We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tiffany Waddell Tate a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tiffany, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
When I launched Career Maven Consulting in 2018, I thought of myself as a freelancer. Taking on projects if or when people came to me, based on my skills and what I’m good at. At the time I worked in the college career development space, so many of the questions and needs clients and organizations had were aligned with everyday conversations I was having.
Fast forward a few years: while it’s not BAD to move when you’re invited to the party, it’s SO much more fun to throw your own party and make a bigger impact.
I threw my own party and decided to start my business in response to commonly asked questions, and have worked tirelessly over the last few years honing in on the mission and focus that undergirds it all.
At Career Maven™️ we help ambitious women move like the CEO of their personal & professional lives by unlocking clarity, confidence, and agency.
Through career & executive coaching, training & development, and talent development consulting engagements – I’m committed to helping 1M women win at work – and believe companies can be better positioned to support us when we land.
Imagine a world where women are paid equitably, in healthy environments leveraging their talents and designing solutions for the gnarliest challenges companies and organizations are facing.
That’s my mission – and I’m excited to re-imagine the future of work!
Tiffany, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Here’s a quick overview of Career Maven Consulting, what we do, and solutions we provide via Business to Consumer & Business to Business offerings to offer insight into the company:
Career Maven Consulting is on a mission to help women own their career story, and operate as CEOs in their personal & professional lives. We do this by providing career & executive coaching, an empowering community, digital experiences & training designed to help our clients unlock the clarity and confidence to up-level professionally.
What we know to be true: changing a woman’s life has the power to change the life of their company, family, and community for the better.
In addition to a suite of digital products and coaching services, our team provides speaking / facilitation / consulting on a variety of topics business needs related to diversity & inclusion, recruiting, and an array of leadership development topics.
Meet the Founder: Tiffany Waddell Tate helps individuals and companies reimagine the future of work through coaching, digital education, and training & development for organizations and teams. As an in-demand coach, consultant, speaker and thought leader, she has been featured on Forbes, Well + Good, The Everymom, The Muse, and a variety of podcasts. She is a master in coaching professionals to learn, lead, and grow at work while being true to their authentic selves and building their personal brand. Tate earned her BA and MA from Wake Forest University, and is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, Diversity Educator, and MBTI Certified.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Honestly, referrals! A majority of my business growth over the last few years has been by way of referrals within my personal & professional network or organic social media engagement.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
So many stories! I participated in an online business pitch competition — largely because as a service / knowledge based business, you don’t often see a lot of us secure funding or capital in the ways that product or tech companies do. That said, I do run a tech-enabled company, and I was eager to participate and put myself in a new space of challenge as a founder. In addition to growing the business I also work full-time and am a mom! My daughter was wide awake the evening of the pitch competition but the show must go on…
At the time, she was 4 years old and running around shrieking and had lost her pajamas. I certainly didn’t want her to tumble across the zoom screen without pajamas!! It was my turn to present so I held her off camera with the one hand Heisman move, and gave my presentation as if nothing was happening because I didn’t want to yield my time. Happy to say that I ended up winning the competition, and it allowed me to have enough capital to hire my first two paid interns!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.careermavenconsulting.com
- Instagram: @tiffanywaddelltate
- Twitter: @tiffanyiwaddell
Image Credits
Madalyn Yates Photography UNC – Chapel Hill Student Union