Navigating the Magic Dark with Kitty Gonzalez

In this episode, I sit down with Kitty Gonzalez—coach, yoga teacher, and former L’Oréal marketer—for a grounded conversation about career pivots, identity, and the courage it takes to choose community and alignment over the “shoulds.” Kitty shares what it was like growing up between Mexico City and the U.S., and how living between cultures shaped her adaptability, awareness, and sense of belonging.

We talk about her years in product development and marketing at L’Oréal, the long “slow build” of realizing it wasn’t her forever path, and how COVID created the space to finally listen to what she already knew. Kitty opens up about leaving corporate, the jarring reality of an open calendar, learning how to sell herself, and how yoga became a lifeline—first for her own healing and embodiment, then as a community anchor in every place she lives.

We also explore what Kitty calls the “magic dark”—that uncomfortable in-between season where you’re doing all the right things but the outcome hasn’t arrived yet. Her reminder is simple: keep moving, keep asking for help, and trust that something is unfolding—even when you can’t see it yet.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

• Kitty’s bicultural upbringing shaped identity, belonging, and adaptability.
• Leaving L’Oréal took years of journaling and inner knowing.
• Coaching certification revealed the gap between skills and selling.
  Entrepreneurship brought freedom, but also loneliness and constant hustle.
• Yoga supported healing, embodiment, and community through major transitions.
• The “magic dark” demands persistence, trust, and asking for help.

About Kitty Gonzalez

Kitty Gonzalez is an Executive Coach at Athena who helps high-achieving leaders create clarity, alignment, and meaningful change in their work and lives. Born in Mexico City and raised between Mexico and the U.S., she brings a deeply multicultural lens to her coaching. Before Athena, she spent nearly a decade in global marketing at L’Oréal and later built her own wellness and coaching practice, Wherever Forever. Kitty is also a certified yoga teacher, and her approach blends strategy with grounded, embodied wisdom. She currently lives between Michigan and Mexico City with her husband and their cat, Tikka.

Connect with Kitty

Instagram: @wherever__forever

Website: https://whereverforever.com/ 

Season 2 reflection exercises https://www.learnmindfully.co/store

Grab Consciously Crafting Your Career Path: https://www.learnmindfully.co/store

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