Career Stories
Stories that empower you to navigate an aligned, fulfilling and sustainable worklife.
Breaking Through Glass Ceilings
How one Physical Therapist brought her own chair to the table when no one was offering a seat!
From Burnout to Belonging
A Physician Assistant's Reimagining of Professional Identity Through Community
From Big Pharma to Main Street
A Pharmacist's Leap from Corporate to Community
The Power of "No"
How One Physical Therapist Used Rejection to Redefine Success
From Textbooks to Touchpoints
Leveraging a Medical Degree for Social Entrepreneurship
From Bedside to Boardroom
A Nurse's Transition into Health Tech Leadership
Excellence Beyond the Scalpel
How one surgeon learned to step off the treadmill and be human again
The Dynamic Edge of Capability
From Dietitian to Nurse Practitioner to Startup Director
Courage in Consonance
One Doctor’s Soul-Full Shift to Health Tech Consulting
Mending the Wounds of Healthcare
A Psychiatrist’s Mission to Tackle Moral Injury
From Nightclubs to Therapist
Healing Beyond the Conventional
Dreaming in Scrubs
Designing New Ways to Practice and Educate
Researching Beyond Academia
From PhD to Health Coaching to Health Tech
A Servant Leader’s Quest
Primary Care, Advocacy, Change Management, Leadership and Start-ups
Cultivating Virtual Excellence
Developing blueprints for communication, from ER to Health Tech Exec
From Toxic to Transformative
How One Nurse Went From Shift Work to Coach, Podcaster, Author & Speaker
Bridging Bodies and Bytes
A PT’s 26-Year Leap from Clinic to Tech
Breaking the Burnout Cycle
Redefining Achievement From Community Health to Health Tech
Nourishing Business
A Dietitian's Journey Through Corporate Leadership to Entrepreneurship
From Classroom to Clinic
Reshaping healthcare through authenticity and self-compassion
The Health Justice Marathon
From Oprah Dreams to Nursing Reality
The Long Game
A Dietitian's Journey from Hospital Halls to Home Care
Finding Her Voice
Transforming Speech Pathology from Mumbai to Mississippi
From Textbooks to Touchpoints
Leveraging a Medical Degree for Social Entrepreneurship
Meet Hana Ali
What happens when a childhood dream of becoming a doctor collides with a harsh reality that fails to align with your values and aspirations?
For Hana Ali, this realisation set her on a transformative journey from the halls of medical school to the dynamic world of social entrepreneurship. Through a series of challenges and achievements, bookmarked with self-reflection, she’s discovered that a fulfilling career can take many forms and that embracing change can lead to unexpected opportunities for growth and impact.
At the time of our interview, Hana was busy getting ready to launch the Health Career Transitions Network, an online community from where she lives in Berlin, Germany. After the popularity of her YouTube content about leaving medicine to pursue impact in other ways in healthcare, she was spurred to create a place where doctors and other health professionals can get resources and support for navigating alternative careers.
However, the work that keeps the lights on at the moment and also aligns with her purpose is her part-time role as a Founders Associate with a social enterprise. Here, she “helps women of colour entrepreneurs across Europe and the UK to grow their businesses and access funding.” It’s more strategy than business operations, geared towards people with limited business experience and access to support.
“I wanted to take a bit of a breather and a bit of a break from founding and running a business. A lot of time, energy and sacrifice goes into it.”
Given that Hana is about to launch another business, I'm wondering what being a Founder Associate offers her to sustain commitment in the way she does.
It's the team. Something I've come to notice about my whole career so far is that the team really dictates how much I enjoy the role and what level of compromise I'm willing to make on the responsibilities.
People. People can make all the difference. It's not always who you are helping or how; it's who you are doing it with. Second to who you do life with, who you work with can make such a significant difference in our well-being and levels of job satisfaction. It's why many leave their jobs and, like Hana, why you accept one.