An inspiring exploration of women's identity transformation during life's pivotal moments, inviting readers to rediscover themselves beyond societal roles and expectations.
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Influential Woman · Life Coaching
Donna Newman, CPC, ELI-MP, MSN
TRANSFORMATIONAL COACH, Redefining Your Purpose LLC
Newark, DE 19711
14Years experience
1Article published
1Award received
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Purpose isn't something you retire from. Purpose is something you return to again and again.
Donna Newman, CPC, ELI-MP, MSN · In Her Own Words
Her Story
About Donna
Donna Newman is a transformational life coach and Army veteran who has dedicated her career to helping women rediscover purpose during pivotal life transitions. After serving more than 20 years in the United States Army as a registered nurse, retiring in 2000, she went on to spend over three decades in the nursing field with a focus on chronic illness care. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing from George Mason University, where her graduate training in clinical leadership, systems thinking, and evidence-based practice shaped the structured, thoughtful approach she now brings to her coaching work. In 2012, drawing on what she witnessed among fellow women veterans struggling to find their footing after military service, she launched her own coaching practice, and the following year she became a Certified Professional Coach through iPEC, an ICF-accredited program rooted in transformational coaching and the Energy Leadership framework.
Through her practice, Redefining Your Purpose, Donna works primarily with women between the ages of 40 and 65 who are navigating retirement, career upheaval, empty-nest seasons, or a broader sense of feeling stuck or invisible. Rather than offering quick fixes or fleeting motivation, she guides clients toward lasting alignment between their values, identity, and next steps, helping them emerge with a clear sense of direction, renewed confidence, and practical tools for decision-making. Her approach blends military leadership experience with evidence-based coaching methods and candid, reflective conversation, reflecting her conviction that midlife is not an ending but a new season of leadership and intentional reinvention.
Beyond her coaching practice, Donna remains deeply engaged in service to her community, particularly to fellow veterans. She is a member of the Kappa Epsilon Psi military sorority, where she serves as a mentor, and belongs to both the Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce and the AARP Speakers Bureau, through which she has spoken publicly on healthy aging. Her volunteer work with AARP earned her the President's Award for Community Service in 2017, recognizing her contributions to veterans in her community. She also authored Until It Wasn't: My Journey from Survival to Inner Peace, a memoir chronicling her own path toward healing and purpose, a journey that continues to inform the faith, integrity, and accountability she brings to her work with the women she serves.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Donna
01What do you attribute your success to?
People often ask me what I attribute my success to. My answer isn't a list of accomplishments or credentials. It's the decisions I made when life required me to grow.
I've had the privilege of serving my country, caring for patients as a nurse, leading in challenging environments, and now helping women redefine their purpose. While those roles may appear very different, they've all been connected by one calling—to serve others through times of transition.
I believe success comes from three things.
First, having the courage to evolve. Every meaningful chapter of my life required me to let go of an old identity before I could embrace a new one.
Second, committing to lifelong learning. Every experience, every challenge, every success, and every setback taught me something that prepared me for the next season of my life.
And finally, choosing alignment over achievement. Early in my life, I measured success by what I accomplished. Today, I measure success by whether my work reflects who I truly am and whether it creates lasting impact in the lives of others. I've learned that titles eventually change. Careers evolve. Seasons of life come and go. But purpose remains.
My greatest achievement isn't the military rank I earned, the degrees I received, or the certifications I've completed. It's becoming the kind of woman who can walk alongside others and remind them that no matter where they are in life, it's never too late to redefine what's possible. That is the success I'm most proud of.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
People often ask me what the best career advice I've ever received was. The truth is, after a lifetime of serving in the military, healthcare, and now coaching, I don't remember one defining piece of advice that changed everything.
What I do remember are the lessons life reinforced over and over again.
One of the most important is this: Don't become so attached to your title that you lose sight of your purpose.
Titles change. Careers evolve. Organizations restructure. Retirement comes. Life happens.
If your identity is built solely on what you do, every transition feels like a loss. But if it's rooted in who you are and the impact you're called to make, every transition becomes an opportunity to grow.
Looking back, that lesson has guided every chapter of my life—from military service to nursing to coaching women who are redefining what's next.
It's also the advice I now share with others: Build a life around your purpose, not just your position. Purpose has a way of outlasting every title you'll ever hold.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I encourage young women entering this field not to be afraid to stand in their truth. Take your time, stop chasing motivation, and instead align with what you truly desire.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
While there are certainly challenges in the coaching industry today, I see even greater opportunities.
We're witnessing a generation of women who are asking deeper questions than ever before. They're no longer satisfied with simply checking the boxes of career, family, and retirement. They're asking, "Who am I now?" and "How do I want to spend the next chapter of my life?"
That's an exciting shift.
Women are living longer, working longer, and contributing in new ways. Many are navigating career changes, unexpected layoffs, retirement, caregiving, or becoming empty nesters. Rather than viewing these moments as endings, they're beginning to see them as opportunities to redefine purpose.
I also believe people are looking for authenticity more than perfection. They want someone who has walked through change—not someone who has all the answers. My experiences in military service, healthcare, leadership, and coaching have taught me that transformation doesn't happen because someone tells you what to do. It happens when someone helps you discover what's already within you.
For me, the greatest opportunity isn't simply growing a coaching practice. It's helping women recognize that their experience is not their limitation—it's their greatest asset.
I believe the future belongs to women who are willing to redefine success on their own terms. I'm honored to walk alongside them as they do.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that guide me most are faith, morals, integrity, accountability, and inspiration.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Donna
When the Life You Built No Longer Fits
Rediscovering Purpose and Identity When Life's Roles Begin to Change
There comes a moment in many women's lives that no one prepares us for. It doesn't always arrive with a dramatic ending. Sometimes it comes quietly: a promotion that no longer excites you; children who no longer need you in the same way; a career that once gave you purpose but now feels empty; retirement; a layoff; a divorce; a health challenge; or simply the realization that you've spent years building a life that looks successful on the outside while feeling disconnected on the inside.
For many women, this realization can be unsettling. We've spent decades becoming who everyone else needed us to be: the dependable employee, the supportive spouse, the devoted mother, the caregiver, the leader, the problem solver, the one who always held everything together. Somewhere along the way, we stopped asking an important question: "Who am I when those roles begin to change?"
This isn't an identity crisis. It's an invitation—an invitation to rediscover the woman who existed before the expectations.
To remember the dreams that were placed on hold. To explore gifts that have quietly waited for permission to emerge. To discover that purpose isn't something you lose—it evolves.
The women I meet every day are incredibly accomplished. They've built careers, served their communities, raised families, led organizations, and overcome challenges that many people will never fully understand. Yet beneath those accomplishments is often the same quiet question: "What now?"
That question isn't a sign of failure. It's evidence of growth.
The wisdom you've gained, the resilience you've developed, the compassion you've cultivated, and the lessons you've learned are not the closing chapter of your story. Instead, they may be inviting you to come home to yourself.
Because your greatest contribution may not be behind you. It may be waiting on the other side of the courage to redefine what purpose looks like for you now.
And perhaps that's the most influential thing a woman can do—not continue becoming who the world expects her to be, but have the courage to become who she was always meant to be.
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