The original Women Disrupted research told us what career disruption after 40 actually costs women: financially, professionally, and personally. That research is now expanding because women's economic equity depends on understanding what's actually happening to women's careers, and building effective responses.
A new survey will be opening soon to women across Canada and the US, because these insights deserve to be tested at scale and the data needs to grow. If you want to be notified when it opens, sign up for those notices on our Contact page.
The Lab is what grows from that research, and keeps growing as the data does. Every cohort adds to the picture of what women navigating disruption actually need, and what the existing support system is still missing.
Most career support programs start with an assumption: that you already know what you want. A job, a business, a pivot. You just need help getting there. What the research told us is that most women arrive at disruption without that clarity, and that forcing a path before someone is ready to choose one is where a lot of support fails them. The Disrupted Careers Lab is designed around that reality. You don't have to know what comes next to start here.
01. WHERE ARE YOU IN YOUR DISRUPTION?
A 3-hour workshop. A room full of women who get it.
Disruption isn't a single moment. It's a cycle. The adaptive cycle framework helps explain why some phases feel like freefall, others feel like stuck, and others start to feel like possibility. Knowing where you are in that cycle changes what you need and what's actually useful to you right now.
This workshop uses that framework as a map. It's not therapy. It's not a keynote with a workbook. It's a structured half-day that helps you name what's happening, see where you are right now, and get honest with yourself about what you're actually dealing with, before you're expected to make a decision about what comes next.
You leave with clarity about your current position and a direction to move in. That direction shapes everything after this.
02. WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO?
An online assessment. Your own time. No wrong answer.
After the workshop, you'll complete an assessment that looks at where you are financially, emotionally, and practically, and what that means for your risk tolerance. It's designed to help you answer one question honestly: do you want support back into employment, or do you want to explore whether building something of your own is a real option for you?
There's no right answer. Both paths are valid. The assessment exists because the research was unambiguous: routing every woman toward entrepreneurship by default doesn't serve women. Some need re-employment supports. Some need a business framework. Most need someone to help them figure out which is which before they spend time and energy going in a direction that wasn't right for them.
If re-employment is your direction, you'll be connected to employment services that are equipped to work with women at this career stage, not generic job-search resources, but organizations that understand what you're navigating.
If entrepreneurship is where you're headed, Step 3 is yours.
03. DO I HAVE A VIABLE IDEA?
Three full-day workshops. Three consecutive weeks.
Introducing Ground Work: Three weeks. Three critical questions. By the end, you'll know whether what you're building is worth pursuing, and you'll have the foundation to do it.
Week 1: What Problem Are You Solving? [aka Problem Statement Validation] Before you invest time and money in a business, you need to know whether the problem you're solving is real to people other than you. This session walks you through how to test your core problem statement using tools that don't require a research budget or technical skills. And here's something worth knowing before you start: the sector that disrupted you is often the one you're best positioned to serve. Deep domain knowledge is an asset here, not a consolation prize.
Week 2: Is Your Solution The Right One? [aka Product Validation] Is what you're offering the right solution to that problem? Week 2 focuses on shaping and testing your product or service offering against real market signals: who would pay for it, in what form, at what price point, and why.
Week 3: Who Else Is In This Space? [aka Ecosystem and Addressable Market Mapping] Who are your potential customers, and how many of them are there? This session maps the market you're entering and the support ecosystem around you, so you know the organizations, networks, and resources that can help you move forward without starting from zero.