Fulfillment Beyond One Role
“Professional progress has meant allowing room for different kinds of work to coexist, each contributing to a more balanced and energized whole.”
What does a makeup artist and a business analyst have in common? How about a director of financial reporting and a hip hop teacher? Or a VP of data and analytics and a fitness instructor?
They are all roles I’ve held in tandem at different points in my career. Over time, I’ve come to see professional fulfillment not as something that has to come from a single job, but as something that can be shaped by multiple roles that complement one another and allow entirely different strengths to come to life.
When I first moved to St. Louis after college, I worked full time during the week at Boeing and spent weekends traveling mall to mall for Clinique, supporting in-store promotions. A few years later, while working in Financial Reporting at a telecommunications company, I also taught hip hop classes at a local dance studio. Those roles were energizing in different ways. They were creative, physical, and social, and they offered a contrast to my corporate responsibilities.
More recently, I followed a passion for fitness and began working a few hours a week at Burn Boot Camp. If I ever feel a little odd about my corporate colleagues learning I have a second job, I affirm my choice with the simple rationale that many employees coach kids and I coach adults! What that role gives me is the chance to connect with people in a completely different setting, support their fitness journeys, and be part of a community that poured into me when I needed it most.
It’s also important to acknowledge that this approach has not made sense in every season of my life. There were years when my boys were young and needed more of my time and energy at home, and seasons when I was traveling heavily for my corporate job. In those chapters, taking on an additional role would not have been realistic or healthy. Professional fulfillment evolves, and the choices that support it shift as our lives change.
In some ways, it’s funny that the worlds hardly collide. Members from my gym community may not even know that my day job is as a vice president of data and analytics at a professional learning company. That work is demanding, meaningful, and central to my professional identity. I love being a leader of leaders, helping the directors and managers who work with me grow in their leadership while shaping the strategic vision for how we use data to grow our company.
What I have come to realize is that fulfillment does not always come from a single role, especially over the course of a long career. Sometimes it comes from the combination of roles that allow us to use different strengths, express different interests, and feel energized in complementary ways. In many cases, these additional roles replace what might otherwise be considered hobbies. The difference is that they are structured, purposeful, and yes, paid.
This is also where professional progress begins to intersect with prosperity progress. Having additional, aligned sources of income has given me flexibility over time. Sometimes that extra income has allowed for spending on experiences or priorities that matter to me. Other times, it has created a greater sense of security by contributing to long term savings. Either way, it has supported a more intentional relationship with money.
For me, working at Burn Boot Camp feels like taking time I would have spent on a passion anyway and being compensated for it, without compromising my primary role. It fills a bucket that my corporate role does not need to fill.. In fact, I believe it makes me better in my primary role by keeping me connected to people, fitness, and community.
As I have reflected on this pattern across my career, I have stopped viewing fulfillment as something that must be sourced from one title or one job. Professional progress, at least for me, has meant allowing room for different kinds of work to coexist, each contributing to a more balanced and energized whole.
If you find yourself craving fulfillment that your primary role does not fully provide, it may be worth asking a different question. Instead of what is missing, consider what could be added. Sometimes the answer is not a career change, but a thoughtful expansion that fits the season you’re in.
This post is part of an ongoing series inspired by The Four Facets of Better Living: physical wellness, personal relationships, professional purpose, and prosperity habits. Professional progress does not always mean climbing higher. Sometimes it means broadening how and where you find meaning in your work.
I’ll be announcing details about my upcoming spring retreat soon, and I’m excited to continue these conversations around fulfillment, purpose, and progress together.