now, I help ambitious mid-career women do the same: gain clarity, challenge the default ladder, and design aligned, sustainable careers that reflect who they are now, not who they used to be.
This podcast will give you the strategy, mindset and tools to make it happen.
So grab your notebook, pour your hot drink of choice and lets design what’s next.
Next Steps:
🎙️ Explore for 1:1 Coaching: www.careerchangemakers.com/claritycall
🌐 Visit the Website: www.careerchangemakers.com
📩 Contact Us: hello@careerchangemakers.com
Career Change Maker | Career Clarity, Career Opportunities, Career Pivots, Burnout, Corporate Job, Portfolio Career
303 I What Happens When You Stop Following the ‘Safe’ Career Track
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
As we move through the first full working week of January, many professionals find themselves reflecting on their careers and questioning whether the path they’re on still fits.
In this episode, I reflect on my biggest career pivot - stepping off the default legal career track while on maternity leave and how that single decision shaped a fulfilling portfolio career over the last 10 years.
This episode is an invitation to rethink rigid career paths, embrace experimentation, and give yourself permission to choose again as your life, priorities, and seasons change.
✨ What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- Why clarity often comes after action, not before and why waiting to have it all figured out keeps many people stuck
- How I made her first career pivot without taking a reckless leap, and how small, strategic transitions can de-risk change
- Why careers are meant to evolve and how to design work that fits your life, not just what looks good on paper
🧭 Key Themes We Explore
- Stepping off the “default” career path
- Redefining success after major life transitions
- Overcoming fear, identity shifts, and fear of judgement
- Building a portfolio career aligned with your strengths
- Testing, experimenting, and making intentional pivots
- Giving yourself permission to choose differently
🎯 Action Steps
- Reflect on whether your current career still fits the season of life you’re in now, not the one you were in when you chose it.
- Identify what you don’t want anymore, clarity often starts there.
- Consider where you could experiment or test before making a bigger change.
🤍 Work With Me
If you’re at a crossroads and want support designing a career that fits your life, not just one that looks good on paper, this is exactly the work I do with clients in 1:1 coaching.
🔔 Enjoyed This Episode?
If this resonated, share it with a friend who might need permission to choose again in 2026.
Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and keep moving towards a career that truly fits.
Invest in Yourself and Your Career:
- Community — Join our Network for mid-career women redesigning what's next in their careers
- Coaching — Join the Waitlist for The Portfolio Career Academy. Turn Your Expertise Into Multiple Streams of Income & Impact Through Building A Portfolio Career. Join The Waitlist
Connect with me!
Website: careerchangemakers.com
Email: podcast@careerchangemakers.com
LinkedIn: Janine Esbrand
Instagram: @careerchangemakerspodcast
Career Change Makers on Apple Podcasts