A powerful reflection on redefining success for women who feel behind on their life's journey. This article challenges the myth of linear progress and celebrates the wisdom gained through winding paths.
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Influential Woman · Counseling
Dr. Laranda Phillips Coleman
Education, PATHWAYS & PURPOSE LEADERSHIP CONSULTING GROUP, LLC
Memphis, TN 38125
20Years experience
1Article published
2Awards received
Her Story
About Dr. Laranda
Dr. Laranda Phillips Coleman serves as a professional school counselor and Career Center Counselor with Memphis-Shelby County Schools in Tennessee, where she is entering her 19th year in education. Although she initially aspired to become an English professor after earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Alcorn State University, her passion for mentoring and guiding others led her to pursue a Master of Science degree in Secondary Education with a concentration in Guidance Education. She later earned both an Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) in Educational Leadership and a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Administrative Leadership from Carson-Newman University. She also holds a Tennessee Administrator License.
Driven by a deep commitment to student success, Dr. Phillips Coleman has become an advocate for Career and Technical Education (CTE), helping students recognize that success can be achieved through multiple pathways rather than solely through the traditional four-year college route. She is the founder of Pathways & Purpose Leadership Consulting Group, LLC, an educational consulting firm dedicated to strengthening school counseling programs, expanding career readiness initiatives, and equipping educators to better prepare students for college, careers, and life.
An active member of the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), Dr. Phillips Coleman was selected to present her research-based CTE Advisement Perception Model at the 2026 ACTE CareerTech Vision Conference. Her work encourages more intentional, equitable, and informed career advising practices that expand opportunities for students.
Dr. Phillips Coleman attributes her success to God's grace, an unwavering commitment to lifelong learning, and the values of faith, integrity, perseverance, and service instilled by her parents. Her advice to young women entering the profession is simple yet powerful: Own your voice. Value your perspective. Invest in continuous growth. Build meaningful relationships. And always lead with excellence, humility, and purpose.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Dr. Laranda
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success first to God's grace, followed by the foundation my parents instilled in me and a relentless commitment to growth. I was raised in a home where 'can't" simply wasn't part of our vocabulary.
My parents taught me that education creates opportunity, integrity sustains it, and perseverance allows you to keep moving forward even when the path isn't easy. I, in turn, nurtured this in my own children by instilling in them that there are no limits to success, just limited mindsets. They have always heard you can be anything you set your mind to; if you can see it, you can achieve it.
Over the years, however, my personal definition of success has evolved. I once measured success by the goals I achieved; today, I measure it by the doors I help open for others. Whether I'm serving students, supporting educators, mentoring others, or developing new pathways to opportunity, I want my work to have impact beyond me. For me, success isn't simply about how far I've come; it's about how many people can go farther because I was willing to help create the pathway.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received came from a woman I still hold close to my heart, even in her passing. Marsha Neely began as my coworker but became my mentor, confidante, and dear friend. She once told me, "The best investment you can make is in yourself." Those words have stayed with me throughout my career. The moment you believe you've learned enough is the moment you stop growing. Every degree I've earned, every certification I've pursued, every challenge I've faced, and even every setback has prepared me for opportunities I couldn't see at the time. Continuous growth has been one of the greatest investments I've ever made in myself, and it's a principle I strive to pass on to others.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Own your voice and never underestimate the value of your perspective. There will be moments when you question whether you're qualified or experienced enough, but don't let self-doubt make decisions about your outcome that faith and preparation have already determined. Be willing to learn, build genuine relationships, and always remember that leadership isn't about having all the answers; it's about serving others with excellence and integrity.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges is making sure every student has equitable access, not only to opportunities but to the information, guidance, and advocacy needed to recognize those opportunities as possibilities for their future. Too often, students are expected to make life-changing decisions before they fully understand the pathways available to them. When access to informed guidance varies, opportunity varies with it.
Yet, within that challenge lies one of our greatest opportunities: to redefine what student success looks like. Success is not limited to one pathway, one credential, or one definition of achievement. Through intentional counseling and career explorations, we can help students discover multiple pathways to meaningful careers, economic mobility, and purpose-filled lives. I believe one informed conversation can change the trajectory of a student's future. When we expand access, we expand possibility, and when students can see what is possible, they are better equipped to choose what comes next.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Faith, integrity, service, and legacy are the values that guide my life. I believe in doing what's right even when no one is watching, serving people with compassion, and leaving every place better than I found it. At this stage in my life, I'm less concerned about personal recognition and more focused on building something that will continue creating opportunities long after I'm gone. If my work inspires someone to believe in themselves or pursue a purpose they never thought possible, then I've been successful.
I don't want to leave a legacy of success; I want to leave a legacy of access. If I can open doors for students, educators, and future leaders that might otherwise have remained closed, then I've fulfilled my purpose.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Dr. Laranda
The Winding Road: Why Your Path Doesn't Have to Look Like Anyone Else's
Why Your Winding Path Is Exactly Where You're Supposed to Be
There's a Moment
There's a moment that happens in almost every counseling office, almost every kitchen table conversation, and almost every quiet 2 a.m. scroll through someone else's highlight reel: a woman looks at the straight line she thinks she was supposed to walk, looks at the winding road she actually walked instead, and feels like she's somehow behind.
I've spent my career sitting across from students—and honestly, from grown women too—who carry a quiet shame about the shape of their journey. The one who took a gap year and felt she had to apologize for it. The one who went to trade school when everyone expected a four-year degree. The one who left a stable job to start over in her late thirties. The one who's still figuring it out at fifty.
We've built a culture that rewards a very specific silhouette of success: linear, early, and certain. And we've quietly taught an entire generation of women that anything else is a detour.
It isn't.
It's the road.
Every Path Is a Real Path
In my work in career and technical education, I often talk about a simple but stubborn idea: postsecondary pathways are not a hierarchy. A four-year degree, a technical certification, an apprenticeship, military service, entrepreneurship, or a winding combination of all of the above—none of these are consolation prizes for the "real" path. They are simply different roads to the same destination: a life of purpose, competence, and contribution.
Yet so many women internalize a ranking system that was never actually true. We defer our own definition of success to someone else's map and then wonder why the compass keeps spinning.
Here's what I want to say plainly to every woman who has ever measured her worth against a straight line: the winding road is not evidence that you're lost. It's evidence that you're alive, paying attention, and willing to adjust when life asks you to.
What the Detours Actually Teach
The women who inspire me most rarely got where they are by following a perfectly planned route. They got there by:
- Changing direction when new information arrived.
- Trying something that didn't work and learning what did.
- Choosing depth over speed.
- Refusing to let someone else's timeline dictate their worth.
None of that is failure.
That's wisdom, forged in real time.
If you zoom out on almost any woman's story worth telling, the interesting part was never the straight stretch of highway. It was the curve she didn't see coming—the one that taught her something the straight line never could have.
The Permission You Didn't Know You Needed
So, if you're standing at a crossroads right now, questioning a career change, wondering if it's "too late" to pivot, or feeling behind because your path doesn't match the one you were handed as a teenager, consider this your permission slip.
You are not behind.
You are not broken.
You are not required to explain or justify a path that got you here, wherever "here" is, as long as it's still moving you toward who you want to become.
Purpose isn't found at the end of the fastest road.
It's found in the willingness to keep walking, even when the road bends in a direction you didn't plan for.
Inspire someone today by simply owning your winding road out loud.
Someone else needs to hear that it's allowed.
Being authentically yourself gives others permission to be authentically themselves without fear.
And that is the ultimate freedom.
Dr. Laranda Phillips Coleman
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