How to Rethink Career Growth: Why Your Path Isn’t a Ladder, It’s a Jungle Gym

Clover: Conversations with Women in Leadership - Founders, Executives, & Change-Makers

In this episode of Clover, I’m rethinking one of the biggest myths about career growth — the idea that success is about climbing a ladder.

For many of us, especially women, that ladder was never built for the way our careers actually unfold. So let’s talk about a better metaphor: the jungle gym. It’s flexible, unpredictable, and a whole lot more real.

I share lessons from my own path — from film school to marketing, from startups to enterprise leadership — and how every pivot, pause, and sideways move became part of the story I was meant to build.

We’ll dig into:

• Why lateral moves can be the smartest play
• How to recognize what season you’re in — growth, rest, or healing
• The importance of building your network before you need it
• How to own and narrate your unique career story
• Letting go of timelines that tell you where you “should” be by now

If your path doesn’t look like a straight line, good. That means you’re learning, adapting, and leading in your own way — and that’s where the good stuff happens.

What’s one non-linear move you’ve made that taught you something you couldn’t have learned any other way? Write it down, share it, or simply own it — that’s your jungle gym résumé, and it’s powerful.

If this episode resonates, share it with another woman who needs the reminder: she’s not behind — she’s building her own structure.