All Posts

By Hetal Joshi Gordon | Dream Big, Think Big Imagine being pulled out of school in the middle of the year. Your friends, your routine, your place in the pecking order, all gone. And you didn’t even get to say goodbye. That's what it can feel like when a job ends, whether you were laid off, burned out, or walked away on your own. Our waking hours We spend roughly half our waking hours working. Even if you say 40%, that only counts the time you're "in the office." It doesn't in

by Hetal Joshi Gordon In March, my sister told me something that changed the trajectory of my year. She'd been to a few of these kinds of retreats herself, and she knew my leadership background, my coaching work, the way I show up for people. She said, “You should be doing this — you’d be amazing, and you could really help people.” My eyes lit up. I didn't have to think about it. I already knew, because I'd lived it from the other side. Back in my corporate life, I went to re

By Hetal Joshi Gordon | Dream Big, Think Big What's the best way to lead through a crisis? Honestly, you might have to fail to find out. I'm a big believer in trusting your gut. But in a crisis, your gut isn't enough. It's too dangerous to rely on alone. So you try. And there's a good chance you fail. One of the worst crises I ever led through was the first brand safety incident on YouTube. Even now, it's painful to look back on. Not just because of what happened — because of

by Hetal Joshi Gordon | Dream Big, Think Big My favorite role in this world is being a Mama. My heart is 33.3% split across all three babies – now teens and adults. Today is a big day. First day of Senior Year. Wow. As I come into this moment, fully present and engaged, I am flooded with memories. I can picture it now: 2014, my son, starting kindergarten at my old school. I remember every emotion from that year, tangled up with the constant tension of my professional career.

By Hetal Joshi Gordon | Dream Big, Think Big Glaciers move so slowly you can't see it happening. But the force is enormous — and the landscape after is completely different from the landscape before. That's this year for me. For most of my career, money solved everything. Not because I was careless. Because I was busy. A big job, a big salary, a lot of stock — and almost no time. So money became my tool for everything. Burnt out? I once bought myself a very expensive necklace

By Hetal Joshi Gordon | Dream Big, Think Big I wrapped up my long corporate career last summer. But this? This is the first summer I'm actually living in my new world. Last year I was decompressing — this year I'm awake for it. And I have something I've never had before: the chance to truly redefine the way I work. Which got me reflecting. I'm proud of how hard I worked all those years. Genuinely. But looking back, I could have done things differently. I could have been more

By Hetal Joshi Gordon | Dream Big, Think Big Last May I was in a conference room in New York City, telling my team I was leaving corporate life to focus on life for a while. One of my closest friends gave me a card and a beaded bracelet with the word “grateful” on it. I didn’t fully understand the symbolism in that moment. But I do now. She wasn’t just giving me a bracelet. She was watching me remove twenty years of golden handcuffs — and replace them with something shimmerin

A year ago this month I went from being the breadwinner to putting actual bread on the table. What followed was a reckoning with who I’d been, what I actually valued, and who I was without all of it. From filling out immigration forms that ask for your profession to meeting your daughter’s freshman year friends — the question hit me in the most ordinary moments. How do I introduce myself? Who am I if I’m not a Googler, a TTDer, a Director, an SVP? I didn’t have a clean answer

This morning a dear friend texted me. They were laid off. My heart broke a little. Because I’ve been there. I was laid off from a job in London while on a Visa. A city I loved. A life I had built. And someone else decided it was over. And I’ve seen it happen to some of the most talented people I know coming out of big tech. It’s disrespectful. It’s scary. And it messes with you on a level that’s hard to explain — unless you’ve worked at one of these companies. Here’s what peo

Yesterday was a beautiful day for the Gordon family. My husband graduated from Georgia State University. Four years of hard work. Juggling critical family responsibilities, a wife starting a new job, kids in the thick of middle and high school. He did it anyway. This wasn't a small decision. It meant investing time, money, and energy for four years — while never dropping the ball at home. There were late nights, early mornings, and more than a few moments of doubt. But he com

In my part of the world, May is not a month. It's a mood. School performances. End-of-year everything. Work sprints before summer. The group chats blowing up. The calendar that somehow got even fuller than April. If you're feeling it — you're not alone. And you're not failing. Here's what I've learned about getting through the chaos without losing yourself: Name it. MayHEM is a season. It has an end date. Knowing that helps. Protect one thing. Not everything. One thing each d

My WOW moment. Belize, Jan 2026 No matter how hard we try, seeing things differently is harder than it sounds. I know because I actually did it — and still almost lost the view. Over New Year's, my family and I went to Belize. I took the opportunity to do yoga on the pier at the end of the beach. And in that moment, upside down, I noticed something incredible. The water was at the top of my view. The sky was at the bottom. And it was one of the most beautiful thing

For years, I was convinced that walking away from a big corporate title meant I was losing something. Seniority. Status. Security. Identity. But here's what I've learned: at a certain point in life, the treadmill isn't taking you anywhere. It's just keeping you tired. And the bravest thing you can do is step off. What nobody tells you is that you can't just leap from one chapter to the next. There's a season in between — and it's not wasted time. It's the most important work

For as long as I can remember, I’ve pushed myself to do more, be more, and achieve more. It’s a mix of nature and nurture—a byproduct of being raised by wonderfully human Indian parents. When I stepped out of the corporate race last June, I assumed that drive would vanish. It didn’t. I started "sourdoughing" last Autumn, and soon noticed a familiar anxiety creeping into the process—the starter, the levain, the proofing, even the crust. It had to be perfect otherwise I had fai

Why? 1. You ultimately choose - this is powerful. 2. Make the decision to invest your time where YOU matter. We all know how replaceable we are at these companies. 3. This is an opportunity to unpack all the other areas of your life. This is an opportunity to stop throwing money at everything just trying to make it work. After 15+ years at Google, and 3+ years at The Trade Desk, I took a break from corporate life last June. Why? The multiple hats I was wearing were putting a

Jessie Buckley's dedication to Mothers in her Oscar's 2026 acceptance speech "to the beautiful chaos of a Mother's heart" that struck me to the core. This week my youngest child turns 13. Why is this notable? Because this will be the first time in my children's lives that I am able to focus on them, fully. The first time since I was 6 weeks pregnant with my first child where I'm not stressing or worrying about how to be there for my corporate job and my family. Such a GIFT. W