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Coach and Staff Bios

CYCP - Career Coach Laura Gonzalez
Education & Training
  • National Certified Counselor, National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc.
  • Board Certified TeleMental Health Provider, Center for Credentialing & Education, Inc.
  • MA Counseling, University of Texas at San Antonio
  • BS Psychology, University of Maryland University College
  • Member of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Scholarship Society since 2012
  • Clifton StrengthsFinder workshop
  • Trained in Federal Resumes 

Laura Gonzalez

Certified Career Coach

Laura has over 13 years of experience working as a professional career coach. Using the holistic, life coaching approach that all of our coaches use in our coaching, Laura provides clarity, direction, and positive support to her clients. Commitment is critical to achieve any goal. Laura helps our clients with accountability, identifying areas of growth, learning to overcome obstacles, and how to set the right goals, to enable them to find a career they love. Laura is a quick thinker and gives direct, comprehensive advice to our clients.

Laura has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Maryland University College as well as a Master of Arts in Counseling from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is a National Certified Counselor and a Board Certified TeleMental Health Provider. Her expertise includes career planning, defining goals, individual assessments, interview preparation, resume review, networking, and utilizing social media.

Laura likes to use our self-reflective process as well as career assessments to help her clients learn about alternative career options that may match their skills, interests, and values. Laura has worked with experienced professionals in a variety of industries, including prior military transitioning into the civilian world and has a wealth of online resources she recommends to her clients.

Whether it’s finding a bridge job or identifying the career of their dreams, her ultimate goal is to guide her clients through this process of helping them find the right workplace that meets their needs.

Education & Training
  • National Certified Counselor, National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc.
  • Board Certified TeleMental Health Provider, Center for Credentialing & Education, Inc.
  • MA Counseling, University of Texas at San Antonio
  • BS Psychology, University of Maryland University College
  • Member of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Scholarship Society since 2012
  • Clifton StrengthsFinder workshop
  • Trained in Federal Resumes

Fun Facts About Laura
  • When Laura is not coaching, she is spending time with family and friends. She is a dance mom to two beautiful daughters and dog mom to three German Shepherds. 
  • She loves running, food, traveling, and experiencing new things. 
  • One of her favorite quotes is “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
  • Laura is a certified Guinness pourer. (One can only get certified at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland.) 

“I had a wonderful experience with Laura. It was so helpful to receive thoughtful, actionable feedback. Create Your Career Path is a wonderful resource that I would recommend to anyone who needs career guidance!”

“Laura is a fantastic coach. I felt extremely comfortable from the start. Signing on with a coach at Create Your Career Path is definitely worth the investment.”

Tiffani Martin - Career Coach
Education & Training
  • MNS and BS, Southeast Missouri State University
  • Certified Life Coach (Career Coaching Emphasis)
  • Certified Workforce Development Professional (CWDP)
  • Transformation Academy (Accredited by Continuing Professional Development Standards Agency)
  • 7 Habits of Highly Successful People
  • Emotional Intelligence for Supervisors

Tiffani Martin

Certified Career Coach

Tiffani has over 13 years of experience in career counseling and views a career transition as a incredibly positive choice, one that will ultimately bring more fulfillment and a greater sense of achievement to those who pursue it. When she made her own shift years ago, it took effort but she persevered. Today, Tiffani knows that if she hadn’t been faced with the difficult realization that her career wasn’t going where she wanted it to, she might never have found her true calling as a career coach.

Tiffani has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southeast Missouri State University. Her work in the public sector (government) coupled with her experience in human resources enables her to bring a clear understanding of the inner workings of many industries. Her connection to science remains strong and provides an additional advantage to clients in fields such as research, analysis, data specific fields, and technology.

Tiffani’s coaching style is a combination of a holistic and big picture approach. She encourages her clients to explore their past and present work experiences in order to help guide them to their future. This life coaching approach ensures that the client addresses every challenge they face, and Tiffani makes effective use of her personal experience, knowledge, and compassionate nature to help her clients take a step back to allow them to broaden their focus. She has extensive experience working with mid-level and executive-level professionals and has also helped clients move into executive-level positions.

Tiffani also strives to coach the entire person, not just a small part. Changing careers is about so much more than just acquiring a new job title. There are many aspects of the process that affect various parts of a client’s life in both positive and negative ways. Tiffani provides support where it’s needed, even if that doesn’t fall into the traditional scope of “career coaching.”

Tiffani is a huge advocate for the use of the StrengthsFinder assessment, and Holland’s six personality types as they relate to the work environment to help clients discover their true career path. She guides her clients through this discovery process to aid them in better understanding their wants and needs in the workplace.

Education & Training
  • MNS and BS, Southeast Missouri State University
  • Certified Life Coach (Career Coaching Emphasis)
  • Certified Workforce Development Professional (CWDP)
  • Transformation Academy (Accredited by Continuing Professional Development Standards Agency)
  • 7 Habits of Highly Successful People
  • Emotional Intelligence for Supervisors
Fun Facts About Tiffani
  • Tiffani has two craft rooms in her home in Columbia, Missouri where she lives with her husband, 2 children and several furry children :). 
  • She is well-known throughout her circle of friends as the party planner of the group. Ask her about her incredible annual Halloween parties. 
  • Tiffani brings a great sense of humor, ability to manage projects incredibly effectively, and detail-oriented personality to her coaching.

“I believe that Tiffani Martin definitely made a substantial contribution to my career goals. I came into our sessions rather reticent about pursuing my ideal career path and feeling uncertain about how “reasonable” the idea of it may be. After taking sessions with Tiffani, bouncing ideas off her, and brainstorming, it became obvious that my doubts were unfounded. She was able to add a voice of reason and a touch of “You got this!” It made a big difference in how realistic I felt my goals were. And the fact that she herself has been through a career transition gave her some insight that helped me model some of the actions she took to make her own career transition.”

“I have had the pleasure of working with Tiffani as a career coach, which helped me conceptualize the possible next steps for my career path. Tiffani creates very concrete expectations and goals for our meetings, working methodically to cover complex topics and help break down the process of job searching or career planning. She is very knowledgeable in her field, having worked with diverse clients and being able to pull relevant information from her past experiences. I’ve gained a new perspective and reorganized my own thoughts about my career progress, which have helped me set goals I want to reach and paths I want to follow. For anybody who is uncertain how to best proceed in their career, for whatever reason, at whatever stage, I highly recommend Tiffani as a coach. Her work is thorough, logical, and clear! And working with her will help you set the right foundation you need to succeed.”

CYCP - Michael Thurman - Career Coach
Education & Training
  • B.S. Civil Engineering, Georgia Southern University

Michael Thurman

Executive, Leadership & Professional Development Coach

With over 31 years of experience in engineering leadership and management, Michael brings a wealth of expertise in leadership, management, and professional development as well as executive coaching. As the President of Long Engineering in Atlanta, Michael led the growth and development of the organization from 20 employees to 110. He provides career direction coaching, assistance with job search and executive coaching as well.

Throughout his career, Michael has always been a mentor leader. Professionals at all levels of his organization and industry seek him out for informal advice on their career goals and needs. His engineering degree, years of experience in the private sector, and even his long-term experience as a pole vault athlete and coach, uniquely position him to assist our middle management, executive level, or engineering/science/technology clients with their career development, job search, or career transition. He uses a holistic approach in his coaching and his supportive yet direct style coupled with his experience, provides his clients with the tools needed to define their direction, handle the transition and succeed in their career long term.

Education & Training
  • B.S. Civil Engineering, Georgia Southern University
Fun Facts About Michael
  • Michael is based in Atlanta and has a son who is a senior in college.
  • In his spare time he coaches pole vault at local high schools. He was a pole vaulting state champion so thoroughly enjoys training new athletes.
  • Michael is an avid Atlanta United soccer and Georgia Southern football fan.

“I’ve developed not only professionally, but also personally. I’ve learned more about myself during this process than I even dreamed possible. Your unique process and rather ingenious way of allowing someone to view themselves and their own ideas helped me tremendously. I feel so much better prepared to make my career choices; not only am I confident in my decisions, but they are genuinely what I want–it’s like my subconscious mind and my heart were both tapped into!”

CYCP Career Coach Abdul Majid
Experience
  • Resume writing experience for international resume/CV writing firms TopResume, ZipJob, Monster.com, Ladder, and TopCV with clients across the globe
  • Has produced 2,500 personal marketing documents for clients ranging from recent graduates to executives and Csuite professionals

Abdul Majid

Executive Resume Writer

Abdul is a highly resourceful professional with over 6 years of experience creating jobwinning resumes compliant with Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) while highlighting the candidate’s qualities, talents, and qualifications.

His mission is to facilitate aspiring candidates to reach new career heights, provide an overview of their strengths and achievements in such a way as to capture employer attention, and develop and deliver a keywordrich resume/CV with industrydesignated formatting to make clients stand out whether going through a computerbased or humaneye screening process.

Abdul has helped clients land jobs at Google, Microsoft, Apple, JPMorgan, Citibank, IBM, Wells Fargo, Netflix, and Amazon across a range of job positions.

When it comes to developing resumes that are ATS and NLP compliant while also emphasizing a candidate’s strengths, he is incredibly skilled because of his extensive experience. He will work with you until your resume is as it needs to be for your goals.

Experience
  • Resume writing experience for international resume/CV writing firms TopResume, ZipJob,
    Monster.com, Ladder, and TopCV with clients across the globe
  • Has produced 2,500 personal marketing documents for clients ranging from recent graduates to executives and Csuites

Fun Facts About Abdul

  • Abdul’s favorite subject in school was English, which is why he decided to become a writer.
  • When he’s not writing, Abdul loves travelling and exploring new places outdoors.
  • Abdul once traveled by himself on a motorbike, covering over 1,500 miles.

“My resume looks awesome. Thank you so much for your help!”

“Abdul is awesome. Excited about the results.”

“Abdul always has the clients’ best interests in mind. He provides quality documents, works diligently and is focused on excellent customer service throughout the process.”

Emma Fernandez - Career Coach
Fun Facts About Emma
  • Her favorite place to be is by the ocean.
  • Emma learned how to read when she was four and has enjoyed reading ever since.
  • She loves languages. She has studied a wide range of languages including French, Russian, and American Sign Language. She is fluent in Spanish and Haitian Creole.
  • Emma is originally from Southwestern Michigan and currently lives with her husband Javier in the Dominican Republic.

Emma Fernandez

Project & Content Manager

Emma has over 11 years of experience in management. With a background in business and financial management, she is a skilled and diligent professional whose attention to detail allows her to provide the best service possible to her team and customers. She is flexible and knowledgeable in a variety of departments including data entry, bookkeeping, research and human resources. She is able to adapt seamlessly to constantly evolving processes and technologies.

Emma oversees and edits the content for CreateYourCareerPath.com blogs, articles, and products.

She coordinates our alumni events for universities, including webinars and in-person workshops. She also manages administrative and marketing tasks for customers and prospects. Emma adeptly works with the media managing our media appearances. Emma works remotely, which means she has proven her prompt communication skills and ability to follow through to ensure the job gets done – no matter her location.

Fun Facts About Emma
  • Her favorite place to be is by the ocean.
  • Emma learned how to read when she was four and has enjoyed reading ever since.
  • She loves languages. She has studied a wide range of languages including French, Russian, and American Sign Language. She is fluent in Spanish and Haitian Creole.
  • Emma is originally from Southwestern Michigan and currently lives with her husband Javier in the Dominican Republic.

“Create Your Career Path truly turned around my career. I am now in my ideal role and look forward to continuing to work with her team as I further my career. If you are looking for someone who can personalize a plan and is invested in helping you achieve your goals, then look no further.”

Hallie Crawford - Career Coach Atlanta
Education & Training
  • Certified Coach, Coaches Training Institute
  • BS Communications, Vanderbilt University
  • MA Communications, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Member, International Coach Federation
  • 2009 & 2007 Board Member, Georgia Coaches Association
  • Trained in EFT: the Emotional Freedom Technique
  • Completed The Inside Team Intensive: Coach training for advanced coaches, The Coaches Studio
  • Certified Career Coach, Author and Speaker
  • Scholarship to National Training Labs “Experiential Education” seminar

Hallie Crawford

Certified Career Coach & Founder

Hallie Crawford is a national career expert and has been a certified career coach, speaker and author since 2002. She has published numerous books and is regularly featured as a career expert in the media including CNN, US News, Fox Business News, and the Wall Street Journal. Hallie has an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois. Hallie has personal experience going through her own difficult career transition and founded her company out of a desire to help people find jobs they love. When she’s not working you can find her at the barn riding horses (another passion) or spending time with her partner Mike and her son. Hallie looks and sounds younger than she is and is still learning to appreciate that although she’s over 50, she still gets asked on airplanes if she’s old enough to sit in the emergency exit row.

Her company, Create Your Career Path, is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia but they have coaches nationwide who are passionate about supporting clients with their coaching goals. With over 2,500 success stories, her team of certified career coaches and resume writers helps professionals find jobs that make them want to jump out of bed in the morning to go to work.

Education & Training
  • Certified Coach, Coaches Training Institute
  • BS Communications, Vanderbilt University
  • MA Communications, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Member, International Coach Federation
  • 2009 & 2007 Board Member, Georgia Coaches Association
  • Trained in EFT: the Emotional Freedom Technique
  • Completed The Inside Team Intensive: Coach training for advanced coaches, The Coaches Studio
  • Certified Career Coach, Author and Speaker
  • Scholarship to National Training Labs “Experiential Education” seminar

“Hallie is insightful and has developed an outstanding process. I highly recommend her team.”