About Diana Schmidt, PhD, MBA

Through YourWorkTransitions, I work primarily with owners of practices, consultancies, and other service businesses; people planning and launching businesses; and individuals making major work transitions, including redefining work after retirement.

My work is practical. I help clients examine markets, customers, competition, positioning, finances, and operations, or assess realistic work options. Together we decide on a course of action, and I work with clients as they carry it out.

I have been a university professor and department chair, corporate executive, startup co-founder, Peace Corps Country Director in Ukraine and North Macedonia, career-transition advisor, and SCORE mentor. I have advised more than 175 entrepreneurs and more than 1,000 Peace Corps Volunteers and Foreign Service officers in career transition, including through the Job Search/Transition Program at the Foreign Service Institute.

I hold a PhD in Psychology from UCLA and an MBA from Pepperdine University. That combination shapes how I work: I look at both the numbers and the reasons behind people's choices. My work is consulting: we analyze, decide, and put decisions into practice. It is not therapy, counseling, or coaching.

Teaching has been a consistent part of my career. I help clients learn how to do the work their decisions require, whether that means analyzing a market, sharpening a business position, developing a business plan, preparing job-search materials, or using AI and other tools to research and test ideas.

On LinkedIn, I write about starting and growing a business, making business decisions, and navigating changes in working life.