Astrid Baumgardner

For the last year, I have had the honor to work one to one with Astrid Baumgardner.  Her coachings have brought clarity to my life, uncovering values and goals, and the importance of aligning efforts with these priorities.  Through this process, I am rediscovering my intuition, reconnecting with what really makes me tick, rather than what should make me tick. …

I loved the fact that you made people get out of their comfort zone and share things with the group that they would otherwise have not done. That is something that I admire a lot, and you have a great gift for being able to do that! Bravo! — VD, New York, NY

The results of our weekly sessions surpassed all expectations.  In concrete terms, within five months I obtained a new job that permits me to continue being a lawyer – a career path that I was on the verge of quitting despite years of education and hard work – while honoring my values, interests, and creativity and making a good living:  a combination I never thought possible as an attorney in private practice in NYC.  Astrid’s probing questions and value-oriented exercises played a significant role in giving me the focus and courage to identify and pursue my new legal career.  

There seem to be an infinite number of resources available to people looking to make career changes these days, and I think I looked into most of them before I met Astrid. Numerous books advised me to do what I loved.  That sounded good, except that I didn’t know what I loved. A career test provided some insight and long lists of possibly compatible jobs, but ultimately directed me to do what I loved – back to square one.  Another career coach, dispensing with frivolities like love, laid out a practical approach to a career path that objectively made some sense, but I knew in my heart that I would hate it.  I felt deficient for not knowing what I loved, unreasonable for rejecting a sensible path that didn’t appeal, and in general, completely hopeless about my situation.

I was a student in the Pace Encore Transition Program at which Astrid was a presenter. Her Designing Your Encore Life workshop gave me both practical and psychological insights and helped me manage my transition in ways that were unexpected and highly positive. The possibilities of an Encore life were overwhelming to me and, despite my years of corporate employment law, I was now unfocused. Who was I? What had I done that was transferable? What was it I wanted to transfer? What did I really want or think I wanted?

Astrid’s workshop required me to answer those questions and more. She asked about core values, interests, tolerances, passions, work and life experience. She listened carefully to the answers many of the students volunteered, and gave concrete suggestions as to how to develop a plan to move forward in a meaningful way. She did not offer one solution to fit all but, rather, paid careful attention to the needs and desires of each student who chose to share. The experience was empowering.

Astrid’s Designing Your Encore Life workshop at Pace University gave me both practical and psychological insights and helped me manage my transition in ways that were unexpected and highly positive. The possibilities of an Encore life were overwhelming to me and, despite my years of corporate employment law, I was now unfocused. Who was I? What had I done that …

As a former student and now as an administrator of the Pace University Encore Transitions Program, I saw…how Astrid’s questions and the sharing of her life experiences resonated with the students, how much joy they got out of watching her build stories for the students out of their answers to her questions and their listing of their life experiences — …

I was very fortunate to make the acquaintance of career coach Astrid Baumgardner in the June 2014 Encore Transition Program at Pace University.  All of us Encore students were exploring how we might create meaningful “second act careers for social good” for ourselves, and Astrid served as a wise, compassionate and enthusiastic counselor in the process.  She guided us through …