"She genuinely cares about my success, both professionally and personally."
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"Michelle Florendo is an incredible mid-career pivot coach! After a 20-yr career that had some incredible peaks but was now in the doldrums, she helped me rediscover my passion for work and now I’m genuinely in my dream job, with my dream company. Throughout our coaching engagement, Michelle helped me make sense of which aspects of my career stimulated me, how I like to work and the environment I need to be in to succeed - which is something I had tried to identify myself over the previous two years, unsuccessfully. Looking at my career motivations and detractions, together we were able to define eight specific elements that defined my personal values. Those values were represented as quantitative KPI’s, which I used to assess three job offers, looking at company, environment and role. With Michelle’s help, I took the job that aligned closest to my personal values, which in turn has rekindled the passion I had in my earlier career, and I now am back on the road to success - for which I honestly cannot thank her enough." - Phil D., VP Marketing at Brain Corp "I first met Michelle at a Women's Leadership Conference. I have been pondering what's important for me at work and how to grow as a leader within my current organization. During the conference, Michelle demonstrated her charts on life-decision making. Those of us from consulting easily identified with her tools and connected with her directly. Lucky for me, Michelle had availability and we began working together. Halfway through our sessions, we encountered a few surprises. Fortunately, Michelle was able to adapt quickly. First, I was approached by a tech "start-up" that took me by surprise. Using my initial goals as guidance, Michelle helped me evaluate staying at a large "stable" company vs. moving to a fast-paced "young" company. Secondly, life threw me another curveball as I discovered I was pregnant. Michelle once again had to re-adjust and navigated me through a set of decisions based on my initials goals. I cannot be more grateful to have met Michelle at the time that I did and have her guide me through these important career and life changes. Her process-oriented style, diagrams and tools helped me to understand myself and my goals in order to make the right decisions towards a satisfying life and career. Thank you Michelle!" - Meg Y., Healthcare Lead and Implementation Consultant at Box "I met Michelle through a networking session one Saturday and her approach to career management resonated with me. I knew it was time to make a change in my job, but I wasn’t sure how to go about making that change. I assumed I would need to make an enormous change. I signed up with Michelle and she gave me a framework to start to build my plan. First, she helped me to understand that instead of making one huge change, I could make a series of smaller changes. She helped me to look deeper into what would be a good fit for me (some soul searching). Then, she gave me very practical, specific next steps from resume and “elevator speeches” to preparing for interviews. I’m happy to say I made a small change and now have a new job doing the kind of work I love with a great group of people with a great purpose! I also have a better plan for continuing to shape my career (even without a big change in the future) so that my job works for me as much as I work for it! Thank you Michelle! " - Sue, Data Business Analyst at Kaiser Permanente "I started working with Michelle after I had taken a year to “level up" my artistic career and was looking for a new opportunity in the business world. Michelle’s approach is structured and supportive, and she’s incredibly talented in direction-setting and navigation. Her keen insight into objectives, values, and priorities prepared me to pursue only opportunities that truly were right for me. In the unpredictable path of finding a new job, I kept returning to my “compass”: the work that Michelle and I did together." - Jessica W., Director of Marketing "I came to Michelle to help me get unstuck in my career decision-making. After working with Michelle, I realize now that my career anxiety stemmed from uncertainty around four crucial pieces of information: (1) what are my skills and strengths; (2) what purpose do I want my work to serve; (3) what options are available to me for pursuing my purpose; and (4) how I can pursue those options. Through guided reflection and thoughtful conversations with Michelle, I now have much more clarity about who I am, what I want, and how I can achieve my goals. Career decisions are highly complex and require a multitude of considerations, yet Michelle consistently amazes me with her unique ability to ask just the right questions and to transform chaos into clarity. Each piece of information that I provide to her is carefully considered, and I always feel supported and heard. I have learned so much from her about how to make better, more fulfilling decisions – both for my career and for many other areas in my life. Every career dilemma is unique, and I have presented Michelle with multiple issues that I have been facing. Michelle has tackled each issue with a tailored, insightful game plan. It is amazing to me how far I have come in working with Michelle for just a short while. I have been able to move from a place of fear and discomfort to a place that previously seemed unobtainable to me – confident and very excited about what lays ahead. For this, I am eternally grateful for her support, guidance, and hard work in helping me to achieve this transformation. Thank you so, so much, Michelle!" - Eileen E., Associate Attorney "I met Michelle when I attended one of her workshops- "Career Crossroads Workshop: Your Path Forward with Michelle Florendo." The topic of the workshop immediately stood out to me, as I was feeling a bit lost and unsure of the next steps in my career. I had graduated college, worked for a year, but was unsure of what I really wanted to do. Michelle helped me by guiding me through the process of identifying what was most important to me, and how this translated to my next job and my career as a whole. She helped me identify strengths I didn't realize I had and coached me on how to talk about myself in a confident and effective way. Michelle is easy to work with, asks helpful, guiding questions and constantly provides thoughtful feedback. As a result of working with Michelle, I found a job I love, that I never would have found, or even considered previously. I found my job without submitting applications online and in under 4 months. I am excited about my new role, have more purpose in my job, work with great people and am more confident and self-aware as a professional." - Jenna L., Analyst at a Venture Capital Firm "One of the biggest challenges I faced before working with Michelle was talking to people about what I wanted to do. Michelle helped me break that challenge into bits and tackle them piece by piece. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. But that was OK. Michelle helped me explore my passions, pin-point my strengths and identify the industry I wanted to be in. The next piece was talking to people and learning how to position myself. During our calls I had the opportunity to practice. Michelle is an amazing coach, resource, teacher, role model! A few months after my work with Michelle, I landed an amazing job in an industry that I'm passionate about, at the company I aimed for. I highly recommend her to the person who wants guidance to finding a fulfilling career."- Arlene, Ops Coordinator at Google "Michelle's organized and thoughtful approach enabled me to break a seemingly overwhelming task into one that had incremental and achievable steps. She was very diligent and mindful about the process, understood how it's unique to each individual and was able to draw helpful parallels with others that she had consulted to advance my progress. Additionally, she is well connected across a variety of industries which further helped in building my network and achieving results." - Allison G., Senior Director, Consulting and Management Services "Michelle is simply awesome! She was such an amazing help at a moment in my life I wanted to make a career move but was yet to scared to act on it. She helped me build confidence around my skills, she helped me sort through all my thoughts (mainly negative ones) to realize what my priorities were at this point in my life and what my next career goals were. She was also very flexible and reactive. I definitely appreciated working with her and see her untangle decisions that appeared very complex to me. In short, Michelle helped me leave a job I was no longer happy in, find the confidence to follow a mini dream of mine and transition into a new career that I am so far very excited about! In addition to her expertise, she has such a great personality. It was always a pleasure having a Skype video call with her and despite the time difference, we were always able to find time to schedule calls on a regular basis. Thank you Michelle for being so helpful and supportive at a time when I had a lot of doubts!" - Camille M., Paris, France "Working with Michelle helped me re-focus on my professional experience and needs which enabled me to clearly articulate my background and value to potential employers, ultimately landing me a job that I'm excellent at and that I thoroughly enjoy doing. I would highly recommend Michelle to anyone considering her services and consider her not only a career coach and guide, but a friend." - Ilana D., Information Security and Compliance Professional "It's surprisingly difficult to figure out what you like to do (and how you like to feel) to then figure out what you want to do with your life. I read a handful of books trying to figure it all out, but I found the specific questions Michelle asked and her identification of important nuggets and themes in my responses to be the most helpful in figuring out not one, but two of my career shifts.
When I think of career or life coaching, I either think of touchy feely stuff or too many systematic "yes/no funnel you down the decision tree" exercises. Michelle doesn't go to any extreme in her thoughtful approach." - Mel A., Group Product Manager at Genentech "Michelle has helped me through many career decisions, both large and small. She has this uncanny ability to break down any situation, examine each aspect through an objective lens, tie it to the latest research as well as countless examples from her own life and those she's helped, and the best part -- enables you to see your options more clearly and come to the solution on your own. Her approach and encouraging manner leave you uplifted and confident -- ready to face tough challenges and chart your own course. In short, you would be lucky to have Michelle on your side."
- Jennifer T., Strategy at Google "Michelle has an uncommon ability to help you build a framework and to ask you the right questions leading you to examine your situation in a light that illuminates the natural next steps. A year ago, I was untethered by unemployment, a lack of clarity of what kind of organization or role would actually inspire me, and an uncertainty over where I could place an anchor to help me focus on the right path. Michelle met with me, guided me through a conversation to help me untangle my many concerns, and introduced me to a mind mapping tool that allowed me to explore all of my professional interests and their points of intersection. Michelle empowered me to find my way."
- R. S. H., Executive Director at Stanford Hospital & Clinics "What I appreciate about Michelle's approach is that she is bold. The advice she gives is peppered with her experiences of switching careers, battling inner 'should-monsters' as she puts it, and balancing work against other demands in life. Her background in consulting, strategy, and her MBA are qualifications I would look for in a life coach but it is her warmth, creativity, and generosity of spirit which would make me sign on."
- J. Lu, Managing Director, Menlo Park, CA "The biggest challenge I faced was trying to pursue other important interests (e.g., spending time with my family and my civic commitments) while remaining competitive in my career. Michelle helped me 1) clarify my values and 2) build structures in my schedule to ensure that I fulfill all my important priorities simultaneously.
Working with Michelle has helped me understand the push and pull of my four top priorities and the acceptance that came with appreciating the commitments that they entail." - Hazel D, Director, San Francisco, CA "I was fortunate enough to find Michelle when stumbling through career decisions. Her listening skills are amazing. Not only do you feel you have her complete attention but she's really attuned to what areas are 'sticking points.'
The techniques and knowledge she shared, the comments she made, the insights she had - they were all incredible. She's passionate but grounded, full of wisdom but never preachy, and supportive without ever being pushy. I can't imagine having had a better coaching experience and feel blessed to have worked with her." - K. Pfeiffer, San Francisco, CA "With an engineering degree and an MBA from two top-tier universities, an impressive sense of creativity/problem-solving, a strong social and professional network, and a diverse set of experiences spanning the private and public sectors, Michelle has been able to offer actionable insights on both my academic and professional aspirations, and to connect me to awesome people and opportunities. With her help, I've been able to take huge leaps of faith outside my professional, academic, and personal comfort zones.
The result? (1) a cross-country move to reunite with my family, (2) advancement from an uninspiring job to one that I enjoy, and (3) acceptance and funding to my top-choice grad school. Yes, she's THAT amazing!" - H. Gutierrez, Program Development Specialist, Chicago, IL "While drifting between jobs, I had a bunch of ideas, experiences and feelings inside my head about what I wanted for my future and that made it hard to see which direction I really wanted to go. I kind of knew what I would like, but couldn't get my thoughts to form into a plan of action. Michelle helped clear my vision and set up a path. After a conversation, she pulled out the most important parts of my story and helped me frame what I wanted. Her insightful questions made me dig deep for answers which allowed me to talk about what was important to me. After that, she gave me tangible steps that I could take and followed my progress through the entire process. Her feedback and support were invaluable. I now have a well-paying job that stays true to my principles and that I enjoy. Michelle deserved so much credit for helping me that I gave her my first business card from my new job in thanks."
- Sam M., Nonprofit Communications Director, Oakland, CA "Michelle has a natural gift for asking smart, insightful questions that drill deeper and deeper until you reach the core issue that's holding you back. Many times, I didn't realize that a belief was at the root of my reluctance or discomfort about something until the issue was dismantled, and the behavioral change just followed naturally. Therein lies the value of Michelle's coaching.
Most people try to help by giving you generic advice after a few broad questions without truly understanding the way that you think, the frameworks in your mind, what your inner dialogue sounds like. So it's hard for their advice to solve anything. Michelle, on the other hand, is one of the few people who listens patiently without judgment and asks questions that drive the conversation in a productive way. But it's not just about listening -- if you wanted that, you could call your grandma or therapist. Michelle has the professional work experience, stellar pedigree, and is herself a type-A overachiever, so she's not just about the rah-rah-let's-feel-good moments -- she's about change and action. She has given me specific exercises to work on that helped me become more authoritative in the workplace, to land a job that was challenging without sacrificing my work/life balance, and to successfully negotiate my salary with confidence. Michelle helps me arrive at solutions that are unique to my own situation so that I can immediately take action instead of stalling, because there's no reason to stall anymore." - W. Kao, Director of Seth Godin's altMBA, NY "I met Michelle towards the end of my quarter-life crisis, right around the time I decided to follow my heart and pursue my passion. Hearing her talk about how she had done the same thing encouraged me to stay the on this new path that I had chosen for myself. Since Michelle was already further along on her journey, she was able to impart to me the lessons that she'd learned along the way.
"During one of our talks she told me something that I will never forget: 'You're worth it.' It may seem simple, but those are some of the most impactful words anyone has ever said to me. I have never had a problem acquiring the skills I needed to become successful. Learning has always come easy for me. Remembering to believe in myself, however, has not. She helped me realize that it's okay to give myself the same level of respect that I give others. After all, I'm worth it. When Michelle first told me this, I was working an unpaid internship and I was unsure how to transition into a paid position. I didn't know how to speak up and ask for what I wanted. Within a month of our conversation, I transitioned out of that internship and into my dream job (with pay). Thank you Michelle for your words of wisdom, and for helping me to see in myself the person that was there all along." - D. Jack, Audio Engineer, Oakland, CA "I could tell the first time I talked to Michelle on the phone that she really gets it, really listens, and could really hone into what I was saying and that clarity was the missing link. She asked me questions that made me really think. It was like she was simply guiding a conversation that I was having with myself, in a very organized, realistic, and powerful way. The 8 week process with Michelle unraveled old ways of thinking. That really under what I do for a living, how much money I make, where I'm going next, there's actually how do I really own, celebrate, and live from that bold truth of who I am. It's about, how do I think about myself and tell my story. It's about doing it my way, dreaming bigger, defining my own success, and broadening the scope of what's possible for my life. I am using the tools that I gained from my sessions with Michelle, and they have been incredibly valuable as I build my new life. I highly recommend her."
- M Henry, Founder of MOMAD, Oakland, CA |