56. On Career Pivots & Finding Purpose with Sarah Moore
Overview
Today I’m joined by Sarah Moore, a partner and Director of Brand Strategy at Mission Minded, a brand strategy firm that works exclusively with nonprofits and foundations. We cover a lot of ground in this conversation.
I wanted to have Sarah on the show for a couple of reasons. First, I’m interested, as always, in people’s career journeys, and Sarah shares her experience with pivoting from for-profit to non-profit. And second, I’ve had listeners ask how to bring philanthropy, giving back, and volunteering into one's life to make it more fulfilling and to find purpose outside of one’s professional life. Sarah shares tips on how to start this exploration of giving back in your own way.
And I couldn’t let Sarah go without hearing more about the best practices that Mission Minded has learned from being a virtual, remote company for 20 years. What has the company done to make remote work work, and what can individuals do to support themselves in successfully working from home? Sarah weighs in.
Thank you so much, Sarah, for the work you do and for sharing your journey and insights with us!
More About Our Guest
Sarah Moore is a partner and Director of Brand Strategy at Mission Minded, a brand strategy firm that works exclusively with nonprofits and foundations. Starting her career in advertising, Sarah fell in love with nonprofits while serving pro bono clients as Management Director at DDB Worldwide. She now focuses exclusively on nonprofit brand strategy, which allows organizations to better tell their own unique story. A serial nonprofit Board member, she currently serves as immediate past President of the Board of Mentis, Napa County's Center for Mental Health Services.
Topics Covered
Sarah shares how she started her career in advertising, after a career counselor guided her to start there because she could later explore social work, another interest she had at the time, but that it might be harder to get into advertising after social work if she chose to pivot later. This is an interesting theme here at Sustainable Ambition, this idea of considering career arcs and what’s best to try first vs. try later. For Sarah, that call to serve pulled her later in her career towards non-profit work, and it was only later that she remembered and saw the thread back to her interest in social work. This is why it’s interesting to take the time to look back at one’s life and career and identify patterns and see the threads. In doing so, it can give insight into what might be pulling you into the future.
What called her towards non-profit work? She saw that she could really add value, because she brought something unique to the table that non-profits didn’t have inside. And as a result, she was motivated by seeing the impact of that work. Sarah also mentions how she paid attention to the “bread crumbs” that were showing up, signaling that she was ready for a change.
She dispels the myth that we should feel comfortable when making a change and instead lean into making the leap. She shares that a benefit in leaning into discomfort and acting anyway is building confidence and overcoming impostor syndrome. Later in the conversation she also notes how making a pivot requires humility, as you step into the new and put yourself on a new growth curve.
If you are looking to make a shift to non-profit work, Sarah encourages you to do your homework, as she did, as it is a big sector, and test out different non-profit opportunities.
Sarah doesn’t regret having started in advertising, continuing to leverage this experience as she pivoted to the non-profit sector, and believing that you learn from each career chapter. I appreciate that Sarah encourages us to embrace the journey, something we advocate here at Sustainable Ambition, and to recognize that we all have an internal career compass guiding us along the way.
We talk about finding purpose in our work, and Sarah shares some tips to guide you on what to look for.
We delve into how to think about participating with non-profits, in philanthropy, and on boards.
We close with tips on what companies and individuals can do to better make remote work work for them, and Sarah shares what works for her to sustain herself in this environment.
Resources Mentioned
Sarah Moore: https://mission-minded.com/team/sarah-moore/
Mission Minded: https://mission-minded.com/
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56. On Career Pivots & Finding Purpose with Sarah Moore
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