Alice Yeh
Career Clarity Coach
Hey, I’m Alice Yeh!I help high-achieving mid-career professionals through career transitions turning Sunday scaries into fulfilling Mondays.
You’re here because you’re so DONE with the hamster wheel. You know you’re not living up to your potential. You think a career change might be the answer but actually making a change? Well, it’s complicated.
Because you’ve already checked all the boxes everyone told you to check. The ones that were supposed to guarantee you a “Happily Ever After” life of professional fulfillment and personal achievement. But that is not what you’re experiencing right now. Not at all.
I know, I’ve been there too. Look at all of these boxes I checked!
☑️Graduated from Princeton
☑️ Started in a high-paying job at J.P. Morgan
☑️ Got an MBA from Wharton
☑️ Also received an MA from the University of Pennsylvania at the same time
☑️ Landed another high-paying job at Google
If you kinda hate me right now, that’s cool. But if you’re also an Expert Box Checker, you know the cognitive dissonance that comes from doing the work, and STILL finding yourself…
- In an unsatisfying career that doesn’t allow you to make the impact you want to make
- Stuck in the same old boring routine of working too much and struggling to keep up with anything that actually brings you joy
- Feeling lost and unsure what to do next (haven’t you already DONE ALL the things?!)
Life is too short to feel anxious and depressed at the thought of going to work every morning. It’s too precious to live just for the weekends. And if you’re spending your time and money numbing yourself by binge-watching Netflix, eating your feelings, drinking too many glasses of wine because you had another hard day, or doomscrolling on Instagram…You’re wasting not only a precious gift — you’re wasting YOUR gifts.
There, I’ve just saved you about 10 years of grinding it out (because it took me that long to reach my own epiphany that something had to change!).
I kept running the corporate rat race over and over. I’d run until I hit a ceiling, where I couldn’t get another promotion no matter what I tried. Then I’d run over to another job title at another company and do it again. I tried working at startups instead of large corporates. But I kept feeling that my contributions were unrecognized and undervalued, which led to burnout, boredom, and lack of motivation.
I knew I needed to move on but felt stuck, lost, and unsure of what to do next while everyone else seemed to have their shit together.
I needed to take back control.
But first, I needed to know where I was going. I needed a purpose.
By working with a coach myself, I learned that purpose comes from the impact you want to have on others. So I took a hard look in the mirror to identify what brings me meaning and where I can make an impact. Combining this with where I can leverage my natural strengths, interests, and beliefs pointed me in the direction I needed.
However, I still had this nagging voice inside my head. It was telling me I wasn’t ready to make a change. My overachiever and perfectionist self said I needed to be more prepared. I needed to be the best and work the hardest in order to succeed. It was too late to start over and all the hard work I’d already accomplished would be wasted.
Fears of failure, rejection, uncertainty, and the unknown almost froze me in my tracks. But I knew that the life I wanted was just outside of my ‘comfort zone’ (which wasn’t very comfortable but at least it was familiar).
The key is to take calculated risks and become resilient.
The mantra that got me through was: “You’ve been able to find success once, you can do it again.
” And, it turns out that I had a lot of transferable skills, so I wasn’t starting from scratch. It still felt like a risk, but a calculated risk. And I could handle that.
As of today, I’ve gone through this process multiple times when I needed to take back control of my life and pursue a change that would align with my aspirations:
- I’ve been laid off 3 times and used each one as an opportunity to pivot and reinvent myself in a meaningful career change
- I spent 4 years working and living as an expat abroad in Hong Kong, London, and Singapore where I learned to start over every time I moved and became resilient
- I took a yearlong sabbatical even though people said it was a bad idea to have a gap on your resume and this turned out to be one of the most fulfilling years of my life because I pursued personal passions like traveling, learning Spanish, horseback riding, yoga teacher training, and Reiki certification
Now as an entrepreneur with my own coaching practice, I have found my purpose to help empower others to transition out of unhappy jobs and find the freedom and excitement they desire for a more fulfilling and holistic life. I never thought it would be possible to wake up each day excited and ready to take on the day. You can too!And if it’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this:
Don’t be afraid to follow your gut and carve your own path despite what others say. Identify what motivates and drives you. Separate what you truly want from what you’re told by parents, society, friends, and family. It’s ok to outgrow your past.
I’ve helped clients take back control and break free from the fear of starting over and the perfectionism that’s holding them back by understanding themselves better and changing their mindset. They imagined possibilities beyond their current circumstances and found the focus, drive, and energy to pursue their dreams.
Believe me, it’s possible – you too can find the freedom to lead a more balanced, meaningful, and exciting life! Stop settling and playing it safe.
And don’t forget there’s more to life than just work!
Some fun facts about me:
- I currently live in San Francisco, where I take advantage of that zen California dream lifestyle by practicing vinyasa yoga, doing reformer pilates, and skiing in Tahoe whenever I can
- I founded Camp Slow Your Roll at Burning Man where for a week, we tap into our creative energy in the middle of the desert, dance under the stars, survive only on what we bring, and channel our inner sloths – I’ve been 3+ times!
- I’ve visited 50+ countries, missed a flight due to sleeping off a hangover and another due to leaving my purse with my passport inside it at an airport cafe, and started a travel blog that unfortunately died during 2020 because of you know what
- I lost 30 pounds of COVID weight where I haven’t worn jeans since then because I couldn’t fit into them at the time and never bothered to buy new ones
- I enjoy being a foodie from eating street food sold by questionable vendors to hoity-toity fine dining to home-cooking attempts at recreating my Mom’s recipes
- If you ever visit San Francisco, check out some of my favorite restaurants: pizza from Il Casaro, hole-in-the-wall Mexican at Chuy’s Fiestas (ask to sit in the back – trust me), Vietnamese from Jasmine Garden, handmade pitas from Beit Rima, and fancy interactive fine dining at Merchant Roots if you’re splurging
If you’re ready to learn more about taking back control of your life again, let’s see how we can work together to put you back in the driver’s seat to get a clear idea of what to do next so that you can live a life that lights you up!
