Since you're here, there's a good chance your career has something to do with education.

• Maybe you're still in it.
• Maybe you left years ago.
• Maybe you've already made the move into corporate and now you're looking around thinking, “Okay. What's next?”

That's who I built Elevated Careers for.

People who have spent part of their career in or around education and are ready to think bigger about what comes next.

Because here's what I've learned from making this move myself and helping thousands of other people do it:

A lot of the career rules we learn in education do not travel very well.

We get used to job titles that mean everything inside a school system and almost nothing outside of one. We learn to describe our work in ways that make perfect sense to educators and somehow make impressive experience sound painfully ordinary everywhere else.

Then we step into a much bigger job market and wonder why it feels like everyone else got a handbook.

I did too.

In 2015, I was a teacher trying to figure out what came next.

I knew I could do more.

I had absolutely no idea how to explain that to people who had never worked in a school.

That turned out to be the beginning of a very different career.

Since then, I've worked across four companies, eight roles, multiple promotions, a board of directors seat, entrepreneurship, and a 450% increase in salary.

I learned how companies hire.

I learned how people get promoted.

I learned why smart, experienced educators get overlooked.

And I learned how much easier career decisions become once you understand the rules of the market you are actually trying to enter.

That is what I teach now.

How I Got Here

I started my career as a Teach For America teacher.

And I was ALL IN.

I loved my students. I cared deeply about doing good work. I tried things, fixed things, built things, stayed late, took on extra responsibilities, and probably had more tabs open before breakfast than any reasonable person should.

At one point, I created a “green classroom” and secured a class set of computers when my school did not have classroom computers yet.

I built a website to help differentiate instruction for my students. Other teachers started using what I had created, and I became the unofficial technology integration person at the school.

Nobody gave me that title.

Of course they didn't.

That is how education works.

You solve one problem well and suddenly everyone knows where to find you.

Later, I moved to another district because I wanted a broader picture of what education looked like in different communities.

I learned a ton.

I earned a “highly effective teacher” distinction.

And I got a pay cut at the same time.

Because...education.

Eventually, I had to admit that I wanted something different.

So I left.

There was no perfectly mapped-out plan.

I researched. I applied. I talked to people. I got things wrong. I figured out how corporate job titles worked. I learned how to talk about my experience differently. I started noticing which parts of my background companies actually cared about.

And little by little, I built a new career.

Here are the 10 things that happened to me when I quit teaching.

My first move out of teaching changed what I thought was possible.

I went from teaching about 85 students a year to working on teams serving millions of students.

I worked at startups, mid-sized companies, and major education companies. My career moved through curriculum, professional development, learning and development, content, leadership, strategy, and eventually entrepreneurship.

And every move taught me something useful.

How companies talk about value.

How hiring managers make decisions.

Why some people get promoted faster than others.

Why the same person can look underqualified in one resume and completely obvious for the role in another.

Eventually, I realized I had become the person I desperately needed when I first started figuring all of this out.

So I built Elevated Careers.

Which Brings Me to You.

One of my favorite things about this work is that there is no single starting point.

Some people find me while they are sitting in their classroom wondering whether they can really leave.

Others find me after they have already made that move and realize they are ready for a better role, more money, more responsibility, or a completely different direction.

Some are principals. District leaders. Higher ed professionals. Consultants. People who worked beside educators without ever being the classroom teacher themselves.

The job titles change.

A lot of the baggage does not.

• You may still be underselling yourself.
• You may still be waiting for someone else to tell you that you are ready.
• You may still be relying on a job title to explain your value instead of learning how to explain the work itself.
• You may still be making career decisions based on what feels familiar instead of what actually fits.

That is why my work is bigger than “helping teachers leave teaching.”

I help people with education in their career history understand what they have, what the broader market needs, and how to connect the two.

That applies whether you are trying to leave the classroom or trying to make your next move five years after you did.

The principles are remarkably similar.

• Get better information.
• Understand the market.
• Learn how to talk about your experience in the language your next employer uses.
• Then make your move from there.

No random job-title roulette required.

Why I Do This Work

Yes, this is a business.

Yes, I sell things.

And yes, I am very happy to earn a living doing work I care about.

I also give away a LOT for free.

That is intentional.

When I started figuring out my own career change, the useful information was scattered everywhere.

Nobody sat me down and explained how companies evaluated candidates.

Nobody explained why my education resume made perfect sense to me and very little sense to a hiring manager outside of a school.

Nobody explained that getting the first corporate job would solve some problems and introduce an entirely new set of career questions.

I learned most of it by doing.

Sometimes gracefully.

Sometimes...less gracefully.

And I kept thinking:

Why does everyone have to figure this out the hard way?

So now I spend a ridiculous amount of time studying job markets, hiring practices, career paths, resumes, interviews, promotions, and what companies are actually looking for.

Then I turn what I learn into something useful for you.

That might be a free post that changes how you write one resume bullet.

It might be a job lead.

It might be a tool that helps you choose a direction.

It might be one of my paid programs when you are ready for more help.

Why Did I Leave My Corporate Career to Do This?

Because I wanted to.

That is the very short version.

The longer version is that I spent years building a corporate career I was proud of.

I earned promotions.

I made more money.

I worked on interesting problems with smart people.

I learned a tremendous amount.

And eventually, I realized I wanted to build something of my own.

So I did.

This is the work I choose.

I get to study the stuff I find endlessly interesting and then teach it to people I genuinely care about helping.

I get to build a company around my life instead of trying to squeeze my life around a job.

I get to decide what deserves my time.

And I get to help people who spent years in education see that their career can keep getting bigger.

That part matters to me.

Because leaving education was never the finish line for me.

Getting the first corporate job was not the finish line either.

There was always another question.

Those questions changed my career.

They still do.

And they are exactly the questions I want you asking too.

I left the classroom. I never stopped teaching.

I just changed what I teach.

Now I teach people with education in their career history how to build whatever comes next.

And if that is what you are trying to figure out, you are exactly who I built Elevated Careers for.

— Steph