Why I Moved To Nashville

Two weeks ago, I left an amazing job in Atlanta working with the biggest and the best global brands for a new job and a new house in Nashville. This decision has actually been in-the-making for eight years...

My senior year of college, I did lots of vision mapping and personal branding work. Two books were recommended to me by my boss at an ad agency that year, and they were truly life-changing: The Millionaire Course and The Power of Now. They advised me to not just decide what I wanted to do for a living (a vocation - which is from the same root word as a 'calling'), but to understand my deeper purpose… my mission. I felt very clear that my purpose was to “make America a healthier place.” Yes, it’s a big hairy audacious goal, but what challenge would be fun if it weren’t seemingly out of reach?

I knew that my passion was for advertising and marketing, so that's what I chose for a vocation. And so I penciled in the intention of making marketing more ethical, more healthful, and more sustainable. Ironically, my career began in the big food industry - chain restaurants, packaged food, alcohol, and soda. It wove through the financial industry, tons of retail brands, airlines, hotels, automotive, and healthcare. It’s been so much fun and I’ve been able to work alongside the most brilliant co-workers and clients. But along the way, I told myself “you’re learning how it’s done from the biggest brands in the world. One day, you’ll apply this experience to growing healthful brands.”

So for the past 7+ years, that thought has been floating around in my head. And it was not a lie. I’ve learned SO much by working with and advising global Fortune 500 companies. I’ve put in nearly twice the “10,000 hours” it takes to become an expert in a field. And along the way, I’ve tried to help the biggest companies in the world make the best decisions too and am incredibly proud of the work we've done together.

But I always knew there would be a time when I needed to chart a new course and take a bit of left turn.

And now is that time.

Six months ago, a healthcare marketing firm in Nashville reached out to me. It was a little eerie because in spite of my constant focus on the health industry, no opportunity solely focused on that industry had opened up. And Nashville was a city that had been on my mind - it’s the healthcare capital of the South, and it also so happens that my boyfriend lives there. But I was scared… afraid to take a left turn, to leave a job that afforded me to do incredible, fulfilling work and have true work/life balance. That combination is very rare. And I was also scared to finally take steps toward my purpose. Even those inside the healthcare industry admit that it’s broken and an uphill, challenging battle.

But after (literally) months of considering it, I finally knew in my gut that it’s a road I needed to take and a challenge that was meant for me. While my personal interests span both wellness and traditional healthcare, 18% of the American GDP is spent on healthcare… that’s one in every six dollars. It’s a rapidly changing industry, and I can’t think of a bigger or more important challenge than healthcare marketing.

So here I am!

I figured that when you go in on something important, you may as well go all in. So I bought a house (my first house!) in East Nashville.

And I start the new job on Monday.

I don’t do anything in life without setting big intentions and big hairy audacious goals, so I can’t wait to quickly learn the complicated ropes of healthcare and help my clients change and grow in an incredibly fast-changing industry.