ABOUT ME

The nonlinear journey behind Career Calibrator Canvas

My career hasn’t been a straight line. It’s been a landscape full of peaks, dips, pivots, reinventions, and unexpected opportunities shaped by events that are part of many people’s lives: sickness and recovery, immigration, periods of exhaustion, parenthood, entrepreneurship, pandemic disruption, divorce, and co-parenting.

My path crossed industries, countries, sectors, roles, and life stages. Each turn reshaped who I became, and I’m proud of that.Through it all, one truth revealed itself: careers aren’t linear, and they were never meant to be.

The early years: searching for direction

Like many at 18 who don’t yet know what they want to do with their lives, I chose business administration because it seemed practical.
But throughout my studies, I felt pulled in different directions. Twice, I paused my degree to pursue music and later became a certified yoga instructor. With the support of my parents, I eventually finished my generalist degree, but the winding path had already begun.
This taught me that not everyone has a clear passion early on. Sometimes you need to keep digging. You might be a late bloomer. Your education is just a lens to see the world, they often become useful later in ways you don’t expect.

Cultural management: my unexpected launchpad

My first major role came when I helped set up the first artist residency center in Buenos Aires—a job meant to last one year that turned into seven. It became my real-world business education, my unofficial MBA, where I learned entrepreneurship by doing: idea validation, positioning, messaging, networking, marketing, and fundraising. It was a defining role that shaped my future far more than I could have predicted.
But life intervened. Sickness, recovery, and eventually moving to the Netherlands reshaped my plans once again.
Looking back, this chapter taught me that your early career shouldn’t be about getting the perfect start—it should be about diverging, experimenting, and making the most of the opportunities in front of you. Those unplanned detours often become the foundation for everything that comes next.

Reinvention in a new country: the Netherlands

Arriving in a new country meant starting from scratch. I sent countless applications and received only one interview, followed by brutally honest feedback. As painful as it was, that conversation taught me exactly what not to do while job searching and planted the earliest seeds of what would later become Career Calibrator Canvas.
Eventually, I landed a role in cultural management, where I rebuilt my professional identity through upskilling, personal branding, navigating international workplace dynamics, and intentional networking. It taught me that when you emigrate, any job can be a good start. Just begin. Don’t wait for perfect.
At the same time, working within chronically underfunded systems showed me that it was time to pivot again and I learned something just as important: pausing to reflect, choosing deliberately, and redefining your direction is essential, especially when the path feels uncertain. Slowing down to speed up is an asset.

A major pivot: into international development and SaaS

I moved into a completely new sector, starting in communications and eventually growing into senior leadership roles. Alongside rapid professional growth came major life shifts: approaching exhaustion, becoming a parent twice, publishing a book, and learning the importance of balance.
I also began coaching others. I had been on the struggling jobseeker side, but as a hiring manager, I now saw patterns clearly. I knew what recruiters looked for, what made candidates stand out, and how storytelling could transform someone’s trajectory.
This taught me that, as an immigrant, you bring real value, different perspectives, experiences, and ways of thinking. Most teams were made up of locals… and me. That difference became an asset.

Entrepreneurship and the pandemic era

I took a sabbatical to travel and enjoy parenting, and in parallel launched a coaching and consultancy practice focused on career strategy. When the pandemic hit, my sabbatical evaporated, and I became a lifeline for people and teams facing uncertainty.
I supported hundreds of professionals navigating layoffs and reinvention. I advised founders and scale-ups on OKRs, marketing, restructuring, and communication. I helped people regain clarity when the world felt unrecognisable.
The pandemic years taught me something essential: when people thrive in their work, the world becomes more stable, humane, and resilient.

Leadership, M&A, and another pivot

After years of consulting, I returned to SaaS as a marketing director, joining the leadership team during a period of rapid scaling and a merger and acquisition. It was a high-growth environment where decisions moved fast, responsibilities expanded quickly, and my strategic and operational abilities were pushed to new levels. I experienced firsthand what it means to guide teams through uncertainty, complexity, and constant change.
As we grew, I learned how to navigate organisational dynamics, influence at scale, and connect business goals to clear communication and execution. It was rewarding and intense all at once, and it sharpened my understanding of what genuine leadership requires, not just direction, but clarity, empathy, and focus.
And while I loved managing people, coaching, developing, and watching them grow—the chapter naturally reached its end here. I realised that even though I could lead well, the traditional management track no longer aligned with the kind of impact I wanted to have. After a decade in leadership roles, I felt a pull toward work that was more strategic, creative, and craft-driven. That internal shift became the starting point for my next pivot.

Product marketing and the creator economy

As SaaS and AI evolved at record speed, I began noticing a growing gap inside organisations: teams needed people who could interpret complexity, not just ship features or run campaigns. They needed someone who could connect the dots between product, marketing, customer insight, and shifting market dynamics. In a world overwhelmed by automation, noise, and constant change, clarity became a strategic advantage. Product marketing sat exactly at that intersection.
Stepping into product marketing felt less like a career pivot and more like arriving somewhere I’d been headed for a long time. It brought together everything I’d learned across sectors, storytelling, strategy, customer understanding, leadership, and market awareness, into one discipline that rewards both analytical thinking and creative judgement. It grounded me in something AI can support but never replace: human intelligence, context, and the ability to make meaning.
Today, I lead product marketing at Modash as a senior individual contributor. It’s both a shift and an evolution, giving me the autonomy to shape strategy without the constraints of people management. For now, this is the balance I was looking for: a place where my strengths, the market’s needs, and the kind of work that genuinely energises me finally meet.

THE STORY BEHIND THE CANVAS

Why I built Career Calibrator Canvas

I built Career Calibrator Canvas because life doesn’t pause for our careers, and our careers don’t unfold independently of the lives we’re living.

Because careers aren’t linear.
Because life events shape us as much as job descriptions do.
Because pivoting isn’t a setback, it’s a skill.

My own journey has moved through sickness and recovery, immigration, periods of exhaustion, parenthood, publishing a book, entrepreneurship, pandemic-era consulting, divorce, co-parenting, multiple pivots, leadership roles, individual contributor roles, work across culture, social enterprise, and SaaS and a transition from management into product marketing.

These experiences taught me that a career is not a ladder, it’s a canvas. Every twist, mistake, pause, promotion, and pivot adds depth to the picture.

Career Calibrator Canvas exists to help people map their path, understand their value, and design a career that fits their life—not the other way around.

My superpower is turning disorientation, overwhelm, and confusion into clarity and movement. I use a structured process and the right questions to help people articulate what they can’t yet see. You can’t read the label when you’re inside the bottle—but I can help you step out and finally see it.

I help people uncover their strengths, shape their story, and make confident decisions about their next steps. And I stay with them—not just until they understand themselves, but until they take action and thrive.

Your story is not a detour.
It’s your competitive advantage.