We believe work can and should be rewarding and impactful.
That’s why we’re committed to helping you grow and develop in your career.
Hi there! I’m Emily Lamia.
I founded Pivot Journeys in 2016 to provide professionals like you with the strategies and support they need to find meaningful work and to empower them to be inspired, engaged, and effective on the job.
As a career development coach, I’ve been helping people grow and develop in their careers for over a decade. I’ve supported countless people to network more effectively, interview more confidently, and think more strategically about how to get where they want to go. But, before that, I had to navigate my own career journey.
I know what it’s like to feel stuck and be unsure of how to find the right kind of work for you, and how to land the job you want. I also know what it’s like to work on a dysfunctional team with bad management. And I know a bad manager can be the reason you leave your job.
My goal is to make it less painful for you to identify what you love doing and for you to get the opportunity to do it. I want to help create better managers and organizations so that fewer people come to me for help finding new jobs because they already love what they do. And I want to make the process of finding a new job positive, and even energizing.
As a Gallup-certified Strengths Coach, certified Designing Your Life Coach, and certified administrator of an Enneagram assessment, I’ve completed 100+ hours of training and regularly participate in ongoing education to become the best coach I can be for my clients. I’m also a member of organizations like Ellevate Network, Luminary, and a few online coaching collectives, and my regular interaction with others in my field helps me learn as a coach and pass that learning onto you.
A Timeline of Pivotal Milestones
2006
A Political Beginning
After graduating from college, hit the road on various political campaigns electing people to Congress and the White House.
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2008
The DNC
Participated in a historic election as the Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Democratic Committee in DC, supporting Governor Dean’s day-to-day work.
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2010
Found Coaching & Career Development
Got a taste of career coaching and career development as Executive Director of GAIN, a career development association for progressive political operatives, and I knew I had found my professional sweet spot.
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2012
Invested in Growth
Earned a Masters in Public Administration and moved back to my hometown of New York City.
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2013
Girl Scouts of the USA
Began working at Girl Scouts of the USA, supporting the recruitment, onboarding and development of their National Board of Directors.
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2016
Started Pivot Journeys
Jumped full time into building Pivot Journeys to help people explore the next steps of their careers and have since helped hundreds of individuals make smarter, more strategic decisions about their next move.
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2017
Branched Out
Started working with teams and managers to help them build more engaged, strengths-based teams.
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2019
Expanded
Welcomed Kate Williams to the Pivot team as an additional coach to help more professionals reach their career goals.
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2020
New Challenges
Moved to Portland, OR for a year just as COVID hit the US and am grateful to continue helping individuals in all industries and at all stages of their career find and grow in meaningful work.
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2023
Rest & Growth
Took a three-month sabbatical, prioritizing travel and time with family. Welcomed Smita Vadakekalam to the Pivot coaching team to meet the demand of clients looking for support.
Additional Pivot Coaches:
Kate Williams
With 10+ years of experience spanning recruitment, career coaching, and organizational learning and development, Kate Williams helps her clients design career solutions aligned with their values and goals.
Kate's background as a technical recruiter equipped her with a hiring lead's perspective, which she combines with a developmental approach honed during nine years in career services at Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico.
As a coach, Kate empowers her clients to become self-experts and advocates who strategically navigate their career trajectories to achieve success and fulfillment at every stage.
Additional Pivot Coaches:
Smita Vadakekalam
A current professional development coach and former COO and nonprofit consultant, Smita has a passion for helping others tap into their own powerful insights and identifying what they want to grow into next.
Smita loves to draw from her experience as a former Pivot client and her lived experience using the tools, techniques and strategies to craft her own job into one that was meaningful and played to her strengths to more recently, making a bigger career shift.
Smita has a brain-based coaching certification through the Neuroleadership Institute and is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
10 Pivotal Beliefs:
The call to “find your passion” gives us hives. We’ve seen over and over that it leads to higher levels of anxiety and frustration about work.
You’re not lost, all over the place, or a mess if you’ve got lots of ideas of what could be next for you—we actually think this gives you more opportunities to find exciting work.
When you know your strengths and how to leverage them you can make smart, strategic decisions about where you’re headed in your career and be more effective in the work you do.
What’s right for someone else may not be right for you – we’re all more fulfilled and successful when we’re in roles that match our unique strengths and motivations.
We love ‘design thinking’ frameworks and approaches. Prototyping is critical for any kind of job search or career exploration.
We emphasize action and experimentation over reflection and navel gazing. Most people find the work they truly love by being curious and trying out a lot of things.
The happiest professionals find opportunities by creating them, rather than reacting to what they see on a job board or waiting for a boss to assign a new project. (You’re not going to find your passion sitting at home searching the internet for open positions.)
First impressions matter, and how you communicate when networking, in an interview, and with your boss and team is possibly the most important part of your professional life.
We believe that the single best way you make a job search more effective is to prepare. Whether it’s your opening for networking meetings, creating the most tailored documents you’ve ever made, or practicing all your interview answers for hours - preparation and practice is the key.
Transformation takes time. Everyone’s journey to professional satisfaction looks different—don’t fall for formulas that promise to help you realize your passion on a deadline.