Your Next Chapter Deserves a Plan:
How I Became the Corporate Escape Sherpa
For years, I did everything I thought I was supposed to do. I worked hard. I took on more responsibility. I solved problems, led teams, raised my child, commuted, went to school, and continued proving that I could handle whatever was placed in front of me. From the outside, I was building a successful corporate career. What I did not realize at the time was that I was also building the foundation for the work I do today.
My name is Tabatha Jones, and I am the founder of Empowered Leadership Coaching. I call myself The Corporate Escape Sherpa because I help women create thoughtful, financially responsible plans to transition out of corporate America when the time is right for them.
I am not here to tell women to quit their jobs tomorrow, burn the boats, and hope everything works out. I believe your next chapter deserves more than hope.
It deserves a strategy.
From the Call Center to Corporate Leadership
My corporate career began in a call center, answering phones for the cable company back when it was Viacom. I planned to stay for about six months, gain some experience, and move on. That six-month plan turned into a long and unexpected career.
I eventually moved into Information services, where I discovered what I jokingly call my ability to “translate geek to the C-suite.” I could understand the technical details—the coding, systems, and operational challenges—and communicate them clearly to senior leadership. I could also take what the executives wanted and translate it back to the technical teams responsible for making it happen. That skill opened doors.
I started as an analyst, moved into project management, where I led the largest billing system conversion in the history of what had become Comcast. I loved project management and was very good at it. As the years passed, I continued taking on more responsibility.
At one point, I was leading major projects and managing three completely different teams, all while carrying the same project manager title I had held for years. For 10 years, I waited for someone to notice. I assumed that if I worked hard enough, did an excellent job, and continued proving myself, a promotion would eventually appear.
It did not.
Learning to Advocate for Myself
Around 2009, the company went through a reorganization, and several employees were required to reapply for their positions. While reviewing the available roles, I realized I was already performing most of the responsibilities listed for the next level. So, I applied. I was offered the promotion with a four percent pay increase. Instead of feeling celebrated, I felt insulted.
At that point in my career, I did not really understand how to negotiate or advocate for myself. Like many women, I had been conditioned to be grateful for the opportunity and avoid appearing difficult. So, I simply said, “No, thank you.”
My plan was to find another position or leave the company altogether. About 15 minutes later, I was called into the chief financial officer’s office. She told me they had planned for me to take the role and wanted to understand what it would take for me to accept it. She then explained all the reasons the company valued me and why they believed I belonged in that position. Something clicked.
I asked for a 15-percent increase and the title of senior billing systems manager. She looked at me and said, “I assume you mean 15 percent on top of the four percent you were already offered?” Inside, I was thinking, “No—but yes.” I walked out with the title and the raise.
That experience changed something in me. It showed me the importance of asking, but it also demonstrated the impact women can have when we support one another. That CFO did not have to call me into her office. She could have accepted my refusal and moved on.
Instead, she created an opportunity for me to recognize my own value.
Speaking Up Again
Less than a year later, another reorganization reduced seven director positions to four. I applied for one of the director roles but was not selected for an interview. After hearing existing directors discussing their interviews, I contacted the hiring manager and asked for a conversation.
She explained that she had been instructed to consider only candidates who already held director titles. I thanked her for her honesty and then asked if I could be equally transparent. I told her what I had been doing during the 10 years I carried a project manager title. I explained the scope of my projects, the teams I led, and the responsibilities I had quietly absorbed. As I spoke, I watched her expression change. Two days later, I was flown to Denver to interview before a panel of seven vice presidents. I landed the position and became a division director.
At the time, I did not realize it, but I was developing a methodology for advancement. I was learning that doing the work is not always enough. We must also understand our value, articulate our experience, and be willing to advocate for the opportunities we have earned.
That belief eventually became central to my coaching.
The Voice That Would Not Leave Me Alone
I continued advancing, eventually becoming a senior director. Then I attended a women’s leadership and empowerment conference. As I listened to two women speaking from the stage, I kept hearing a voice in my head asking, “Why aren’t you leading this?” My immediate response was filled with doubt. I do not have a doctorate. I have not traveled the world. I am not as qualified as they are.
It was all the familiar language of imposter syndrome. But by the time I left the conference, the voice had become impossible to ignore. You need to start coaching. You love coaching. What are you waiting for?
I decided to begin while keeping my corporate position. I hired a business coach, mapped out a plan, and started coaching on the side.
That period was incredibly valuable because I could experiment while still receiving my corporate salary, benefits, and, yes, free cable. I worked with college students, professionals in transition, people whose mothers sent them to me—which, by the way, is one of the hardest coaching situations—and many others.
Over time, I discovered that I especially loved working with women in their 40s and 50s who were asking a powerful question: What’s next?
Initially, much of my work focused on career advancement and job searches. But my own next chapter was quietly taking shape.
When Success No Longer Feels Successful
In 2019, another major reorganization moved the company from a divisional structure to a national one. My responsibilities were changing significantly, yet I was expected to transition with the same title and salary while waiting for a possible future equity adjustment. I decided that was not acceptable.
I contacted the department leader and explained that a new scope of work should come with a new title and compensation package. He admitted the company had not considered it. After further review, I received an offer letter promoting me to executive director with an increase in pay.
More importantly, my decision to speak up helped open the door for several of my peers—mostly women—who were also entering the new structure without appropriate title or salary adjustments.
Advocating for women has always been close to my heart. I have a gift for helping people recognize the strengths they can no longer see in themselves. Sometimes, they need only the smallest push to realize how capable they truly are.
Despite that promotion, the reorganization became painful. I was no longer aligned with the leadership style or direction of the organization. Trust had been broken, and every attempt to influence positive change felt like swimming upstream.
I was exhausted. I was miserable. And while trying to figure out the best solution to the problem, realized I had already built a business. I began asking myself, “What am I still doing here?”
Preparing for My Own Corporate Escape
My original plan was to resign after receiving my bonus in March 2020. Then the pandemic arrived. Thankfully, I had not yet given notice. I stepped back and reconsidered the timing. I committed to staying another year so I could prepare my leaders, strengthen the teams, document processes, and leave the organization in a healthy position. At the same time, I prepared my family and finances.
I met with financial advisors. I reviewed our money. I continued building my coaching business. I waited until my stock options and bonus were safely in the bank. My husband thought I was crazy, but I told him I was doing it anyway.
On April 2, 2021, I left corporate America. I did not leap without a net. I built the net first. That distinction is the heart of my work today
Why I Call Myself a Sherpa
By the end of 2024, I took an honest look at my business and asked myself where I was having the most fun. The answer was clear. I loved helping women build their escape plans. I loved helping them calculate their financial runway, pay down debt, identify unnecessary expenses, test business ideas, and create the foundation for their next chapter while their corporate income was still funding it.
That is how The Corporate Escape Sherpa was born. I chose the word “Sherpa” intentionally. I am not simply standing at the bottom of the mountain shouting instructions.
I have climbed the mountain. I know where the cliffs are. I recognize the signs that someone needs to stop and rest. I know when to walk beside a client, when to move slightly behind her, and when to step in front and help pull her forward. Sometimes I can even carry the load for a while. We may cry together. We will definitely laugh together. And there is a very good chance we will become friends.
My coaching style is organized, supportive, action-oriented, and grounded in accountability. I believe deeply in trust and integrity, but I also believe in achieving the goals we establish together, while having fun along the way.
Most of my clients have demanding full-time jobs or are navigating stressful job searches in a challenging market. I understand that there are times to push and times to provide space.
A good coach must know the difference.
No, You Do Not Have to Burn the Boats
Some coaches encourage clients to eliminate every backup plan and jump fully into entrepreneurship. That might work when you are 30 and willing to sleep on someone’s couch. Many of my clients are women over 50.
We like quality skincare. We have backs that need supportive mattresses. We have families, mortgages, retirement accounts, responsibilities, and futures we want to protect. This is not the time to gamble with financial security. It is the time to become intentional.
Many successful women earn excellent salaries but have not recently examined where their money is going. During our work, we look closely at spending, subscriptions, debt, savings, and financial leaks.
One client discovered she was still paying for three gym memberships, including one near a former workplace she had not visited in years. Others find streaming services, storage accounts, memberships, and automatic charges they had completely forgotten. These discoveries are not about shame. They are about creating choices.
Every expense we eliminate and every debt we reduce can extend the runway toward freedom.
Watching Women Recognize Their Own Power
One of my clients came to me after a devastating interview. She was one of the top saleswomen in her company, yet she struggled to communicate her accomplishments and tell her story. The position was her dream job, and when she did not receive the offer, she called me in tears.
We worked on her confidence, her messaging, and her ability to clearly articulate the value she brought to an organization. When the same position reopened, she was afraid to apply again. I told her we absolutely were going to do it. After the interview, the vice president asked what had changed since their previous conversation. She told him, “I hired a coach. I worked on my confidence, and I learned how to articulate my story.” She received the offer.
We then negotiated significantly more compensation than the company originally proposed, along with a car stipend. She remains in that position today.
Another client dreamed of creating retreat experiences while still working full-time. We began by circling her desired resignation date on the calendar and then built the plan backward. Over the course of a year, she developed and filled her first two retreats, began generating revenue, and gave notice a month earlier than planned. That is the moment I love—the moment a woman realizes, “Oh my gosh. I really can do this.”
Women are often brilliant at helping everyone else succeed. Yet when it comes to our own ideas, dreams, and careers, we can struggle to see the path clearly.
That is where a guide becomes invaluable.
Turning Ideas Into Action
Today, my clients include women searching for new jobs, professionals building side businesses, entrepreneurs preparing to scale, and corporate leaders planning intentional exits. I also offer workshops and masterminds designed to make coaching accessible in a supportive group setting.
My job-search programs help professionals over 50 strengthen resumes, prepare for interviews, use artificial intelligence strategically, articulate their experience, and negotiate better offers.
My Idea to Income work helps women move beyond being overwhelmed by the endless amount of business advice available online. We begin with the first step, then the next, and continue building until the idea becomes something tangible and profitable. Because dreaming is valuable. But dreams become freedom only when we give them structure.
I believe women should be able to create careers and businesses that offer financial stability, meaningful impact, flexibility, and joy. You do not have to stay somewhere that is draining you simply because you have already invested years there. You also do not have to destroy the life you have built to create something new.
Your corporate job may be the very thing financing your next act. Use it intentionally. Build your runway. Strengthen your confidence. Test the idea. Make the plan. Circle the date. And when you are ready to climb, find someone who knows the mountain. I will meet you there.
My book Promotion Ready In 3 Months can be found on Amazon:
You can find me on my socials:
Substack: tabathajones.substack.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tabatha-jones-4485854/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/coach_tabatha/
Website: https://www.empowered-leader.com/
