Deb’s Bio

Deborah Knox has over 30 years experience offering career and life work planning services to individuals committed to successfully navigating their careers well into the 21st century.

For individuals seeking to live deeply and with balance, she offers a repository of tools, resources and models for successfully engaging in the world of work.

“Deborah gave invaluable help …that enabled my business to really move forward. She’s continued to provide very beneficial advice, resources, and encouragement.”

Deborah Mayaan, Building Health

Corporations and organizations have used her services to provide coaching assistance to employees to take a fresh look at their career path and develop realistic options. Individuals benefit from her coaching style and knowledge base for helping individuals Discover their true life work.

Deborah has devoted her life work to providing career and life work planning for individuals in transition. She brings her years of knowledge and experience to those seeking to find what they truly love to do. Her goal is to help each individual gain the clarity, confidence and commitment to find and fulfill their life work. As more individuals at mid-life discover the need to re-invent themselves, she offers the tools and the knowledge to manage a successful transition and create new opportunities. Whether you are looking to create a new career identity, or are considering self employment we can help you discover the best of what you can do and BE.

“Deb is an effective, caring, energetic and visionary helper for people seeking (or needing) to make transitions in their life and work. She has the skills and tools to cut through to what works, while helping you reach your best outcome.

I have seen Deb in action, and know the integrity and passion she brings to her work. You would do well choosing her help in trying times.”

Beth Lane, Beth Lane Writes

After a short, but significant career in publishing Deborah began to actively pursue her own path to finding meaningful work. Her studies in the field of adult education and organizational development allowed Deborah to understand how the workplace culture affects employee’s individual performance. Her desire to help individuals became clear to her when she witnessed the challenges involved in effecting organizational change. Her search continued and she was inspired to become a protégé of John Crystal, author of Where Do I Go From Here With My Life?. As a result of discovering her lifework, she began to share with others the Career and Life Work Planning process.

At Polaroid Corporation, known for its creative, flexible workplace, she led workshops for managers and employees. She coached individual employees in creating an internal career strategy, and later helped them find work when outplacement services were offered. At that time, as President of Deborah Knox & Associates she also helped individuals create and fulfill life work plans that provided the challenges and rewards of meaningful work. In the 90’s she lead the way in providing career content in the form of articles and advice to Monster com and was part of the movement that brought the internet front and center for finding employment opportunities. In 2000 she published Life Work Transitions.com: Putting your Spirit OnLine with Sandra Butzel, marrying the power of the lifework planning process with the power of the internet.

The publication of the book marked the end of one path and the beginning of another major transition for Deborah. At mid-life, she made the dramatic choice to move from New England to the Southwest and landed in Tucson AZ. There her desire to become integrated into the larger community brought her to the Microbusiness Advancement Center, a Women’s Business Center funded by the Small Business Administration. She maintained her commitment to helping others do what they love to do by providing practical support and knowledge to small business owners wanting to start or grow a business.

“In the midst of my mid-life crisis (42), Deborah was highly effective at helping me focus on a new career that best utilized a career’s worth of skills and strengths.

As a result of her compassionate and insightful coaching, I successfully made the transition from a 20 year career in consumer packaged goods brand management to a new profession as a high school history teacher.

With Deborah’s help I was able to follow my passions, and am now happily in my ninth year of teaching Ancient, Modern and US History at Newton North High School.”

Brian Goeselt, Teacher, New North High School

Deborah’s passion for understanding and dealing with change and transition brought her to her next learning experience. She partnered with Career Services Unlimited to conduct research and develop a guide book to help “boomers make successful mid-life transitions.” Transforming Retirement with Extended Life Options. This publication provides planning exercises and resources for addressing change in a series of integrated areas, such as health and wellness, employment, caregiving, life long learning, spirituality, finances, employment and socializing and volunteerism to create a working pre-retirement plan. Deborah and her partners have created another business “Reframing Your Future” that offers a series of guided community conversations. This in-depth focus on mid-life career change has provided Deborah and now her clients with the necessary resources to make successful mid-life transitions. Her life purpose is to help you put your dreams into action and fully experience a life worth living.

On a more personal note:

My lifework and purpose are to help you discover your life work and fulfill your goals. I am so grateful I discovered early on the importance to me of having meaningful work. It has shaped the hours and days of my life and given my life purpose and fulfillment. I enjoy nothing more than listening to someone tell me their story as I help them get to the heart of what they long to do. Truly, having the self-awareness this process provides gives them the confidence and clarity to move in the right direction.

Life Work Transitions is licensed and registered to engage in the business of “Employment Agent” in the State of Arizona, through the Department of Labor, Industrial Commission of Arizona.