About Us
Our mission is to usher in the new Worklife Paradigm by providing a roadmap to help you own your power and potential in your worklife and workplace and to contribute to changing the face of the American workplace. We support you as you take the reins of your future and become a Self-Leader and Career Entrepreneur who lives your Calling Card, continuously discovering and sharing who you are and how best to contribute to the world.
We’ve come to this place of shared vision from varied and unique perspectives:
Steven Joiner
The point is to focus on your holistic career and your holistic person. Understand all that compensates you in your life–what feeds your emotions, your passion, your spirit, your health, your family, your community, your partnership, and your wallet. Embrace your dynamic self and then embrace the expanded notion of career. Long gone are the days when career decisions only mean finding a better paying job. Fiscal remuneration is a part of the equation… but only a part. Read the rest of Steven’s welcome here. Read about Steven’s speaking background here.
Steven is a speaker, writer, teacher, and project manager with 15 years of experience stretching from the American east coast to the shores of Asia. His journey began as a classroom English teacher (high school, ESL, and reading/study skills), which took him to Finland, Japan, and San Francisco, California. After getting a master’s degree in Adult Education, Steven returned to Asia to teach at Mukogawa Women’s University university as well as to create and teach courses in international business relations with some of Japan’s largest companies.
In 2007, he took his love of social-impact work and his deep understanding of the nonprofit sector into his work as the Director of Career Transitions with the nonprofit-resource website Idealist.org. While at Idealist Steven authored the widely-read Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for Sector Switchers, wrote a monthly ‘Career Corner’ blog, and traveled around the country helping professionals discover ‘road maps’ to finding a paid nonprofit position.
Since leaving Idealist, Steven continues writing and speaking at the national level. He sustains his sector-switcher life and lives as holistically and integrated a life as possible. He believes strongly in continuums (and not polarized thinking), living in uncertainty (as fuel for creativity), letting go (of anything that doesn’t serve our higher purpose), and choosing abundance thinking (over deficiency thinking).
As a keynote and conference presenter, Steven continues to address diverse audiences. He is a regular speaker at national trade association and conferences like the American Society of Aging and the National Career Development Association as well as a partner and presenter on campuses (4-year institutions and community colleges) working with emerging, recareering, and post-career professionals. He is a featured workforce expert in the NY Times, Marketplace, and in a host of local media outlets.
Steven received his B.A. in Secondary English Education from North Carolina State University and his M.A. in International Adult Education from San Francisco State University.
Cathy Wasserman
The truth is that it’s more possible than ever to share the fullness of who you are in all spheres of life and that is very good news. Indeed, honing your ability to tap deeply into yourself and your Calling Card—the one-of-a-kind combination of your passions, values, goals, talents, ideas, curiosities, mission and more—will provide you with a whole new set of personalized coordinates to navigate the emerging worklife map and give you a powerful advantage. Read the rest of Cathy’s welcome here.
Cathy, like many 21st centurians is a ‘jane’ of many trades–she is a coach, speaker, recruiter, writer, artist, futurist and much more. For almost twenty years, she has assisted hundreds of individuals from all walks of life and industries in making their unique mark on the world. An intuitive and perceptive practitioner, she works with individuals from the inside out to develop their Self-Leadership, access their unique gifts and purpose, and make important shifts in their worklife. She developed the Self-Leadership process over the course of many years of intensive study, travel, and work across multiple disciplines, including psychology, sociology, social work, organization development, meditation, cultural studies, and the arts.
Cathy began her career as a community organizer in the feminist and youth movements. She has also worked as a program officer for a community service learning foundation and a training director and organization development consultant at the Support Center for Nonprofit Management.
Cathy has served as career coaching expert with her column, Ask Cathy on idealist.org; made contributions to The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers; been featured in Working Mother magazine as expert of the month; and, most recently, in The Washington Post. Additionally, Cathy has had a career-long commitment to supporting girls’ and young women’s development. Her writings on the subject are included in the book Front Line Feminism, and she is featured as an expert in Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls. Most recently, she wrote an essay on leadership, ‘The Power of the Charisma Arrow‘ for Sh’ma, A Journal of Jewish Responsibility.
Cathy’s own ongoing work with Self-Leadership has guided her in reaching goals close to her heart including publishing a book of poetry, creating art installations, and traveling independently in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
She is a licensed master social worker with an MSW from Smith College and a BA in Psychology from Wesleyan University.
You can reach us at 21centuryworklife@gmail.com.
