263: Thrive at Work & Love Mondays Again with Corinna Freitag
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Dr. Corinna Freitag coaches STEM professionals to overcome workplace challenges so that they look forward to Mondays again. She is an executive coach, advisor, and speaker with decades of experience in natural and human sciences through university, industry, and continuing education. Executives hire her to develop and retain their top talent. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry, is a certified Executive Coach, and received her Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential through the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
Corinna grew up struggling to succeed as a student and believing she wasn’t good with people, unlike her older sister, who earned top grades and was more extroverted. As a result of living in her sister’s shadow, Corinna told herself a story that she was ‘the different one.’
Fortunately, she had the support of her parents, who fostered her curiosity. Corinna persisted for ten years to earn her doctoral degree in chemistry, a program less frequently pursued at that time, which meant it had lower barriers to entry. Interestingly, Corinna was the first in her family to attend university.
After a year-long postdoc position at a university in Toronto, Corinna landed her first role in Germany at a Fortune 500 company developing automotive products. That job enabled her to travel globally and work cross-functionally over 18 years. Eventually, she was training others in processes where she had expertise, affording her experience in coaching and mentoring. Corinna was acknowledged as her company's Global Operational Excellence Leader for over 5 years. At the same time, the company was going through a major reorganization, and Corinna was losing her enthusiasm for her job.
Corinna hired a coach to help explore her career options. As part of the self-reflective processes her coach guided her through, she discovered that she was, in fact, good with people! She also realized that she wanted to pursue a coaching certification. In 2022, Corinna left her corporate role to offer coaching on a full-time basis.
Learn more and connect with Corinna here:
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