Washington, D.C.- Jennifer Bindhammer dreamed of having the glamorous life she grew up with in the 70s. Once she started out on a "jet-set" life, she quickly realized she needed to ground herself in her values.

Below is an interview conducted by VIP's administrative partner, Angee Robertson, with Jennifer, who realized having it all doesn't mean you have to sacrifice for one path.

Listen to the RealAudio version of Jennifers's interview, click here. (NOTE: In order to listen to the recordings, you will need Real Player installed on your computer. To download a free version of Real Player, click here)

A: What profession were you pursuing prior to working with VIP Coaching?

J: I was a flight attendant. I met Deirdre at the beginning 2002 and it was fate. I had been dealing with all of the ramifications of September 11th. I knew that I needed more than what I had. I went through a particularly rough time with a relationship and just needed out of everything.

I started to look for a career counselor. I was given some referrals but wasn't connecting with anyone I came across. I walked into a meeting, one of those women-in-business meetings, and Deirdre was at the front of the room. We started talking and of course the conversation got around to career counselors. She told me what she did and we just connected. I had a good feeling about her and we talked easily. She seemed to understand what I was looking for and that led to our first meeting.

A: How long had you been contemplating a career change? Was it something always in the back of your mind or was it just because of the recent occurrences with your job situation and the events taking place?

J: I think it started earlier in the summer of 2001. Conversations with one of my managers in operations had kept coming back to me. "You should go into corporate,” he said. “You should go into the training department." I kept fighting that thought.

I knew I wasn't happy flying. I enjoyed the flying and I enjoyed my job. It just wasn't the challenge that I wanted it to be, and realized that I needed to be challenged. When I thought about changing careers, I prayed about it – I actively prayed about it – and was looking for change.

I kept resisting the corporate pursuit and then I found out that the airlines would not be bringing anyone into corporate from outside for awhile because of the economy. The longer I began to think about change, the more I thought, "well, there's got to be something" and my only guess at that point was that it would be in corporate.

Nothing was going to happen for awhile and I knew that. A few weeks later September 11th hit and there was a period of about three months that I toyed with the idea of changing but nobody could think about major change at that point. Everything came to a standstill. In January, was when I really started thinking, "you know what, I'm not sitting around. I'm not waiting. I'm going to go out and look for it."

And that's what got me to the point of really actively looking for a career

change again.

A: Was your career as a flight attendant something that you always wanted to do or was it something that you just stumbled upon through your life?

J: Well, both. Before being a flight attendant, I worked overseas for four years. I worked for an international humanitarian aid and children's organization. I traveled extensively and lived overseas for four years. I thought about going back at one point.

When I returned to the States at the end of 1998, I was tired. I felt that working overseas had taken everything out of me. It was very much one of those 24/7 types of jobs. There was always stuff that needed to be done and not enough people to do it.

I came home and I was burned out. I shut down for just about a year. I spent some time with my family and started thinking what I wanted to do. I had no clue, because my job had been my entire life. I lived where I worked. We were the job, so to speak. I thought about going back to Europe and made a six-week trip back to look at working with the organization again in London. I decided that was not where I wanted to be. Europe was not home anymore so I returned to the States and somehow it just popped up and the next thing I know, I'm filling out the application to be a flight attendant.

I think there's that part of me that was pulled toward it? – I grew up in the seventies. It was all glam. It was this glamorous job with this fabulous lifestyle that everybody assumes but nobody really knew. You just knew they were pretty. They were always happy, so to speak. And I had been flying alone since I was four or five. We left Florida to go to California so I'd get on a plane and it wasn't a big deal for me.

So I think that's what brought it to my attention and it sounded like fun. I was a traveler. It seemed to be a perfect fit, at least for awhile. It helped me to recover. I had no clue what I wanted to do. I knew I didn't want to do what I used to do with the organization in Europe, but I didn't really know and this would give me the chance to get my feet on the ground, so to speak. So that's how the airline came into being.

A: When you were contemplating a career change and you knew that you needed to go in that direction, did you ever think about working alone and trying to figure out what you need to do or had you already decided you needed help with your career goals?

J: I needed someone who could guide me through this process. I knew enough about myself that I knew I couldn't do it alone because I didn't know what I was looking for. I didn't even know where to start. You can read all the self-help books you want to but there is nothing like having someone hold you accountable. I was actively immersed in that anyway, but just couldn't get that process started without somebody to help.

A: Now that you've been working with VIP Coaching, what kind of changes have been brought about in your life?

J: Working with VIP Coaching got me into grad school. I have an MBA. I blame her for that. It's actually pretty incredible. She would not call me to the carpet – but she would definitely pick up on things. We'd be working on something, and all of a sudden she'd stop the whole conversation. She'd say, "What's this about?" And we'd work through that. As these things kept getting moved out of the way, I became more clear about my direction.

I got on the T in Boston on my way to work early one morning and I was standing there. I can still remember where I was standing. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I looked up, and was staring straight at a placard that they put on the T for an advertisement for an MBA program. A thought came into my head, "Well why not?" I called Deirdre and asked her what she thought about me enrolling in the MBA program. And she of course being a very supportive person that she is, said, "Why not?"

The next thing I know I'm researching all of these schools, and in the process I end up having wild meetings with people on airplanes. I would run into people who are professors of graduate schools and they were giving me hints about what to look for. I found the business school I wanted to go to, which was Simmons School of Management.

I decided, why not? I filled out the application, sent it in on May 15th, and by July 1 was in the program. By August I had my last flight. The last week of August I was sitting in a classroom. It all happened that fast.

A: What are you doing now with your new-found MBA and your new direction?

J: I've decided I wanted to change the industry that was being destroyed slowly but surely. In January of 2003, I learned of an organization called SHNE. It's an international air transport consultancy and they focus strictly on aviation. That's what I did. And so I started to court them. We had a family emergency, and so I took about a month off. After the emergency was over, I started seriously looking for a job.

I hadn't heard anything back from this organization so I pretty much didn't think anything about it. Then I received a phone call randomly one Saturday night saying, "We have this project, we’d like to talk to you. Call me back." It was my original contact at SHNE!

I called back that afternoon and I was on a plane to Washington, DC. I found out I was indeed part of this project and I proceeded to do some project work for them for the next three months. And then there was a six-week break and then I received another e-mail asking if I could work in Kuwait. So the beginning of this year I went to Kuwait for three and a half weeks.

There was another six-week period of looking for a job and an offer conversation started to happen. A few weeks ago, it was made official. I work for SHNE full-time now. I am a director with them, enforcing practice, and I moved to DC two weeks ago.

A: In working with a career coach, is it something that you would recommend to others and was it worth the cost to hire her to help you get through all this transition?

J: It was definitely worth the cost. I needed her help and I had tried to work with a career counselor before, shortly after I returned home from Europe. For me it was a no-brainer.

I would strongly recommend working with VIP Coaching if you are willing to put the time and the money into it. Because it takes a commitment. And like everything, how much do you really want to do it?

I fully believe we can do anything we want to do, that we set our minds to do. But the whole key is how much do we want to do it? I'm interested in physics in the sense of science and what it can tell us. I fully believe I could learn physics if I wanted to. I have absolutely no desire. That doesn't mean I can't learn it. So it all comes down to dedication and desire. And that's the biggest key. There are many times that I've had conversations with people, including family members, where I've said, "You should really consider this." No matter how much I want them to do it, because I know how good it was for me, it ultimately comes down to how much do they want it?

A: Is there anything that you want to add that maybe I didn't cover or any last comments that you would like to make?

J: No, I think I said it all. I've recommended VIP Coaching to many people because I think she works well with so many different types of people. She listens faster than she'll talk. If anything, she makes you do all the work. You really have to work. A career coach is not going to tell you all the answers. When it came down to going to grad school, I called and asked her what she thought and she said, "What do you think?" She turned it around because it's all about you. I think that's the best part about it, is that she has that ability to do that. And you don't even realize you're doing all the work. She's fabulous that way.

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To contact Jennifer Bindhammer or for more information on Jennifer's career coach, VIP Coaching, send an e-mail to info@vip-coaching.com or call 207-439-4280.