Meet Patricia Ortega

We were lucky to catch up with Patricia Ortega recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Patricia, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.

I can remember back when I had my first car, it was my ticket to independence. I bought it with my own money, financed it actually. I was just a few payments away from being mine, free and clear. I had come to Christ not long before that, and The Good Lord nudged me to tithe for the first time. I was working full time, and at that time, it meant tithing or paying my car payment. I feared my car would be repossessed if I stopped paying, and wasn’t sure how I’d get caught up on payments if I were to start tithing.

It was a huge risk in what had been the only stable part of my entire life, but I felt impressed upon to trust God as my provider. I chose to tithe, and missed my car payment (probably more than once). But then something amazing happened – I was offered my first teaching assignment and it paid almost exactly the amount I needed to catch up. I knew without a shadow of a doubt, this was God showing me His faithfulness.

Then came an even bigger opportunity to trust Him: I prayed about a faculty counseling role and felt The Holy Spirit’s peace about it, and a still small voice say “I have a counseling position for you”. So I quit my job and applied for several part time roles. I got a few hours here, on-call there, but nothing to live off of. I was offered an $80K job (2x my prior salary) but turned it down. It wasn’t counseling. You won’t believe what happened next.

It was the last day of work and as I walked out of the office I thought, “let me check the voicemail one last time”. My dear mentor from a counseling internship 5 years prior, at my dream college was asking me if I “might be willing to take a few days off my job to help them out on a weekly basis”. So while I quit before I had another income lined up, The Lord caught me with this incredible offer that paid my full time salary with part time work.

Less than a year later, I had a full time temporary position, and a year after that I got the tenure track faculty role. I remember telling my then dean that I’d moved cities because my goal was to be their next counselor. She smiled, and told me she likes me but there was a process to these things, so “we’ll see”. I smiled back. My program director was a believer and she knew – she just knew – and she believed (and prayed) with me through the selection process. I got the job and six years later received tenure. I learned that a door that God opens, no man can shut. And I thought that was the end of the story, a career happily ever after.

But a few years ago, during the pandemic, I received a letter that made me realize my Christian values no longer aligned with some of my district’s values. I still absolutely love my students and respect my colleagues and the work that we did and they continue to do, but I knew it was time to move on. I quit my dream job with the 6-figures I’d worked SO hard for, and with the perfect schedule, great benefits and in a beautiful beach city. We went from my full income to $0, and over the next two years nearly drained my retirement to absolute zero. But God knew. Now I have a business where He is the foundation.

Everyone thinks I’m crazy, a ridiculous risk-taker. But it’s the complete opposite. I’ve just found the most trustworthy, faithful and generous God and He happens to own the universe, and everything in it. The most important skill I’ve ever learned is to live with an open hand trusting in Christ, reading His Word, and obeying His still small voice. That’s how I developed my ability to take what others might call “risk”.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I help others tap into their strengths, impact, and authenticity so they can make career moves confidently.

You know that moment when you are in a job interview and you are just so nervous you’ll wreck it? Where your mind blanks out and your knee won’t stop shaking? Well, I know that feeling too. That feeling is what drove me to become a career counselor, a college counselor, and now a career coach.

Your biggest opportunity – and your biggest barrier – is often of your own making (Yikes!)
You can create opportunities by being the one who gives life in all your conversations, who others want to work with (and work for). But you can also create barriers by fearing all the what ifs that stop you from taking action.

That’s where I come in. I help professionals to discover their strengths and impact, bottle that up into confidence-building brand materials (aka, career narrative, resume, LinkedIn profile), and take consistent action in their career search. A lot of my work is motivational, helping professionals to own their brilliance regardless what the job market says. Company X may not hire you, but you are just as amazing a professional as you were before they sent you that rejection email.

I also have a podcast I invite you to listen to. It’s called The Uncommon Career Podcast. I’d like to get to know you too! Connect with me on LinkedIn, I basically live on the platform. The good folks at Bold Journey will provide the links somewhere around this article.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

First, resilience. Friend, no matter how many times you’ve fallen. Get back up. You’ll be stronger, faster, better the next time around.

Second, a willingness to be wrong, vulnerable, rejected – all the things that make you want to hide under a rock. To be bold and leave your mark in this world, you need to be 100% yourself, and that is a unique human, different than everyone else, and still very much wonderfully and beautifully made (Psalm 139:14).

Third (and the source of the first two), faith. My faith has allowed me to be resilient beyond what I ever imagined. On my own I could not have possibly gotten back up so many times (schizophrenic mother, childhood abuse, etc). On my own I also fear people’s opinions far far too much. But I remind myself everyday, if God is with me, who can be against me?! and all of a sudden, things are back in their right perspective.

If you are early in your journey, know that one day you’ll think back on today and be grateful for the incredible accomplishments you’ve had. Remember this quote: “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”
― Booker T. Washington

While you are on your journey, never let your success (career, business) grow faster than your character. That is how powerhouses and empires shatter to pieces.

I also encourage you to seek Christ. Not everyone will agree with me, but that is my advice. I could teach you every lesson I’ve learned, tactical strategies for a 6-figure career, practical steps to get to the top of the mountain…But without Christ, I’d most certainly have given up by now or worse, climbed the wrong mountain altogether. Keep the priority the priority: seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33)

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

At the risk of sounding any sort of way, the one book I read over and over is the Bible. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, maybe even expected that answer. When I worry, Psalms reminds me why I shouldn’t. When I cross a line, Proverbs sets me on the right track. Every time I read it with an open heart, there is something new The Lord is sharing with me. I remember that when I was a little girl, before I ever read the Bible I prayed to Jesus, even in the middle of the awful things happening at home. I prayed I wouldn’t go insane, and now, decades later, I see His protection, love, and provision on every page of my story.

Most valuable verses for me have evolved over time.

When I left my mother’s house and felt completely alone, it was “Though my father and my mother have forsaken me, The Lord will take me in” (Psalm 27:10). I know the same is true for all those who feel abandoned, mistreated, or abused by their parents.

When I needed to know the difference between feelings and truth, I would remember, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12). If you are willing to hear it, He will tell you.

And when I plan my life, my goals, or make big decisions, I remember that the Bible is a love letter seeking to bring us into His kingdom, and that my response to His love is simply to love Him and love others (Matt 22:36-40) for the Gospel of Christ. If I can keep that in mind, the rest of the story writes itself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theuncommoncareer.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmortega/
• Other: Podcast: https://www.theuncommoncareer.com/podcast

Image Credits

© jessica susana photo