Community Spotlight · Meredith Van Voorhis
Meredith Van Voorhis & Value Leadership Coaching | Permission Slip from God
Meredith found her way to Needle's Eye about 16 years ago through a lunch Bible study. She got to know the women in the group, eventually took it over herself, and started showing up to other events too. When COVID hit, the study moved online and slowed from weekly to monthly, and for a season it became little more than a place to share prayer requests in a private group chat. But last April, Meredith came back to the Friday lunch in person. It was there that a Needle’s Eye Ministry Leader, Roxanne Crosby, encouraged her with words that would end up meaning more than either of them knew at the time: she couldn't wait to see what testimony would come out of this season of Meredith's life.
That testimony had been quietly building for years. Meredith spent more than 25 years at Capital One, 16 of them in finance working on bank acquisitions as an accountant, and the last five as Chief of Staff. About five years ago, in the middle of that season, God gave her a vision that something new was coming. She didn't know what it was yet. All she knew was that she had to understand her own values first, because a job can only align with your values once you actually know what they are. When you lead from your values, she says, you become a more consistent leader.
Around that same time, Meredith became fascinated with something she now calls the change curve, essentially the grief cycle applied to change. How do we as humans actually process it? That question became the seed of what would eventually grow into her coaching company, built to help men and women rediscover their purpose.
Rather than waiting for clarity to arrive all at once, Meredith started making what she calls exit ramp goals, writing down on paper how she wanted to exit her career well and end that chapter well. Her goal was to make it to 25 years at Capital One. When she did, she describes hearing what felt like an audible thunk, like a ramp closure arm coming down from the Lord. It was time. There was no going back. She calls it a permission slip from God to create what would come next.
That next chapter is now built around four pillars.
Coaching, through her program Panic to Pivot, offers deep, customized career and identity transformation for mid-career professionals.
Collaboration, through The Catalyst Cohort, brings women together for career transition, shared strategy, and collective wisdom.
Connection, through The BOOC Club (Becoming Ourselves Outside of Corporate), gives it’s participants a monthly, happy-hour-style space in person to decompress from corporate culture and explore who they are outside of it.
Community, through what she calls The Value Ecosystem, connects purpose-driven networking with social impact, weaving together nonprofits, small businesses, and places like Needle's Eye to give back.
Meredith's story is still being written, but it's already a testimony of what happens when you take your values seriously enough to build a life, and a career, around them.
Want to learn more about Meredith's work? Visit linktr.ee/valueleadership to explore her coaching programs and connect.
Meredith will be speaking at our August 18th InfluencHer event, sharing a message that has impacted her journey in a huge way, and we would love for you to come! Bring a friend, a neighbor or a coworker! If you're a female working professional, there's a place for you! We can't wait to see you there.