The Career Change Diaries

Hosted by Alice Stapleton

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May 2026

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About the show

Welcome to The Career Change Diaries. Hosted by accredited Career Change Coach, Alice Stapleton, this monthly podcast is for all those contemplating a career change. Featuring inspiring interviews with career changers, and insightful conversations with experts on change more generally, you’ll learn all there is to know about changing career - tips and advice, the highs and lows, how to manage it financially, helpful resources, and where to start. You can find out more about Alice and the coaching she offers at https://www.alicestapleton.com

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34 recent

May 29, 202654 min

Episode 34: From BBC Producer to the Wine Industry

This month’s career changer, Abbie Bennington, was a senior producer at BBC News at Ten, and worked as the producer for the BBC Political Editor, before walking away at the height of her career to retrain in food and wine. Abbie has been working in wine education, hosting, and judging for the last 16 years, before recently deciding to marry the political world with her wine knowledge to release a brand new podcast, called ‘Vintage Politics’.In this episode, we hear how Abbie made the bold decision to leave a high-profile role to retrain and build a new career in a completely different industry - all whilst getting married and starting a young family in her mid 30s. For Abbie, further training and qualifications helped build her credibility in the wine world, whilst her supportive network offered up unique opportunities along the way, allowing Abbie to forge a varied and enjoyable career in wine. We hear how Abbie’s sister gave her the nudge she needed to finally make a change after a low period; how important it is to just focus on the next step in front of you; and how it really is never too late to change career.

March 27, 20261 hr 0 min

Episode 33: From English Teacher to Copywriter

Today, we hear from career changer Laura Romanowski. Laura spent over 15 years as an English teacher before becoming a copywriter at a PR and digital content agency, where she has been for over two years. In this episode, we discuss how hard it can be to let go of a career you’ve spent a long time building experience in, and how vulnerable you can feel starting something new. Laura’s journey reminds us that a growth mindset is key when it comes to changing careers, and how having a financial plan can give you the confidence to finally hand your notice in. We also discuss the sense of identity that comes from our careers, and how the rise of hybrid working opened Laura’s mind to doing something different. Laura’s love for her new career really shines through in the discussion, giving hope to others looking to make a change.

February 27, 202659 min

Episode 32: From Civil Engineering to Software Sales

It was a real pleasure to speak to friend and career changer, Ludmila (Ludi) Fadejeva, for this month’s episode. For 8 years, Ludi was a Civil Engineer working on wet infrastructure projects in Europe and the Middle East. 12 years ago, Ludi made a brave career pivot into software sales. Today, Ludi is a Strategic Global Account Executive serving the UN ecosystem with a major SaaS (Sales as a Service) company.We hear how a chance comment from a colleague led to Ludi discovering a new career that she loves, and that suits her natural strengths and personality. Her journey is also a prime example of how you can slowly side-step away from one career into another by first working for a client or supplier in the same industry where you have valuable knowledge and credibility (engineering) but changing your skillset (to sales, in Ludi’s case). The key for Ludi was a past connection she had at a company where she’d seen a vacancy advertised. Ludi’s experience shows us the need for grit and perseverance when changing career, and the ability to sit through the initial years of discomfort when you’re new to a career. In Ludi’s case, the short term pain really has led to long term gain for her and her family.

January 30, 202655 min

Episode 31: From Tech Sales to Mental Performance Coaching

For all his professional career, Benjamin Benois worked in the tech industry as a Sales Manager for companies like Google or Tripadvisor. He then decided to radically change his career path to follow his passions and dreams. Three years ago, he started from scratch and became a Mental Performance Coach for Professional & Olympic athletes - with no contacts, no network, and no “permission” from the high-performance sports world.Since then, Ben has worked with more than 30 professional athletes, supported Olympic athletes (including an Olympic final in Paris 2024), helped his clients achieve a total of 76 medals, and worked with athletes from over 12 nationalities.In this episode, we discuss why dreaming big is a strategy, not a cliché; how to make the decision to change careers when nothing feels certain; what questions to ask yourself when you’re considering a career change; how to build a business from scratch without any contacts; and the transferable essentials from high-performance mental coaching that can help you along the way, such as self-belief, persistence, consistency, grit, discipline, and resilience. If you need some inspiration and motivation to start making a change, this episode is for you!

December 19, 202553 min

Episode 30: From History Teacher to Legal Services

To round off the year, we speak to James Lewindon, Head of Client Development UK at Pinsent Masons Vario, the global law firm and alternative legal services provider. Although he started out as a history teacher, James has built a strikingly varied, ‘squiggly’ career: from working for a newspaper and entrepreneurship skills programmes in schools, to leading a science centre team building exhibits, moving into management consulting within a global law firm, launching and scaling a legal resourcing business, serving as a CEO in a legal employment and training business, to now joining Pinsent Masons Vario in 2025.James’ story shows us that a long-term career plan isn’t always essential for a fulfilling career. Driven by a fear of “Groundhog Day,” James moves on when the sense of challenge fades, shaping a path that plays to his strengths and preferred environments. Rather than pursuing a fixed-end career goal, he prefers to seek roles that offer stability, but also the space to grow, learn, experiment, and create. In this episode, we also explore imposter syndrome, the experience of redundancy, and the power of asking your network for feedback and support along the way.

November 28, 202554 min

Episode 29: From Banking to Wellbeing Business Co-Founder

It was a real pleasure to speak to previous client and career changer, Rajiv Chande, this month. Rajiv spent over 13 years working in Counterparty and Credit Risk at Barclays and Bank of America. He’s now the co-founder of The Chande Project, a wellbeing and connection-focused events business, and currently sits on the Board Risk Committee for the Dharma Endowment Fund. While building his purpose-led venture, Rajiv is also exploring how to apply his previous risk management experience to the growing field of sustainability and ESG risk.Rajiv talks authentically about why he got into banking, and how disconnection, and burnout prompted him to hand his notice in 13 years later - with no job to go to. A period of travelling, self-reflection, career coaching, and vulnerable conversations with his cousin eventually led him to a new career path more aligned with his values and life purpose. We hear how challenging it can be to balance the needs of the practical ‘head' with the gut instincts of the ‘heart’ - especially when it comes to starting your own business, having been trained to assess risk your whole career!

October 31, 202554 min

Episode 28: How To Make A Good Decision

At the crux of it, career change boils down to a difficult decision-making challenge. With so many job options these days, deciding what we want to do next can feel confusing and overwhelming. This month, we explore the decision-making process with decision expert, Michelle Florendo. Michelle is a Stanford-trained Decision Engineer and Executive Coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make decisions with less stress and more clarity. She has spoken to audiences around the world about how to use principles from decision science to grow their impact.In this episode, we hear about the three essential parts of effective decision making, and, therefore, how to approach a career change choice. Common mistakes and barriers to making a good decision are discussed, as well as ways to overcome these. If you’re facing a tough career decision in your life, this is the episode for you.

September 29, 202546 min

Episode 27: From Musician to Advertising Strategist

This month, we hear from career changer Joe Mercy-Marshall. Joe was an aspiring professional musician, who worked all manner of jobs, including hospitality, banking, care work, clinical research, and university lecturing, before finally finding his vocation as an Advertising Strategist.Joe discusses how hard it can be to let go of a career you’ve spent many years working towards. He tried several jobs before figuring out what he wanted to do. Even then, it took an Advertising insider (now his wife!) to inform him that the skillset he loved so much was known as 'strategy’ within the industry. Joe highlights how beneficial making connections and applying to companies speculatively can be in getting that first role in a new field. Joe also shares his passion for the creative advertising process, and where he sees his career going next

August 29, 202559 min

Episode 26: From Teaching to Acupuncture

In this episode, we speak to Amanda, who has been a Teacher for 18 years. Amanda is currently a part-time Assistant Head and Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) at a Primary School in London. Through coaching, she identified a new career she wanted to work towards. As a result, Amanda is now one year in to a three year Acupuncture course, which she is thoroughly enjoying.Amanda discusses how useful it was for her decision making to speak to professionals doing the jobs she was interested in, and how pivotal the support has been from her employer, and friends and family. Whilst changing career can be hard work and relentless (especially when working and raising a young family at the same time), Amanda highlights the benefits of it. She also clarifies the essential shifts in perspective that meant her limiting beliefs and fears didn’t hold her back from contemplating a career change. With coaching playing a clear role, we hear what else helped Amanda along the way - the ability to focus on the present being one of the key factors.

July 25, 202555 min

Episode 25: From Consulting to Strategic Operations

This month we chat to Shelby Fields, whose varied career has seen her move between different sectors, work models, and continents. She’s led teams, managed projects, and built operations in everything from humanitarian charities and Big Four consulting, to creative start-ups and small wellness businesses. She now heads the Data and Tech function at a research and development funding agency. At the start of her career shift journey, Shelby thought she needed a big career change. However, through coaching, it became apparent that what she really wanted to do was to take her current skillset into more fulfilling environments related to her interests. In order to do this, Shelby needed to get more comfortable with uncertainty to allow her to experiment with freelance work and moving to the US. We hear about the importance of connections in making things happen, and how it’s OK not to know your next move.