It's not easy to take a leap of faith into the career path you've always wanted. We often get wrapped up in the idea of a typical career timeline or in the fear of starting something new. Meet Aimee Baxter, Biet Simkin, and Stella Cabot Wilson, three women who are proof that your dream career is worth the pursuit. Each of them took a courageous leap and pursued their true calling, and their unique paths have redefined what it means to be a leader, a creator, and a visionary. These women aren't just shaping their careers—they're shaping entire industries with their authenticity and dedication to their crafts.
We chatted with Baxter, Simkin, and Cabot Wilson to learn about how they carved their career paths, how they overcome challenges (there have been many), and how through it all, they continue to inspire others. Their stories showcase the power of perseverance. If you need motivation to discover your calling and achieve your goals, these stories will do just that.
Marie Claire: Your career as a leadership coach is incredibly inspiring. Can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to help others in this way?
Aimee Baxter: I'm very deliberate with the title "leadership coach." I believe we are all leaders and have untapped potential waiting to be unleashed in our teams, organizations, families, and communities. I work with executives, teams, entrepreneurs, and individuals who want to work with me privately outside of the context of business. The moment that shifted things was when I participated in an executive education program at a prominent business school. The professor guided us through a values-clarifying exercise, and I had one of those awakening "aha" moments. I was immediately flooded with an unnerving question that I didn't have an answer to: What am I doing with my life? I had created the life and career I thought I wanted since I was 18 years old. However, I was not fulfilled, and I felt very disconnected from my true self, portraying an image to the world of who I thought I had to be. At one point I read a quote that said, "Your mission in life is where your deepest joy meets the world's deepest need." After contemplating it, I realized I'd always been passionate about studying human potential, psychology, interpersonal communications, and Eastern and Western consciousness modalities for happiness and healing. So I was like okay, how can I translate my joy into a career that has meaning and supports others?
MC: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when starting your career, and how did you overcome them?
AB: Shifting careers and starting my own business, I had to define my brand and figure out business development, which I had a lot of resistance to. I loved the work, but I had to learn to love the business of the work too. All the books I read were not going to change anything unless I uprooted my core (limiting) identity beliefs about myself and what is possible. My corporate background, education, and coaching training did not prepare me for what it would take to build my own business as well as embody the version of myself I needed to become to create my vision. I got mentors and coaches and surrounded myself with people better than myself who I could learn from and who operated with integrity. I also started getting really clear in my life about who was on "team Aimee." I had to think of it like putting together my own personal board of directors and team as well as removing myself from people and situations that did not value me or align with my vision for my work and life.
MC: What advice would you give someone who wants to go into your line of work?
AB: It sounds cliché, but believe in yourself. Every day, anchor yourself in the "why" behind your vision to give it fuel and stay connected amid the uncertainty and volatility. Unfortunately, most people don't take that first step or they quit when it gets tough and scary, which is the time to double down. If it were easy, everyone would do it. That is why so many don't. Trust me—when you go after your passion and dreams, many of your fears and limiting beliefs will show up. It's part of the rite of passage. I don't know a single person who hasn't felt scared or wanted to quit.
MC: How do you stay inspired and continue to innovate?
AB: I surround myself with other leaders who are visionaries, unapologetically authentic, curious, lead from their hearts, and are energizing and inspiring. I seek regular feedback from trusted sources to overcome my blind spots. (We all have them. We're never finished.) I tune in and trust those soft whispers from my heart and nudges from the flow of life. I study many different modalities as well as modern and ancient sciences to extract simple truths and applications to innovate and apply to the transformational model I use with leaders and teams to shift them from their zone of excellence into their zone of genius. Also, my clients inspire me. I learn from them as much as they learn from me. As a coach and facilitator, it's not my job to tell people what to believe, but I have them [ask themselves] the question, "Do your beliefs align with what you say you are committed to creating?" That one question can be very inspiring and innovative in and of itself. Many people realize how out of alignment they are, which is the source of most of their problems.
Marie Claire: Your DJ sets have the best energy. How did you develop your signature style?
Stella Cabot Wilson: My fiancé, Idris, and I perform as a duo (Oba+Flip), and I believe a large part of our energy—and certainly our style—comes from playing together. While we like almost all of the same music, the music we are really drawn to deeply is a bit different. Because we choose to play together back-to-back—I'll pick one song, and then he picks the next track, and so on—the energy of our sets inherently plays with this kind of tension and balance, which becomes even more interesting because of our diverse choices. Even when I play by myself, I keep his ear in mind, especially when I feel the set is starting to lack something—a sort of "What would Idris do now?"—and try that choice instead of relying only on my own preferences. In terms of electronic music, we're also pretty eclectic and don't stick to one particular genre, and that's also a stylistic choice that influences the listening experience.
MC: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when starting your career, and how did you overcome them?
SCW: In many ways, I think we've had a pretty lucky time of it, truth be told. By the time we began DJing, we had already been closely involved in the underground electronic music scene in NYC, so we started our career with a lot of support and connections. I'd say the biggest challenge has come this past year, in choosing to make the leap from DJing being more of a hobby that we do on the side to now trying to make it most of our income and really focusing on it as a career. Someone who wants to be a musician already has a lot stacked against them—much of it to do with it not being a secure or stable job. A lot of people just don't take DJing seriously as an art form let alone as a career path. So that's been interesting to encounter, but it hasn't affected my decisions in any big way. We're about to begin our production journey (making our own songs), and I know it will bring its own set of challenges! Production takes a lot of time—we will of course need to practice, practice, practice before we create music we actually like.
MC: What advice would you give someone who wants to go into your line of work?
SCW: Like any industry, connections are really important. While that might be intimidating, especially if you don't live in a large city with a big scene, just start small. Find a local club or a promoter that you really enjoy, and go out as much as you can. While the who-knows-who game is always present, the underground electronic scene is actually pretty small, and in our experience, it's very community oriented. While networking is important, it's the genuine connections I've made with people that I click with naturally that have brought me the farthest. Outside of that, listen to music, and listen widely. There's amazing music in every genre, and finding what you like in diverse genres can help you find your particular "sound" as a DJ, even if you choose to stick to playing only one or two genres.
MC: How do you stay inspired and continue to innovate?
SCW: The music itself always inspires me—the realization that no matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to hear every good song in the world. But you still might as well try! Going out and hearing amazing DJs on a great dance floor, whether they are well-known or not, is always inspiring. Outside of the music, my partner is always inspiring to me. He is the big dreamer and innovator in our partnership, and I'm so lucky to have him by my side to push us along into the next stage.
Marie Claire: You've been dubbed the "David Bowie of meditation." Can you tell us more about how you earned that title?
Biet Simkin: The reason people loved [David Bowie] wasn't just because he was a great songwriter or performer. It was everything—his look, his wife, his clothes, his wisdom. The reason people have called me the David Bowie of meditation is because I am not some girl who picked up meditation in mid-life and started sharing it in some mediocre way. I went through the fire. I walked out of the fire backward with my eye on all the death and loss and poverty and yearning that I had endured, and I constructed a life that is quite a phenomenon even for someone who has a good start! I created it out of nothing. That's rock and roll.
MC: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when starting your career, and how did you overcome them?
BS: I would say endless rejection or not being seen for my greatness has always been around. I don't know if I see it as a challenge because I know I am the creator of all that. Still, it gets me moving and dancing and practicing my signature somatic practices and my signature breathwork daily. I overcome things daily—I don't do it once a year at some retreat. I do it right in my house on the freaking daily because I need a big, magic experience of life daily. This is what I teach in my online mastermind and breathwork membership: Everyone can and must show up daily to get epic results. You can learn more about this at guidedbybiet.com.
MC: What advice would you give someone who wants to go into your line of work?
BS: I am not a line of work. There is no one else like me. I would say to whoever is searching for their real purpose, that they shred every lie and false identity they hold. The only thing that stands between being a mold of clay and [Michaelangelo's Statue of David] is a chisel and a willingness to throw out whatever is not real—daily and forever. I would also say that creating a career and a life completely from your heart, imagination, and art is not everyone's purpose, and if it is, you will require quite the tool kit and proper teacher to do so. I will also say if your destiny is to become your true self, nothing—absolutely nothing—can stop you.
MC: How do you stay inspired and continue to innovate?
BS: I read spiritual literature from long ago. I run a secret school and mastermind with epic students. I work one-on-one with a few select clients. I have epic sex with my husband. I write and record songs. I make art and write poetry. I do my signature somatic and breathwork practices just as I teach them to the world (daily). The main thing is having recovered, I am sharing my gifts with the world in an innate mastermind and breathwork membership that anyone can do daily from the comfort of their home. Changing the lives of millions of people is how I innovate today.
