In this episode of EdUp L&D, host Holly Owens interviews Stephanie Yesil, founder of Elevated Careers, who shares her journey from education to corporate learning and development. Stephanie discusses the importance of building visibility in a competitive job market, the resources she offers to help educators transition into corporate roles, and actionable advice for those looking to pivot their careers. The conversation emphasizes the need for community support, the role of AI in L&D, and the importance of making one's expertise visible.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello, add up L&D fam. It's your host Holly Owens, and
today's episode is straight up fire.
Why do you ask? Because I've got Steph Yesl in
the house, the brilliant bold bat signalling answering founder
of Elevated Careers. And let me tell you, this combo
(00:22):
is like Rocket fool for your career pivot.
Stephanie's journey from Teach from America to a decade of
dominating corporate L&D to building a career coaching
business that's helping educators become unapologetic
leaders and change makers. And guess what?
She's just getting started. In this episode, we're getting
(00:44):
into how to actually build visibility without drowning in
the LinkedIn noise, why your next job isn't your last and why
that's a good thing, how to incorporate AI the right way so
you don't get left behind, and how to stop overthinking and
start owning your transition. Steph drops truth prompts,
(01:07):
tactical tips, and real deal advice that's not only
actionable, it's truly empowering.
She's the career coach with the receipts, receipts, receipts.
And if you're not already following her, well, that
changes today. Buckle up because this is your
sign to calm down, get visible, and make your career transition
(01:29):
elevated. Let's get into it.
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Our two flagship solutions are ispring Suite and ispring Learn
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(01:52):
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(02:16):
challenges, and championships. We'd be happy to get to know you
and pick a solution that fits your needs best.
Go to www.icepringsolutions.com to learn more about us, download
our resources, and connect. Hello everyone, and welcome to
another fantastic episode of AddUp L&D.
(02:39):
I'm Holly Owens and I'm your host and I'm super excited that
I got this guest on my show. I have Steph Yessel, who is the
founder of Elevated Careers, andshe's going to come talk to us
all about the resources and things she's offers.
Steph, welcome to the show. Woo Hoo, Thank you so much for
having me, Holly. And I know Jen, you're in the
(03:00):
background, but I'm going to give you a shout out on camera
too. Thank you both for having me.
This is wonderful. We are so excited to have you
here and I know the audience is going to be intently listening
to all the advice you have to give.
But before we get into all that,tell us about you.
Tell us about your journey. How did you become like this?
Founder of Elevated Careers? All the different things that
you've done up into this point. We want to know more about you
(03:22):
and your story. OK, well, I'm going to, I, I
have a pretty rigorous background, uh, ups and downs,
left and rights, wins, mistakes,all of that.
I'm going to spare you all of the minute details.
The big picture is I I went in to Teach for America in 2011,
which began my journey in education and learning and
(03:45):
development. I had a five year plan, got out
right around 4 1/2, started working for corporate.
I worked for corporate for 10 years in lots of different L&D
under the under the giant L&D umbrella, lots of positions,
curriculum development, training, facilitating, you
know, traditional L and DII helped manage instructional
(04:08):
designers. I, I, I I've done it.
On. I've I've delivered, I've
written, I've I've done all the things because I said yes.
When there was an opportunity, Isaid yes.
I'm a utility player. When the bat signal goes up, I
get to work and I, I, I'm not afraid to learn along the way.
And I realized that on my way tocreating elevated careers.
(04:32):
I've always been the kind of person who has felt itchy in, in
constrained roles where I need to help somebody else build
their dream. But I know that kind of role,
that kind of experience is necessary to eventually build
your own thing, as you well know.
So I'm really grateful for that 10 years in corporate.
And then one day I thought, you know what there is such a market
(04:56):
for, for getting the right talent in the right positions
unapologetically. And, and my passion is
education. I mean, you and I, we can, we'll
have a happy hour and we're going to need 2 hours to talk
about why I love the power of education.
But I'm also a futurist and I believe that education is
(05:17):
changing and the classroom landscape is, is it's going to
go the way of the dodo. So if we don't keep up, we're
going to suffer horrific consequences.
And I don't want that to happen.So what I do now in elevated
careers, what I built is I help great minds in education move
into roles that traditionally haven't been the decision
(05:41):
makers, but are now becoming thethe systemic change makers.
And those are the people creating the products and
services that are being consumed.
So I want to make sure that I'm helping brilliant, wonderful,
lovely people elevate their careers into the next chapter of
(06:01):
what education is going to look like.
And if that happens for them outside of the classroom, which
in many cases it does, I'm the person to help shepherd them
there. I love this story and I know we
have a lot of commonality just from seeing your post on
LinkedIn and I want to 100% likekudos you.
Your marketing is fantastic. Thank you.
Love how you market elevated careers and and the things that
(06:24):
you offer for free to people whofollow you and out on LinkedIn
world. It truly is amazing what you
have built. And not only that, like you are
somebody that people can trust. Like I feel this, this level of
trust coming through the screen that I know what you say is
something that you've experienced, you've researched,
you've helped with other people do it.
It's like it's not your, not your not just throwing it out
(06:47):
there. You're really, you have a lot of
weight behind it and I can feel that through the screen.
So I just wanted to give you kudos for that.
That means the world coming fromyou.
And I want to say to all of yourlisteners, this is a full circle
moment. When I was in corporate years
ago, I was following your early work as well.
(07:07):
And much of what you posted and much of what you've shared, I, I
can literally say the same things back to you about
building trust and community. So, and I've, I've borrowed a
lot of your, a lot of your, I'vevampired a lot of your energy.
You don't even know it, but I did.
And I think, I think it was MayaAngelou that has a quote about
(07:28):
the more creativity you, you experience, I don't remember the
exact quote. Somebody will somebody needs to
Fact Check me on this. But the more creativity you
have, the more it produces and Ifeel like you live that and I'm
one of the lucky recipients of of some of your earliest
inspiration. So, you know, like I said,
community and creativity, we allget to come together and and
(07:51):
lift this wonderful group of people.
So thank you. Well.
I really appreciate that. That makes me very happy that
that is happening because you often when you sit on this side
of things, you don't really you see the impact.
It's kind of like I relate to Taylor Swift.
She doesn't know the impact thatshe has on a culture because
(08:12):
she's living the experience, which I love living the
experience. But it's great to be reinforced,
recognize, you know, just kind of telling other people that
they are doing a great job. You're the Taylor Swift of L&D.
But Jen, Jen's got the quote. Wait, Jen just chatted me.
(08:32):
She has a quote. You can't use creativity.
The more you use, the more you have.
There you go. Thank you so much.
And that's it. And, and I'll add on to that,
not that Maya Angelou needs my help, but the more you give, the
more you get around you as well.So that's the vibe I'm trying to
send your way. Is that your creativity that you
(08:54):
put out there has been multiplied by those around you?
I love it and that's the whole intention behind it.
So let's talk a little bit aboutcommunity before we get into
elevated careers. I think one of the things that
especially the listener strugglewith is like, maybe this is more
networking or community is like,how do you put yourself out
there and build that community or be a part of that community?
(09:18):
There's a lot of noise stuff. There's there's so much noise.
You're you cut through the noise.
Thank you. I can tell you and you, you just
simplified it in a way that's sounderstandable that it's like, I
can take this, I can do this right now.
So how do you like build this? What do?
What do people do? You have to start, you have to
(09:39):
start putting your opinions out there unapologetically and and
you can be afraid and vulnerable, but the answer to
your question, so many people think it's this big complicated
thing. It's not.
Right. If you want to get into L&D,
figure out what your niche in L&D is.
Do you want to train? Do you want to create materials?
(10:02):
Do you want to train other people?
Do you want to make curriculum like what's the thing within
learning in development that youwant to do and self assign your
own homework to understand it better.
And I'm speaking in terms of career pivoters or early, early
learning and development professionals.
(10:22):
Figure out what part of learningand development you like and
start posting helpful things forother people.
And once you start quote solvingother people's problems and they
can be small, you know, learningand development instructional
(10:42):
design. Let's say you know, you Google.
What are some common problems that instructional designers
experience or learning and development professionals
experience and find micro problems that you go, oh, I
didn't even realize like I do that already.
Make your point of view visible.Just make a post, write about it
(11:05):
until you find your niche and your voice and the power of
attraction will start bringing people to you because you'll
start to be seen as the person who goes, oh, I do have
something to say about this in away that's meaningful that
people can act on right now. But my advice is don't do long
form posts anymore. Action solution and make it
(11:32):
palatable, make it easy to understand.
And that's what everybody wants in the professional learning and
development world. They want the L&D professional
to see the problem, to see a need and fill a need.
That's it. And then just start posting
LinkedIn. Start with LinkedIn, Yeah,
don't, don't, don't try. And we'll try and do all of the
(11:53):
other. Things I tried.
It's too much once you're a professional, right, right.
And then you can read if you want, if you're really excited
to get on Pinterest and TikTok and Instagram and X and you
know, all great, but pick a topic and then repurpose that
topic across those like again, keep it simple, keep it
(12:14):
actionable. That's how you're going to
attract people. Yeah, absolutely.
And one of the things I love about the roles that are in L&D
is like, you can really have a job that you're passionate about
and like you want to get up and go to every day.
Like it truly is something that fulfills you and at the same
time you're getting paid for because people like Elsa and Mel
Robbins and other people like finding your your path or stuff
(12:37):
like that. Like I feel like an L&D, we have
that opportunity. Like we have the opportunity to
find the role where we get up for it every day because we know
we're making a difference. Yes.
You know, that's what teachers do.
So that's why there's so many transition teachers in this
community. So I really appreciate the
community and how giving everybody is because I don't,
(12:59):
you know, when I transitioned out of education in 2011, none
of this existed. None of this existed.
There wasn't communities, there wasn't resources, there wasn't
people focused on learning and development.
You really had to fight for likeyou really need training here.
You really need some sort of professional that can help with
training in higher education faculty or training your
(13:20):
employees or onboarding your employees.
You had to fight that. These things were they needed to
be done and they were worth it and they had an ROI and all that
stuff. I remember those days.
It's very, very different now. You are a fellow trailblazer, my
friend. That's exactly right.
And, and I think it's becoming increasingly popular for, for
(13:44):
educators to see these valid pathways into, and I hate to use
the phrase, but like the bigger world.
And I say, you know, compared tothe size of one classroom going
into a corporate entity or goingbetween corporate entities, you
have this ability to, to repurpose your education skills
in making learning fun and relatable, even for the
(14:07):
grown-ups, sometimes in kind of stale topics or stale
industries. You have the opportunity to
enjoy what you do and never losethe, the, the educator flame in
your heart. So thank you for reminding
everybody of that, Holly. That's really cool and relevant.
Absolutely. So tell us about elevated
careers. How are you helping people when
(14:27):
doing what you offer? Give us all the details because
I know listeners, if they haven't connected with you, they
need to connect with you. Everything's going to be in the
show notes, obviously, after we end the episode and release it,
but what? Tell us what it's all about.
So it, it, the tagline is I turneducators into corporate
leaders. And it really is about finding
(14:50):
the quickest, most efficient, most effective pathway from what
you're doing, the work you're doing right now and what you may
or may not envision yourself doing next, but you know you
want to do something next. I I really specialize, as I
mentioned in Educators. Now other people from other
(15:13):
industries have come to me. By.
Word of mouth. Or otherwise.
And I'm very, very fortunate in that my, my and I do I, I very
rarely turn people down. If somebody comes to me and
says, hey, I need some support, I've got either free resources I
can point them to or the two paid resources that Ioffer.
(15:36):
So, So typically I work with anyone who, who is currently in
the education system or was formerly in the education
system. So Holly, if you came to me next
year and said stuff, I, I was a former educator.
I, I've been out of the classroom for years.
I want to do something else. I know that you keep your finger
(15:58):
on the pulse of what's going on in the world that we live in.
Help. I'd say come on in, Holly.
You're my kind of person. I've worked with first year
teachers, 20 year teachers, administrators, district
coaches. I actually have several
superintendents I'm working for or working with right now
(16:19):
looking for consulting work and part time work in their retired
years. Department of Education people.
Oh, my goodness. I know Evan Pressman has been
has been really focused on posting cool things about
helping people who are dealing with some of these federal cuts
right now. So, you know, like it's anybody
touching education, public, private, charter, etcetera.
(16:41):
So that's my niche. And what I do is I write.
I write every single day, Holly.I'm either putting together A
blog, I'm writing my weekly newsletter, I'm posting on
LinkedIn every day I wake up andthink what is a real time
challenge my community is facingand how can I provide a simple
(17:06):
solution And I write and I post.So among my free resources, of
course I post on LinkedIn every day and they're typically a how
to I really don't do I've saved.Some of your stuff.
Have you not? Going to lie, yeah.
I love that I'll send the whole folder to you if it helps you
help others. It's all yours.
(17:28):
But but yeah, I post every day. I have a weekly newsletter
that's normally longer form. You know, you want to do a
deeper dive into one real world challenge that I saw that week.
A client had to bring something to me and my newsletters.
I don't plan them weeks and weeks in advance.
It's like, okay, it's summer andyou can learn that.
(17:50):
Summer bread approach, because Ithink sometimes when you plan in
advance, you're like, oh, I should have talked about this
because this is what's happening, right?
Now, and that's it. I want to make sure anything
that I put out there is timely as as much as Evergreen and
relevant like. But some people need to see
certain things at certain times and I want to take away as much
(18:11):
of the guesswork as possible andI want to take away as much of
the stress for people as possible.
So to list the things ioffer newsletter posts, I have my
blog, which really are just how to's.
And is this the right job for you?
I post jobs from the last seven days for free every single
(18:32):
Saturday morning, typically withthe edtech and edtech adjacent
world. And if it's non edtech, it's
something that I have personallyvetted that I know an educator
would be able to move into ioffer free translatable
transferable skills. So I have a packet.
One that I absolutely love because I think people have such
(18:55):
a difficult time, including myself.
I use the same one as an exampleall the time, but that is one
that is is top notch. So thank you for that.
Thank you. Yeah.
And you can find that on my LinkedIn featured section and in
the free tools section of my website.
I have a free resume, a corporate resume with examples
(19:15):
of educator to corporate examplelanguage transitions.
I have jobs to check out kind ofgeneral these are these are this
is a board of jobs that other people have transitioned into.
Take a look. And it's from finance to L&D to
(19:36):
editorial work to entrepreneurship to HR work.
I mean, you name it. It's just general career paths
that people have taken. The majority of what Ioffer,
honestly, Holly, the majority ofwhat ioffer is free because I
also understand that my niche does not have a lot of
disposable income. And so I strive to fix whatever
(19:57):
challenges folks are solving without having to go the paid
route. This is my full time job.
I do have some sponsors you. Have to get paid at some point.
Right. I want to continue to be able to
do this work for the people I love and in order to make a
living and do that, there are a few services, premium services
that I charge for. One is my Career Change
(20:19):
Accelerator, which is a self-paced course that walks you
through in depth all of the steps from what in the heck do I
do? I feel guilty.
I don't like like this feels yucky and scary.
Like figuring out how to not feel yucky and scary, or to feel
yucky and scary and still be tactical.
(20:40):
Moving through what you need to do to make this transition all
the way up to after you get hired.
The very last module is now thatyou're in this role, how do you
set yourself up for a promotion in one year?
How do you think that's a huge? Settlement that's missing in
some of these other areas that other things that are people
doing. I won't mention any names, but I
think that, you know, I've really focused on the pre hire,
(21:03):
like the pre hire and the interview.
I but it sounds like you really dive, you take a deeper dive and
after you're hired, like also stressing the importance of like
people asking in the interview, what's the 306090 day plan?
What's the onboarding plan? And then after that, like what's
your next move? Because in today's job market,
it's not the same as it was even1015 years ago.
(21:25):
You people average or changing roles every three to four years
at this point. So you have to be prepared.
You know, as much like I can saythat my fiance, he wants to stay
in his little his little job because he's very comfortable.
He doesn't want to move out of it.
But you can't do that or you're not going to grow.
Yeah, well, and everybody wants comfort, and changing is
(21:48):
uncomfortable by the very natureof changing, even if you're
excited about it. You could be scared to death,
you could be excited about it, but change is hard no matter
what. So that's the point is just
having a system to make it less scary and and very much like
your fiance. Congratulations by the way.
Oh, thank you. We can we can geek out about
about marriage stuff another time.
(22:10):
So expensive. Look, we are if we wanted to
make the Buku box just attach the the word wedding to anything
literally and just upcharting the planner wedding.
Coordinator. Good grief.
But anyway, that's that's somebody else's fun party.
I digress, but that's the point.Your your fiance, very much like
(22:32):
many other humans, want to stay in that lane, want to stick to
one thing because it's secure and it's comfortable and there's
nothing wrong with that. Like who doesn't?
Want. And comfort, right?
But, but the reason why people often want to do that is because
there's not a clear pathway. There's not a clear formula that
(22:54):
you can follow. And I have made that formula.
I've made that clear pathway, ashave many other people in this
space. And I'm, I'm super grateful that
there are so many people rallying and offering similar
services. Yeah, so, so OK.
So my people like it's, it's, it's so big now that the
transitioning happened that we do need all these people to
(23:17):
support the masses into the transition.
But I think what you're doing isyou're future proofing your
business for after the transition happens and what you
continue to do to to grow in that.
It's just, it's, it's about supporting the total person.
I'm, I'm kind of a career doctor, right?
I, I, I'm not just going to treat one of the symptoms and
(23:38):
get you from A to B. I'm going to stick with you
afterwards and make sure your lifestyle change is also
befitting of how great you are and, and of, of you know what
you want to build. That's my job and I love my job.
Then the other paid option is one-on-one sessions with me, 60
(23:58):
minute one-on-one sessions that are I, I don't, I don't try and
lock people into, you know, likea 10 package, 10 session
package. If you and I can meet and that
one challenge that you have something we can deal with in
one paid session. Cool, I want, I want to put
myself out of a job with every single person because I want
(24:20):
them after talking with me and taking my course, I want them to
feel so empowered that they're like, oh, cool, I learned what I
needed to learn. And their futures, their careers
are future proof as well. Like that's, that's the exciting
part about what I do. I love that and it's so
important like you can offer thedifferent things that they can
(24:41):
kind of do self pace, but then you can have that personalized
one-on-one touch. And honestly, I've done a few of
those, like one on ones with people and it's like the
personalization that goes into that is priceless because you
are getting to sit with an expert for an hour of their
time, which is very, very rare and get to tell them.
(25:04):
It's kind of like it's a therapysession, It's a growing session.
It's a like planning goal session.
And then after that, when peoplecome to those sessions, and I'm
sure they say this to you too, they feel like reinvigorated,
they feel motivated. They're like, I, I was, I was
kind of giving up, you know? And now I feel like there's
something that there's so there's another direction I can
(25:24):
take it. There's still hope.
And I love that that's what comes out of those sort of
things. Exactly.
And then beyond that, I don't know what kind of everybody
offers some sort of different follow up as well for mine after
that hour. So people pay for one hour and
in my opinion, it's pretty affordable.
People pay for that one hour andthen I spend another one to
(25:47):
three hours after that putting together a written PDF with a
table of contents. Here are all the things that we
discussed. Here are some jobs that I think
you would be great at based on what we discussed.
I I hold people accountable. Obviously I'm not going to check
in with them every single day. I'd be like have.
You checked out checklist #1. Right.
(26:08):
But I'm going to make sure when we're done, you literally have a
checklist, an organized step by step process for your challenge
that you can follow and get traction on that thing that has
been making you feel really uncomfortable in this change.
Can we talk about everything in one hour?
No, of course not. And I do have people coming to
me saying they expect that they're going to have their
(26:30):
career chosen and their resume and LinkedIn updated in one
hour. And I'm like, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, as much as I would love that.
No, no, no. But we have a plan to do all of
those things and and real actionable strategies.
So, yeah. And Holly, I'm off camera.
One of these days, you and I need to just swap some more
(26:51):
stories and some ideas about howwe can continue to better
support the folks who come to us.
Because I know that that throughtrial and error we have
developed cool methods to be topsupporters. 100% I'd love to do
that cool cool thinking session cuz then we'll share it out with
the world. Yes, yes, this could be an
(27:14):
ongoing thing. I see some collaborative
opportunities here, which I'm sure everybody you have on says
that, but I'm going to make their money not.
Everybody. How is that possible?
Like who wouldn't? Who?
Who wouldn't suggest that? Yeah, their loss is my gain.
Yeah, absolutely. So Speaking of like advice and
(27:35):
and putting things together thatare simple for people to to get
done as we're coming up to the end of the episode, you know,
the transition teachers community, you know the
educators community and there's tons of them sitting listening
right now. And you, you've worked with
thousands of people. Tell us where like 3 pieces of
advice that you would give to them that are actionable right
now that they can do if they're looking to step out of education
(27:57):
and into a corporate role. Love that that is such a great
question. And it's straight to the point
too. This is this is my jam here.
OK, three pieces of advice, all right, The three that come to
mind, one is something you need to change up here.
The next one is something that we've already talked about and
(28:19):
the third one is something that people need to start doing
something new. OK, so #1 accept, especially in
learning and development, that your next job will not be your
last job. So don't worry if you don't get
everything perfect and right. You are going to learn and grow.
(28:42):
So accept that you're making theright choices, even if later on
you reserve the right to change your mind and you want to do
something different. So number one, just chill.
You're going to be OK. OK, the actionable thing, like
once your nervous system comes down, fight or.
Flight, right? Once you're ready to fight, but
(29:03):
in a good way, I want you. This is advice #2 get visible.
Learning and development has become such a competitive
industry and I don't say that tomake people uncomfortable or
scared. Real talk, it has like real.
Talk. It is crazy competitive, but
(29:23):
that's because people are getting outstanding learning and
development support and the people who are going to get
hired, the ones, the ones who set themselves apart are the
ones who are making their their learning and whatever they're
producing visible. Yeah.
Don't you know, don't don't break any non disclosure
(29:45):
agreements or give away intellectual property.
That's not what. I'm saying about stuff.
Like it's, it's so. Positive and not like what's it
called? Toxic positivity.
It's positive in the way where you're like, this was the
problem. Here's how I fix this.
And that's it. That's, that's another thing
that you might have noticed, Holly, I don't ever talk about,
(30:05):
I don't ever talk about haters, you know, of, of anybody.
Like of, of if someone gets on and they're frustrated about
something like I never write posts about like to the people
who are feeling salty about it, like, no, keep it focused on the
(30:27):
problems that need to be solved and you will get noticed as an
authority. That's it.
And make it visible. Use your featured section on
LinkedIn. Have a portfolio.
If if you don't show it, it didn't happen.
And keep me honest on this one, Holly, If you don't show it, it
didn't happen. You have to be able to prove
(30:48):
that you've been doing your research, even if you haven't
been in the learning and development world yet.
And there is absolutely space tobreak in the third part, and
this is something that I feel like you and I can do another
show on, is Start learning how learning and development
(31:09):
professionals are incorporating AI into their work.
Yes. Every.
We didn't even touch AI this episode.
We're definitely going. To have to do another one.
Goodness. If you are not finding ways to
make your work more efficient and more effective using AI.
And I don't just mean like rewrite this document, I mean
(31:33):
real time saving, repeatable moves to increase the quality of
your work. Essentially, use AI to save your
future employer time and money. If you're not finding ways to do
that, or at least practicing, you're getting left behind at an
exponential rate. And I again, don't say that to
(31:55):
scare people. I say that to empower people to
put their energy in the right places.
So quick recap, if you wanted a sound bite #1 your next job's
not going to be your last job. I don't care how much you love
it, it's just not going to be. And that's OK #2 make your
learning visible. Make your make your expertise
(32:18):
visible. Even if you're building your
expertise. And #3 you've got to find what
you just do your research on howL&D is incorporating AI into the
space. And then the rest, just just
stay curious and keep consuming the Ed Up podcast by yours
truly, Holly Owens to stay abreast of all of the current
(32:43):
happenings in the Yeah. We've had some great guests and
yourself included on that list that have just blown me away in
terms of the advice and the things that I can do myself.
But not only that, to the listeners, they, I think that
when they listen to this and we get to this part of the episode,
they're like, they're just readyto write down all the advice
(33:05):
and, and then find you and then,you know, start an action plan.
Like as teachers, former teachers, we feel like when
we're checking stuff off the list that is just so nice.
If we're if we're making, we're opening paths, we're opening
doors. It's it's so reassuring that
we're taking the right steps. Bingo.
Because as you said, there's noise everywhere.
Everybody has something to say. There's so much advice and most
(33:27):
of it is great advice. It's just too much.
Yeah. People are are over informed and
underwhelmed, Right. Yeah.
So it's like, OK, these are the things you need to do.
Calm down. What did I say?
Calm down. That's right.
Calm down. Focus post and and learn about
VI. Yep.
You're going to be all right, all.
(33:48):
The things you're done. That's it.
Yeah. Steph, thanks so much for coming
on the show. I really appreciate it.
It's been amazing and I know thelisteners are going to love
this. We're going to have everything
in the show notes, where to findyou, elevated careers, all the
the resources that you mentioned.
Really appreciate all that you're doing in the space and
that we connected and now we metkind of IRL.
Thanks so much for coming on andchatting with me.
(34:10):
My pleasure. I hope you continue to be well,
and I really am excited to stay tuned in to hear of all the
other wonderful advice you're giving folks.
Thanks. Thanks for spending a few
minutes with Holly. She knows your podcast queue is
packed. If today's episode sparked an
idea or gave you that extra nudge of confidence, tap, follow
(34:32):
or subscribe in your favorite app so you never miss an episode
of Ed Up L&D. Dropping a quick rating or
review helps more educators and learning pros discover the show,
too. I want to keep the conversation
going. Connect with Holly on LinkedIn
and share your biggest take away.
She reads every message. Until next time, keep learning,
keep leading, and keep believingin your own story.
(34:55):
Talk soon. Hi, we're ispring, an
international team of e-learningenthusiasts who help more than
60,000 clients across the globe succeed with better online
learning. Our two flagship solutions are
ispring Suite and ispring Learn LMS.
Hello, add up L&D fam. It's your host Holly Owens, and
today's episode is straight up fire.
Why do you ask? Because I've got Steph Yesl in
the house, the brilliant bold bat signalling answering founder
of Elevated Careers. And let me tell you, this combo
(00:22):
is like Rocket fool for your career pivot.
Stephanie's journey from Teach from America to a decade of
dominating corporate L&D to building a career coaching
business that's helping educators become unapologetic
leaders and change makers. And guess what?
She's just getting started. In this episode, we're getting
(00:44):
into how to actually build visibility without drowning in
the LinkedIn noise, why your next job isn't your last and why
that's a good thing, how to incorporate AI the right way so
you don't get left behind, and how to stop overthinking and
start owning your transition. Steph drops truth prompts,
(01:07):
tactical tips, and real deal advice that's not only
actionable, it's truly empowering.
She's the career coach with the receipts, receipts, receipts.
And if you're not already following her, well, that
changes today. Buckle up because this is your
sign to calm down, get visible, and make your career transition
(01:29):
elevated. Let's get into it.
Hi, we're ispring, an international team of e-learning
enthusiasts who help more than 60,000 clients across the globe
succeed with better online learning.
Our two flagship solutions are ispring Suite and ispring Learn
LMS. Ispring Suite is an intuitive,
(01:52):
all in one authoring tool for creating engaging e-learning
content, and ispring Learn is aninnovative online training
platform for onboarding, upskilling, and certifying your
teams. We also provide tons of free
resources for aspiring and experienced e-learning
professionals, conduct weekly webinars with top industry
experts, and organize annual e-learning conferences,
(02:16):
challenges, and championships. We'd be happy to get to know you
and pick a solution that fits your needs best.
Go to www.icepringsolutions.com to learn more about us, download
our resources, and connect. Hello everyone, and welcome to
another fantastic episode of AddUp L&D.
(02:39):
I'm Holly Owens and I'm your host and I'm super excited that
I got this guest on my show. I have Steph Yessel, who is the
founder of Elevated Careers, andshe's going to come talk to us
all about the resources and things she's offers.
Steph, welcome to the show. Woo Hoo, Thank you so much for
having me, Holly. And I know Jen, you're in the
(03:00):
background, but I'm going to give you a shout out on camera
too. Thank you both for having me.
This is wonderful. We are so excited to have you
here and I know the audience is going to be intently listening
to all the advice you have to give.
But before we get into all that,tell us about you.
Tell us about your journey. How did you become like this?
Founder of Elevated Careers? All the different things that
you've done up into this point. We want to know more about you
(03:22):
and your story. OK, well, I'm going to, I, I
have a pretty rigorous background, uh, ups and downs,
left and rights, wins, mistakes,all of that.
I'm going to spare you all of the minute details.
The big picture is I I went in to Teach for America in 2011,
which began my journey in education and learning and
(03:45):
development. I had a five year plan, got out
right around 4 1/2, started working for corporate.
I worked for corporate for 10 years in lots of different L&D
under the under the giant L&D umbrella, lots of positions,
curriculum development, training, facilitating, you
know, traditional L and DII helped manage instructional
(04:08):
designers. I, I, I I've done it.
On. I've I've delivered, I've
written, I've I've done all the things because I said yes.
When there was an opportunity, Isaid yes.
I'm a utility player. When the bat signal goes up, I
get to work and I, I, I'm not afraid to learn along the way.
And I realized that on my way tocreating elevated careers.
(04:32):
I've always been the kind of person who has felt itchy in, in
constrained roles where I need to help somebody else build
their dream. But I know that kind of role,
that kind of experience is necessary to eventually build
your own thing, as you well know.
So I'm really grateful for that 10 years in corporate.
And then one day I thought, you know what there is such a market
(04:56):
for, for getting the right talent in the right positions
unapologetically. And, and my passion is
education. I mean, you and I, we can, we'll
have a happy hour and we're going to need 2 hours to talk
about why I love the power of education.
But I'm also a futurist and I believe that education is
(05:17):
changing and the classroom landscape is, is it's going to
go the way of the dodo. So if we don't keep up, we're
going to suffer horrific consequences.
And I don't want that to happen.So what I do now in elevated
careers, what I built is I help great minds in education move
into roles that traditionally haven't been the decision
(05:41):
makers, but are now becoming thethe systemic change makers.
And those are the people creating the products and
services that are being consumed.
So I want to make sure that I'm helping brilliant, wonderful,
lovely people elevate their careers into the next chapter of
(06:01):
what education is going to look like.
And if that happens for them outside of the classroom, which
in many cases it does, I'm the person to help shepherd them
there. I love this story and I know we
have a lot of commonality just from seeing your post on
LinkedIn and I want to 100% likekudos you.
Your marketing is fantastic. Thank you.
Love how you market elevated careers and and the things that
(06:24):
you offer for free to people whofollow you and out on LinkedIn
world. It truly is amazing what you
have built. And not only that, like you are
somebody that people can trust. Like I feel this, this level of
trust coming through the screen that I know what you say is
something that you've experienced, you've researched,
you've helped with other people do it.
It's like it's not your, not your not just throwing it out
(06:47):
there. You're really, you have a lot of
weight behind it and I can feel that through the screen.
So I just wanted to give you kudos for that.
That means the world coming fromyou.
And I want to say to all of yourlisteners, this is a full circle
moment. When I was in corporate years
ago, I was following your early work as well.
(07:07):
And much of what you posted and much of what you've shared, I, I
can literally say the same things back to you about
building trust and community. So, and I've, I've borrowed a
lot of your, a lot of your, I'vevampired a lot of your energy.
You don't even know it, but I did.
And I think, I think it was MayaAngelou that has a quote about
(07:28):
the more creativity you, you experience, I don't remember the
exact quote. Somebody will somebody needs to
Fact Check me on this. But the more creativity you
have, the more it produces and Ifeel like you live that and I'm
one of the lucky recipients of of some of your earliest
inspiration. So, you know, like I said,
community and creativity, we allget to come together and and
(07:51):
lift this wonderful group of people.
So thank you. Well.
I really appreciate that. That makes me very happy that
that is happening because you often when you sit on this side
of things, you don't really you see the impact.
It's kind of like I relate to Taylor Swift.
She doesn't know the impact thatshe has on a culture because
(08:12):
she's living the experience, which I love living the
experience. But it's great to be reinforced,
recognize, you know, just kind of telling other people that
they are doing a great job. You're the Taylor Swift of L&D.
But Jen, Jen's got the quote. Wait, Jen just chatted me.
(08:32):
She has a quote. You can't use creativity.
The more you use, the more you have.
There you go. Thank you so much.
And that's it. And, and I'll add on to that,
not that Maya Angelou needs my help, but the more you give, the
more you get around you as well.So that's the vibe I'm trying to
send your way. Is that your creativity that you
(08:54):
put out there has been multiplied by those around you?
I love it and that's the whole intention behind it.
So let's talk a little bit aboutcommunity before we get into
elevated careers. I think one of the things that
especially the listener strugglewith is like, maybe this is more
networking or community is like,how do you put yourself out
there and build that community or be a part of that community?
(09:18):
There's a lot of noise stuff. There's there's so much noise.
You're you cut through the noise.
Thank you. I can tell you and you, you just
simplified it in a way that's sounderstandable that it's like, I
can take this, I can do this right now.
So how do you like build this? What do?
What do people do? You have to start, you have to
(09:39):
start putting your opinions out there unapologetically and and
you can be afraid and vulnerable, but the answer to
your question, so many people think it's this big complicated
thing. It's not.
Right. If you want to get into L&D,
figure out what your niche in L&D is.
Do you want to train? Do you want to create materials?
(10:02):
Do you want to train other people?
Do you want to make curriculum like what's the thing within
learning in development that youwant to do and self assign your
own homework to understand it better.
And I'm speaking in terms of career pivoters or early, early
learning and development professionals.
(10:22):
Figure out what part of learningand development you like and
start posting helpful things forother people.
And once you start quote solvingother people's problems and they
can be small, you know, learningand development instructional
(10:42):
design. Let's say you know, you Google.
What are some common problems that instructional designers
experience or learning and development professionals
experience and find micro problems that you go, oh, I
didn't even realize like I do that already.
Make your point of view visible.Just make a post, write about it
(11:05):
until you find your niche and your voice and the power of
attraction will start bringing people to you because you'll
start to be seen as the person who goes, oh, I do have
something to say about this in away that's meaningful that
people can act on right now. But my advice is don't do long
form posts anymore. Action solution and make it
(11:32):
palatable, make it easy to understand.
And that's what everybody wants in the professional learning and
development world. They want the L&D professional
to see the problem, to see a need and fill a need.
That's it. And then just start posting
LinkedIn. Start with LinkedIn, Yeah,
don't, don't, don't try. And we'll try and do all of the
(11:53):
other. Things I tried.
It's too much once you're a professional, right, right.
And then you can read if you want, if you're really excited
to get on Pinterest and TikTok and Instagram and X and you
know, all great, but pick a topic and then repurpose that
topic across those like again, keep it simple, keep it
(12:14):
actionable. That's how you're going to
attract people. Yeah, absolutely.
And one of the things I love about the roles that are in L&D
is like, you can really have a job that you're passionate about
and like you want to get up and go to every day.
Like it truly is something that fulfills you and at the same
time you're getting paid for because people like Elsa and Mel
Robbins and other people like finding your your path or stuff
(12:37):
like that. Like I feel like an L&D, we have
that opportunity. Like we have the opportunity to
find the role where we get up for it every day because we know
we're making a difference. Yes.
You know, that's what teachers do.
So that's why there's so many transition teachers in this
community. So I really appreciate the
community and how giving everybody is because I don't,
(12:59):
you know, when I transitioned out of education in 2011, none
of this existed. None of this existed.
There wasn't communities, there wasn't resources, there wasn't
people focused on learning and development.
You really had to fight for likeyou really need training here.
You really need some sort of professional that can help with
training in higher education faculty or training your
(13:20):
employees or onboarding your employees.
You had to fight that. These things were they needed to
be done and they were worth it and they had an ROI and all that
stuff. I remember those days.
It's very, very different now. You are a fellow trailblazer, my
friend. That's exactly right.
And, and I think it's becoming increasingly popular for, for
(13:44):
educators to see these valid pathways into, and I hate to use
the phrase, but like the bigger world.
And I say, you know, compared tothe size of one classroom going
into a corporate entity or goingbetween corporate entities, you
have this ability to, to repurpose your education skills
in making learning fun and relatable, even for the
(14:07):
grown-ups, sometimes in kind of stale topics or stale
industries. You have the opportunity to
enjoy what you do and never losethe, the, the educator flame in
your heart. So thank you for reminding
everybody of that, Holly. That's really cool and relevant.
Absolutely. So tell us about elevated
careers. How are you helping people when
(14:27):
doing what you offer? Give us all the details because
I know listeners, if they haven't connected with you, they
need to connect with you. Everything's going to be in the
show notes, obviously, after we end the episode and release it,
but what? Tell us what it's all about.
So it, it, the tagline is I turneducators into corporate
leaders. And it really is about finding
(14:50):
the quickest, most efficient, most effective pathway from what
you're doing, the work you're doing right now and what you may
or may not envision yourself doing next, but you know you
want to do something next. I I really specialize, as I
mentioned in Educators. Now other people from other
(15:13):
industries have come to me. By.
Word of mouth. Or otherwise.
And I'm very, very fortunate in that my, my and I do I, I very
rarely turn people down. If somebody comes to me and
says, hey, I need some support, I've got either free resources I
can point them to or the two paid resources that Ioffer.
(15:36):
So, So typically I work with anyone who, who is currently in
the education system or was formerly in the education
system. So Holly, if you came to me next
year and said stuff, I, I was a former educator.
I, I've been out of the classroom for years.
I want to do something else. I know that you keep your finger
(15:58):
on the pulse of what's going on in the world that we live in.
Help. I'd say come on in, Holly.
You're my kind of person. I've worked with first year
teachers, 20 year teachers, administrators, district
coaches. I actually have several
superintendents I'm working for or working with right now
(16:19):
looking for consulting work and part time work in their retired
years. Department of Education people.
Oh, my goodness. I know Evan Pressman has been
has been really focused on posting cool things about
helping people who are dealing with some of these federal cuts
right now. So, you know, like it's anybody
touching education, public, private, charter, etcetera.
(16:41):
So that's my niche. And what I do is I write.
I write every single day, Holly.I'm either putting together A
blog, I'm writing my weekly newsletter, I'm posting on
LinkedIn every day I wake up andthink what is a real time
challenge my community is facingand how can I provide a simple
(17:06):
solution And I write and I post.So among my free resources, of
course I post on LinkedIn every day and they're typically a how
to I really don't do I've saved.Some of your stuff.
Have you not? Going to lie, yeah.
I love that I'll send the whole folder to you if it helps you
help others. It's all yours.
(17:28):
But but yeah, I post every day. I have a weekly newsletter
that's normally longer form. You know, you want to do a
deeper dive into one real world challenge that I saw that week.
A client had to bring something to me and my newsletters.
I don't plan them weeks and weeks in advance.
It's like, okay, it's summer andyou can learn that.
(17:50):
Summer bread approach, because Ithink sometimes when you plan in
advance, you're like, oh, I should have talked about this
because this is what's happening, right?
Now, and that's it. I want to make sure anything
that I put out there is timely as as much as Evergreen and
relevant like. But some people need to see
certain things at certain times and I want to take away as much
(18:11):
of the guesswork as possible andI want to take away as much of
the stress for people as possible.
So to list the things ioffer newsletter posts, I have my
blog, which really are just how to's.
And is this the right job for you?
I post jobs from the last seven days for free every single
(18:32):
Saturday morning, typically withthe edtech and edtech adjacent
world. And if it's non edtech, it's
something that I have personallyvetted that I know an educator
would be able to move into ioffer free translatable
transferable skills. So I have a packet.
One that I absolutely love because I think people have such
(18:55):
a difficult time, including myself.
I use the same one as an exampleall the time, but that is one
that is is top notch. So thank you for that.
Thank you. Yeah.
And you can find that on my LinkedIn featured section and in
the free tools section of my website.
I have a free resume, a corporate resume with examples
(19:15):
of educator to corporate examplelanguage transitions.
I have jobs to check out kind ofgeneral these are these are this
is a board of jobs that other people have transitioned into.
Take a look. And it's from finance to L&D to
(19:36):
editorial work to entrepreneurship to HR work.
I mean, you name it. It's just general career paths
that people have taken. The majority of what Ioffer,
honestly, Holly, the majority ofwhat ioffer is free because I
also understand that my niche does not have a lot of
disposable income. And so I strive to fix whatever
(19:57):
challenges folks are solving without having to go the paid
route. This is my full time job.
I do have some sponsors you. Have to get paid at some point.
Right. I want to continue to be able to
do this work for the people I love and in order to make a
living and do that, there are a few services, premium services
that I charge for. One is my Career Change
(20:19):
Accelerator, which is a self-paced course that walks you
through in depth all of the steps from what in the heck do I
do? I feel guilty.
I don't like like this feels yucky and scary.
Like figuring out how to not feel yucky and scary, or to feel
yucky and scary and still be tactical.
(20:40):
Moving through what you need to do to make this transition all
the way up to after you get hired.
The very last module is now thatyou're in this role, how do you
set yourself up for a promotion in one year?
How do you think that's a huge? Settlement that's missing in
some of these other areas that other things that are people
doing. I won't mention any names, but I
think that, you know, I've really focused on the pre hire,
(21:03):
like the pre hire and the interview.
I but it sounds like you really dive, you take a deeper dive and
after you're hired, like also stressing the importance of like
people asking in the interview, what's the 306090 day plan?
What's the onboarding plan? And then after that, like what's
your next move? Because in today's job market,
it's not the same as it was even1015 years ago.
(21:25):
You people average or changing roles every three to four years
at this point. So you have to be prepared.
You know, as much like I can saythat my fiance, he wants to stay
in his little his little job because he's very comfortable.
He doesn't want to move out of it.
But you can't do that or you're not going to grow.
Yeah, well, and everybody wants comfort, and changing is
(21:48):
uncomfortable by the very natureof changing, even if you're
excited about it. You could be scared to death,
you could be excited about it, but change is hard no matter
what. So that's the point is just
having a system to make it less scary and and very much like
your fiance. Congratulations by the way.
Oh, thank you. We can we can geek out about
about marriage stuff another time.
(22:10):
So expensive. Look, we are if we wanted to
make the Buku box just attach the the word wedding to anything
literally and just upcharting the planner wedding.
Coordinator. Good grief.
But anyway, that's that's somebody else's fun party.
I digress, but that's the point.Your your fiance, very much like
(22:32):
many other humans, want to stay in that lane, want to stick to
one thing because it's secure and it's comfortable and there's
nothing wrong with that. Like who doesn't?
Want. And comfort, right?
But, but the reason why people often want to do that is because
there's not a clear pathway. There's not a clear formula that
(22:54):
you can follow. And I have made that formula.
I've made that clear pathway, ashave many other people in this
space. And I'm, I'm super grateful that
there are so many people rallying and offering similar
services. Yeah, so, so OK.
So my people like it's, it's, it's so big now that the
transitioning happened that we do need all these people to
(23:17):
support the masses into the transition.
But I think what you're doing isyou're future proofing your
business for after the transition happens and what you
continue to do to to grow in that.
It's just, it's, it's about supporting the total person.
I'm, I'm kind of a career doctor, right?
I, I, I'm not just going to treat one of the symptoms and
(23:38):
get you from A to B. I'm going to stick with you
afterwards and make sure your lifestyle change is also
befitting of how great you are and, and of, of you know what
you want to build. That's my job and I love my job.
Then the other paid option is one-on-one sessions with me, 60
(23:58):
minute one-on-one sessions that are I, I don't, I don't try and
lock people into, you know, likea 10 package, 10 session
package. If you and I can meet and that
one challenge that you have something we can deal with in
one paid session. Cool, I want, I want to put
myself out of a job with every single person because I want
(24:20):
them after talking with me and taking my course, I want them to
feel so empowered that they're like, oh, cool, I learned what I
needed to learn. And their futures, their careers
are future proof as well. Like that's, that's the exciting
part about what I do. I love that and it's so
important like you can offer thedifferent things that they can
(24:41):
kind of do self pace, but then you can have that personalized
one-on-one touch. And honestly, I've done a few of
those, like one on ones with people and it's like the
personalization that goes into that is priceless because you
are getting to sit with an expert for an hour of their
time, which is very, very rare and get to tell them.
(25:04):
It's kind of like it's a therapysession, It's a growing session.
It's a like planning goal session.
And then after that, when peoplecome to those sessions, and I'm
sure they say this to you too, they feel like reinvigorated,
they feel motivated. They're like, I, I was, I was
kind of giving up, you know? And now I feel like there's
something that there's so there's another direction I can
(25:24):
take it. There's still hope.
And I love that that's what comes out of those sort of
things. Exactly.
And then beyond that, I don't know what kind of everybody
offers some sort of different follow up as well for mine after
that hour. So people pay for one hour and
in my opinion, it's pretty affordable.
People pay for that one hour andthen I spend another one to
(25:47):
three hours after that putting together a written PDF with a
table of contents. Here are all the things that we
discussed. Here are some jobs that I think
you would be great at based on what we discussed.
I I hold people accountable. Obviously I'm not going to check
in with them every single day. I'd be like have.
You checked out checklist #1. Right.
(26:08):
But I'm going to make sure when we're done, you literally have a
checklist, an organized step by step process for your challenge
that you can follow and get traction on that thing that has
been making you feel really uncomfortable in this change.
Can we talk about everything in one hour?
No, of course not. And I do have people coming to
me saying they expect that they're going to have their
(26:30):
career chosen and their resume and LinkedIn updated in one
hour. And I'm like, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, as much as I would love that.
No, no, no. But we have a plan to do all of
those things and and real actionable strategies.
So, yeah. And Holly, I'm off camera.
One of these days, you and I need to just swap some more
(26:51):
stories and some ideas about howwe can continue to better
support the folks who come to us.
Because I know that that throughtrial and error we have
developed cool methods to be topsupporters. 100% I'd love to do
that cool cool thinking session cuz then we'll share it out with
the world. Yes, yes, this could be an
(27:14):
ongoing thing. I see some collaborative
opportunities here, which I'm sure everybody you have on says
that, but I'm going to make their money not.
Everybody. How is that possible?
Like who wouldn't? Who?
Who wouldn't suggest that? Yeah, their loss is my gain.
Yeah, absolutely. So Speaking of like advice and
(27:35):
and putting things together thatare simple for people to to get
done as we're coming up to the end of the episode, you know,
the transition teachers community, you know the
educators community and there's tons of them sitting listening
right now. And you, you've worked with
thousands of people. Tell us where like 3 pieces of
advice that you would give to them that are actionable right
now that they can do if they're looking to step out of education
(27:57):
and into a corporate role. Love that that is such a great
question. And it's straight to the point
too. This is this is my jam here.
OK, three pieces of advice, all right, The three that come to
mind, one is something you need to change up here.
The next one is something that we've already talked about and
(28:19):
the third one is something that people need to start doing
something new. OK, so #1 accept, especially in
learning and development, that your next job will not be your
last job. So don't worry if you don't get
everything perfect and right. You are going to learn and grow.
(28:42):
So accept that you're making theright choices, even if later on
you reserve the right to change your mind and you want to do
something different. So number one, just chill.
You're going to be OK. OK, the actionable thing, like
once your nervous system comes down, fight or.
Flight, right? Once you're ready to fight, but
(29:03):
in a good way, I want you. This is advice #2 get visible.
Learning and development has become such a competitive
industry and I don't say that tomake people uncomfortable or
scared. Real talk, it has like real.
Talk. It is crazy competitive, but
(29:23):
that's because people are getting outstanding learning and
development support and the people who are going to get
hired, the ones, the ones who set themselves apart are the
ones who are making their their learning and whatever they're
producing visible. Yeah.
Don't you know, don't don't break any non disclosure
(29:45):
agreements or give away intellectual property.
That's not what. I'm saying about stuff.
Like it's, it's so. Positive and not like what's it
called? Toxic positivity.
It's positive in the way where you're like, this was the
problem. Here's how I fix this.
And that's it. That's, that's another thing
that you might have noticed, Holly, I don't ever talk about,
(30:05):
I don't ever talk about haters, you know, of, of anybody.
Like of, of if someone gets on and they're frustrated about
something like I never write posts about like to the people
who are feeling salty about it, like, no, keep it focused on the
(30:27):
problems that need to be solved and you will get noticed as an
authority. That's it.
And make it visible. Use your featured section on
LinkedIn. Have a portfolio.
If if you don't show it, it didn't happen.
And keep me honest on this one, Holly, If you don't show it, it
didn't happen. You have to be able to prove
(30:48):
that you've been doing your research, even if you haven't
been in the learning and development world yet.
And there is absolutely space tobreak in the third part, and
this is something that I feel like you and I can do another
show on, is Start learning how learning and development
(31:09):
professionals are incorporating AI into their work.
Yes. Every.
We didn't even touch AI this episode.
We're definitely going. To have to do another one.
Goodness. If you are not finding ways to
make your work more efficient and more effective using AI.
And I don't just mean like rewrite this document, I mean
(31:33):
real time saving, repeatable moves to increase the quality of
your work. Essentially, use AI to save your
future employer time and money. If you're not finding ways to do
that, or at least practicing, you're getting left behind at an
exponential rate. And I again, don't say that to
(31:55):
scare people. I say that to empower people to
put their energy in the right places.
So quick recap, if you wanted a sound bite #1 your next job's
not going to be your last job. I don't care how much you love
it, it's just not going to be. And that's OK #2 make your
learning visible. Make your make your expertise
(32:18):
visible. Even if you're building your
expertise. And #3 you've got to find what
you just do your research on howL&D is incorporating AI into the
space. And then the rest, just just
stay curious and keep consuming the Ed Up podcast by yours
truly, Holly Owens to stay abreast of all of the current
(32:43):
happenings in the Yeah. We've had some great guests and
yourself included on that list that have just blown me away in
terms of the advice and the things that I can do myself.
But not only that, to the listeners, they, I think that
when they listen to this and we get to this part of the episode,
they're like, they're just readyto write down all the advice
(33:05):
and, and then find you and then,you know, start an action plan.
Like as teachers, former teachers, we feel like when
we're checking stuff off the list that is just so nice.
If we're if we're making, we're opening paths, we're opening
doors. It's it's so reassuring that
we're taking the right steps. Bingo.
Because as you said, there's noise everywhere.
Everybody has something to say. There's so much advice and most
(33:27):
of it is great advice. It's just too much.
Yeah. People are are over informed and
underwhelmed, Right. Yeah.
So it's like, OK, these are the things you need to do.
Calm down. What did I say?
Calm down. That's right.
Calm down. Focus post and and learn about
VI. Yep.
You're going to be all right, all.
(33:48):
The things you're done. That's it.
Yeah. Steph, thanks so much for coming
on the show. I really appreciate it.
It's been amazing and I know thelisteners are going to love
this. We're going to have everything
in the show notes, where to findyou, elevated careers, all the
the resources that you mentioned.
Really appreciate all that you're doing in the space and
that we connected and now we metkind of IRL.
Thanks so much for coming on andchatting with me.
(34:10):
My pleasure. I hope you continue to be well,
and I really am excited to stay tuned in to hear of all the
other wonderful advice you're giving folks.
Thanks. Thanks for spending a few
minutes with Holly. She knows your podcast queue is
packed. If today's episode sparked an
idea or gave you that extra nudge of confidence, tap, follow
(34:32):
or subscribe in your favorite app so you never miss an episode
of Ed Up L&D. Dropping a quick rating or
review helps more educators and learning pros discover the show,
too. I want to keep the conversation
going. Connect with Holly on LinkedIn
and share your biggest take away.
She reads every message. Until next time, keep learning,
keep leading, and keep believingin your own story.
(34:55):
Talk soon. Hi, we're ispring, an
international team of e-learningenthusiasts who help more than
60,000 clients across the globe succeed with better online
learning. Our two flagship solutions are
ispring Suite and ispring Learn LMS.
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