Susan C. Martin, Ed.D., PCC
My mission is to empower women with PhDs and other doctoral degrees to unapologetically unleash their brilliance on the world, fully flourish at work and experience more meaning, happiness, satisfaction and joy in life.
I provide specialized, positive psychology-based career and life coaching to people with doctoral degrees (PhDs, EdDs, etc.) - from any discipline and at all stages of their careers. I also consult with graduate schools, graduate programs, career centers and grant-funded training programs to design and improve career programming for their students pursuing doctoral degrees.
My unique journey as the first person in my working-class family to attend college, combined with my experiences as an engineering major and doctoral student, fueled my passion for helping others navigate confusing, frustrating and seemingly impossible academic and career pathways.
In my coaching practice, I help clients (re)gain clarity about what they truly want from their careers and lives. I’m skilled at supporting them in creating their own paths forward, staying motivated, and overcoming the big and small challenges that undoubtedly will arise. With warmth, wisdom, and trust, I guide and accompany clients through creating the lives they deeply yearn for. I also support them to as they navigate toward their desired future and through the career pivots, job searches, encore careers, life transitions, stressful and toxic workplaces, and the quest for better career-life harmony required to get there.
Deep listening, asking powerful questions, using my strong intuition and sharing my specific expertise for doctoral career development and job search issues in a personalized way are the foundation of my career coaching and consultation approach.
My background includes a rich and varied 30-year career in higher education in which I was focused on fostering student success, facilitating career exploration and teaching job search skills for thousands of diverse students. Over the years I have developed competence and knowledge of the unique career challenges faced by international, first gen, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ individuals; women in computing and underrepresented populations in STEM.
From 2016-2022, I designed and delivered career services for 4,000 doctoral students in 83 academic programs at the University of Maryland in a dual role in the Graduate School and University Career Center. My LinkedIn page provides more details about my work history with grant-funded STEM education programs, assessment and evaluation.
In addition to earning my doctorate in Higher Education, I am an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and a Certified Mentor Coach (CMC). To achieve this level of recognized life coaching credentials, I completed 140 hours of coaching training through MentorCoach LLC, successfully completed their rigorous written and coaching performance evaluations as well as the ICF Credentialling exam. I am currently completing a 9-month certification program in applied positive psychology, CAPP, through The Flourishing Center and a year-long program to specialize in women-centered coaching with Dr. Claire Zammit.
Let’s talk how we might work together.