- Maybe you're burned out.
- Maybe you've outgrown your role.
- Maybe you've done everything you were told would lead to growth, and you're still waiting for the path to appear.
- Maybe you're doing work well above your title and wondering how long “keep proving yourself” is supposed to be a career strategy.
- Maybe you've been applying elsewhere, getting interviews, even becoming a finalist — and still not getting the offer.
- Maybe you know you have transferable skills but don't know how to translate a career built inside higher ed into something outside of it.
- Maybe a difficult leader or institution has done enough damage to your confidence that you're no longer sure you're seeing yourself clearly.
Or maybe you aren't trying to leave at all.
You just know: I can't keep doing this.
You've looked for jobs outside higher ed and wondered whether anyone there understands what you've actually done.
You've looked for jobs inside higher ed and wondered whether the only way to grow is to wait for someone above you to leave.
Maybe everyone around you has advice: Stay. Leave. Give it another year. Get another degree. Apply more broadly. Network more. Be patient.
And somehow more advice has not produced more clarity.
Hi, I'm Krista.
I coach higher ed professionals who are trying to figure out what comes next --whether that's where they are now, somewhere else in higher ed, or outside of it entirely.
One benefit of working with me is simple:
You don't have to spend half the conversation explaining higher ed.
I understand how someone can hold significant responsibility and still have very little authority..
How an interim role can become an audition that never turns into the job...
How you can be told there are “lots of opportunities” while seeing no clear path to one...
How being willing to name what's broken can become a professional liability...
How your institution can depend heavily on your expertise while leaving you wondering whether anyone outside higher ed will understand its value...
How workload, compensation, mission, identity, politics, family, geography, benefits, and plain old exhaustion can all end up inside what sounds like one simple question:
What should I do next?
I'm not going to automatically tell you to leave higher ed.
I'm also not going to tell you that caring about the mission means you should keep accepting whatever the institution asks of you.
Instead, we'll get curious about what is actually happening, what you want to be different, what is within your control, and what options you may not be seeing yet.
Because I still believe:
Your life shouldn't revolve around your job.
Your job should fit into and support your life.
"I felt very stuck and disappointed with my career trajectory and wanted to know best how to move forward...
Now, I am clear on what I actually value in the workplace and from a job and can determine if job listings will or will not meet my needs. I can also articulate my strengths in a clear way and feel a greater sense of accomplishment knowing how to do this."
- Rachael, an employee within the State University System of Florida
What coaching looks like
This isn't a résumé package, or not an eight-week curriculum everyone through in exactly the same order. And I'm not going to hand you a quiz that claims to know what job you should have.
I'm a certified Designing Your Life coach, and we can use those tools when they're useful.
We might map possibilities, test assumptions, identify constraints, talk through an actual decision, look at what you've already tried and what that data is telling us, work on how you're positioning your experience, notice a pattern you keep repeating, separate what belongs to you from what your institution would actually have to change...
Or decide that instead of thinking about something for another six months, it's time to run an experiment and learn something new.
Some sessions produce an action plan. Some produce a much better question. Both are progress.
What is included?
Two 50-minute 1:1 coaching sessions each month
Two 50-minute 1:1 coaching sessions each month
Two 50-minute 1:1 coaching sessions each month
Enough continuity to work on the larger question without pretending the rest of your life will politely stop happening between sessions.
Brief email support between sessions
Two 50-minute 1:1 coaching sessions each month
Two 50-minute 1:1 coaching sessions each month
If something happens between sessions, you don't necessarily have to hold it for two weeks.
You can send a brief question, update, or reflection so we can keep the thread of the work going.
Tools and resources when they're useful
Two 50-minute 1:1 coaching sessions each month
Tools and resources when they're useful
Sometimes a Designing Your Life exercise will help. Sometimes a framework or reflection will help.
Sometimes you'll already have done enough reflecting and the useful thing is to take an action and see what happens.
I'm not assigning homework so the coaching feels more official.
We'll use what helps.
Not sure you're ready for coaching?
Not sure you're ready for coaching?
Not sure you're ready for coaching?
Good!
I invite you to start with the Higher Ed Career Reality Check: Stop Solving the Wrong Problem.
It's a short reflection for figuring out what kind of stuck you're actually in.
You'll look at:
- what has actually happened
- where the friction seems to live
- what you've already tried
- what you can influence
- what requires someone else to change
- what constraints your next move needs to respect
- and the question you actually need to answer next
No “discover your career personality.” No seven-email sequence trying to convince you that you secretly need a coach.
Ready to explore coaching?
Not sure you're ready for coaching?
Not sure you're ready for coaching?
Start with a short coaching inquiry form.
This isn't an application where you need to prove that your situation is serious enough. It gives me a little context about what you're navigating so neither of us has to spend an exploratory call figuring out the basics.
If it seems like my working with me could be useful, we'll schedule a 20-minute exploratory conversation at no cost.
Note: This is not a coaching session. It's a chance to talk about what you're looking for, ask questions about how I work, and figure out whether we're a good fit. (Both of us get to decide.)
If I'm not the right person for what you need, I'll tell you.
"During our sessions, I had two major job interviews that I put a lot of weight on. In the interviews I expressed my needs and wants for the workplace and cited specific examples of accomplishments that highlight my strengths, which I was not able to adequately identify before our sessions. My mindset has shifted from looking at mainly the salary level of a position rather than the duties and work required (because I'm a quick learner and can do a lot of things), and instead I now approach potential new positions with the aim of finding out what the position can bring me instead of what I can bring the position."
- Rachael, an employee within the State University System of Florida
“[Dr. Vaught] reminded me that I possess a great deal of strengths and gently helped me identify areas where I could grow. Most importantly, she reframed my struggle as a necessary and productive process. Where I saw dead ends, she saw detours or new routes. When I saw a closed door, she found other doors. When I focused on a missed opportunity, she thought of new ways to gain insight or experience.”
- Instructional designer, University of Florida