The Moment My Vision Came to Life
- Oct 14
- 3 min read
By Shannon Russell
It’s funny how the job you land in your twenties may not fit later in life. The moment I realized this, was the day I ditched Taylor Swift to go pick up my 3-year-old from daycare.
Since I was a little girl, I dreamed of working in Hollywood. After college, I landed my first job in television, and I worked as a television producer for sixteen years. One day I was working in New York City producing an entertainment news show. I was supposed to stay late to interview Taylor Swift, but that would mean I’d miss dinner, bath, and bedtime AGAIN with my son.
In a gametime decision, I chose to ditch T. Swift, and head for my bus back to the suburbs.
This choice changed everything. As I ran through the Times Square Subway Station in heels, eight months pregnant trying to catch the bus and my breath, it dawned on me that producing pop culture content no longer was what I wanted. Instead, my new dream was being a present mom.
After my second son was born, the show I was working on was cancelled. This was another blaring sign that I needed to leap into something new because the long hours, travel, and stress of my job did not align with taking care of two little boys. I was done producing projects for others, and it was time to produce my own life.
What happened next was the start of my second act.
But what in the world would a television producer do that wasn’t on a studio set or in a control room?
I spent the next year working on my mindset. It was during these months that I discovered my career was not my identity. Instead of wallowing in what I was leaving behind, I chose to celebrate what I had accomplished. I have achieved my dream career, how many people can say that? It was time to embrace my next adventure.
It turns out our skills and experiences really do transfer into new opportunities. After studying my skills from years in my industry, it dawned on me that if I could take an idea for a television show and bring it to your screen, then I could take a business idea and successfully scale it.
My second act was to start a business that would allow me to have a flexible schedule to be the mom I wanted to be. I opened a franchise close to home, put on my “producer” hat, and grew the business to be at the top of my organization. I had found what I was good at outside of entertainment. I was producing my own business.
Soon, customers were asking me how I went from working in TV to running a business.
This gave me the idea to launch another business as a career transition and business coach, so I could help women like me make a pivot from employee to boss.
My point is that I took a chance on myself by following my heart and my head. The situation I was in didn’t align with my life anymore, and instead of sucking it up and stressing, I set out to start a second act. You can do this too!
Remember, you are not starting from scratch, you are starting from experience. You are worthy of reinventing yourself at any time. We get one life to live, so appreciate what you have accomplished up until this point, and choose a new adventure for yourself. You’ll never know what you are capable of until you try!
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