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When the Work Stops Lighting You Up: Leaving Corporate Before They Push You Out w/ Kristen Hamborg
Description
Kristen Hamborg is six weeks out of a 25-year corporate interior design career — and she's never looked back. In this episode Kristen shares how burnout, a pandemic pivot, and a coaching certification she pursued on the side slowly shifted everything. Unlike most escapees who get pushed out Kristen made the decision herself — and she'll tell you exactly what it took to get there.
This one is for anyone still in corporate feeling the slow fade of work that used to light them up.
What You'll Learn
🎯 How Kristen recognized the burnout before it broke her — and what finally pushed her to act
🎯 Why she pursued a coaching certification during the pandemic and what it unlocked
🎯 How every single client she has landed came through referrals — no ads, no cold outreach
🎯 The identity shift that happens when you leave a career that defined you for 25 years
🎯 Why creativity isn't just art — and how corporate professionals are more creative than they think
🎯 What it actually feels like in the first six weeks — the excitement, the fear, and the glass case of emotions
🎯 Why you don't have to do this alone — and why the right community changes everything
🎯 How Kristen is already thinking big with her first virtual retreat just months into her solo journey
Key Quotes
"If your gut is telling you something is off — it is off. Don't sit in it alone." — Kristen Hamborg
"We all have this fear of not enoughness. But you have to get there and trust that you can do it." — Kristen Hamborg
"Comfortable isn't always good. Getting outside your comfort zone is where the growth happens." — Kristen Hamborg
About Kristen Hamborg
Kristen Hamborg is a coach and feng shui practitioner helping women navigate major life and career transitions. After 25 years in corporate interior design she made the leap to build something of her own — six weeks in and already building toward her first virtual retreat.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenhamborg/
📧 kristen@studioofyou.com
Connect With Brett
If Kristen's story resonated and you're ready to stop watching from the sidelines — The Escapee Collective is the community built for corporate professionals who are done waiting and ready to build something of their own.
👉 Join us at theescapeecollective.com
Get Busy Living.