Episode #142
139 - Letting Go of the Good Girl
What if the job you lost opened the door to work you never believed you could do? Catryn Becker shares how an unexpected firing challenged her identity and set off a period of creative reinvention. Conversations with a trusted friend became a book, and a long-held desire to write became a commitment to learning screenwriting. Her story explores how a painful ending can lead somewhere you could not have planned. " I don't know what I'm doing but I can figure it out ." - Catryn Becker In this episode, Catryn Becker reflects on two years of professional change and creative discovery, tracing her path from environmental engineering and consulting to coaching, retreats, and an unexpected return to corporate work. Although the steady paycheck offered security, the role proved a poor fit for her entrepreneurial spirit. Being fired challenged her sense of identity and the expectations she had absorbed about being the “good girl” who succeeds by doing what others expect. With support from her community, Catryn began turning that experience into something useful. Conversations with her friend April Diamond became Life Snacks: Easy Breezy Self Care That You’ll Actually Do, a book built around small, manageable actions. Writing and publishing it helped her question the belief that her abilities belonged only in engineering and technical writing. In hindsight, an experience that had made her doubt her intuition became the catalyst for work she valued. That growing confidence also helped Catryn pursue screenwriting through UCLA’s Professional Program, leading to completed features, television scripts, and her Celtic fantasy adventure, Of Mists and Gods. She speaks candidly about the energy creative work requires and the limits of her own mental bandwidth. Throughout her reflection, she returns to resourcefulness, the support of others, and the question of what must fall away to make room for a new direction. About Catryn Catryn Becker is a screenwriter, creative strategist, keynote speaker, international best-selling author, and two-time Guinness World Record holder. Through VoiceBloom, she helps experts, entrepreneurs, and creatives transform lived experience into meaningful stories. Her work spans screenplays, nonfiction, personal narratives, and legacy projects, exploring how stories help us understand ourselves and connect with others. A graduate of UCLA’s Professional Program in Screenwriting, Catryn is the writer and creator of the Celtic fantasy adventure Of Mists and Gods and co-author of Life Snacks: Easy Breezy Self Care That You’ll Actually Do. She brings nearly two decades of engineering and business experience, alongside her background in coaching and leadership development through Optimize We, to stories about transformation, identity, and the courage to challenge expectations. Catryn holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Colorado School of Mines, a Master of Science in Environmental Systems Management from Southern Methodist University, and an MBA in Strategy and Innovation from SDA Bocconi School of Management. Her approach combines structured problem solving with curiosity about the human experience and a belief that everyone has a story worth uncovering, shaping, and sharing with care. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
