4 Career Lessons I’d Give My Younger Self

If I could sit down with younger me, I would not hand her a perfect five-year plan. I would hand her a few reminders I had to learn the hard way.

Younger me was all-in on the clinical pharmacy path. That was the definition of success I had in my head: specialize, climb, land the title. I worked for it. I planned for it. And then my career stopped looking like the plan.

What came next was retail, becoming a pharmacist-in-charge earlier than I expected, pivoting into my dream industry role as an MSL, and slowly building PharmacyGuides in the background. None of that was the original checklist. All of it is mine.

1. Stay open to a different path

I spent years working toward becoming a clinical pharmacy specialist because I thought that was the path that defined success as a pharmacist.

Some of the best parts of my career came from opportunities I never planned for. Industry. Building study guides that actually help students. Mentoring people through chapters that feel messy. The version of success I was chasing would have kept me on one track. Staying open is what let the rest show up.

Have goals, but stay open. Your career might become bigger than the version you originally imagined.

2. No experience is wasted

The hardest chapter of my career felt like a setback at the time. It was sudden, it hurt, and it forced me to rebuild when I thought I already knew where I was going.

Even that experience gave me knowledge, skills, and perspective I carried into every role after it. Retail taught me pace and people. Being PIC taught me leadership before I felt “seasoned.” Industry asked me to use my clinical brain in a completely different way. PharmacyGuides grew out of wanting to make the path clearer for someone else.

Your path does not have to be perfect to be valuable. Learn from every chapter, leverage what it taught you, and take it with you into the next one.

3. Stop waiting until you feel ready

Some of the biggest opportunities in my career came before I felt completely ready for them. Stepping into PIC. Saying yes to industry. Building a business while still figuring out my own next step. I applied anyway. I said yes anyway. I figured things out along the way.

Confidence is not always what gets you through the door. Sometimes it comes after you walk through it.

That does not mean being reckless. It means not letting “I’m not ready yet” become the reason you never start.

4. Redefine success on your own terms

For me, success is no longer about chasing the next clinical title. It is about building a career I love, a business with purpose, and a community that lets me help others every day.

My career looks nothing like the one I once planned. And that is exactly what made it mine.

If you are in the middle of rewriting your path

You do not have to have it all figured out to take the next step. If you are exploring industry, the Industry Pivot roadmap is a place to start. If school or boards still feel heavy, the study guides are there. And if you want to talk through a chapter that feels messy, you can book a 30-minute mentorship session.