From Pause to Purpose

How Yamini Kumar Reclaimed Her Voice and Helped Thousands Do the Same

Some careers take a scenic route, shaped by detours, disruptions, and the quiet resolve to begin again. For Yamini Kumar, pauses were not dead ends, but doorways.

A career coach and learning and development specialist, the most transformative chapter of Yamini did not begin with a promotion or a polished résumé. It began with rejection emails, creeping self-doubt, and a diary she opened simply to breathe. What followed was not just a professional comeback, but a reinvention rooted in purpose, resilience, and impact.

When the Résumé Fell Silent

There was a time when her applications went unanswered. Shortlisting stalled, confidence wavered, and the future felt uncomfortably opaque. Like many women returning to the workforce after a career break, she found herself grappling not just with skill gaps, but with an internal reckoning: Where do I fit now?

Writing became her refuge. What started as private reflection gradually turned outward when she began sharing her experiences on Momspresso. The response was immediate and unexpected. Other women saw themselves in her words—the doubts, the longing for identity beyond domestic roles, the quiet courage of restarting. In that exchange, Kumar found something she hadn’t been actively searching for: her voice.

It was a turning point. The pen, it turned out, could be a compass.

Re-entering a Changed World of Work

Returning to the professional world after a pause is not simple. Doing so in a post-pandemic landscape with remote roles, hybrid expectations, and rapidly shifting skill demands made the challenge steeper. Opportunities had multiplied, but so had confusion. The pressure to “catch up” loomed large.

She navigated this terrain with a mix of learning and unlearning. She understood that restarting did not mean erasing the past; it meant translating lived experience into professional strength. Though she had stepped back to prioritise family, she never believed the door had closed permanently. It was merely waiting to be reopened.

Loss, Stillness, and a Hard Reset

In 2021, life delivered a double blow. Kumar lost her mother early in the year, a grief that still lingered when a severe back injury soon after left her bedridden for three months. At home were two young daughters, just three and one too young to understand the weight of loss, but deeply aware of absence.

Recovery was slow, both physically and emotionally. Yet it was in this forced stillness that perspective sharpened. Watching her children pray for her healing became a moment of quiet reckoning. The realization landed with clarity: hardship, however brutal, can also be an awakening.

The fault lines were showing—but so was strength.

Building Confidence, One Woman at a Time

Upskilling and getting certified as a career coach was her next move.  Today, Yamini has helped more than 3,000 individuals- women restarters, freshers, and working professionals rebuild skills and self-belief. Her work spans communication, leadership, and workplace readiness, all anchored in a deep understanding of what it means to start over without starting from zero.

Her impact has not gone unnoticed. She has been featured across LinkedIn News in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and was recognised as a Top Icon of India 2025 by Business Talks magazine. Yet for Kumar, accolades are secondary. Success, she insists, is measured in transformed confidence and reclaimed agency.

The Power of Support and Independence

Behind the scenes, support mattered. She speaks openly about her husband’s role as a steady pillar during uncertain years. His belief that true effort never goes to waste became her north star when momentum felt elusive.

At the same time, financial independence emerged as non-negotiable. For her, it represents more than income. It is freedom, the ability to choose, to contribute, and to stand on one’s own terms.

Finding Community, Finding Ground

Community played a critical role in her rebuilding. SHEROES was the first women’s platform where she felt fully seen. From facilitating the WomenWill Entrepreneurship Program by Google to delivering keynote addresses at SHEROES-led career forums, the association reinforced a powerful truth: growth accelerates when women lift one another.

It was, in many ways, a homecoming.

A Message That Resonates Beyond Careers

Yamini’s message to women contemplating a restart:

Your pause was not your end.

You are not starting from zero.

You are starting from experience, courage, and resilience.

It is a philosophy rooted in lived reality, echoed in the verse she holds close, one that urges self-belief before fate itself is consulted.

Yamini Kumar’s story is a reminder that progress can be patient, purpose can be rediscovered, and beginnings often arrive disguised as pauses.