Mentoring is one of the most rewarding things I do. Not because it’s easy — it isn’t — but because when it works, you see the evidence of it in real time. Last week I attended the F100 Programme Pitch, Retail Showcase and Demo Day at Sky HQ. It marked the end of a cohort I’ve been deeply invested in, and watching the founders I mentored take to the stage was genuinely one of those moments that reminds you why you do the work. What meaningful mentoring actually looks like Ther

We spend a lot of time talking about what it takes to leave corporate life. The financial preparation, the runway, the pricing, the courage to back yourself when the salary stops. I covered all of that in September's Before You Leave Corporate session and the conversation was one of the most honest and grounded I have been part of in a long time. But there is another conversation that sits just before that one. And it is the question I am bringing to 6 October. What is work c

That question sat at the heart of Before You Leave Corporate: The Financial Conversation Nobody Has With You, and it turned out to be the question that unlocked everything else. I went into the session knowing we would cover numbers, benefits, pricing and financial runway. What I did not fully anticipate was how quickly the conversation would move from the practical to the deeply personal. Because once you start talking honestly about money — what you earn, what you spend, wh

Karen F Burke leads a practical workshop for professionals considering leaving corporate life. Know your numbers, understand your financial runway and make the leap prepared.