Operator to Owner: Designing Your Independent Career

Right now a huge number of women are stepping off the traditional executive track—not to slow down, but to take control and align with their values.

We are building advisory practices and creating portfolio careers on our own terms. At How Women Lead, we know this well, we have done it ourselves and so we created a container to help you make the move.

This session gives you direct access to two women who've spent decades in the trenches with entrepreneurs, as operators, investors, and advisors.

Julie Castro Abrams, CEO of How Women Lead and Managing Partner at How Women Invest, and Nancy Hayes, seasoned CEO, founder, dean of a business school, and advisor who successfully made the shift from operator to owner multiple times, and have supported hundreds of women to navigate this transition. We know the questions to ask, the priorities to define, the recovery and reset that is needed. And we ultimately know what works and what separates those who thrive from those who struggle.

In this intimate 2-hour session, you'll get their unfiltered perspective:

• The readiness signals that actually matter (not the ones people think matter)

• The biggest questions you need to answer around your goals, values, and priorities that need a conversation and real reflection

• The honest truth about income volatility, identity shifts, and what it takes to sell yourself or find a workaround

• When to go independent and when to wait

This is a working session, not a panel or lecture. You'll complete diagnostic assessments, discuss your responses in real-time with Julie and Nancy, and leave with insights based on their decades of pattern recognition.

You'll leave with:

• Greater clarity on whether an independent path is right for you

• A practical readiness check (psychological, financial, identity, life integration)

• Direct feedback from two women who've guided countless others through this exact decision

• A 90-day plan framework for you to map out your next steps

Program Details:

• 2-hour virtual working session

• Intentionally small group (max 12 participants for meaningful conversation)

• Pre-work workbook + live guided discussion

This interactive conversation brings together pattern recognition from decades of working with women making this exact transition that so many women are making today. If you're considering going independent, this is your chance to get unfiltered guidance from two people who know what actually happens after you make the leap.