How Tania Found Her Dream Job Protecting The Planet

Hey everyone, it's Scott here with another one of my rockstar clients. It's, uh, Tanya. Tanya, great to have you with us. Thanks so much for doing this. Please, just to get us started, tell us a little bit about who you are, what you're up to these days, and where can people go to learn more about you and the difference you're making?

Well, thank you, Scott. My name is Tanya Marion. I'm an environmental careers correspondent, actually journalist. That's my new identity. Thank you, Scott, that I've owned. And my current work focuses on, um, environmental educators and them doing cross-sector work. That's the focus.

And what's the site that people can go to to learn more?

They can go to talatera.com. It's T-A-L-A-T-E-R-R-A.com.

So tell everybody about the challenge that you were experiencing before we started working together.

I had a couple challenges. So one, it revolved around a new identity. It was, it was trying to determine if who I've always been, which is a researcher and a teacher, would roll into this new identity as a journalist. I've been taking journalism courses, and I really— I know that I've been that way, and in reflection and hindsight, I know that what I've always done had some element of journalism to it. It was just a matter of if that title would really fit, if it was appropriate. And, but I know that that's where I was leaning, and that's where my heart is. And so it was just a matter of calling myself that, which I do now, except for— that's why I leaned with my compromise here, was calling myself a correspondent, because it felt small, um, not as grand a claim as calling myself a journalist.

Why did you decide to work with me specifically over all the other choices that you had for coaches?

Well, of course I've worked with you before, and the Catalyst exchange, the email exchange, uh, was very, it's very intriguing to me, uh, one because, uh, it was a fixed amount of time, um, what And it was boiled— everything had to be boiled down to one issue, one action. And that's exactly what I needed and what I've needed. And that was the draw. And it was your email exchange, Catalyst inbox is excellent. It's excellent.

Awesome. Well, why do you think that that approach in particular was so effective?

It was— had to be one thing, had to— it was very focused and it was very relevant to where I was now or where I have been now. And the constraint of moving myself forward over a 6-email exchange was also very effective.

Yeah, the focus, the focus quality of it seems to be really helpful for all the folks that have been in that program. So I appreciate you confirming that suspicion of mine. So what has, you know, what has happened for you and your business since you've gone through that 6 email exchange?

Well, it's been, it's been wonderful. I have owned the role of journalists. I have made peace with what my role really is, which is not to fix the problem that I set out to fix. It is to describe it. It is to do everything that comes before the fixing part. And I think that is really my role and my strengths as a teacher and a researcher and sharer and all the things that I've always done. I think that is That's what my role is, is to describe the landscape in environmental education and the freelance landscape and the issue of cross-sector work and environmental educators and other things they could do in adjacent fields. That's been— the exchange has been a real help with that. And so owning a new title, really making peace with what I've— what my role really is, has been the two biggest steps forward for me.

And so how has embracing that new identity and, and new direction, uh, been helpful in your life overall?

Yeah, well, I have, um— it has helped me send letters of introduction one to a magazine, one to a local newspaper. It's helped me adopt that new identity, and it really wasn't so much the sending of two letters, finally letting them go. It was sending that first one, because with sending that first letter, that new identity just fell into place, and it made it much easier to send the second one and to ask, make the ask that I asked in that second letter, which was an entirely different letter. It's like I felt— went over the— this, this hurdle.

Well, my assertion with this idea of empathetic antagonism and encouraging people, my clients, to take intentional action is that you become the thing by doing the thing. Like, we can talk all day about strategy and mindset, and we can plan until the cows come home, but until you actually you actually enter the arena, engage the field, and do the thing, you don't have any data, you don't have any feedback, you don't have anything to test against or to refine and iterate and improve against. So I really applaud your willingness to take the leap, not just with the coaching, but also not just crafting the emails, but actually hitting that send button. And then that earned competence to send the second, and I'm sure many more to come. Where do you think you would be right now if hadn't trusted yourself and invested in yourself by working together?

I'd be hanging on to those letters, and my list of who I might send letters to would be longer. There's no question. Absolutely no question. It was really that sending that first one. And then also the way that our conversations helped really make helped me make peace with what my role was and that, you know, that it was okay to follow up on my strengths instead of trying always to adopt some other identity, you know, to do things in another way. So yeah, I would be hanging— I wouldn't— still wouldn't have sent those letters, I know, especially that second one. Yeah.

That's awesome. Well, as a repeat offender, I know that, you know, you had already some context for, you know, what to expect and what would be like. But it all began with a free Catalyst Exchange helping you define and more clearly articulate what exactly you were trying to accomplish and what your most immediate constraint was. If anyone is tuning in and is on the fence, even with just starting with that free Catalyst Exchange, what would you tell them?

I would encourage them to send you an email and ask for that first question because it isn't simply— well, first, it isn't just questions, some stock questions. It's very personalized. It's a very customized conversation that happens. And it's just amazing how that exchange is such thoughtful, and such— the conversation was so deep. Um, I— it really nudged me and got me into the next, next step. So I would encourage anyone to really just send that first question and, and give it a go.

I really appreciate that. Well, it's always a privilege to witness and facilitate the difference that you're making in the world. You're definitely doing work that matters not just for you and the people that you work with but for all of us so really appreciate the opportunity to work with you again I really appreciate the gift of your time and your thoughtfulness in these responses and yeah thank you Tanya just keep go-go going!

Thank you Scott, thank you.