E5: Shift Happens: Unexpected Career Moves with KiKi L'Italien

When Does It Get Good?

Feeling stuck in your career path or contemplating a significant change? Zovig Garboushian explores this question with her former colleague, KiKi L'Italien, the VP of Marketing for Big Red M and Editor-in-Chief of Association Chat. KiKi shares insights into her pivotal shift from a decade-long career as a solopreneur to embracing a role within a larger organization—a transition characterized by self-discovery and emotional challenges.

Delving into the courage it takes to challenge long-standing beliefs about professional identity and the importance of staying open to new opportunities, KiKi's story is a testament to vulnerability and the capacity to adapt without losing sight of one's core. Zovig highlights that KiKi's path of conscious choice and adaptation serves as an inspiration for anyone facing adversity, providing hope and a reminder of the strength that lies in self-awareness.

KiKi offers listeners actionable advice to approach recurring themes in their lives with curiosity and to explore why certain situations trigger discomfort. Her insights are a valuable guide for those navigating their relationship with their career and personal aspirations.

Quotes

• "I like to create things. I like autonomy. I have a lot of great ideas and I like to build on them. What ended up happening was along the way, I started doing some work on myself where I was dealing with some stuff, with some past trauma. And I think for me, I'm 47 years old. And when you get to a certain point, hopefully if you're living life right, you become self-aware enough that you're like, well, let me get a little self-introspective here and begin to explore some of this stuff because there might be some things I need to sort out." (06:57 | KiKi L'Italien)
• "We can become just straight up bitter. We can become angry and just be that angry person. But there's a difference between being it and experiencing it. Experiencing it means it's a transient experience." (15:47 | Zovig Garboushian)
• "I feel like the labels connected to entrepreneur, solopreneur, or employee should just become a little bit flexible because we can switch in and out. We can change as we need to. Basically, it's what works for us and as long as we don't get too tied with our identity, to what one of those labels mean, you can be entrepreneurial, you can definitely create things while you're working for somebody else." (24:31 | KiKi L'Italien)
• "Answering what's really bothering you is probably the most valuable thing that you can do." (43:55 | KiKi L'Italien)
• "If you see these themes in your life where there's this one sort of message that's coming to you pretty clearly over and over again, explore why, what is it about that that's really bothering you? And don't let go of exploring that because it might not just be locked in some sort of thing with your past or your history. It might be in the way that you engage with your career now. It might be in how you engage with your home life, your relationship to your health or fitness. It could be anything, but get curious." (44:01 | KiKi L'Italien)

Links

Connect with KiKi L'Italien:

Website/Blog: https://associationchat.com/

Facebook/Meta: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AssociationChat

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kikilitalien/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kikilitalien/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/kikilitalien

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AssociationChat

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/42X3jBRrR8toIVugVZ6KMh

Connect with Zovig Garboushian:

Website: www.boldnessablazecoaching.com

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm