Today's guest is Nikki Corder. In twenty years of friendship, Nikki and Serenity have had many conversations about work, life, and what they dream. A lot of the time, their conversations are about learning to cope and adjust when it feels like life is nowhere near the dream. Their career paths are similarly winding for many reasons, but Nikki has learned a lot about her strengths and what she's good at, even if nobody's paying her for it. Serenity and Nikki talk generational stereotypes, Enne...

Simone Stolzoff is an author and journalist who explores big questions about work, meaning, and identity. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, he is the author of two bestselling books: The Good Enough Job and How To Not Know. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and on the TED stage. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and son. Serenity has been following Simone since his first book. Many of the ...

Maureen Yaconis had a career in hospitality when COVID practically collapsed the industry. After a year or so out of work, Maureen found her way into market research. Today, she runs her own business and manages multiple income streams. Maureen has a question-everything approach to work. She loves identifying better processes and more efficient ways of working, and she does not hesitate to implement them. She is passionate about empowering women and always learning. Maureen also has an awesom...

Meet Ashley Rott-Nettleton, Serenity's market research mentor and forever friend. Ashley leveraged a financial layoff (from a company that still desperately wanted to work with her) by starting her own biz! Now she has that client plus many others, is her own boss, and will "never go back." Ashley tells you how it's done (even when you're risk-averse!), and she and Serenity talk about work philosophy, negotiating for your worth, and never apologizing. Chapters 7:37 Serenity's day job (f...

It's The Mama Episode! Let's hear from Kathy Nickerson, mom of four (including your host, Serenity Bohon), emotional/spiritual mom to hundreds more, author, and eternal optimist. Kathy knew from a very young age that she wanted to be a writer, but it took her some time to admit it and go for it. Now, she has five books published in her "granny lit" series, a book for young readers called Jack and the Green Dragon, and a book on its way to readers soon, A Girl Called Something. Kathy and Seren...

Nathan Bransford is the writer's champion, offering A to Z advice for writers about the craft of storytelling, finding an agent, navigating the publishing industry, and everything writers need to make their dreams come true. Don't leave if you're not a writer, though! This episode is for anyone who loves the stories people tell about their varied career paths. Nathan has amazing advice about determining your values and making them the pillars to build your work and life around. Everything tha...

Meet my brother, Lt. Joe Nickerson. He started in law enforcement as a side gig and discovered it was the perfect fit for his specific strengths and calling. Joe describes his first experiences in the police academy as "life-changing." Learning a new job within law enforcement became Joe's next aha moment. Now he had found not just a calling but a role comprising everything he cared about most. I loved this conversation with one of my favorite humans. His connection to his calling is inspirin...

Dennis Trinkle was the son of a pastor and on a similar track until a teaching job along the way inspired him to go back to school. He liked teaching but knew he would have better success with more education. When fulfilling a liberal arts requirement led him to a philosophy class, he discovered an interest that would shape his next move and his continued education for years. There are more pivots in Dennis's story--all sparked by pursuing the paths he found interesting. Dennis is a longtime ...

Carrie Gaines and I have a shared work experience but very different relationships to work in general. We worked together in the grant-seeking and management department of a health professions university - a workplace that set the bar for both us when it comes to professional and supportive work environments. Carrie transitioned from her grants management role after getting new assignments at the University that piqued her interest even more. This is the story of her transition, the supportiv...

It's another sister episode! Today, Serenity chats with her younger sister, Charity, "a singer and a mom." Charity had her dream job, a paid worship pastor at her church. She has a lot of insight about what it really means to have a job in ministry/nonprofit. When her leaders took the team through the Working Genius framework to discover their work personalities, Charity realized why the administrative parts of being an on-staff worship paster had been so challenging for her. There came a poi...