Wayfaring Women: Amy Poehler

Week 7: A funny one turned favorite mentor

A wayfarer finds her way the way a compass does, sensing the current, the wind, the small signs most people walk past. A felt sense of direction, trusted one step at a time. This week's wayfarer discovered that pointing the light toward someone else didn't dim her own. It multiplied it.

Initial Bearings Where she started, and what she didn't yet know about herself

She trained in improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade, the theater she helped found, where the whole philosophy rests on one rule: yes, and. You don't block your scene partner's idea. You build on it, and you make them look good in the process. Her name is Amy Poehler. The funny one turned into one of my favorite mentors.

New Discovery The moment she noticed what she was actually built for

By the time she'd spent seven years on Saturday Night Live and then anchored her own hit show, Parks and Recreation, she'd already proven she could be the funniest person in the room and the biggest name on the call sheet. But something in her kept looking sideways instead of forward. When she came across Broad City, a scrappy, self-funded web series made by two young UCB alumnae named Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, she recognized something in it. Not talent she could use. Talent she could hand a bigger stage to.

Course Pivot What she did once she trusted that discovery, more than once

She mentored them, guest-starred in their web series finale, and personally flew to Los Angeles with them to pitch the show to networks. When Comedy Central picked it up, she became executive producer, the funny one now standing just off camera so two newer comedians could have the spotlight she'd spent a decade earning. She did something similar again with Smart Girls, an organization she co-founded to tell young women they didn't have to be cool, just themselves. Each pivot was the same discovery, aimed at someone else's future instead of her own.

My Own Wayfaring Where I've seen this same instinct show up in my own life

I've felt this instinct in my own life, in more than one form. My daughter is in her late twenties now, and while she has always been entirely her own person, she ended up following a career path close to mine, in healthcare consulting. Getting to be both her mother and a professional mentor along the way, watching her build her own version of something I built first, has been one of the joys of my life.

I've mentored other women too, formally and informally, throughout my career. For over two years, I mentored a young woman through Professional Women in Healthcare, meeting with her regularly to talk through career challenges and the opportunities in front of her. I think I learned to value that kind of support early. I grew up with five sisters I was, and still am, very close to. We each faced real challenges in our own careers, and supporting each other through them was never a question. It was just what we did.

That's part of why Amy Poehler's friendship with Tina Fey has always meant something to me, beyond the comedy. I've seen them perform together live, and I've read both of their memoirs, not just as a fan, but because I wanted to understand what real support between two accomplished women actually looks like up close. It looks a lot like what I saw growing up with my sisters, and what I've tried to give my own daughter and the women I've mentored: room to shine, without ever needing to dim your own light to make space for it.

Your Turn to Wayfare An invitation to find your own bearings, discoveries, and pivots

Where in your life have you made room for someone else's light, a daughter, a colleague, a sister, a friend? And what did you notice about your own light once you did?

This is the kind of pivot I get to walk alongside in my own coaching work, watching someone trust the next true thing before they can fully explain why.

I'll see you next week with the eighth wayfarer.

I am Coach Ellen. I help leaders and seekers navigate life to find clarity, confidence, and purpose, living more aligned with who they really are. Graduate, CoachVille | Member, ICF Connecticut | emzlifedesign.com