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Women Who Went for It! is a bi-weekly podcast, hosted by Career Change Agent, Sara McArdle. The show features inspiring chats with successful industry changers who share how they found the clarity, courage and motivation to step into a deeper vocation and a life of meaning and fulfillment. We hope you'll see just how many before you have GONE for it—and they're eternally grateful that they took the risk!

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  2. Episode 042: From Corporate Risk Manager to Novelist with Tikiri Herath

Episode 042: From Corporate Risk Manager to Novelist with Tikiri Herath

Jul 7, 2019

Women Who Went for It Podcast Guest: Tikiri Herath
 
In this episode, Sara talks with Tikiri Herath about her journey from managing corporate risk programs for the Canadian government to writing thriller novels. Tikiri shares how major, life-disrupting events caused her to reexamine her definition of a "successful" life, how she recognized her deeper calling, and her process of carefully planning and executing her career change over a number of years. Today, Tikiri is an award-winning novelist and author and founder of the Rebel Diva Academy.
 
Want to make your own career change?
Download Sara's Seven Cs of Successful Career Change Chart.
 
Sara and Tikiri discuss:
  • How they got connected
  • Tikiri's global upbringing
  • Tikiri moving to Vancouver, B.C., Canada
  • Striking out on her own at 19
  • Working her way up and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable
  • Putting herself through school doing menial jobs
  • Landing a terrific job after graduating
  • Getting comfortable in her cushy lifestyle and forgetting the fire within her
  • How unhappiness at work led to a hard-nosed attitude
  • A series of life events that shook her to her core
  • Feeling like her office lanyard was a noose around her neck
  • Moving to Europe with her husband, who got a diplomatic position
  • Feeling compelled to write about her travel experiences
  • Divorcing and moving across Canada
  • Connecting with her gut instincts
  • The important role books played in her life
  • How she planned and prepared for her career change over a few years
  • Saying goodbye to her 6-figure pension
  • A boss telling her she wasn't going to leave her job
  • Staying on and working remotely for a couple of years as she transitioned
  • The moment she first recognized what she wanted to do with her life
  • Writing her first novel and then three subsequent nonfiction books
  • Using her background in project management to navigate her career change
  • The importance of looking inward to see what kind of life you want to live
  • A short message from a professor that made a big impact on her
  • The thrillers she writes about strong, kick-@$$ girls from across the world who overcome adversity
  • Her Rebel Diva nonfiction books and online course, that help people connect with their values & purpose
  • The advice she'd given someone looking to make a big career change
  • Her number one book recommendation: The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware
  • Her free e-book: Bust Your Fears
  • ...and more!
Tikiri's Full Bio:
Tikiri Herath is the multiple award-winning author of the Red Heeled Rebels international thriller novels and the Rebel Diva empowerment book series. She is also the founder of the Rebel Diva Academy, an education and media company designed to inspire and uplift women around the world.
 
When she’s not writing or plotting another fictional crime scene, she’s in her kitchen cooking up fusion cuisine with a glass of red wine in hand and sweet jazz playing in the background. She is also an adrenaline junkie who has rock climbed, bungee jumped, rode on the back of a motorcycle across Quebec, flown in an acrobatic airplane upside down, and parachuted solo.
 
Born on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean, Tikiri spent her childhood in the savannas of Southern Africa, and her adult life working in Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Victoria in British Columbia and a Master’s degree from the Solvay Business School in Brussels. After a lifetime of global travel and work, she is now a recovering nomad who calls Vancouver, Canada home.
 
Connect with Tikiri and Red Heeled Rebels:
Website: rebeldivas.com
Instagram: instagram.com/redheeledrebels
Facebook: facebook.com/RedHeeledRebels
Free Bust Your Fears e-book:  https://dl.bookfunnel.com/851k80zuw1
 
Connect with Sara McArdle and Women Who Went for It:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/womenwhowentforit 
Website: www.womenwhowentforit.com 
Nominate a Podcast Guest: www.saramcardle.com/podcast-guest 
Email: womenwhowentforit@gmail.com 
Phone: 503.893.2043
 
Want to make your own career change?
Download Sara's Seven Cs of Successful Career Change Chart.