In this episode of Exiting Academia, I sit down with someone who earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology and built a successful transition into the education solutions space as a Senior Associate. We walk through what that pivot actually looked like in real life—how they translated an academic identity into a professional narrative that made sense to hiring managers, and how they positioned their research, writing, and stakeholder skills as assets rather than “academic-only” experience. What I want you to take away from this conversation is that leaving academia isn’t about abandoning your training—it’s about reframing it with clarity and intention. We talk about identifying the problems you’re already trained to solve, mapping those to roles in education and adjacent industries, and getting specific about the kinds of teams and missions where anthropological thinking is valued. If you’re a grad student or PhD wondering how to move from dissertation life into an industry role without starting from zero, this interview gives you a grounded example of what’s possible and how to build your path step by step.