From "My Brain Feels Scrambled" to 10-Year Vision: Monika’s Career Transformation Story
Watch the full interview above, or read the story below.
The "What Now?" Moment
Monika came to me at one of those classic crossroads moments that I call "turn-the-page" moments.
She'd just wrapped up work on a campaign—the kind that takes over your entire life and then spits you back out when it's over. Adrenaline gone. Dropped back into reality with a completely blank calendar and this weird feeling of "I could do anything" mixed with "But what am I supposed to do?".
Here's what she told me in our first conversation: "Liz, I want to be more articulate. I used to walk into rooms feeling confident and clear. Now? My brain feels scrambled. I can't string together a sentence about myself that I'm actually proud of."
She thought she needed help with public speaking. Polish the elevator pitch, practice the delivery.
But that wasn't actually the problem.
The Real Problem: A Story She Couldn't See
When Monika looked at her career, she saw a jumbled mess. Random jobs that didn't connect. No coherent story. And when you can't see your own thread, how are you supposed to talk about yourself clearly?
The logical move? Go back to what was comfortable. Take the next "reasonable" step that would make sense on LinkedIn.
But something felt off.
Mining the PAST for Wisdom
We started by looking back—not at her resume, but at her real story.
We did this values exercise where you pick words that resonate with you, then pair them down, bucket them into categories, and find stories that illustrate each value in action—or not in action. That's where the real wisdom lives.
Monika kept gravitating toward "efficiency." That was the word on the list that stuck.
But here's where it got interesting.
The Potato Peeling Story That Changed Everything
As we dug deeper—asking why that word mattered, what it connected to—she remembered this scene: peeling potatoes with her grandmother back in Poland. Little Monika, hacking away at the potatoes, wasting half of each one. Her grandmother gently correcting her: peel them so you waste as little as possible.
Nobody else in her family remembers this moment. But for Monika, it was formative.
And suddenly "efficiency" wasn't quite right anymore. It evolved into something more specific, more memorable, more her: "Waste Not."
And that phrase—Waste Not—wasn't even on the original list of values words. It emerged from her own story, from generational wisdom passed down while peeling potatoes on a family farm.
This is what mining your past does. It takes generic concepts and transforms them into values that are uniquely yours—tied to actual moments, actual people, actual stories that shaped you.
Finding the Thread
In one of our earliest conversations, Monika also saw the connecting thread she'd been missing. All those "random" experiences? Her climate tech startup work, emergency food response, New York City government policy roles, that transformative moment volunteering to shovel compost on Staten Island—they weren't disconnected at all.
They were all pointing toward something she'd been circling her entire life: the nexus between food, climate, and nourishing people.
Once she could name her value—Waste Not—and see her thread, food systems work wasn't just a career interest anymore. It was woven into who she's always been.
Seeing What's POSSIBLE (and Letting Go of "Should")
Here's what shifted: Monika stopped trying to force herself back onto the "logical" path.
She stopped asking "What job makes sense on my resume next?" and started asking "What work do I actually want to be doing for the next ten years?"
That compass statement we worked so hard to refine—about nourishing creating flourishing—became her decision-making lens.
The Power of Saying No
And then she did something bold: she said no to a project she was perfectly qualified for.
Old Monika would have said yes. It was good money. It made sense professionally. But it didn't align with her compass.
Saying no felt scary. Like a pit in her stomach. But it also made space.
Space to have more conversations with people working in food systems. Space for the right opportunity to actually find her.
And guess what? It did.
Near the end of our six months together, one of those early conversations led to a project in food policy that she was genuinely excited to say yes to. Not should-say-yes-to. Actually wanted to say yes to.
Taking Action in the PRESENT
By the time we finished working together, Monika wasn't just more articulate—though she definitely was. The words finally flowed because she finally believed her own story.
But more than that, she was thinking bigger. Not in six-month increments or "what's the next logical job," but in ten-year horizons.
She could see herself bringing storytelling into her food policy work—using those human-level stories about what it feels like to be nourished and cared for through food to build common ground across political divides.
She wasn't asking "Can I do this?" anymore. She was asking "How do I want to show up in this work I care about?"
That's the transformation.
The Narrative Navigation Framework
This is how the Story Compass Framework works:
PAST → Mining your experiences to find your patterns, powers, and principles (like Monika discovering "Waste Not" wasn't just about potatoes—it was her lens for everything)
PRESENT → Taking aligned action based on what you actually want (Monika saying no to the wrong thing so she could say yes to the right thing)
POSSIBLE → Creating a future that feels deeply aligned (Monika bringing storytelling into food policy work, thinking in ten-year horizons instead of just surviving the transition)
Monika didn't have a public speaking problem. She had a story believing problem.
And once we helped her see her story clearly? Everything else fell into place.
Your Story Spark: Try This
Choose One to Explore:
The "Random Jobs" Thread 🧵
Write down 3-5 jobs or roles you've had that feel disconnected. Now look closer: What were you actually doing in each one? What problem were you solving? What lights you up across all of them? (Hint: It's probably not the job title—it's something underneath.)
The Transformation Moment 🦋
Monika had her compost-shoveling moment on Staten Island. What's a moment in your career where you were doing something that didn't "make sense" on paper—but felt deeply right? What did that moment teach you about what you actually care about?
What's Next for You?
Join Narrative Navigation 🗺️
The Founding Cohort launches in late October 2025. This is exactly the work Monika and I did together—uncovering your patterns, claiming your powers, and turning your whole messy, beautiful story into your compass for what's next.
Founding Member Bonuses Include:
90-minute 1:1 kickoff session
Lifetime AI tools access
Priority access to everything I create
Learn more about Narrative Navigation
Not sure if this is right for you? 🤔
☑️ Book a free 20-minute Direction Discovery Call to explore where you are in your story and where you want to go next.
Know someone at their own crossroads? Share this story with them—or have them sign up here to get weekly Story Sparks delivered to their inbox.
→ Connect with Monika: Find her on LinkedIn (Monika Hansen - with a K!)
