For this new series called, “Life After PR” I interviewed successful executives who have decided to follow new career paths with roots in the Communications field. These leaders have discovered their talents and motivation have brought them unexpected success as leaders and business managers.

We are living in an age where the ease of collaboration, information sharing, and individual contributions can impact entire communities. The skills that we think define us as communications professionals are the skills that are deployed in many applications. They do not limit us to one career track– unless we set those limits for ourselves.

Upwardly mobile comms executives are reaching leadership positions, more than ever before, at younger ages and can look forward to decades of productive contributions. If the PR career track peters out, what might be next? This is a question we should be asking ourselves and looking for non-traditional options.

Over the next several months, I will be describing the careers of several outstanding communications leaders and the decisions they made that, in retrospect, became turning points that changed their lives. Their courage to take a chance on heading in new directions allowed them to consider all their options and find new paths.