May 11, 2026 · 20 min · 14 segments
If you've ever thought "I don't have the right background," this one's for you. I'm busting the myth of the traditional career path and showing you how to position your experience as your edge as you…
One of the most common things I hear from women who wanna step into executive roles is, "I don't have the right background," or, "My background is kinda non-traditional." And so this could sound like, "I came up through academia," or, "I've always been on the technical side.
I've worked in nonprofit." And what's really interesting is that everyone seems to think there's a traditional path to leadership, but if you actually look at the people sitting in executive roles, the truth is there's no single path that got them there, and in fact, there is oftentimes quite a wide variety of backgrounds that executives will have.
So today, I want to challenge this idea of the traditional background and help you understand that you're probably exactly where you need to be, and your background is perfectly suited to what you want next.
I'm going to break down what a, quote, quote, traditional background even means, uh, why this belief is probably holding you back, and how to actually leverage your experience as a strength instead of seeing it as a liability.
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One of the most common things I hear from women who wanna step into executive roles is, "I don't have the right background," or, "My background is kinda non-traditional." And so this could sound like, "I came up through academia," or, "I've always been on the technical side.
I've worked in nonprofit." And what's really interesting is that everyone seems to think there's a traditional path to leadership, but if you actually look at the people sitting in executive roles, the truth is there's no single path that got them there, and in fact, there is oftentimes quite a wide variety of backgrounds that executives will have.
So today, I want to challenge this idea of the traditional background and help you understand that you're probably exactly where you need to be, and your background is perfectly suited to what you want next.
I'm going to break down what a, quote, quote, traditional background even means, uh, why this belief is probably holding you back, and how to actually leverage your experience as a strength instead of seeing it as a liability.