Most people walk away when things get hard. Tara Sandhu walked away when things were objectively great. Three months after returning from one of the hardest pregnancies imaginable, she got promoted at Mercury and was managing a team of 50. The she left. What followed was a $2 million consulting business built in under two years, a life-changing acquisition offer she turned down, and a move to Lisbon, Portugal where she works 25-hour weeks and is home for bedtime. Now through The Right Turn, she's helping other high-achieving women do exactly the same thing.

What We Cover: [00:00] The resume everyone envied — and why she still walked away [01:52] Getting promoted three months postpartum and managing 50 people — then quitting anyway [02:51] Being introduced as "Dimitri's wife" — how losing a title changes how the world sees you [05:30] Was leaving a relief or terrifying? (Spoiler: both, for four months straight) [06:47] What corporate got completely wrong about productivity and hours [08:36] Why your salary is capped by someone else's budget — and what the open market will actually pay you [10:23] How to translate your corporate skills into a consulting offer (your title isn't what you're selling) [12:00] Fixed pricing over hourly — and how to calculate what to charge based on client ROI [15:48] The life-changing acquisition offer she turned down — and why [18:07] What's really standing between most women and their first consulting client [20:24] "Does anyone even have skills worth paying for?" — yes, and here's how to find yours [22:18] What she tolerated in fintech that she now recognizes as insane [23:45] Why she starts with values and lifestyle before strategy — and what breaks when women skip it [26:57] What to do after you've exhausted your warm network [28:46] Building formal referral partners as a revenue stream [31:02] The one conversation she wishes more high-achieving women would have about ambition [34:18] Signature questions: the superpower hiding in her rebelliousness [38:00] What she completely changed her mind about in the last year [40:05] Her sister: the other woman who refuses the default path

Quotes Worth Saving:

"When I would get introduced at parties, they would just be like, 'This is Tara, Dimitri's wife.' Prior to that, it was 'This is Tara — she does ABC.' Those little shifts start to add up."

"Productivity and the amount of hours you put in are not the same thing. When I was at my desk, what I knocked out in two hours would have historically taken me five or six."

"We have been told time and time again that either your mothering is going to suffer or your career is going to suffer. One thing has to take a backseat. That is just not true."

"80% of the women I work with — it's confidence. They're so in their own way."

"If everyone thinks it's normal, default, or ordinary and you can achieve it — you're shooting way too low."

Connect with Tara: Instagram: @taketherightturn Website: taketherightturn.com Substack article.

Your Turn:

Tara's challenge: Stop listening to the default path. If you want to do something that sounds crazy to other people, that's the signal. If everyone around you thinks it's normal and achievable, you're shooting too low. The life you actually want is on the other side of the thing that feels unreasonably ambitious right now. Go do that thing.

If ordinary has ever felt suffocating, you’re in the right place.
Follow Allergic to the Ordinary for conversations on identity, ambition, and designing a life that doesn’t play it safe.

Hosted by @jamiegasparovic

A Studio Gaspo production