Another year around the sun. And maybe the best professional year yet!?
Today I turn 41. And I have something to share that's a little overdue: I started my own consulting practice.
This isn't news to a lot of you. If I've seen you since last fall, it's almost certainly come up. I updated my LinkedIn profile. I've casually mentioned it in a thousand conversations. But I never actually stopped and said, "hey, LinkedIn, I'm doing this." So consider this my “LinkedIn Official” moment. (If you're a millennial, you remember when making something "Facebook Official" meant it actually counted. Same energy, different platform, and maybe slightly higher stakes. 😆)
This week, I've been reflecting, because what a GIFT it is to take another lap around the sun and sit with all of it. The good moments and the hard moments. The moments where growth happened whether I wanted it to or not. And somewhere in the middle of all that reflecting, I realized: THIS is the post. The one I kept meaning to write.
Last year, I wrote a post when I turned 40. (It was long. Which, as you may know, most of mine are.) It was a full decade retrospective: the career pivots, the lessons, the people, the moments that shaped me. I am a collector of memories, and it was a fun, nostalgic trip down a road I'm genuinely proud of.
This one is different… a little bit retrospective, but more of a look-up-from-what-I'm-building-and-actually-say-it-out-loud moment.
📣 Azul Heart is my fractional consulting practice for healthcare technology companies. 🩵 It is the thing I have been building for the past year while also trying to figure out what "building it" even means when you're a one-woman show with a lot of ideas and a multitasking-in-a-bajillion-tabs brain.
This was never exactly the plan. But somewhere in the middle of my 40th year, I stopped waiting for the plan to announce itself and just started doing the thing. Shorter runway between idea and action, and things clicking and connecting at a speed that surprised me.
And I want to be clear right now, before I go any further: this post is not just about me. It is about every single person who got me here. So bear with me, because while I don’t name names, there are a LOT of people I’m so.incredibly.grateful.for.
The Year in Highlights:
Moderated a panel at a Northern Ohio Chapter of HIMSS event. Spoke on a panel at the Bluebird Leaders SOAR conference. Had an amazing mentor as part of that community. Attended HLTH Inc. with a media badge from Healthcare IT Today. Attended my first CHIME Innovation Summit. Helped THE BUZZ PODCAST at my 10th HIMSS (and somehow ended up in a photo from the Executive Summit that made its way into lots of marketing materials!). Spoke at Swaay.Health and spent quality time with a community I am genuinely, deeply proud to be part of. Guested on podcasts. Attended a couple events at the The City Club of Cleveland. Attended my first Becker's Healthcare events. Figured out how to get myself to the conferences that matter without a corporate budget behind me (and yes, a sincere thank you to the work friends turned real friends who have shared a hotel room…is there anything better than a sleepover with your healthcare industry BFs? There is not.). Signed some incredible clients. Found a great business partner. Built (and still building!) something I'm proud of.
And I've leaned into rural health in a way that feels less like a topic area and more like a calling. Part of that came from genuine interest (and maybe a little too much empathy🥲). Part of it came from watching my gram navigate a small-town Pennsylvania nursing home and hospice system in her final weeks. I wrote about that experience in January, and it is the piece of writing I'm most proud of from this past year.
It’s just been a whirlwind of a year, and chances are if you’re reading this, you were part of it.
On Azul Heart:
As anyone who has talked to me over the past 9 months knows, my elevator pitch needs some work. 😬😅 And while that's partly because I am just very long-winded (Toastmasters, I'm coming for you), it's also because I've been refining what this looks like.
Here's what I do know: I'm an industry connector who is fluent in marketing. I lean into ecosystem engagement, field strategy, and the kind of work that happens in rooms and relationships, not just dashboards. Early on, I made the deliberate choice not to call myself a fractional CMO. This felt a little too limiting, because the work I love most is the connective kind: translating between strategy and execution, between companies and the people they need to know, between an idea and the room where it becomes real. Someone told me recently, 'you don't have to make these connections for me,' and I said, 'I know, but I want to!’ The more bright minds that get connected, the better it is for this industry, and for the patients it serves. 💡
Right now I'm working with companies doing things that matter: generative AI in clinical settings, healthcare advisory services, rural health, innovative solution development, and more. The clients that I get to work with genuinely excite me...even my mom, who maybe only partially knows what I do, has noticed my excitement and happiness at work!
And somewhere along the way I also realized that what I bring to the table isn't always a marketing deliverable. Some of my favorite work this year was just being the person someone called when they needed to think something through, or when they needed an intro, or when they just needed someone who gets this industry to be in their corner. Connecting the dots between the strategy and the people, between the idea and the right door to knock on. I have a couple of exciting opportunities ahead where that's exactly the job, and I cannot wait.
I've also learned this year that saying no is just as important as saying yes. At times, having a clear list of "I know I don't want that" has been more useful than actually knowing what I do want. And spoiler alert: when it's your own business, the only person who can make the really hard calls is you. No one could hand me the answers, despite all the generous input I was getting. It was still mine to figure out…which has has been equal parts terrifying and the most empowering thing I've ever experienced.
I've turned down things that didn't feel right or that didn't align with what I believe in. While some of these decisions were VERY hard, I have no regrets, because I am my own product now. I get to align myself to companies and people and missions I actually believe in. That is an extraordinary thing to say, and I don't take it for granted for a single second. (SHOUTOUT to my husband who has health insurance that I can be on. I won't go down the rabbit hole of "why is this country built on a healthcare system where employment is required?" here, but I am very aware of how incredibly fortunate I am.)
On the People: (and yes, this is going to sound like an awards speech, and while that's completely corny, it also feels accurate, because I genuinely feel like I've won something this year 🏆):
I would need an entire book to thank everyone who has shaped this year. (Some of you have heard me say "I'll put it in my book," and while I mostly say it as a joke... maybe stay tuned.👀📖)
To the people who believed in me before I fully believed in myself: you are the reason I'm here. My husband is at the very top of that list, anddddddd he is probably a little relieved that I am finally catching up to what he's always seen. 🤍 To everyone else who shared words of encouragement, advice, validation, a tough truth when I needed it, or just quiet confidence in what I was building ...THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. 🫶🏼
I don't know exactly where I first picked up the instinct to give before I get. Maybe it was my grandparents, whose faith showed up not in words but in action (I recently came across my gram's index card donation box, meticulously itemized, a record of every charity they gave to year after year, quietly and without fanfare). Maybe it was watching others in this industry do it first. Maybe it was a conference theme that finally put language to something I'd always felt. Maybe it was a conversation with a newer industry friend who said it out loud and I thought: yes, that's exactly it. Wherever it came from, it's how I've always tried to operate. I truly believe what you put out to the universe comes back to you, and this past year has been the proof.
To my network: I didn't build it on purpose. It happened because I kept showing up in rooms, in communities, on virtual meetings, at conference receptions and dinners, in hallways, and on dog walks with my trusty AirPods. This stuff doesn't feel like "work" when I enjoy every conversation. I've been told that's a skill, but it still doesn't feel like one. It just feels like being myself (sometimes probably a little too much of myself 😬) and caring about the people I meet. That network is now showing up for me in ways I never anticipated: warm introductions, referrals, discounted or comped badges (because "companies pay, not people"), event invites, or a text at exactly the right moment (literally happened earlier today!). Thank you to everyone for everything. (Broad but true)
To the colleagues who became collaborators: people who worked alongside me in previous chapters, believed in what I was building, and brought their own gifts to help make it real: website, branding, business cards, logo, strategy sessions, design work, brainstorm convos, client chats, and conversations that turned into something more. You didn't have to show up for me the way you did. The fact that you did means more than I'll ever be able to say properly.
To this entire community: from organized groups and communities I'm proud to be a part of, to everyone person who I've chatted with, or messaged with, or even trauma bonded with (lol), this industry is special because of what we are building together.
To the clients who took a chance on me: I am humbled, grateful, and taking that trust seriously every single day. You believed in what I could do before I had a formal name on the door, and I will never forget that.
And to everyone who has taught me something this year, challenged me, connected me, corrected me, encouraged me, dealt with my brain ping-ponging all over the place, or just picked up the phone when I called from a dog walk: thank you. Everyone is figuring it out, and finding people to help me figure it out has put me where I am today. Paying it forward is critical, and the phone-a-friend network is genuinely everything.
On what’s Coming:
More. Lol. And I mean that in the best possible way. The entrepreneurial connector bug hit me at 40 and has absolutely not slowed down. I have new clients I'm excited about, conversations in progress that I could turn into something AWESOME, advocacy work I've believed in personally for a long time that I'm now in a position to actually build around, and a community to engage with to drive meaningful change in healthcare... because that's the whole point, isn't it?
I've never been this busy, but I've also never been this excited. I'm actively working on the sustainability piece because I do NOT want to burn out... and let's be honest, summer is coming and I cannot wait to find that balance of work and fun that I know is possible.
More than anything, I want to keep doing work that actually matters. For real people, in real communities, with real outcomes. That's why I'm here and why I keep choosing this industry, over and over again. The stakes are real, the people are extraordinary, and there is so much left to do. I believe in connections, in community, and in relationships as the actual infrastructure of this industry. And I believe the best is still ahead.
Here's to 41. I'm just getting started.
PS: A few years ago, I spent my birthday in Sweden on a work trip and made a point of not telling anyone until the very end of the day. SO glad I changed my mind and told my work friends...because I learned that in Sweden, you don't say "happy birthday," you say "congratulations!" Loved that reframe, and this year especially, it feels exactly right. Congratulations to all of us who keep showing up, keep building, and keep going. 🎂