At 13, I thought I had it all figured out.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  While most of my friends went directly to a four-year college after high school, I decided to go to Aveda to become an Esthetician.  

From an early age, I loved all things skincare, makeup, health & wellness. In seventh grade, I was sneaking into my mom’s makeup bag before school to do a smoky eye. Yes, a smoky eye at 12 years old. At 15, I was doing all my friends’ hair and make-up for parties & football games.  At 17, I was doing makeup professionally for weddings, book covers & photoshoots. It really felt like destiny. 

I went to Aveda in 2013 – Pre-social media and pre-TikTok. There was very little hype or awareness around skincare. Back then, people were still using St. Ives Apricot Scrub (yikes, been there!). Thankfully, we know better now. Needless to say, working in the field was a lot less lucrative than it is today. 

About 5 years into my career as an Esthetician, at the ripe age of 23, I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel in my elbow that required surgery and physical therapy. Life comes at you fast! When I went back to work after recovering, it just wasn’t the same. My arms and hands were constantly sore from seeing upwards of 15-20 clients a day, and I knew it wasn’t sustainable long-term.  

Cue many late nights thinking about how I could leverage 5 years of experience in a pretty niche space into a corporate setting. This felt incredibly daunting, having no direct experience in office settings. There was also an enormous identity shift. I spent 10 years building a career around a passion, it was part of my identity from a young age. I wasn’t just looking for a new job, I was looking for a new anchor for who I am. 

Fast forward eight years, and I’ve built a wonderfully successful career and currently serve as a Chief of Staff, overseeing everything from company operations and people strategy to legal compliance and company culture. Here are a few things that helped me along the way:

Take Inventory

Once I decided to change careers, every night for about two weeks, I’d get home from work and reflect on what lit my fire that day. What did I actually enjoy about my job? What kept me coming back? What made me feel valuable? For me it was:

• That no two days were the same, I loved the unpredictability.  
• The opportunity to connect with people one-to-one, I loved feeling like a confidant and support system. 
• Helping people feel more confident and comfortable in themselves.

Map that to the market

I was starting entirely from scratch. I scoured job boards and job postings, and chatted with friends in the corporate world to understand how the aspects of my current job that I loved could be used in different ways.  I wasn’t looking for a job based on industry; I was looking for a job based on skills. 

Instead of thinking: What job can an Esthetician get? I started thinking: what kind of job requires relationship management, problem-solving, and trust? That mindset shifted my view of my experience from a limitation to an asset.  

After taking inventory and mapping to the market, one role that kept coming up was an Executive Assistant. The more I researched, the more I realized it required many of the soft skills I’d built over the last decade – Trust, relationship management & problem-solving. 

Understand the pain points

I spent the next couple of weeks learning everything about the role. The pain points, what breaks, what keeps executives up at night, and, most importantly, what it means to be successful in the role.  Yes, I did watch Devil Wears Prada (for research!).  Once I understood the problems, I could position my experience around solving them.  

Be an expert in ambiguity  

Career changes rarely follow a perfect roadmap. My first role as an Executive Assistant was a learning curve.  I wasn’t an expert, and I didn’t feel like one at any point in the first 6 months. And that’s okay! What I didn’t do was give up or shy away… I raised my hand to volunteer for committees, to plan events, and to connect with different departments and teams. I was in a new, ambiguous space, and I saw that as an opportunity to grow. 

Stay curious, always

Curiosity became my competitive advantage. I didn’t have a college degree at the time, so I was learning on the job.  Every meeting, project, networking event, and conversation was an opportunity to learn more about how businesses operated and how they succeeded.  

That mentality has carried me for almost a decade, and helped me build an incredible career doing something I truly enjoy.  The funny part is, I’m actually no longer an Executive Assistant. That career change launched me in a direction I never envisioned. 

For a long time, I viewed my second career as something I had to explain. Now, I see it differently. Looking back, being an esthetician wasn’t a detour or a missed opportunity; it was training.  The skills I learned in the treatment room are with me in the board room. I thank my first career for helping me be successful in my second (and third?) career, every day. I learned to build trust, connect with people different from me, be a confidant, anticipate needs, and always remember the small details. 

Experience in any form is growth, and what you carry today could be preparing you for a new chapter tomorrow. If you’re considering a career change, or even just a different industry, don’t think about what you’re leaving behind; focus on what you’re bringing with you. 

Author: Kristine Tizzano