A powerful testament to resilience and faith, this memoir recounts one woman's journey through loss, adversity, and unexpected blessings, ultimately discovering that true purpose lies not in climbing corporate ladders but in serving others with integrity and trusting in divine providence.
Her Story
About Esther
Esther Eccleston is an instructional design and learning professional with over 22 years of instructional design experience, having evolved from operations roles into learning and development. She currently serves as Instructional Design Project Manager at a non-profit medical association, a role she has held for over 7 years. In this position, she works with medical professionals to develop continuing education programs and mentors colleagues on her team. Prior to being at the non-profit, she worked at a big corporation for the bulk of her career. She obtained her Master Instructional Designer certificate early last year. She is a member of ATD, the primary professional organization in her industry.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Esther
01What do you attribute your success to?
Life experience. I learned a lot during my corporate run; having evolved through a transition of several roles during acquisitions and mergers, I learned a lot about all aspects of the organization and it set me up for success in my current non-profit role.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Never burn a bridge.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It would be to not get too buried in the details. Details are important, very important, but you gotta figure out how to keep going through at the bigger picture, and you'll find which details you need to dive into.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
There's a lot of fear of all the AI changes and worries we are not going to be needed. The biggest challenge is staying strong in understanding what we're here for and leading the efforts. Stay strong in communicating the need for the education.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Really making sure that you are keeping that balance. Be true to your work but remember that faith and family are what really matter.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Esther
Faith and Family Keep Me Grounded
From Loss and Hardship to Finding Purpose and Faith
My journey has been a long, tough one, but I wouldn't change any part of it because I know that each step has contributed to who I am today. Having lost my father at the age of 15, I was determined to marry young so my children wouldn't have to go through something similar. I had my life all planned out.
Education. Check.
Marry a man who knows the Lord. Check.
Get a great job. Check.
Have kids. Check.
And then move up the corporate ladder and live happily ever after.
What? Did I think I was living in a Disney movie?
Instead, when I was 37, I lost my husband to cancer and was left to raise our children alone.
Was it hard? Absolutely. But I was driven and determined that it wouldn't defeat me.
I learned to really lean into God and trust Him.
And I came to recognize that the corporate ladder I thought was so important in my younger years meant something different now. Instead of trying to climb up, I learned to dig in and excel in anything I was doing. Give it my best. Do everything for the right reasons. And trust that when the time was right, He would give me what I needed.
Then came the next blow: after 24 years of dedicated service to that corporate world, I was downsized. I won't get into the details, except to say that their methods and implementation of eliminating roles were horrific. What felt in the moment like a horrible thing to have been part of became the best thing ever to happen to me. Over the next several years, I watched a pattern emerge, with more and more people being eliminated from that place about every six months. It was easy to be angry—and I was. But I turned that anger into gratitude for the opportunity that was afforded to me.
I switched to a totally different atmosphere of nonprofit work, and now I feel that what I'm doing really makes a difference. I get to hear stories from members about what they need to succeed, and I am able to help them with a portion of that.
I have since remarried, and our blended family continues to grow as our children have become adults. I am thankful for every step of my journey and hopeful that you will take one thing away: always give everything your best and do it with your head held high. He will carry you through if you let Him.
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