Midlife crisis. I scheduled mine early

New identity: my March version of women-power-themed marketing!

Inspired by the book on emotional intelligence I’m reading 💙 (Permission to Feel by Marc Brackett), I decided I’m not gonna wait for my midlife crisis, I’m provoking it so it doesn’t take me by surprise.

For years, my professional identity was crystal clear.

I worked for a well-known brand, and with that came default credibility, a defined role, and an easy answer to “So, what do you do?”

And one day, it all ended, by choice.

At first, it felt like a walk in the park because that’s what I was doing all day. (I relocated to Romania and took late, self-sponsored maternity leave when the baby was 2, since before, I didn’t have that luxury.)

Slowly, I realized I wasn’t a title attached to a prestigious name anymore. I was JUST me.

So I did what any rational person does: I panicked.

Then, I tried to rebrand myself overnight, hoping to skip the messy middle with a polished new version of me.

Marc Brackett explains how we’re often conditioned to ignore, suppress, or rush past uncomfortable emotions, like confusion. We want resolution, answers, a fixed identity we can wrap up in a neat LinkedIn headline.

And if I followed the script I grew up with, I’d tell myself:

“What nonsense, you have time for an identity crisis, you should be happy!”

“It’s okay, women should take care of their children. That’s their identity!”

But my mind works beyond fixed cultures, and I don’t need others’ permission (anymore… I hope…) to let my identity be unclear for a while. 

As a woman, I want to change the narratives that limit us, recognizing we are more than the roles we’ve been assigned.

What if this confusion isn’t something to fix but something to explore?

What if, instead of defining myself by a brand, a title, or an industry, I focused on what drives me:

Tons of enthusiasm (enough to power a small country)

A loud passion for service excellence and cultures that put employees first

An unstoppable urge to teach, share, and bring value to anyone in HR and Hospitality who’s willing to listen

The chemistry of the incredible people I’ve worked with, and the ones I keep discovering

What I learn daily in this lonely process of solopreneurship

Backed by…

Tens of thousands of hours designing & delivering training and interviewing candidates

A deeply studied (and lived) understanding of what it truly means to serve others

A self-made website (yaiks, but hey, it’s a process!)

Photoshoots by my husband (who now has this unofficial side job)

And a playful toddler, who reminds me daily that the best kind of leadership is patient, compassionate, and mostly exhausting

But soul searching doesn’t come with a paycheck. Good thing I’ve got the freedom (and occasional chaos) to figure this out between projects, social media, and networking until clarity comes along.

This month, ladies, let’s celebrate the courage to question, evolve, and redefine success on our terms!