The Launch Table

Category: A penny for your thoughts

  • Career Reinvention, Burnout, and Building Confidence: A Conversation with Karen Natasha

    CEO & Founder Karen Natasha Coaching — Toronto, Canada

    For many women, career transitions are no longer rare moments in life — they are becoming part of modern professional identity. Between burnout, workplace culture shifts, leadership barriers, and evolving personal priorities, more women are reevaluating what success truly means and how they want to experience work.

    As companies increasingly invest in coaching, leadership development, and employee wellness, conversations around professional fulfillment are becoming more necessary than ever. Recently, The Launch Table spoke with Karen Natasha, Founder and CEO of Karen Natasha Coaching, a leadership and career transition company focused on helping professionals elevate their careers with confidence and clarity. With more than two decades of corporate experience and a background in executive coaching, Karen brings both lived experience and strategic insight into what it means to navigate today’s workplace as a woman of color.

    Hannah Collier:

    Many people dream about leaving corporate environments to build something more aligned with their purpose, but few actually do it. What pushed you to make that transition?

    Karen Natasha:

    I spent over 20 years working in corporate environments, and honestly, I experienced deep burnout. I also had a very difficult experience with leadership and workplace culture that affected my confidence and overall well-being. During that time, I realized I didn’t see enough women who looked like me in spaces where mentorship, leadership, and career development were happening. I wanted to create the kind of support system I wish I had while navigating my own career journey.

    Hannah Collier:

    Burnout has become one of the defining workplace conversations of this generation. In your opinion, what are professionals getting wrong about burnout?

    Karen Natasha:

    A lot of people think burnout is simply about being tired, but it’s deeper than that. It’s emotional exhaustion, feeling unseen, lacking support, and constantly operating in environments where you don’t feel psychologically safe. Many professionals normalize stress because high performance has been glorified for so long. But eventually, your body and mind force you to pay attention.

    Hannah Collier:

    Your work focuses heavily on leadership and career advancement for BIPOC professionals. Why was it important for you to center that audience in your coaching practice?

    Karen Natasha:

    Because representation matters. Many BIPOC professionals are navigating environments where they may feel isolated, overlooked, or underestimated. I personally experienced that while climbing from receptionist to executive-level roles. There are often unspoken challenges people face around visibility, confidence, communication, and access to mentorship. I wanted to build a company that helps professionals recognize their value, strengthen their leadership presence, and feel empowered in their growth.

    Hannah Collier:

    What are some of the biggest mindset shifts people need to make when transitioning careers or trying to level up professionally?

    Karen Natasha:

    One of the biggest shifts is understanding that career growth doesn’t happen passively. Many professionals stay in roles for years waiting to be noticed instead of learning how to advocate for themselves. Another shift is realizing that confidence is built through action, not perfection. You have to be willing to have difficult conversations, take strategic risks, and position yourself differently if you want different results.

    Hannah Collier:

    There’s a growing conversation around emotional intelligence and leadership presence in the workplace. How important are those skills today?

    Karen Natasha:

    They’re critical. Technical skills may get you into the room, but emotional intelligence, communication, self-awareness, and leadership presence are what help people grow sustainably. Organizations are paying more attention to how leaders make people feel, not just what they produce. Professionals who can build trust, communicate effectively, and lead with emotional awareness are becoming incredibly valuable.

    Hannah Collier:

    What does transformation typically look like for clients after working with you?

    Karen Natasha:

    Transformation looks different for everyone, but one common theme is confidence. Many clients leave with more clarity around who they are, what they want, and how they want to show up professionally. We help people strengthen their voice, develop strategic goals, improve leadership skills, and create actionable plans that move them forward personally and professionally.

    Hannah Collier:

    What trends are you currently seeing in the workplace and career development space?

    Karen Natasha:

    A lot of professionals feel stuck. They’ve been in roles for several years but don’t know how to initiate conversations about advancement or navigate the next step. At the same time, companies are beginning to understand that development and wellness matter when it comes to retaining talent. Coaching is becoming less of a luxury and more of a leadership investment.

    Hannah Collier:

    What advice would you give to women currently questioning whether they should pivot in their careers?

    Karen Natasha:

    Don’t ignore the signs that something needs to change. Growth often starts with discomfort. Invest in yourself, seek support, and remember that your career journey doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. Reinvention is possible at every stage of life.

    Karen Natasha Coaching offers coaching, leadership training, executive development, and organizational consulting designed to help professionals grow with intention and confidence. Her Elev8 program focuses on helping clients strengthen leadership capacity through a design-thinking approach to personal and professional development.

  • What is Your CQ: Confidence Quotient?

    What is Your Confidence Quotient (CQ)?

    Confidence is a skill we either gain or lose through our life experiences. To understand where we are and how it can help us move into leadership roles and opportunities we need to gauge a accurate measurement of where we are and where we would like to be in the future.

    Lack of confidence can stagnate your career, create procrastination, lead to self-doubt, and also anxiety.

    Taking stock of can peel back the layers on this. Lets look at some of the common areas that lead to low confidence levels.

    Appearance – A basic question you can ask yourself is how you feel about your physical appearance. Feeling unsatisfied with how we look can slow us down. This can be overcome with the internal conversations we have with ourselves. You need to compliment yourself from time to time. Find something positive to say about your appearance at least once a day.

    Mindset – Our mindset controls a lot more than we think it does. You can have a failure mindset plagued with resentment of others achievements or you can have a growth mindset which recognizes the possibility of future potential. A growth mindset tenders to feelings of hope and enlightened by positive thoughts. If you have hope that things can change you will never give up. That’s the key, your decision to stay positive despite problems is the correct cognitive mindset.

    Fear – What are you afraid of? What are you avoiding? The best way to overcome fear is to do the thing or confront the person you are afraid of. Childrens fear of the buggy man is real in the since that’s the human mind can challenge itself. Fear is nothing but a challenge, the more you educate and become aware of topic the less likely you are to fear. Educate yourself on the things that bring on the most fear and anxiety throughout your day.

    Friends & Colleagues – Don’t allow friends or colleagues to lower your confidence. Set boundaries and pay attention when those boundaries are crossed. Don’t expect the people closest to you to see you beyond where you currently are. Sometimes you have to tap into create energy in order to see your self in a new light.

    Family – Family can be the biggest anchor holding us back. They know us best and often don’t understand beyond what they know. Also keep in mind, we share a portion of our true selves to family. An individual persons universe takes on many forms. Don’t allow family insecurities stand in the way of your success or confidence.

    Current Career Profile or Status – Last but not least see beyond what you have going on currently. If you can visualize where you want to go that can increase your confidence in getting to the place you want to be. Lots of successful people started out on the bottom. Learn from those like your self and how they handle setbacks and indifference.

    There are so many things that contribute to our level of self confidence. Continue to do the work and pinpoint where you are in the process of development. the Confidence Quotient can help you achieve your goals. In order to know where you are going you need to see where you stand now.

  • “Dial it in”— Peak Your Performance at Work

    Have you ever heard of the phrase, “Dial it In”? It’s a concept to help reach a state of high performance, focus, and expertise.

    To get better at what you do, figure out what your top priorities are. Give yourself time to create actionable tasks to contribute to the completion of your 20% vs 80%.

    Stop trying to be everything to everybody. Enable a work environment that allows you to get the right things done.

  • The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins

    The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins

    You deserve a high 5. It is the simplest form of appreciation and the type of feel good we need daily.

    In her book The High 5 Habit, Mel Robbin’s states, “Your dreams are your responsibility. No one is coming.” Her message is on how, “Your mind is designed to help you achieve your dreams. Your job is to believe it is possible and encourage yourself to keep walking toward it.”

    Last week while scrolling through Instagram, “The 5 Second Rule” appeared in my feed and I was inspired after reading and understanding what it was about.

    Mel Robbin’s 5 Second Rule (via Instagram)

    Testing it out…

    This morning I got up, feeling pumped despite little rest. I don’t necessarily have a problem getting out of bed but I do have a problem staying committed to working out on a daily. I tried the five second rule.

    I got up, put on my sweats and sneakers and made my way to the gym on the first floor. I got it done. On my way to a great rest of the day.

    It made me wonder about what’s really holding me back.

    Back to the book, Mel says—

    Do it anyway. Part of the reason why you don’t have what you want in your life is because when you don’t feel like doing it, you don’t do it. Your life only gets easier when you do the hard things all the time. Push through your resignation and do it.

    It’s true, half of the things that don’t get done is due to lack of motivation. Motivation is the energy it takes to move in a positive meaningful direction with your life.

    Take 5 mins today and write down some goals you have been meaning to accomplish. Now ask yourself what’s getting in the way and write that down as well. Now execute against everything you have in your control.

    Let me know how well this worked and also pick up a copy of the book and leave your comments and likes.

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