Michelle Wright on Reinventing Her Professional Identity and Career Abroad

What does it take to reinvent your professional identity in a new country — while still holding onto everything that made you good at your job in the first place?

This episode is a story of professional reinvention:

Dr Michelle Wright, a British-qualified GP moved to the Lake Geneva region 22 years ago, leaving behind a busy East London practice to follow her husband's career. Today she's a respected health communicator and educator with over 15 years on Swiss radio, co-founder and director of HealthFirst, and still practises medicine at the International Labour Organization.

What I loved about our conversation was hearing how Michelle navigated her professional reinvention — building on the knowledge and skills she'd developed in general practice, weaving in her early passion as a communicator and people person, and courageously stepping into new territory as she founded a company.

What we cover:

• What it took to leave a career she’d already established and start afresh in a new environment

• Her professional reinvention: How she developed herself and her career at the intersection of her strengths, passions and a true consumer need

• Learning "the leadership side of things" — hiring, delegating, running a company — as someone who is, in her own words, “a doctor, not a business person”

• What she's most proud of over the past 20-plus years in Switzerland 

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More about Michelle:
Dr Michelle Wright is a British-qualified General Practitioner with over 25 years of experience. Based in Switzerland, she works part-time as a staff doctor at the International Labour Organization in Geneva, supporting the physical and psychological health of employees. She is also Company Director of health education company HealthFirst, which she co-founded in 2012, and a certified Lifestyle Medicine practitioner. A skilled health communicator, Michelle hosted Health Matters on World Radio Switzerland for over 15 years, making evidence-based health information accessible to the wider public.

Find out more about HealthFirst and listen to Michelle's own podcast, Health Matters.

Ruth Kearns Wollmann is an ICF-accredited professional coach and leadership development facilitator with a background as a cognitive psychologist, business executive and organisational leader in corporate and non-profit organisations. 

She partners with established and emerging leaders as they seek to navigate their path to success from a place of strength, authenticity and purpose.

To find out more about Ruth's work with individuals and organisations visit her website at: yourpathtosuccess.ch

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