A facilitated development program that builds self-awareness, communication confidence, and retention — one conversation at a time.

Most emerging leader programs teach people how to manage up, manage teams, and manage projects.

Very few teach them how to understand their own story.

And yet self-awareness — knowing your strengths, naming your impact, understanding what motivates you — is the foundation of every other leadership skill. It's what allows someone to communicate with confidence, advocate for themselves and their team, and take on stretch assignments without quietly wondering if they belong there.

When your emerging leaders can't articulate their own value, they underperform in high-visibility moments. They hesitate to raise their hand. They're harder to retain because if they don't understand their own growth, they don't see a future in your organization.

Career Conversations close that gap.

Career Conversations is a facilitated one-on-one development session — one hour per employee — that uses resume writing as a diagnostic tool, a trust-builder, and a shortcut to the self-knowledge that drives confident leadership.

In each session, I work with an employee to:

• Surface their real achievements (not just their job description)
• Identify the strengths, values, and motivations that run through their experience
• Name the skills they haven't thought to claim
• Build language they can use in performance conversations, stretch assignments, and advancement opportunities
• Walk away with a resume — and a narrative — that reflects who they actually are

The output isn't just a better resume. It's an employee who feels seen, understood, and capable of articulating their own value — to you, to your organization, and to the next opportunity you put in front of them.

Most managers know their employees through the work they assign, which is only a fraction of who they are.

Career Conversations can be offered as a leadership development tool for managers, giving them a structured, human method to understand the people on their team at a deeper level: what they've done before you hired them, what motivates them, what they want next, and what hidden skills your team has been sitting on.

Managers who participate leave with insight they couldn't get from a performance review — and a new framework for delegation, development, and retention.

Career Conversations can support your organization's employee engagement efforts:

• HR and L&D teams running emerging leader or first-time manager programs.
• Organizations navigating growth, restructuring, or significant cultural change.
• DEI-focused talent programs seeking to support underrepresented employees in building visibility and confidence.
• Companies with distributed or remote workforces where connection and alignment are harder to build organically.
• Managers who want a structured, human tool for understanding their team more deeply.

Developed in the field, proven in practice

I developed this method over a decade ago, beginning in the Philadelphia Department of Prisons where I volunteered as a career readiness instructor preparing nonviolent offenders for early parole and paid internships.

Working with people who said "I've never had a real job" taught me something important: almost everyone has more to offer than they know how to say. The work isn't about manufacturing a narrative. It's about helping people see what's already there and giving them the language to name it.

Since then, I've applied the same approach in corporate settings, coaching professionals across industries through promotions, pivots, and periods of growth. In my own career as a communications leader, I've used this method with direct reports, cross-functional partners, and leaders preparing for high-visibility moments.

The method works because it's human first. It creates the kind of conversation most managers and employees never have — and wish they had.

Career Conversations can be delivered in several formats depending on your program's needs:

• Individual sessions One-hour, one-on-one facilitated conversations delivered via Google Meet. Ideal as a standalone benefit or as part of an onboarding, promotion, or milestone program.
• Cohort programs A series of sessions delivered to a defined group, such as an emerging leaders cohort, a first-time managers program, or a specific team or department. Sessions are individual (one facilitator, one employee) but delivered within a shared timeframe and framework.
• Manager workshops A facilitated group session teaching managers to use the Career Conversation method with their own teams — so the practice scales beyond our work together.
• Pilot option Not sure if it's the right fit? I offer a complimentary pilot session for one employee so your team can experience the method firsthand before committing to a program.

• Stronger retention: Employees who feel seen and understood are more likely to stay and grow within your organization rather than looking elsewhere.
• Higher engagement: Career Conversations give employees a language for their own value, which increases confidence, participation, and willingness to take on visible work.
• Better succession planning: Managers gain insight into employee aspirations and hidden skills that inform smarter development paths and internal mobility.
• Psychological safety: The structured, one-on-one format creates a low-stakes space for employees to be honest about what they want, which builds the kind of trust that makes feedback and coaching more effective.
• Stronger performance conversations: Employees who've done a Career Conversation come to reviews with clearer language, more specific examples, and more confidence in advocating for themselves.

"I’ve worked with Martina for years, and every time I’ve pursued a promotion or lateral move, she’s been my go‑to partner. She has an incredible ability to tailor resumes and guide me through mock interviews that sharpen my confidence. Martina reads between the bullet points and listens between the lines, uncovering hidden successes, soft skills, and measurable outcomes that resonate with hiring managers. Her insight consistently elevates my applications and helps me present the strongest version of myself."

Stephen M.

Associate Principal Scientist, Biopharmaceutical industry

"Martina turned my outdated 2008 resume into a powerful career story. Her clear template, probing questions, and interview prep gave me the confidence to move from a 10‑person niche business to a global company with 10,000+ employees—and a significant pay increase. Truly transformative guidance!"

Tom F.

Materials Engineer

One hour. One employee. One conversation that changes how they see themselves — and how they show up.

Each Career Conversation is a one-on-one session where I use an employee's resume as the starting point for something much deeper: a focused, unhurried conversation about what they've built, what they're proud of, and where they want to go. T

Most employees have never had this conversation with anyone. That's what makes it memorable and what makes them feel genuinely seen and valued by the organization that offered it to them.

Delivered via Google Meet. Ideal as:

• A meaningful welcome for new hires during onboarding
• A development investment for high performers and emerging leaders
• A milestone recognition for promotions, work anniversaries, or stretch assignments
• A retention tool for employees you want to grow and keep

Most managers have never had someone sit with them for an hour and ask: what are you proud of? What do you actually want? That's where we start.

Before managers can use this method with their teams, they experience it for themselves, and that changes everything. Each participant begins with their own one-on-one Career Conversation, where they feel firsthand what focused attention, genuine curiosity, and active listening actually do. The questions that catch you off guard. The realizations that surface when someone slows down and pays attention to your story. The shift that happens when a list of chores becomes a record of real achievement.

Then we come together.

In a two-hour group session, we debrief the experience and build the practice. Managers discuss what it felt like to be on the receiving end and what that means for how they show up with their own teams. We work through the method together, including how to ask better questions, how to help employees reframe responsibilities as accomplishments, and how to recognize the signs of anxiety or discomfort in a development conversation — and reduce them.

Every participant leaves with a Career Conversations Guide, a practical reference with ready-to-use questions, reframing techniques, and facilitation tips they can return to every time they sit down with someone on their team.

What's included:

• One-hour one-on-one Career Conversation with each participant (delivered via Google Meet ahead of the group session)
• Two-hour facilitated group workshop with all participants (via Google Meet)
• Career Conversations Guide for every manager

Ideal for first-time manager cohorts, people leader offsites, and L&D programs focused on retention, development, and team trust. The most scalable option in the program — one workshop multiplies across every team in the room.

Corporate pilot session for one employee

• A one-hour, one-on-one facilitated conversation with one employee delivered via Google Meet.

Not sure if it's the right fit? I offer a complimentary pilot session for one employee so your team can experience the method firsthand before committing to a program.

Whether you're building a new emerging leaders program or looking for a high-impact addition to what you already offer, I'd love to talk about what this could look like for your organization.