Episode 156: Our Experiences Create Our Identity, How We Talk About Them Shapes Our Future
Anna Cley was an outstanding student. And then she was a rocket scientist... and then she became an opera singer...
Her stepfather gave her the nudge she needed when she was miserable in her job as a scientist with the French Centre National D’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), France's equivalent to the USA's NASA. He told her that she could do anything she really wanted to do, he gave her the permission she needed to completely switch gears and follow her heart.
Stories of Pivot Points in Life
Anna Cley was an outstanding student. And then she was a rocket scientist... and then she became an opera singer...
Her stepfather gave her the nudge she needed when she was miserable in her job as a scientist with the French Centre National D’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), France's equivalent to the USA's NASA. He told her that she could do anything she really wanted to do, he gave her the permission she needed to completely switch gears and follow her heart.
The idea of being a rocket scientist interested her because of her childhood infatuation with all things space, the endless nature and mystery of the cosmos. Going to work in the industry nearly ruined that infatuation, removing so much of the beauty of exploration and putting it into numbers and measurements, in small compartments in a tiny office with a desk and computer.
At 23, she was "old" to begin a career in opera, but she has an unusual range and an extraordinary presence.
I love the image she created for me with her story of pulling the box of her scores (sheet music) out of the closet after leaving her job. I could just imagine her pulling out the first piece she would sing to warm up her voice after more than four years, like a long-awaited reunion with a dear friend.
Anna's adventurous spirit has taken her all over the world, and her compassion inspired her to create a non-profit called Vocalise, guiding victims of abuse to use their voices to release the trauma stored in their hearts and bodies.
Our conversation was enlightening, fascinating, and full of "ah ha" moments. Enjoy!
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Anna Cley
From rocket science to opera...
Transformational Artist
Performance & Leadership Specialist
Humanitarian
Visit Anna's website, get ready for her book launch next year, follow her on YouTube and Instagram, and connect with her on LinkedIn to learn more.
Her album "opera en code"was released in July, 2020 on all digital platforms. Here's a place to start to listen to this musical creation.
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About Sarah:
Click the image to purchase the audiobook, or purchase the paperback here!
In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.
My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.
The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!
Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.
Episode 103: Good Career Advice Might Not Be What You Think
When Eddie Wilders graduated from high school, all he knew was that he wanted to go to college. He didn’t know which college, or what programs he would be interested in, but he knew he wanted to be the first in his family to get a degree and do something different.
Career Guidance Stories, Reviews, and Regrets
When Eddie Wilders graduated from high school, all he knew was that he wanted to go to college. He didn’t know which college, or what programs he would be interested in, but he knew he wanted to be the first in his family to get a degree and do something different.
Eddie’s guidance counselor in high school was anything but, friendly and open, there for support, but did little to actually guide and help her students with important decisions.
He didn’t have any more success with that kind of guidance in college. When he was about to graduate with his Communications degree, rather than giving him some concrete ideas for jobs to apply for, his counselor said: “You can do just about anything with that degree!” And left it at that.
Eddie and I met in the comments section of a post on LinkedIn, asking about career advice. I responded to his comment on the post that I received plenty of decent career advice, but looking back now, none of it applied to me. All the advice I received was general, not specific to my tendency toward passionately learning something for a while, and then getting bored, self-sabotaging, and then switching jobs.
His questions and concerns were geared toward how he could guide his young daughters, since he didn’t receive useful guidance, and I immediately reached out to ask him about his experience and to record it for this episode.
Our conversation spanned from dressing appropriately for the job you want and for the environment you find yourself standing, to taking a trial and error approach in career decisions from early on. Eddie didn’t feel like he had the luxury of the trial and error system because all he knew was the experiences of his parents: Find a good job, get really good at it, and stick with it because it’s a good job and it pays.
Looking back now, he knows he wants his daughters to feel confident in trying different professional environments until they find one that feels right.
It’s always a pleasure to speak with someone with an important message, and Eddie shares one I’m sure most people can relate to, getting stuck in something because of the expectations and experiences of others.
Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn, and let him know what resonated with you about this episode!
Episode 102: Finding Soul-Shifting Moments
This episode’s theme is career transformation. My guest, Lorraine Flower, had a moment in her late 30s, when she was quickly and effectively moving up the corporate ladder, really on the upswing of her career, when she realized her soul wasn’t being fed.
Listen Closely to Your Heart When Your Story Shifts
This episode’s theme is career transformation. My guest, Lorraine Flower, had a moment in her late 30s, when she was quickly and effectively moving up the corporate ladder, really on the upswing of her career, when she realized her soul wasn’t being fed. She took what she called a sabbatical from her job, with the intention of spending time to learn what would feed her soul, and when she was offered an incredible opportunity with a different firm just a few months later, she came within a couple of days of starting – and then walked away from it.
Connect with Lorraine on LinkedIn, and visit her website to learn more about how she helps leaders remember to feed their souls by helping them identify and develop the soul of their companies.