Greetings to the Career Coaches Community!

I'm Diana Stephens and I'm delighted to be here! I help mid to late career professionals from the Retail, CPG, Market Research, Tech and PM verticals land sooner without stress by mindfully using strategic planning.

I have a PhD in Holistic Coaching and my dissertation was on "A Mindful Approach to Job Search." I combine mindfulness meditation techniques, gratitude practices and journaling into my coaching practice to teach clients how to alleviate emotional stress during the job search. The idea for my company came from my own journey of having been downsized 5 times between 2004 and 2014, (it's now up to 7 times with layoffs in 2022 and 2024). I've been through outplacement 3 times.

On top of the downsizings, I had a 16 year eldercare odyssey with my mother's Alzheimer's. Anyone who has faced that knows that it is financially draining and it is the long goodbye. Mom made her transition peacefully in 2016. My father passed in 1984.

Since 2006 I have been on a spiritual journey to make sense of the job issues and fill in the gaps from outplacement not addressing the emotional side of job search. There is tons of emphasis on the "tactical" side of job search, but not the "emotional." This is a life quake for most people and I think the emotional aspect needs to be more directly addressed. That is precisely why I founded my company, Mindful Job Alignment.

I come from a 42 year career in the consumer products and retail industries. I spent over 13 years as a National Account Manager calling on National retailers representing such brands as Hanes, Champion, Swatch, and Levi Strauss. I've called on Target, Costco, Macy's, Sears, Nordstrom, Dillard's, Kohl's, Meijer, Big Lots, JoAnn and more. Some of these names you will see are now out of business, thus why I pivoted to Market Research and SaaS serving the retail industry.

I founded Mindful Job Alignment not only as a support to job seekers, but also as a retirement project to supplement my income. Yes, I'm a late career person of retirement age, however with the downsizings, I need to repair financially. I am a Reiki Master Teacher and a Certified Essential Oil Specialist.

I currently work part-time for Lee Hecht Harrison outplacement, where I am a Branding Specialist revising resumes and coaching clients on LinkedIn.

I'm also a Certified Digital Career Strategist and Certified Empowerment and Motivational Professional through PARWCC (Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches).

Educationally, I have Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Music - Voice Performance and a MBA in Marketing. My PhD is in Holistic Coaching.

I am in Volume 10 of Mission Matters book featuring 25 entrepreneurs. I wrote Chapter 10 "Understanding the Grief caused by Career Transitions." I'm currently working on publishing a book version of my dissertation.

Last trivia fact is that in 2009 I was a member of Chicago Symphony Chorus and was on the CD recording of the Verdi Requiem conducted by Ricardo Muti. We won two Grammy awards for that recording in 2011, Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Album. It was the highlight of my professional singing career and after that I retired from the Chorus.

It is a pleasure to meet all of you and I hope we can meet soon. Please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianacstephens/

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