0:03

You could be capable, respected, and outwardly successful, and still feel your body carrying a constant edge of tension. This episode explores what happens when achievement keeps working on the outside and something deeper inside, asks for attention. This is the Your Next Success podcast, and I am your host, Dr. Caroline Sangal. I am a life first career coach and strategist on a mission to normalize questioning your career because I believe each of us is made on purpose for a purpose only we can fulfill. The longer we live out of alignment with who we are, what we do best, and why we are here, the more we miss out and the more the world misses out on what only we can give the Your Next Success Podcast is where we explore how to build a career that truly fuels your life. We talk about self-discovery, smart job, search strategies, professional growth. And you will hear stories from people who have navigated big career transitions themselves. So you can create a life, first career and become your own version of authentic success, one that is aligned, meaningful, and truly yours. My guest today is Nataly Huff. Nataly is an executive coach and the founder of Inspire Forward Coaching, where she works with C-Suite leaders and high performers using a science meets soul approach. She integrates neuroscience-based methods with heart-centered coaching to help people create success that includes performance, fulfillment, and alignment from the inside out. There is a moment that a lot of high achievers recognize, even if they've never said it out loud, you're doing everything right. You're getting results. People trust you. The work looks impressive from the outside and inside. Something feels tight. Your heart runs too fast for no reason. Your shoulders live near your ears. In this episode, we go deep into the lived experience of high performance. We hear Nataly's story. She begins in Russia during the collapse of the Soviet system, immigrated to the United States as a child, and learned early how much adaptation, self-control, and resilience success can require. That awareness followed her into adulthood, into fast career growth, leadership roles and environments where competence and composure were rewarded. From the outside, things look solid. We talk about the professional face that many high performers develop. How values quietly shape satisfaction and strain, and how stress often shows up long before we have language for it. This conversation explores what it means to recognize your climbing the wrong ladder because you're evolving and how aligning success with who you are changes everything. This episode is about the gap between external success and internal alignment, and the way that gap eventually asks to be addressed. Nataly's story brings language to an experience many people share, living with a professional self that performs while the whole self waits for permission to be seen. If you've ever thought, I'm capable, I'm respected, I'm achieving. So why do I feel like this? You're in the right place.

Caroline 3:30

Welcome, Nataly, to Your Next Success. I'm so thrilled to be talking to you today.

Nataly 3:34

I'm so happy to be here.

Caroline 3:37

Awesome. We're gonna get into all the amazing things that you do to help people and leaders and all their transformational experience that you do so well, and you've done for such a long time. We will get to that, but I'd love to dial it back like way, way, way back if you could. Help me understand where were you born and what was life like for the very earliest version of Nataly?

Nataly 4:02

Oh, okay. We get to tell the whole, whole story. I like it.

Caroline 4:06

The whole, whole story. All the parts that people usually gloss over.

Nataly 4:11

Um, well, I was, uh, born in Russia, born and raised just in a suburb of Moscow, and I lived there until I was 11, at which point in time we packed all of our stuff up and, um, came to the United States and that was, I don't know how familiar you are with Russian history, but that was an interesting time to be in Russia. It's the very end of the Soviet regime. Um, you know, the Berlin Wall and then the big revolution in Russia in um, 91, and all of a sudden you have like the falling apart of the USSR and the Russia figuring out who they are as a country on their own again. Politics got weird access to resources got weird. Um, but like you still had to go to school and feed your family and, you know, figure out how to live in life. So. My experience back then, you know, was a childhood, right? Like a regular childhood you would see. Um, but I, uh, like I, I was seeing a transformation of a country at the same time and um, you know, we always knew we were going to come to the United States. That was always in the plans.

Caroline 5:31

Really.

Nataly 5:32

a matter of figuring out the when and the how.

Caroline 5:35

So from your earliest memories, you had this concept that this wasn't gonna be your forever place?

Nataly 5:44

Yes. And uh, probably I maybe learned it when I was six or seven. Um, and'cause a lot of

Caroline 5:52

Hmm.

Nataly 5:52

was going through the transition of coming to the United States as well. Um, and you know, my, some of the first people who had come, they had to go through the more old school defecting process, which was complicated and terrifying. Um, but for, for me and our family, we knew that when the time was right, we were going to come to the United States. Um, my mom is a linguist and she speaks Russian, English, French and German.

Caroline 6:25

Hello.

Nataly 6:26

So she taught me English ever since I was little. So I had some basic foundational kind of language skills, and we knew that it was so that when we come to the United States, you know, I'm not starting from scratch.

Caroline 6:40

Wow, that's what about your father? What did he do?

Nataly 6:44

Um, he, well, he was an engineer in Soviet Russia. And then as soon as the revolution came and it, people were allowed to own things, um, that, because that concept, I think a lot of people

Caroline 6:56

Hmm.

Nataly 6:56

don't quite realize up until their revolution, you're, you own nothing. Everything belongs to the collective. So any sort of private anything is just does not exist. And then all of a sudden you're allowed to own things.

Caroline 7:12

Hmm.

Nataly 7:13

um, at that point in time, um, my dad started a business and. Was trying to figure out how to get what is needed in the country, into the country. Um, and that was tea. That was slippers, that was jeans at some point because that was the coolest thing you could have as a pair of blue jeans.'cause that does not exist in Russia either. So, um, he, he ran a business, um, soon as he was able to have one.

Caroline 7:43

Wow. And so did you have any siblings at all?

Nataly 7:46

I have an older sister. Yeah.

Caroline 7:49

How much older is she?

Nataly 7:51

Uh, she is nine years older than me. Actually her path to the United States is even more interesting than mine. So we, um, were Jewish and, um, Soviet, Russia, and just generally Russia at that time, probably now as well, not exactly friendly to, um, people who are Jewish. Like your passport actually says your ethnicity. Um.

Caroline 8:14

Oh wow.

Nataly 8:15

Which is an odd thing to, um, put in a passport, but, uh, my maiden name is Lipschitz, so very obviously Jewish name. And, um, the way that you get into universities in Russia is that everybody takes a test to get into university at the same time, and that test is, uh, graded by humans, or at least was at the time. and so while there's certain things that can not have any subjectivity. You know, like math.

Caroline 8:47

Yeah.

Nataly 8:47

Once you get into literature and writing and you know, maybe even some, some scientific work, uh, some objectivity comes into play. So, at that point in time, unless you were bribing some people to get into college with a last name like Lipschitz, you were not gonna get into a good, good school.

Caroline 9:05

Oh wow.

Nataly 9:07

So sister, um. Graduated high school and, and Russia graduated at 16 and applied to schools in America and went to university, uh, State University of New York at Albany by herself at 16. We weren't ready to move yet, and she went on her own. It's

Caroline 9:29

Wow.

Nataly 9:31

unbelievable

Caroline 9:32

Fascinating. Right, right. Yeah. Now my kids are, um, almost 17 and almost 20, and it's just like, wait, what? Wow. Um, but wow.

Nataly 9:44

Can you imagine going.

Caroline 9:45

I mean, of course at 16 I thought I knew it all. You know, I was, had the ego and the confidence way beyond my actual lived experience. Um. Yeah, my, I have a sister-in-law who was originally from Poland. She came as an exchange student when I was in high school. Of course, like she's not thinking she's there to find a husband and I'm not thinking she's gonna be my sister-in-law. We just became, um, fast friends, but she was kind of brave, I felt like, and that was just as an exchange student for high school. I can't imagine also being like completely uh, on your own new country knew everything at 16, like your sister,

Nataly 10:33

college, like it's college is

Caroline 10:35

correct?

Nataly 10:36

Freshman year of college is complicated and confusing

Caroline 10:39

Absolutely. Oh, wow. Okay. So now in your earliest days of Russia, were there any particular, I mean, I don't fully understand and comprehend, and as a child, there's hierarchy of needs, were all your needs met so that you were able to like dream and play and find things that you enjoy or not like I really am ignorant. I don't know

Nataly 11:00

There was a period in time when there's just not stuff in the stores. So even if you had money, it was hard to get access. But, um, again, because my dad, um, owned a business and because actually my, um, grandmother who was a doctor had a lot of connections from people that she had just helped. We, we were never in like actual starving space, but sometimes that meant that on our balcony um, over the winter, we would have like a slaughtered lamb that we would then use for food and.

Caroline 11:36

balcony to table.

Nataly 11:38

to table. and it was, you know, a huge accomplishment that other, other people might not have had. So my needs were absolutely met. Scary time, difficult time for sure. Um, but yeah, I was absolutely able to dream. And one of the things that I remember the most is I never really enjoyed playing house ever since I was little, was not my not my cup of tea, but I remember seeing my dad at work, and this was before he had a computer on his desk, so he just had papers and pens and it was a big desk and he would work on things, write things, move things around. So that would play business. I would get at my desk where I would do my homework and I would write things on papers and I would move them around or pretend I was like this business person doing businessy stuff.

Caroline 12:25

Oh, that's so cool. at what age and stage and what was your earliest vision of what you thought, ah, this is what success is, this is what it would look like?

Nataly 12:34

Um, that's a really good question. Uh, I think it was watching my dad, right, because people would come to him for advice. He would solve problems for whatever's going on in his business. Like he delegated, he was revered in his business. So I guess that kind of seeped into my brain. I didn't translate that into an actual job for a really long time,

Caroline 13:09

Mm-hmm.

Nataly 13:11

I guess I always intrinsically knew that I wanted to be an orchestrator of things and make things happen.

Caroline 13:24

Nice. Okay, so now coming here at, uh, uh, it was 11, right? Age 11, and you kind of knew a little bit of English. And what were some of those first thoughts and memories of like, this is now your new world.

Nataly 13:40

Um, well first of all, the English that we'd learned in Russia, the English, they speak in New York, was rough adjustment. Um, I very distinctly remember like going our landlord was, um, Italian and spoke with a big Italian um, and I remember having our landlord speaking to our cable person and us not understanding what either of them are saying, but they're understanding each other really well with their separate accents. Um, that is a very vivid memory. Um, but yes, you know, he just, you adapt. I went into public school, you. Figure it out because you have to. Um, but one of the things that maybe is even prior to coming to the United States,'cause we were starting to see some, um, programming come in from the United States at that point in time. We were look watching a news program of some sort, and I remember the anchor with the beautiful, beautiful American smile, just smiling all the time. And I asked my dad, I'm like, whyis she smiling? I don't get it. We're not, there's nothing happy happening right now.'cause that's not, culturally not what you do.

Caroline 14:58

Yeah.

Nataly 14:59

um, he explained to me like that's how it is in America. Like nobody cares about your problems. You come in, you bring your positive attitude, you bring your big smile and you solve your private problems on your own.

Caroline 15:11

Oh.

Nataly 15:11

And kind of that perception of there's the professional face you put on one

Caroline 15:18

Yes.

Nataly 15:18

is one that was very deeply ingrained for me, for decades.

Caroline 15:26

Mm, interesting. And you first noticed it on the news? Yeah.'cause yeah, I think culturally, uh, my family has some Polish roots and some Irish roots, but culturally it's a little more serious and, um, not, not that they're not happy, but they're just not smiling. Like that's just not the emotion that you visibly

Nataly 15:44

smiling is not the default.

Caroline 15:46

Yeah, exactly.

Nataly 15:47

and you, if there's a reason to smile, you smile, but if you're smiling without a reason, there's like something wrong

Caroline 15:55

interesting. Yeah. Even in school photos or something, right? Like class pictures. It's like, but then here it's like. Awesome. Okay. Interesting. Okay, so as you got here, um, were there any particular, like school subjects or outside of school things that were fascinating or that you loved doing, that you just lost yourself in?

Nataly 16:17

Um, kind of a little bit of everything. I've always loved the math, math and science. I loved reading and writing. Um, so there was a little bit of everything. It, I never really had good clarity of what I wanted to do with my life, and I was kind of jealous of people who had that really good vision of, here's what I want to do and here's what I want to be. I had this perception of what it would feel like.

Caroline 16:46

Hmm, and what was that?

Nataly 16:48

put it in words, but it was that concept of I am orchestrating something, right? I have people

Caroline 16:54

Yeah.

Nataly 16:54

that come to me that I help. I have people that help me, that I delegate to. I am kind of the center hub of the things that are happening and that what allows things to happen. Kind of that perception and that feeling was in my mind, but I didn't know what that specifically was. My parents really wanted me to go into, um, pharmacy. They were sure that the was the direction that was going to allow for most success. Partially because science always came easily to me, partially because there's a lot of money in pharmacy, partially because my grandmother was a doctor. My uncle is a doctor. There's a lot of medical in our family. So it, you know, logically kind of makes sense. Um, pharmacy is absolutely not my thing. As I learned after, um, two courses, organic chemistry in college. No, there's zero chance I wanna do this every day, all day long.

Caroline 17:58

so as you were in high school trying to figure out what you wanted to do next, you listened to your parents and then what happened? Like, how did you choose where to go for college and what to even start as a course of study?

Nataly 18:12

Um, University of Minnesota, just kind of right here is where I went. Um, again,'cause it was partially driven by what my parents wanted, partially driven by what I wanted, and it was affordable and convenient in here.

Caroline 18:25

And, but were, you were in New York, but then you got to Minnesota, like, what was that?

Nataly 18:29

Oh, yes. Uh, we started in New York. We were there for a couple years. New York is hard. It's a great entrance place, um, but it's hard to find a job. It's hard to build a career, and just the quality of life is very different from what you would find in Minnesota. So, when I finished, uh, middle school and I was about to go to high school and I was really excited because I had gotten into Stuyvesant, which is one of the best, um, high schools in New York. I was going to be going into Manhattan on a train every morning. It was going to be amazing. Um, my parents, they said, you know, we're gonna go somewhere else. So my

Caroline 19:08

Mm.

Nataly 19:09

in Minnesota. We moved. I cried on the plane. I thought I'm gonna go to like a village in the middle of nowhere. Cause that was my impression of what happens outside of New York City. And so, uh, we ended up in Minnesota and I ended up really, really loving it. And, um, it is not a village was really great education system and a really great healthcare system, and a really great park system and just all, all in all was really great quality of life. Um, I remember coming into Minnesota and um. Um, we were going to a grocery store and just the aisles, the grocery store, like the, the, the width of the aisles, so enormous that I couldn't really understand why there was all this wasted space. And then we were crossing, uh, the parking lot and the cars stopped to let us pass. And I'm like, why are they stopping? What do they want from us? I don't, understand what's happening right now because again, it's just a very different pace of living, very different quality of life.'cause in New York, nobody's gonna stop for you. So you just wait for your opportunity to cross and, you know, make sure there's no cars. But here, like somebody's pretending to, or thinking about crossing the street. People will slow down, let you pass so that you're safe on the other side, and then go on their merry way. Just these, these little adjustments were very, challenging

Caroline 20:42

Interesting. Okay.

Nataly 20:43

to.

Caroline 20:44

So then you graduate high school and University of Minnesota is there, what was your initially like? What was your major that you thought you had?

Nataly 20:51

Um, pre-pharmacy was what I was going into and I got through. Uh, year and a half, three semesters, and I was like, I really deeply, truly hate it. This is awful. So I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I went into communication'cause that seemed general enough. Um, and it wasn't, it wasn't that I was necessarily shooting for marketing. I was, I was not necessarily shooting for where I ended up, but communication was great. It was, I cut the College of Liberal Arts. I could do it fairly easily. And when I, um, was done, I took my last final. But that point in time, I already had a job at an advertising agency. Um, and I had moved to the Bay Area. Because by then I was done with Minnesota and I wanted to live somewhere else. Um, and so I had a job at an advertising agency. Um, took my last final, the next morning I got in a car, drove and started my professional life.

Caroline 21:56

Oh, interesting. Okay. And how, how did you select that particular company, that particular job?

Nataly 22:03

Um, I knew the Bay Area was where I wanted to be. So I had been applying for several roles in the Bay Area, and some of them were in the video game industry. Some of them were more in kind of deeper technology, and the advertising agency was just what came through and it seemed like it gave me the opportunity to see more different types of things

Caroline 22:27

Mm-hmm.

Nataly 22:28

time. So I was an account coordinator, very, very entry level but um, I got to do a lot of things and I got to see a lot of things through that process. So it was fantastic. Um, this was also 2007, so I got to do it right up until the 2008 crash.

Caroline 22:46

Yeah.

Nataly 22:46

And you know, surprised not a lot of people are spending money on advertising. uh, there were a

Caroline 22:53

Truth.

Nataly 22:55

and I was part of them.

Caroline 22:57

Ah. So had you been to the Bay Area before? Like how did you know that was where you wanted to be?

Nataly 23:02

Um, it's actually interesting'cause I met a guy on a trip in Paris that happened to be in the Bay Area.

Caroline 23:12

Ah, interesting. So was that part of your reason why you wanted to be in the Bay Area?

Nataly 23:16

I knew, I, I knew I wanted to leave Minnesota. I was definitely done with that. And, um, there were a couple of places that I was considering. Um, but once, once I met, um, the guy and once I visited, um, it just made sense to go there.

Caroline 23:32

Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. So life was seemingly fun and well settled until all of a sudden economy crashes and it's not. And, and you're now caught up in a layoff. How was that experience for you?

Nataly 23:49

Scary.

Caroline 23:50

Yeah.

Nataly 23:51

really scary. But also I, I was young enough to not really able to translate it into what that could possibly mean. Right. Like I, I'm still making stupid decisions with my money. I'm still like, you know, um, when the layoffs happened, me and a couple of coworkers, we got a bottle of vodka and we board games to celebrate our misery. Right? Like, it was, it was not the best decision, but it's, it's what happened. And then, um, I was lucky I was able to find a job within a couple of months.

Caroline 24:28

Oh wow. That's pretty great. Yeah.

Nataly 24:30

uh, it just so happened that I found a job in, um, the photography industry. This was a service that provided, um, kind of an entry level service for, uh, websites and a way, way to sell photos for professional photographers, which really worked out beautifully. They didn't have, they pretty much only had engineers working at that company. It was a true startup. They needed somebody who can take it from their organic growth that they had just in the forums and photography

Caroline 25:02

Yeah.

Nataly 25:02

to, um, be better. The product was great. The, you know, the product team was amazing, and it was during the time when a lot of people were losing their jobs using that as an opportunity to follow their dreams to become a professional photographer.

Caroline 25:17

Interesting.

Nataly 25:18

industry had a boom. We had a product that met that need at that particular time. So we're able to capitalize on that opportunity and for me, I got to do things and pretty much everything hit because the market was going in the direction we had the product that could support it. So I started as a marketing manager and eight years later I had a team of 12. I was the marketing director and you know, we had 10 x growth of our subscription base and were acquired by a, um, larger company that was planning to go public. So it was the dream for Silicon Valley startup life, but it, was a lot of luck involved as well.

Caroline 26:07

And how did that feel like were you, as you were promoted to different levels within that startup as it grew, were you chasing the promotions? Like did you want that or it just kind of happened and then like how were you developing as far as your own sense of self and what you truly wanted versus maybe like what the world wanted, just not leading, just curious. Yeah.

Nataly 26:33

I, I recognize that I liked marketing. I liked marketing because it allowed me to make an impact in multiple ways. Um, I liked working with a product that helps people. Uh, so that was incredibly satisfying. I also happened to have a really amazing manager. Um, the CEO of the company was just a fantastic human really focused on enabling his team to do the things that they need to do. And giving people chances to try things. So while in my mind I knew that I wanted to grow to be a leader. Again, that perception of that feeling of being

Caroline 27:22

Yeah.

Nataly 27:23

the, the hub, um, to the spokes. um, I also at that point in time, kind of set a target for myself that I wanted to be a director by the time I was 30. And I had shared

Caroline 27:34

Ah.

Nataly 27:34

that target with, uh, with, uh, my manager at the time. So it was the collaborative effort, both with him challenging me and supporting me and enabling me. And, we were bringing in really fantastic people and this was also a time where I didn't have any other responsibilities so I could focus on that growth and the company was doing well. We were doing great for great work for the um, customers that we had. It was just, everyting came together beautifully.

Caroline 28:12

And did it feel awesome? Like did you love your life and your work? Like was it holistically, like you were living that

Nataly 28:18

Yeah,

Caroline 28:18

dream?

Nataly 28:19

It

Caroline 28:19

was a dream. Imagine what your life would be like if your career aligned with who you are, what you do best, and actually fueled the life you want. At Next Success, we support all ages and stages through career transitions from students exploring majors or careers to job seekers actively searching or re-imagining their next move to professionals committed to self-awareness and leadership growth. Stay connected and explore what's possible at nextsuccesscareers.com and follow@nextsuccessmethod on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

Nataly 28:57

You know those good old days that you think back on was when everything comes together and you have exactly what you need for that particular moment in time, and Yeah. it was awesome. Then

Caroline 29:11

And, and so then what happened?

Nataly 29:14

Then the company got acquired

Caroline 29:16

Hmm.

Nataly 29:16

And the magic spell dissipated

Caroline 29:20

Yeah.

Nataly 29:21

as it tends to, tends to do. And um, it's not that the company that acquired us was doing anything wrong necessarily. They were running a larger business that had corporate needs and corporate processes. So it broke some of the, um. Some of the things that were able to be done well because you had people that deeply cared about the product and because you had people that were close to it and weren't necessarily constrained by systems and processes,

Caroline 29:53

Mm.

Nataly 29:53

but that's not necessarily scalable. So what they were doing is they're trying to set it up for scale, right? And that changes things and that changes the culture, and that changes the feeling of the work. So, um, a lot of the people who knew the product really well and cared about the product started kind of going on their own way. They were bringing in new people who didn't care about the product the same way'cause they didn't see it from its infancy. Um, so that was time for me to leave as well. It's also that time that, Uh, my and I decided that we wanted to leave the Bay Area

Caroline 30:34

Uh,

Nataly 30:34

gonna move to Minnesota. Um, so it was the,

Caroline 30:38

what brought about that? Like, was he originally from Minnesota? Like

Nataly 30:42

no,

Caroline 30:42

the,

Nataly 30:42

the

Caroline 30:43

so this was, was this driven by you? Like Yeah. What was, yeah. Were their parents still there? Like what was the draw?

Nataly 30:50

His parents in California, my parents in Minnesota. Um, we would come in the summers and um, one of the things that we used to do is we would rent a cabin somewhere far up north next to a lake and it would usually be somewhere where there's not a lot of cell service, there's no internet, and you truly disconnect and you just swim and tan and eat and sleep and drink and light a fire. It was just a completely do nothing kind of

Caroline 31:17

Like an amazing experience. Yeah.

Nataly 31:19

experience. So we would do it for a week, every summer. Um, and he started coming with us. And at one point in time, driving back from this goes, would we ever think about moving to Minnesota? Like Yeah. you know, there's, there's plenty of reasons to the California was changing, the Bay Area was changing, the costs were rising. we, you know, if we wanted to buy a house, we'd need to save

Caroline 31:41

Yeah.

Nataly 31:42

and hard about whether or not we also wanted to save for retirement. Um. Then when we came back that next week, we got a notice on our apartment, our tiny one bedroom apartment, that they're gonna raise our rent 50%.

Caroline 31:59

Oh wow.

Nataly 32:01

And we're like, well, we thought it was going to be later,

Caroline 32:06

Yeah.

Nataly 32:06

guess it's happening now. So, um, we started the process we, it probably took us another. Year um, find where we wanted to live and make sure that we visit in the winter so that he knows

Caroline 32:22

Yeah, to get a full picture. Yeah. And he still said yes, I guess.

Nataly 32:28

yeah. And so we, we ended up moving to Minnesota and um, I found, um, my job here, which was also kind of a big change. Um. I was working with a recruiter and a recruiter encouraged me to apply for a job that I had seen before, but I didn't want to apply for,'cause it wasn't a sexy, fun job. I was going from the photography industry, the tech space, Silicon Valley, and I was joining a 70-year-old hearing aids company.

Caroline 32:59

Impact, still a good impact for the world, right?

Nataly 33:02

impact, but like that just doesn't sound fun.

Caroline 33:05

It, it, it literally doesn't sound

Nataly 33:08

It does not.

Caroline 33:09

but.

Nataly 33:10

Um, but the recruiter, uh, convinced me to, uh, think about the job and to think about the opportunity, which again was incredible. The company had recognized that they were gonna need digital marketing in order to grow, and they had secured the buy-in with the board and they had secured the budget, and they just didn't have anybody who knew how to do digital, digital marketing. So they just wanted to hand the keys over to someone who can build it.

Caroline 33:40

Interesting. And you're like, and then here you are,

Nataly 33:44

You mean I have budget and buy-in and I

Caroline 33:47

right?

Nataly 33:47

do the things and there's so many opportunities'cause there's nothing that already exists. Um, and then I met the team and then I met the, um, of Miracle Ear at the time, who's an incredible woman. Just what, seriously that woman can do anything.

Caroline 34:05

That's awesome.

Nataly 34:07

um, you know, I was in, so in joining Miracle Ear and the following six years, I led their digital transformation. I led their CRM transformation. I took on the VP role to help, um, drive the rebrand and the preparation for hearing aids coming to the over the counter market. It was a lot of great building work as well, and that's where the experience of okay I am the person that people come to with all the questions, and I orchestrate and I make it happen. And I have an impact on my team. I have an impact on the business. Miracle Ear is a franchise. So I have, um, an impact on small business owners and the end users have a fantastic impact. This is it. This is what I like. Um, at one point in time, uh, my leader gave me feedback that. I have the best poker face that he's ever seen. I'm like, yes, that's the American smile.

Caroline 35:11

This is what I've trained for. Isn't that what you want? Yeah.

Nataly 35:16

and I, I very distinctly remember having this conversation and, um, his feedback was, yeah, that's great. I'm glad that you're completely unflappable, but you might wanna consider, you know in some more vulnerability into the equation so that people don't just want to work with you because you get stuff done. They wanna work with you because you get it and they can relate and you can kind of build those relationships. And that was the first time that I was really thinking about intentionally building personal relationship in the professional space. It's sometimes it would organically happen,

Caroline 35:55

Right.

Nataly 35:56

and. I think the journey of like recognizing that your professional life and your personal life aren't really separate.

Caroline 36:05

Yes, yes. This whole fallacy of like work life balance as though there was a work me and a home, me. And the reality is, you know, while some people say, oh, it should be work life balance, I'm more like, no, no, no. It should be work life integration

Nataly 36:19

Yeah.

Caroline 36:19

you're hired to do a job, but you bring your whole self to work with all your baggage, with all your likes, dislikes, with all the whatever's going on in the rest of your your world that's absolutely influencing how you perform at work, and then your work is influencing how you perform at home. So it's like they are connected. Yeah. Okay.

Nataly 36:36

sleep at night because your kid's been sick, you are not going to be your best self at work. And if you had a terrible day at work, you are not gonna be your best self at home. There's,

Caroline 36:47

Yeah,

Nataly 36:47

not, not severance. It's,

Caroline 36:50

yeah. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And so, so you get this feedback and then, but, and were you like open to it and understanding or were you just like, Hmm, I, I'm not sure.

Nataly 37:03

I,

Caroline 37:04

Yeah.

Nataly 37:04

it. I, I understand the logic behind it, but what if I become vulnerable and people don't like me?

Caroline 37:13

Hmm. That's such an important thing. Yeah.

Nataly 37:17

I can be professional, I can get stuff done, and if people have a problem with my professional self, it's not a reflection on me as a person. It's a reflection of my professional self, and I can adjust my professional self all day long, totally fine. But if I bring more of my authenticity and my personality and my whole self to work. That's true vulnerability. That's true. Truly being letting yourself be open to attack and disappointment, and that's terrifying.

Caroline 37:50

It is terrifying. It is. And how did you, and freeing, right, but, but the first fe, the first thing is like, is the terror is what shows, right? Like the what if they don't like me, what if it goes wrong? How did that evolve in you over time? Because I know now. You seem incredibly authentic, vulnerable, awesome, and you help others do the same. Okay. But like, but let's go back to like the initial stages of like dipping your toe into this vulnerability water. Like what was that like?

Nataly 38:21

It's a lot of therapy and it's a lot of self work. Like this is not something. Actually, no, let me, let me rephrase this. Um, I was gonna say, it's not something that you can do alone. I know people who have done it on their own. They have done it through podcasts and listening to audio books and kind of downloading guides and doing practice, but that's a much harder and much longer process. I. I needed a lot more help than that. I had guides, I had therapists, I had executive coaches to lead me through the process. And one of the defining moments of that process was working to figure out what my values were.

Caroline 39:06

Hmm.

Nataly 39:07

Not the values of this professional Nataly,

Caroline 39:10

Yeah.

Nataly 39:11

but

Caroline 39:11

Yeah.

Nataly 39:13

and once I figured that out, all of a sudden it clicked why certain things were stressing me out, why I felt so emotionally impacted by certain areas and why I was unhappy, even though everything seemed fine,

Caroline 39:36

Yeah. Yeah. Let's dig into that a little bit more. So it's like, yeah, on one, from the outside in, you're having this amazing experience, amazing job. You're rising in the ranks, you have a lot of people reporting to you. Seems like you're seemingly doing amazing work for the benefit of the world and externally successful. But internally, starting to question. Take us through that a little bit more. What did that actually look like? Yeah. Feel like,

Nataly 40:07

So before the values work, it was just more of a recognition of like, this is harder than it should be.

Caroline 40:17

Hmm.

Nataly 40:17

I'm getting stuff done. My campaigns are performing. The company loves me. My team loves me. My team is growing. I'm solving problems. Why am I, am I, is my, is my heart constantly racing? Why are my shoulders always up to my ears? Like, why am I always a little bit on edge? And after doing that values work, um, I recognize that my two primary values cannot be fulfilled in this role.

Caroline 40:50

Hmm. Do you think that was part of your, like even inkling at the very beginning of like, Hmm, why would I go to work at this company? Was it

Nataly 40:59

um, it was just the evolution of the company, right when I first joined it, it was, you know, kind of startup experience in a larger space. Um, so my, my, the two values that I found were kindness and impact, as in I need to know that I'm making an impact and I

Caroline 41:14

Hmm.

Nataly 41:15

that impact is good.

Caroline 41:17

Hmm.

Nataly 41:18

That means I, the impact that I have on my team and on the organization and on the end user and on the small business owners and on the vendors and all the partners, it needs to be a good impact. Like it needs to be kind. So when it, when it first started, that was absolutely it. I was absolutely able to make an impact because it was just me building this from scratch and I was absolutely able to do it with kindness because it was still small enough where I could make the decisions,

Caroline 41:47

Hmm.

Nataly 41:48

But as the company grew and the company is, um, integrated into, uh, a multi, was a multinational organization that was transitioning into becoming a global organization. So they're starting to introduce a lot more synergies, a lot more centralization, a lot more elements of the things that you would need in order to grow. So again. Can't fault their organization for doing what they're doing,

Caroline 42:13

Yeah.

Nataly 42:13

but they're taking away my ability to make an impact. Because I was sitting in steering committees and pre steering committees and post steering committees, and I was making PowerPoint slides all day long. And then uh, I couldn't a, make decisions that I believed to be kind. Uh.

Caroline 42:37

Hmm.

Nataly 42:37

So once you're working for something that is that large, you're focusing a lot more on the shareholders than you are on your employees, right? And you're focusing a lot more on the overarching large machine of the company than individual humans. Again, this is perfectly normal and perfectly standard,

Caroline 42:57

Yeah.

Nataly 42:58

but that doesn't fit.

Caroline 42:59

But your, your internal draw of what you're feeling like of like this, isn't it? And what you really wish you were be being able to do was no longer being fulfilled. This is the thing that people need to understand. Like you're allowed to grow and evolve as a human and something that was a great decision a few years ago might not be the best decision for who you're becoming, and it's totally okay to question. And in fact, questioning doesn't mean there's something wrong. It means there's something, right? Because you're trying to grow into your next thing that's getting ready for you and the next thing for you. So like, okay, so I'm so happy that you're starting to recognize this about yourself and what you're truly feeling called to do. Then what happened? Like

Nataly 43:48

I moved to another startup at that point in time'cause I thought the answer was

Caroline 43:53

Uhhuh,

Nataly 43:54

don't work

Caroline 43:54

it's, oh, I need a new job. That's, that's people's conscious awareness is, ah, this doesn't feel right. I know I need a new job,

Nataly 44:03

And

Caroline 44:03

know?

Nataly 44:03

the job was aligned,

Caroline 44:05

Okay.

Nataly 44:06

I was able to make an impact and I was able to create a very positive impact, but it was still a job, right? And the job was hard, and startup work world was hard and the economy was changing, and I was still stressed and I was still, um, there's a particular moment that I talk about a lot, um definitely with my clients, but you might have heard me mention it, um, elsewhere on my social media, I was, um, particular stressful time in that particular role and I was trying to be a productive member of my family. And, um, I was doing laundry and I was pairing socks. And then the next morning looking at the socks that I have paired, I recognized that I didn't successfully pair any of the socks. My brain was so tapped out. I was so not present at that moment that I couldn't just cognitively recognize that this sock does not go with this sock.

Caroline 45:10

Wow. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

Nataly 45:13

I.

Caroline 45:13

And that's the thing that we don't know. We don't notice though when it's like one little, one little, one little, one little one little, one little thing, and how that stress challenge whatever, then bleeds over into that. I mean. So many times it's not socks that you could physically go check later and be like, ah, but like, okay. And so you realize this next morning like, dang, I didn't, none of these. Right. All of these things are not like the other. And, and so what did that do? What did, how did you approach that?

Nataly 45:46

That meant I needed to look at where I'm spending my energy.

Caroline 45:50

Hmm.

Nataly 45:51

that I do with my clients all the time. Like, look at, know what your priorities are.

Caroline 45:55

Yeah.

Nataly 45:56

You know if how you would want to fill up your cup. If you have your cup, what percentage is spent here? What percentage spent here, what percentage spent here? It's spent here before things spill over. And then let's talk about, look at the reality. Look at your calendar. Look at

Caroline 46:10

Yeah.

Nataly 46:10

look at your text messages, look at how much of your cup is actually fulfill, fulfill fulfilled. And when you look at those discrepancies, you need to start figuring out how to make some of those shifts. And so I would say about months later, me and the startup organizations that are going our separate ways, and I started reflecting on. Okay. Do I want another job? Because in the concept of impact and kindness, the things that you know, that I really love to do are growth strategy and talent development. Those are my two things. That's not really a job. Nobody hires you two just do growth strategy and talent development.

Caroline 46:53

Yeah,

Nataly 46:53

Um, I can start my own business to do that. Um, so that's where, uh, I currently am and have been for the last few years, is the work I do to help companies grow and the work that I do to help individuals grow. Okay.

Caroline 47:11

and so you get to pick and choose. What you're called in to do and where you're serving. That's awesome. Okay, so tell a little bit about, yeah, how do people find you work with you? What kind of company, what kind of challenge, what kind of person, what kind of challenge and how do you help them through that?

Nataly 47:29

Absolutely. Um, so I have have two practices. One is a growth marketing consultancy called Innovate Forward Marketing, and it's, um, innovate-fwd.com. And I work with, uh, small to mid-size businesses, kind of 50 to 200 people specifically that are in the phase of outgrowing their initial spurt and now figuring

Caroline 47:56

Hmm.

Nataly 47:56

out how to scale.'cause I've seen that so much in my personal work in so many different industries. And then my coaching practice is inspire forward coaching. It's inspire-forward.com and that's specifically focused on mid-career professionals. My training is in executive coaching and, uh, neuroscience based coaching. And my focus is really helping people who want to become executives that have gotten to a certain part of the ladder and they need to figure out how to make the next jump or who have gotten to a certain part of the ladder and they're looking around, they're going, I'm on the wrong ladder. Bless you.

Caroline 48:38

I'm on the wrong ladder and it's leaning on the wrong wall.

Nataly 48:40

Yes.

Caroline 48:41

Yeah.

Nataly 48:42

Um, so the, those are, those are the people that I usually work with.

Caroline 48:47

Awesome. Okay, so you've had all of this experience over time and the evolution of yourself, your work, your home life. Now, how do you define success for yourself? I'm huge on authentic success, and it's no longer what the world defines and how everything else defines, but like, according to you, what is your version of authentic success that you're realizing in this moment.

Nataly 49:14

So I think authentic success is very specifically that it's authentic and it's personal. Um, so if I was answering this question for others, I would start with what are the things that are important to you?

Caroline 49:27

Yeah.

Nataly 49:27

And how do you define, if you imagine perfect scenario, how do you define being successful? If you imagine failing at it, what does that look like and how, what's the spectrum in between? Um, for me it is around making sure that I'm able to help foster growth for organizations, for people individually. And working with organizations and people who are heart aligned. So if I work with clients that I truly want to succeed, that means I'm doing well, and that's professionally. Um, more holistically is recognizing that I'm a very multifaceted human. So that I am giving myself space to be very successful in this facet, but also successful in this facet and this facet and this facet. And whether it's relationships or friendships or personal development or art or travel or sitting with a book next to a fire, I am, if I'm able to give myself the space to, into every single side of my cup

Caroline 50:46

That's awesome. Yeah.

Nataly 50:47

that's success.

Caroline 50:50

I love it. What's next for you as you're envisioning your next X period of time? In your best case scenario, what would you love to happen?

Nataly 51:02

Um, I do this for another 10 years, right? I, I love the work that I do. I love the impact that I have. I love how the work that I do and how I do it is impacting my daughter's perception of success. And once she's old enough to be out of the house. I have the flexibility to reevaluate yet again and

Caroline 51:32

Yes,

Nataly 51:32

next, because I don't, I don't think this is forever. I know there's going to be a next phase in my life. Um, so what's next is building this phase strong enough to give myself the freedom and flexibility to figure out the next one, 10 years down the line.

Caroline 51:52

Oh, I love it. I love it. This has been such a beautiful conversation. I am absolutely so thankful for you sharing more of your story. If, um, remind people once again, if they'd like to get to know you, if they'd like to follow you, if they'd like to learn more about the work that you do, um, please remind them how they can go about doing that.

Nataly 52:13

You can always find me on LinkedIn um, Nataly Huff, uh, N-A-T-A-L-Y H-U-F-F uh, my two businesses are Innovate Forward Marketing innovate-fwd.com and inspire forward coaching inspire-forward.com.

Caroline 52:32

Awesome. Thank you again, Nataly, for all of your wisdom, experience, time, lessons, all of those things. I highly encourage everybody to go ahead and get connected with Nataly. She's an amazing human, and, um, I wish you all the best. Keep me in mind if you need help in your, uh, chapter moving forward. Happy to help.

Nataly 52:48

Thank you so much, Caroline. It was wonderful to speak with you.

52:51

Nataly, thank you for the depth and honesty of this conversation. I am grateful for your willingness to share both your story and your wisdom, and for the work that you do to help people build success that supports their whole life. Thanks for listening to your next success with Dr. Caroline Sangal. Remember, authentic success is yours to define and includes aligning your career to support the life you want.