By Coach Achané Madden

By day, I lead product teams—guiding strategy, juggling backlogs, and decoding user needs like a tech whisperer in heels. It’s meaningful work that challenges my brain, sharpens my communication, and keeps my coffee intake impressively high.

But once 5PM hits, the real transformation begins.

From 5 to 9 (and often beyond), I trade dashboards for deep dialogue, epics for empathy, and roadmaps for revelations. 

I step fully into my role as a Certified Professional Coach, specializing in helping high-achieving women build resilience, reclaim their leadership, and release the grip of perfectionism. It’s more than a role—it’s a calling. A sacred space where breakthroughs happen, and lives shift.

And while my 9-5 pays the bills, my 5-9 feeds the soul.

The Power of the Pivot

I didn’t always know this was where I was headed. Like many, I began my professional journey wide-eyed, fresh out of Agnes Scott College, armed with ambition, a dream, and student loans. I climbed the corporate ladder—Customer Support to Training Specialist, Business Analyst to Product Owner, Senior Product Owner to Product Manager. I evolved through every title, learning the art of collaboration, the science of strategy, and the gift of grit.

It wasn’t until I started coaching women through their own goals that I realized: leadership isn’t a job title, it’s a mirror. And whew—mirrors don’t lie.

I began coaching not just to help others but to uncover my own leadership blind spots. Turns out, leading without self-awareness is like driving with your GPS on mute: possible, but wildly inefficient and prone to “rerouting.”

But coaching? Coaching changed everything.

Earning my Dream Releaser Coaching certification was one of the most worthwhile, eye-opening, and transformative experiences. It didn’t just teach me how to coach others—it helped me rediscover myself. The leader. The empath. The visionary. The woman who could hold space, ask powerful questions, and help other women rise while still rising herself.

Persistence. Purpose. Payoff.

Building a coaching practice while managing a full-time leadership role is not for the faint of heart. It takes calendars, caffeine, and courage. But persistence? That pays in ways that promotions never will. But every ounce of energy I pour into this passion pays off in purpose. Coaching is where I witness transformation in real time.

Every investment I’ve made—late-night reading, pages of curriculum, and moments of deep self-inquiry—has yielded more than certifications. It’s yielded clarity. Confidence. Calling.

And every time I coach, I become a better leader. More present. More perceptive. More human.

The Future Is Calling

For now, the trapeze act works. I lead from both sides of the professional spectrum—product and purpose. But if I’m honest, I feel the shift coming. The courage is building. Soon, coaching will be the headline act.

To every woman trapezing between roles, dreams, and responsibilities—keep going. You’re not crazy, you’re courageous. And when the timing is right? Let go. Fly.