Susan Bernstein, MBA PhD

Susan supports high-energy, self-reflective people who crave more meaning in their work, relationships, and life. Her career coaching work is informed by her doctoral research that demonstrates that cognitive awareness alone is insufficient to help people navigate to more purposeful, prosperous careers. Susan helps clients to learn to listen and trust to their inner wisdom, and then create an energizing vision of what’s possible and take action to create that life and livelihood. Her work deeply touches career changers who are standing at a crossroads, and want to shout, “I’ve been stuck in work that doesn’t really fit me. It’s time for work that I truly want to do. I don’t know what that work is yet, and I have some fears around my future. But, boy, I am so ready to find my next career move, one that really lets me have meaning and money!”

Susan uses innovative, unconventional approaches that can help you reach an answer you hadn't reached before, or maybe you’d forgotten, or had buried deep inside. If you’ve already tried conventional approaches to career change and gotten conventional results, Susan may be the coach for you. Susan is committed to assisting people who love to learn about themselves and feel drawn to pursue what’s really important to them in their next career move. She is known for helping people to get unstuck, get clear, and get moving! As one of her clients recently said, “Susan is a natural teacher, and healer, who will guide you masterfully through your fears, insecurities, and hang-ups, and help you emerge into a stronger, happier self, clear about your purpose, confident about your abilities, and open to new opportunities and professional paths.”

After spending 17 years in management consulting, marketing, and executive development positions with such prestigious companies as Intel and Accenture, a life crisis lead Susan to pursue her first love: psychology. To fund her doctoral education at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, she started counseling students in the career center at the Haas School of Business, where she had earned her MBA. When students described feeling stuck or lost in their careers, Susan asked if they would be open to experimenting with mind-body tools. She discovered that they not only enjoyed the tools, but gained clarity and confidence as they pursued their life and career paths. In 2005, Susan launched her career coaching practice, Work from Within. Susan is dedicated to helping people discover, honor, and act on the wisdom of their body, mind, and spirit.