Helping women attorneys go from survival mode to sustainable, fulfilling careers

I was a high-achieving kid. Top grades, awards, recognition. Also, a worrier.

Success was nonnegotiable. Failure wasn't an option I allowed myself to consider.

I majored in International Relations and Spanish. Human rights, refugees, immigration work. I was mission-driven and restless.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota, I left for Costa Rica. A year immersed in language, culture, independence. I loved it.

That year changed me. I didn't come back with the same plan.

I applied to law school focused on public interest work.

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Then I Moved West

I moved to San Francisco in 2001. The dot com bust had just laid off hundreds of lawyers, but I was determined to find work in public interest law.

Eventually a solo practitioner hired me for personal injury work. From there, I moved to a class action firm representing plaintiffs in consumer fraud cases.

Then I landed what I thought was my dream job. A civil rights firm representing employees in wage and hour cases as well as discrimination and sexual harassment cases. This was where I'd make the biggest impact.

Burnout Sets In

Nine years in, I hit a wall. I didn't call it burnout. I didn't have that language yet. Like most lawyers, I would have denied it anyway. It felt more like an existential crisis. What am I doing? What am I meant to be doing? This can't be my entire purpose.

The symptoms were there. Cynicism about cases, about the business. Less empathy for clients. I could barely muster the energy to care the way I once did. No one else would have noticed. But I did. I was checking boxes, just trying to get through.

At 35, my body was breaking down. Sleep disrupted, no exercise, migraines, disordered eating patterns. Most nights I was too exhausted to do anything but collapse on the couch.

I assumed that the job was the problem. So, I quit.

Why Quitting Wasn't the Answer

Leaving didn't help. Not in the way I expected. But it did start something new.

I spent four months traveling through Thailand, Nepal, India. I wasn't sure what I was running from, or what I was running toward.

Then I met a former lawyer who was coaching. That piqued my interest. I took a class. An entire world opened up. People caring about feelings, futures, bodies, lives. Not just brains and billable hours. It was revelatory.

I became a certified coach. Started with career transitions for women, then moved into workplace negotiation coaching.

So That's What Burnout Is

During the pandemic, I watched videos of women describing burnout. I recognized myself immediately. That was me.

I recognized it immediately. This was what I'd been struggling with. And the common thread through all my coaching work.

Burnout was the invisible thread connecting everything. I just hadn't seen it yet.

All the symptoms. Loss of meaning. Decision paralysis. Overwhelm. Loss of self-worth. Burnout was at the root of everything I'd been seeing in my clients. I just hadn't connected it before.

Like me, my clients were searching outside themselves for solutions to internal pain. No external change would fix it. They needed what had helped me. The insight and tools to shift how they saw the problems, not just tactics to manage symptoms.

I recognized it immediately. This was what I'd been struggling with. And the common thread through all my coaching work.

Burnout was the invisible thread connecting everything. Loss of meaning. Decision paralysis. Overwhelm. Loss of self-worth. It was at the root of everything I'd been seeing in my clients.

Like me, my clients were searching outside themselves for solutions to internal pain. No external change would fix it.

They needed what had helped me. The insight and tools to shift how they saw the problems, not just tactics to manage symptoms.

Over the past decade, I've changed. My relationship with myself is completely different. More compassionate, more forgiving. I have my own back now. I'm allowing myself to be fully human. I'm a better partner and parent because of it.

My sole focus now is helping women attorneys go from survival mode to sustainable, fulfilling careers.

Today I live in Berkeley with my two kids and husband.

I didn't have to figure it out alone. You don't either.

Book a 20-minute call. Real conversation about what's happening. If you want to hear about working together, I'll explain the options. No pressure either way. Let's map out what recovery looks like for you.

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