About Susan C. Martin, Ed.D., PCC, CAPP
A Trusted Transformational Coach for Women with PhDs and Doctorates in transition
My Story: FROM REINVENTION TO RECLAMATION
Over the course of my life, I have reinvented myself seven times.
Some reinventions were chosen—career pivots, leadership shifts, new directions.
Others were not—profound loss, sudden responsibility, and life-altering change.
As a first-generation college student who lost both parents before the age of 18, I learned very early how to survive on my own. I became self-reliant, responsible, and highly capable—because I had no other choice. Those patterns carried me through decades of achievement and into a respected 35-year career in higher education, where I supported thousands of students and professionals, and more specifically doctoral students navigating complex transitions.
From the outside, my life looked successful. Inside, I was exhausted—and increasingly disconnected from myself.
WHEN THE STRATEGIES THAT WORKED STOPPED WORKING
Like many high-achieving women with PhDs, I did everything “right.” I earned degrees, rose through the ranks, took care of others, and became the dependable one people leaned on.
But at midlife, the strategies that had once kept me safe began to feel suffocating.
I felt invisible in rooms I had helped build.
I longed for more joy, freedom, and alignment.
And I didn’t yet know what was possible beyond the life I had mastered.
In 2020, a global crisis collided with a personal one, and for the first time in years, I slowed down enough to hear a quiet but undeniable truth:
“This life is no longer working.”
With only a general sense that coaching might be my next chapter, I submitted my retirement papers. June 1, 2022 marked the real beginning of my transformation.
REINVENTING FROM THE INSIDE OUT
I completed coach training, earned my ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential, and completed a 9-month Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology. Still, familiar inner voices lingered:
I’m not ready.
I need more credentials.
I can’t afford to get this wrong.
The deepest shift came through women-centered coaching training with Dr. Claire Zammit where I did my own deep personal work. Through coaching with senior faculty on Dr. Zammit’s team, I uncovered the hidden inner stories I didn’t even know were running the show:
I’m not enough. Who I really am will not be respected so I have to keep my mask on and be who others think I should be.
I have to do it all myself - it’s quicker and will be done right. Asking for help means I am not competent.
I can’t relax unless everything is under control. If I take time for myself things will fall apart at work.
Releasing those patterns allowed me to reclaim a truer, freer version of myself.
More recently, I faced another reinvention I did not choose—the end of a 27-year marriage. That experience clarified what I now know to be true:
This work is not just about career change—it is about life transformation. It is about guiding women through thresholds of becoming.
HOW I WORK NOW—AND WHY IT’S DIFFERENT
Today, I define success on my own terms. I trust my inner compass. I take aligned action without needing perfect certainty. I live with more joy, meaning, and spaciousness than I ever thought possible.
Through Smart Career Design, I guide brilliant, capable women with PhDs who feel stuck, misaligned, or at a crossroads to reconnect with themselves, release what’s holding them back, and co-create a meaningful life and career from the inside out.
My work integrates:
Women-Centered Coaching & Feminine Power principles
Applied Positive Psychology
Identity-level transformation
Structured career and life transition frameworks
Community and relational support
This is not about fixing you. It’s about remembering who you are—and building from that place.
WHO I SERVE
I work with women at midlife and beyond with PhDs and other doctorates who:
Are overwhelmed and exhausted by struggling with life and career transitions, burnout, or unexpected change
Feel angered by being over-responsible, over-functioning, over-looked and under-fulfilled
Are tired of being “stuck” and overthinking things- are desperately ready for more than just another job—they want a life that feels true
Have reinvented themselves before, sense it’s time again but are afraid its too late
MY STAND
I believe midlife and beyond is not a time of contraction or decline—it is a threshold—an opening to new expansion and exciting opportunities.
And that women with PhDs become unstoppable when they are supported, aligned, and connected to their inner wisdom.
I am here to be the guide I once needed.
To walk beside women who have walked alone for too long.
And to help brilliant women reclaim their power—on their own terms.
My LinkedIn page provides more details about my work experience, career accomplishments and education.
I intentionally continue to grow my skills and capacities to empower women to transform their lives and careers. In addition to earning my doctorate in Higher Education, I am an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and a Certified Mentor Coach (CMC). To achieve this level of recognized life coaching credentials, I completed 140 hours of coaching training through MentorCoach LLC, successfully completed their rigorous written and coaching performance evaluations as well as the ICF Credentialling exam.
To expand my toolkit, I completed a 9-month certification program in applied positive psychology, CAPP, with Emiliya Zhivotovskaya through The Flourishing Center and a rigorous year-long training program focused on women-centered coaching and facilitation techniques with Dr. Claire Zammit, Founder, The Institute for Woman-Centered Coaching, Training & Leadership. I am continuing my training, being mentored and coached as part of the Women-Centered Coaching, Training & Leadership community through the summer of 2026.
Let’s talk about how we might work together.