Episode Details

Melanie had every reason to stay: the title, the paycheck, the 401(k) she’d be walking away from as a single woman with no one to fall back on. Then a mentor asked her one question that made all of that beside the point — how many women are you NOT reaching by playing it safe?

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Melanie Kiss spent nearly 30 years in healthcare before founding Chicas Abroad, a women’s adventure travel company she built on the side and didn’t go full-time on until 48. Now the author of two books — a practical travel guide and a reinvention memoir, When the Compass Shifts — she walks through the thoughtful, strategic five-year transition: the money math, the mentor question that reframed everything, and the dream she’d buried since she was 16.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

• [03:31] Why she launched an adventure travel company in the middle of COVID, when no one was traveling
• [10:25] The single question from her mentor that flipped her from “I can’t afford to leave” to going all in
• [29:30] Why she wrote When the Compass Shifts — a reinvention memoir with reflection questions for women rethinking their next chapter
• [34:26] How she found her direction by noticing where her mind wandered — a dream she’d had since 15
• [41:26] Which corporate skills transferred straight into entrepreneurship — and the practical pieces (pricing, profit, contractors) she had to learn from scratch
• [51:07] Her mantra: get out of your comfort zone — and why she holds her clients to it too

GUEST LINKS: Chicas Abroad

Website: https://www.chicasabroad.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicas_abroad/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chicasabroad

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chicas-abroad/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniekiss/

Podcast: Chicas Chat

Book — Adventure More, Worry Less: https://amzn.to/4acOCef

Book — When the Compass Shifts: https://amzn.to/3SlkvLr

CONNECT WITH SPONSOR: Roots & Bloom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootsandbloom_studio/

Listener promotion: Roots & Bloom 20% off plant purchase — mention "Her Intentional Reset" at checkout/to Ciera Curtis

CONNECT WITH HIR

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herintentionalreset.co/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61587329908947

Website: https://www.herintentionalreset.com

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron: https://a.co/d/09E1ps0J

Her Intentional Reset Experience — The Artist's Way Creative Cluster:

Listen Now