I am Nadja Chaieb; founder of Made for More, Career Fulfilment Coach & People Management Consultant as well as Mother of two.
I have cut my HR teeth internationally in leading management positions for almost two decades within some of the biggest global brands such as IKEA, Vodafone, H&M and luxury fashion brand Salvatore Ferragamo. Working across 10 European countries I have experienced great success – but climbing the ladder isn’t always the road to fulfilment.
I grew up in a multicultural entrepreneurial family in a small village in Sweden, which at the time was quite uncommon, but it made me understand what it means to run your own business. As a high achiever at school, I could have chosen many different paths, and all I knew was that I wanted to work with people and development – and to travel. Despite being encouraged by my parents to take the ‘safer route’ of climbing the corporate ladder, already as a child I dreamt about running my own company.
Over the years I have had my own sets of challenges, which in different way has help to build my character. I moved to Italy following my dream, with very little pocket money and not speaking a word of Italian but with a strong vision to continuing my HR career here, to almost burning out and starting my own business during Corona with two young children – to mention a few.
I have had a taste of success, at least my definition of it; a wonderful international career, great salary, met amazing people and lived what for most could be a fantastic life. Well, fantastic was not really the case for me in the end, working too much, hardly seeing my family, much required travelling so therefore no time for myself, my well-being or anything else but work.
I now strive to impact other people’s lives and businesses. To help them find the career and purpose that really light up their souls instead of wasting time, energy and life in the wrong roles, teams or businesses. Because I believe we CAN and SHOULD have it all. EVERYONE deserves to experience the flexibility, freedom, and joy that come with finding a career you love. YOU deserve to be in control of your career, live your life on your terms and find something that you find truly meaningful. YOU deserve to leave behind a legacy that you can be proud of. YOU deserve to experience a career that you feel truly passionate about.
I am determined to use my profession, business acumen and wide experiences as a global HR expert and certified coach to help high achieving people, leaders and businesses who are made for more, to re-connect to themselves to find their inner purpose and to enable them to get the career and business they desire and deserve.
That is the reason I created Made for More, a Coaching & People Management company, for people and businesses who are Made for More, helping them to find their unique path to success and fulfilment, by purpose-led coaching and leadership.
Did you ever sit down and plan your career?
I always visualized my next career steps in my mind, but after climbing the ladder and still not feeling fulfilment I got confused, stuck and stressed about my future, the NOW WHAT? feeling occurred to me. Taking time to reflect on my situation and after some well invested coaching I realized my core values and my purpose were not fulfilled at all and that my desire to achieve more was still there. That I was meant for more than the life I had created so far. I concluded quite quickly that I wanted my own business, to enable the freedom that I craved and not running around the needs of someone else and to be able to work with what I love. I also realized after working with my self-awareness that my purpose is to help others in similar situations.
Have you faced any challenges along the way?
Oh yes! Many! Especially in the beginning, just after I took the decision to start my own business there were some ‘’mermaids’’ coming from the corporate world knocking on my door… offering me great demanding HR positions with high salary and status and in the beginning I was listening to them, since while creating my own business and confronting a lot of challenges on my own, it seemed sometimes more easy and more secure to just go back to a normal job in the corporate world. So often I felt myself very confused, if going back or not….but when I imagine myself in similar positions as I had before, not being able to live my life fully and on my terms, I just landed so strong in my core values again and in my purpose and realized that that is not what I want. I wanted to follow through my project, since I believed in it so much. The corporate world still exists…
What has been your biggest achievement to date?
The biggest achievement is that I have been able to create my own business from scratch, basically alone, and at the day I opened my company officially I already had a big part of clients already.
What one thing do you believe has been a major factor in you achieving success?
That I have taken action! I haven’t let a day go by without taking constant and massive action, no matter what was going on in the world for me.
How do you feel about mentoring? Have you mentored anyone or are you someone’s mentee?
I believe everyone should have at least one mentor. I have different ones for different topics and I act as a mentor too, to ex colleagues, friends and clients. I think it is so important to surround yourself with people that have made similar journeys that can support you and with people that are supportive to your ideas. A coach who can give me guidance, is for me a must for my development, both in business and life.
If you could change one thing to accelerate the pace of change for Gender Equality, what would it be?
Equal salaries between men and woman for equal positions starting from today.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self what would it be?
Don’t worry so much, just trust your inner voice and everything will be fine!
What is your next challenge and what are you hoping to achieve in the future?
My next challenge is to contribute to a real change in the outdated corporate, parenting and societal systems, so that parents, especially mothers’ can enjoy both a successful career and a fulfilled life.
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