What does it really take to walk away from the career you thought was your calling? How do you know when passion for your work has quietly turned into burnout? And what can losing 200 pounds and finishing a marathon teach us about what we're actually capable of? 🏃‍♂️💪🌱

In this episode of Gateway to Growth, our host Jim Cornelius sits down with Dr. Jonathan Solomon, Partnership Director at an ed-tech company, to explore what it takes to reinvent yourself — professionally, physically, and personally.

Jonathan's own path winds from growing up between Cleveland, Minnesota, and Los Angeles while he and his sister were in foster care, to becoming a first-generation college student at Langston University, to eventually pivoting out of higher education and into ed-tech for the sake of his own health. He shares how his family's struggle with addiction shaped his early identity around school and learning, and how that same intensity later put him on a path toward burnout.

Throughout the conversation, Jonathan breaks down the self-preservation instinct that pushed him to leave higher ed after nearly a decade, how his wife helped him recognize blind spots he couldn't see in himself, and how losing almost 200 pounds and completing the LA Marathon reshaped his understanding of his own capacity. He also offers candid advice for anyone standing at the edge of their own career pivot.

This episode explores:

• Jonathan's personal story, from foster care in Cleveland to first-generation college student at an HBCU.
• Why he made the leap from higher education student affairs into ed-tech.
• The self-preservation instinct behind walking away from a “calling.”
• How his wife helped him recognize burnout blind spots he couldn't see himself.
• Losing nearly 200 pounds and completing the LA Marathon while cramping from mile 8.
• Building men's mental health community through Yoga With Your Bros and the Run Crew.
• Why he chose Saint Louis, and how he built (and was built into) community there.
• Practical advice for anyone considering a career pivot, and sitting with fear instead of waiting for it to pass.

Whether you're navigating your own burnout, weighing a career pivot, or just need a reminder that you're capable of more than you think, this conversation is a powerful look at what it means to bet on yourself.

Instagram & TikTok ▶ @dr.jsolo

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