Nikki Belt

Curiosity and a willingness to take a squiggly path. I've never been someone who mapped out a five-year plan and stuck to it. My career has zigzagged from philanthropy to international development to management consulting to tech to running my own business, and every move was driven by the same question: what can I learn next? I think a lot of people get nervous about non-linear careers, but mine is the reason I can do what I do now. Each chapter taught me something the next one needed.

The other piece is that I've always been willing to put my hand up. I backfilled for people when roles opened up, asked questions in rooms where I probably wasn't supposed to be asking them, and sat in on meetings I didn't technically belong in just to learn how the work got done. Most of the best opportunities in my career didn't come from a job posting, they came from being curious enough to show up and confident enough to risk looking like I didn't know something.

Early in my career at The Gates Foundation, I had a manager pull me aside and tell me I needed to leave the job I was in if I wanted to get where I said I wanted to go. At the time, that job was kind of a dream, and actually, I have friends who stayed in those same roles and are still there 15+ years later, doing great. The job wasn't the problem. She just saw what I actually wanted out of my career and knew I wouldn't get there by staying comfortable. That conversation gave me the courage to leave, and it kicked off everything that came next - moving abroad, switching industries, building new skill sets, meeting people who'd go on to shape my career, and taking risks I never would've taken otherwise. I'd probably be just fine if I'd stayed. But "fine" isn't the same as fulfilled, and my career has been so much richer because someone was willing to tell me the truth before I figured it out the hard way.

The women I most want to talk to are the ones thinking about leaving corporate and buying a business for the first time. I know it's scary. But there's no better time than right now to start.

My biggest piece of advice: spend real time thinking about the life you actually want. Not the next promotion, not the next title - the life. What do you want your days to look like? Your years? Then take an honest look at where you're sitting now and ask whether that path actually gets you there, or whether you need something drastically different. And if the answer is drastically different - don't be afraid of that. Go look for it. Because the future you want might require a path that looks nothing like your present. Take the risk. Just go.

I think we're in a pretty remarkable moment. Corporate jobs that we all assumed were rock-solid suddenly aren't, and a lot of people, especially women in mid- to late-career, are looking around and asking, what do I actually want the next chapter to look like? That's a real challenge, but it's also a huge opportunity to think outside the box. One of the most exciting paths I see right now is small business ownership. We've got a massive wave of Baby Boomers retiring and selling the businesses they spent decades building, which means there's never been a better time to seriously look into becoming an owner. And SBA loans have opened the door for a lot of people who assumed they'd never have access to the capital required to buy a business. The barrier to entry isn't what people think it is. The shift I'd encourage is a small but powerful one: instead of thinking "that couldn't be me," start asking "how could this be me?" Go find the information. Talk to brokers, lenders, current owners. Take the next small step. If business ownership is something you're genuinely drawn to, the path is more accessible than it's ever been, you just have to be willing to walk it.

Two values guide pretty much everything I do: joy and learning.

Joy sounds simple, but it's something I take seriously. I think we underestimate how much our daily experience shapes the rest of our lives so I try to build in things that bring me real joy every day. Sometimes that's my work, sometimes it's time outside, family, a good book, a workout, music. It's not about chasing big peak moments, it's about noticing the small ones. I bring this into my client work too. We spend real time making sure they're designing their days, their businesses, and their teams in a way that actually feels good to spend time in. Owning a business shouldn't drain the life out of you.

Learning is the other one. I'm endlessly curious, and I genuinely believe the more we know, the better the decisions we get to make at work, at home, everywhere. I read constantly, research a lot, and stay close to what's changing in operations, technology, and how businesses run. That's especially important right now because everything is shifting quickly, and what worked five years ago doesn't always work today. I bring that learning straight to my clients, so they're not just getting my experience they're getting whatever's most useful and most current for the problem in front of them.