From IT Career to Swimming the English Channel | Jeannie Zappe

What happens when you spend 20 years climbing a career ladder — only to realize that IT career no longer fits?

In this episode of Recalculating Your Map to Joy, host Marie Clark sits down with Jeannie Zappe — motivational speaker, certified swim coach, and marathon swimmer — to talk about one of the most remarkable career zigzags you'll ever hear.

Jeannie spent nearly two decades as an IT leader in higher education. Respected, accomplished, and completely burned out. When the colleagues she loved moved on and left her holding the weight of an entire organization, she knew something had to change — she just didn't know what.

What followed was a series of terrifying yeses: saying yes to swim coaching again after years away, yes to a week-long swim efficiency training in Florida where she felt completely out of her depth, and eventually, yes to swimming the English Channel at age 55.

In this conversation, Jeannie and Marie talk about:

• Why "I have no transferable skills" is almost always wrong

• The moment Jeannie's friends gave her permission to let go

• How following a chain of scary yeses led her back to her first love

• What it really means to be a marathon swimmer (including completing the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming — Manhattan Island, the Catalina Channel, and the English Channel)

• Her biggest fear when leaving her career: income and identity

• Why you don't have to have it all figured out before you say yes

And now, at 60, Jeannie is preparing to swim the English Channel again — this time as a fundraiser for the Clear Thoughts Foundation, supporting Alzheimer's research after her husband Chris was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease.

🌊 Follow Jeannie's Channel Crossing (July 7–12): https://www.facebook.com/groups/405086924278527

💜 Support the Clear Thoughts Foundation / Donate: https://eternaloptimist.me/donations

🌐 Learn more about Jeannie: https://eternaloptimist.me

If your career GPS is saying "recalculating," find Marie at movetojoycoaching.com