We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Heather Burmester. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Heather below.

Hi Heather, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

In the span of a year, I faced both a layoff and being fired from two different agencies—an experience that left me rethinking my career path. Rather than jumping back into the job search for another full-time position, I chose to take a different route. I started freelancing for a former client, and it has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. It not only provides me with a sense of freedom and satisfaction but also allows me more time to focus on my own life, something I never realized how much I needed.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I graduated with a film degree and spent the early years of my career working on TV commercials and programming for the Food Network. It was an exciting time, and I loved the creativity and energy of the industry. But after several years, I began to feel burned out and stuck, particularly in Denver, where the industry is relatively small. I also noticed a lack of women over the age of 40 in the companies I worked for, which made me question the long-term prospects in that field. I wanted to pivot to a new industry where demand and pay were higher, and I saw an opportunity to do so by leveraging my producing skills.

That’s when I transitioned into digital project management. Over the past 13 years, I’ve worked at four different agencies, managing a diverse range of projects—everything from large websites for global brands to eCommerce sites, marketing platforms, and apps. I’ve collaborated with talented developers, designers, strategists, copywriters, and a long list of clients. Project management has given me a renewed sense of purpose and an opportunity to flex my skills in ways I hadn’t before. It’s funny, though—people used to love hearing about the TV shows I worked on, but websites and apps don’t seem to have the same appeal in casual conversations. The irony is that working in the digital space is far more complex and strategic, and I genuinely feel like I learn something new every day.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Whenever I’m managing a project I want to lead my team with empathy and support. I trust my team members to do their work and in return I recognize their various skills and work styles. I am flexible when needed and encourage everyone to come to me with questions or concerns. I try to ensure my communication style is transparent and meaningful.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Being a project manager isn’t a brand new concept, however when I started focusing on digital project management 13 years ago it was new. There were a few voices leading the way and the one I paid the most attention to was Brett Harned. His book Project Management for Humans made a huge impact early on in my career.

Harned advocates that successful project management goes beyond process, it’s about people. The book focuses on building relationships, communication and collaboration. I also learned a lot about the importance of being adaptable and approachable, both with clients and team members. This helps to maintain trust and project momentum. No project would get done without both.