From Biochemistry to the Boardroom

Ever wonder if it’s too late to change careers? Whether you’re feeling stuck in your current role, craving more purpose, or simply curious about what else is out there, this episode is for you.

Join career coach and former biochemist Madelyn Mackie as she shares her fearless journey from the lab to the stage to the boardroom. In this inspiring and practical conversation, Madelyn speaks directly to finance professionals navigating uncertainty, burnout, or big career dreams.

Whether you're climbing the ladder in AP/AR, switching industries, or just figuring out your next step—this is your roadmap to a bold, authentic transition.

Listen now and take the first step toward your next chapter.

Madelyn Mackie

Madelyn Mackie is the career activator! As a Certified Career Management Coach, member of the National Résumé Writers’ Association, and former board member of the National Speakers Association, Madelyn offers conference keynotes, professional development trainings, and career coaching to help her clients design unique, job-getting documents, build successful career plans, and create lifelong success. Her clients have landed positions at AAA of Northern California, American Red Cross, AutoDesk, Contra Costa County, Kaiser Permanente, Mozilla, Safeway, Pacific Gas & Electric, Tripit.com, NFL Super Bowl Host Committee, Wells Fargo Bank NA, and several tech firms, health care agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

In addition to her private clients, Madelyn is a lead trainer and senior consultant for the national outplacement firm Lee Hecht Harrison, where she has been assigned to work with VIP clients like the Oakland Raiders, Blue Shield of California, Chevron, Novartis International AG, and Twitter. A sample of Madelyn’s resume work can be found in Modernize Your Resume: Get Noticed … Get Hired (Emerald Publishing) by master resume writers Wendy Enelow and Louise Kursmark and she has been quoted in articles on Glassdoor.com, Ivy Exec, and A Great Days Work.

Madelyn draws on her experience of navigating four high-profile careers – the lab (as a published biochemistry researcher), the stage (as a stage and production administrator at four Tony Award–winning theaters), the C-suite (as an officer with the American Red Cross), and the owner’s box (CEO of Madelyn Mackie & Associates, a career management and professional development firm) – to help individuals activate their career dreams. 

Grace Chlosta
Content Manager, IOFM

Grace Chlosta joined the Institute of Finance & Management (IOFM) in 2022 in a new role for the team as the Content Manager. She is responsible for the planning, organization, development, and implementation of all the content for IOFM’s digital products and (virtual and in-person) events. Grace is committed to ensuring that IOFM’s content stays timely, relevant, and actionable for all financial operations professionals, and works closely with a team of content developers, industry leaders, and subject matter experts to guarantee this happens.

Transcription

Grace Chlosta: Welcome to the IOFM podcast. This is a podcast for accounts payable and accounts receivable professionals who want to stay in the know with current AP and AR trends and ideas. We'll be interviewing professionals in this space on a wide variety of subjects, including automation, artificial intelligence, career growth, compliance, leadership, and much more.

Good morning, Madelyn. I'm here with Madelyn, onsite at IOFM Spring. How are you doing today? 

Madelyn Mackie: I am doing fabulous, Grace. It's a beautiful day, here in Orlando, Florida.

Grace Chlosta: It is. We had crazy rain yesterday. I didn't even step outside, so I'm happy for our party tonight. We have some sun, so it'll be super exciting.

00:00:49

This is your first time at an IOFM event? 

Madelyn Mackie: Yes, it is. I am blown away by all the vendors, the different workshops, the speakers, and the participants. The participants are just hungry to learn.

Grace Chlosta: They are. We have a very curious audience -- sometimes a little introverted, as I can be -- so it's really great to have them all here together today, here, networking, learning. I know you had a great pre-conference day yesterday.

Madelyn Mackie: Yes, it was absolutely fabulous. We did a whole session on how to activate your finance career with LinkedIn. LinkedIn's not just about how to find a job. We really focused on how to do your job, and how to find resources through the platform.

Grace Chlosta: Absolutely. Well, I'm so excited to chat with you today. To start off, give me a little bit of a recap. We're talking about your career. You have had quite a career trajectory, so give me a little bit of a background on how you ended up here, at IOFM, with us today.

Madelyn Mackie: Oh, wow! [laughter] I know, not from the very beginning. But, honestly, it took me 40 years to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm a published biochemistry researcher.

Grace Chlosta: Incredible.

00:01:50                     

Madelyn Mackie: Decided I did not want to spent my life doing that. I worked in professional theater for 15 years, where you go laid off every eight weeks, and then I worked for the Red Cross, saving the world, responding to disasters. And then I started my own business as an entrepreneur, Madelyn Mackie & Associates, where I am the chief career activator. So all of those transitions really focused on rebranding, right, and just figuring out how to utilize my network, identifying my superpowers and my strengths, and being my authentic self in each career path. So that's how we ended up here today.

Grace Chlosta: That's incredible. So how did you make the first jump, and what kind of led you to do that? What advice would you give to others, who are afraid -- maybe they've been in their career for a decade, two decades -- if they want to make a change, if they want to make a jump? What was that experience like for you, and what advice would you give to those folks?

00:02:47                     

Madelyn Mackie: Yeah. For all my jumps, I knew I needed to change. I knew that where I was, either I had done everything I was supposed to do and there was nothing else for me to do, or I just, honestly, was really unhappy, and I said: This is not how I want to spend my days, my life. And so before I made any jump, though, I really spent some time, first of all, creating a vision of what I wanted next, saying: Okay, I want to start a business. What does that look like? What kind of hours? Who am I working with? And so I really mapped out: What is the vision of my next career? What would make me happy?

And then the second step is cultivating the resources to make it happen. So, for anyone, once you're like, "You know what? I do want to make a change, and here's where I want to go," ask yourself: What do you need to make that happen? Do you need a new certification? Do you need a mentor? Do you need a career coach to help you figure it out? Do you need to update your résumé? Do you need to network to learn more about this place you want to go? 

00:03:52

And so I think that's the thing: A lot of people want to go right to the "activate" phase, and that's the third phase. The third phase is, now you have the resources. You know where you're going because you have a vision. You're like, "This is where I want to go in my career. I have some resources that are going to help me get there. Now, what's the first three steps I need to take?"

I tell everyone: Just focus on the first three. Don't worry about step 338, right? That's all the way at the end of the line. If you are like, "I need to go back to school. I need to get another degree. I need to get a certification," and you're like, "Oh, my gosh. There are 16 courses I have to take." Nope. What's the first course? Or even back it up a bit. What program do you need to enroll into? Do you have to fill out the application form? Let's do that first. Let's fill out the application form. Let's get accepted into whatever certification educational program, and then sign up for the first class. 

00:04:45                     

Grace Chlosta: Yeah, because I feel like it can be so intimidating to even make any change, whatever it is in your life, your career, and people just stop because they're so scared of the mountain that's ahead of them that they don't even take the first step.

Madelyn Mackie: That first step, right? It's the age-old adage: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you run a marathon, climb a mountain? One step at a time.

So it really is just breaking things own into smaller goals, but, honestly, it's: create, cultivate, and activate. Create a vision, cultivate the resources, and activate the first three steps. 

Grace Chlosta: I love that. That's incredible. So we have AP/AR pros here. Many of them want to stay in their field. How can they activate their career? How can they feel more empowered in what they're currently doing, if they want to stay in their current career? What are some things to shake it up and get excited about your own career again?

Madelyn Mackie: We talked a lot about that yesterday, because, in "LinkedIn," they were like, "Well, I don't really want to find a job. I love my job."

Grace Chlosta: Well, it's amazing to here that because we don't hear that from many other audiences, and all of our folks (which is incredible) really love their careers. They feel empowered, but they want to be more excited and just feel fresh again, because a lot of them have been in their careers for, you know --

00:05:49                     

Madelyn Mackie: A long time. I had someone in the class [with] 23 years, same company, same role. She was very happy. And we talked about [how] you need to be a lifelong learner. The technology is always changing around finance operations. Like the way you did it ten years ago is completely different to how you're doing it today. And let's talk about it: AI is in the room.

Grace Chlosta: It's scary.

Madelyn Mackie: And it's not going away. I look at all the vendors around here and so many of them are like, "Your next AI tool!" And so what I tell everyone is: "How can you do your job faster, smarter, more efficient? How can you work smarter, not harder?" And so that's where you can stay in your same job, but you need to learn some new skills. You need to develop things. Technical skills are always important, but also those soft skills: your leadership, your project management skills, your communication skills. As you said, there's a lot of introverts in this field, so join Toastmasters to improve your public-speaking skills, take a workshop on AI.

00:06:56

I love going to YouTube University to learn anything and everything. 

Grace Chlosta: Absolutely. It's so interesting and so fun -- even if you're an AP manager and you've been in this role for 20-plus years, it's still amazing to get recognition from your boss and your colleagues. There are so many career steps that you can make, even if there isn't a current career trajectory. There are still so many ways to improve your current life and your job, right?

Madelyn Mackie: Right, and bring value to the organization, right? What we're seeing right now, in this environment, [is that] it's really important that you showcase: What is it you're doing that's going to impact the organization and their bottom line?

Grace Chlosta: Yeah. I want to talk a little bit about AI because you just brought it up. It's interesting in finance. We're just hearing from our folks that they're starting to embrace it. They're starting to learn a lot more. The fear factor was huge. Even just, if we had -- probably one of our first AI sessions was a couple of years ago. Tons of fear. They didn't want to hear about it. But now they're like, "All right, it doesn't seem like it's going away. Let's learn about it."

00:07:54

So what would you say to folks that are really a little bit afraid of this change, but are starting to embrace [it]? 

Madelyn Mackie: Right, because it's not going away. It's like the internet, right? Thirty years ago, when the internet first hit the scene, folk were like, "I'm not doing this." But now, if the Wi-Fi goes down at our company, half of us can't do our jobs without the Wi-Fi, without the internet. So what I tell people, with AI, is: If you're scared to use it to do your job, then don't use it to do your job. Use it to do something to write an email to a friend or family member. Start with the basics. Everybody loves ChatGPT. Go into ChatGPT and ask the question of: How do I write an email about X, Y and Z? Or, what are some tips to get my child off the internet on Saturday and Sunday? Keep it personal, where you're not sharing company data. You're not sharing personal information. You're just -- honestly, just think about something that's bothering you, how to keep my sourdough starter fresh.

00:08:54                     

Grace Chlosta: There are so many fun things. I wanted to train for a 10k and I had it make a whole plan for me. It was amazing.

Madelyn Mackie: Exactly! Start with playing [with] it for those type of things, that it's really a low entry point, and then you can start doing it for bigger things. Like, for work, if you want to start and your company is okay with is -- because a lot of companies are still not on board with it. Maybe there's an email you have to write to someone that you've been putting off because you don't quite know how to say it. That's the prompt to ChatGPT: How do I write an email to express this information?

Grace Chlosta: And it's almost like an updated -- I have used Grammarly for years, that tool. You can absolutely use it for that same point, right?

00:09:34                     

Madelyn Mackie: Simple things like that so that you get comfortable with prompting, you get comfortable with the different tools. And I'll you a little secret. There's a lot of different tools out there. Just pick one. Honestly, they're all very similar. As you get more familiar with it, you'll understand the different nuances between them, but I'm telling everyone: You have to start using it.

Grace Chlosta: You do. It's not going away. I can imagine there was a massive fear factor with the internet, when that came, and it's just a part of our daily lives, like you said now, and AI is going to be as well. I think a lot of folks here, and just members of IOFM are afraid, it's going to take my job. I'm sure the internet felt the same way. It just changes every 20, 30 years, right?

00:10:13

All it is, really, hopefully, is just making room for you to be able to do more creative tasks and less manual tasks that you probably hate doing anyway. Let's let 'em do that and let you be creative, right? 

Madelyn Mackie: Exactly. And I'm telling everyone: AI is not going to take your job. Someone that knows how to use AI is going to take your job. That's why it's so important to get familiar with it.

Grace Chlosta: Yeah, I love that. Ending off, I really like this question. I had thought of it earlier. You have created such a great career for yourself, really jumped and changed and owned your own path and your story. What would you have said to yourself if you had stayed in the safe lane? What would you want to say to the person who's stuck in their safe lane to get them to kind of break out of that shell and be the best version of themselves in their career?

00:11:04                     

Madelyn Mackie: Yeah, I think one of my mottos is: Live with no regrets. Right, here's the thing. Just try. Take those first steps. It doesn't mean you're committing to a lifelong change. Taking a class isn't saying you're going to quit your job tomorrow. It means I'm going to explore. Going for a job interview for a role that you're like, "I don't know if I'm ready to do this role," is not saying you're going to take that role. Applying for it is not saying I'm taking that role. It's saying, "I'm interested to learn more, to see if this is a good fit for me."

00:11:38

There were a couple of career paths that I was considering and I did exactly that. I said, "Well, let me just take the first class. Let me go talk to somebody in that field. Let me explore it, just a little bit." And upon that exploration, I said, "Oh, this is not the direction for me, at all." But I can now say I have now regrets because I thought of this idea. I explored it. I said, "Nope, not for me." 

There were other paths, though, when I explored it, I was like, "Ooh, this is… I like this. Let's keep exploring. Let's take the next step." So we go back to those first three steps, then the next three steps, then the next three steps, and before I know it, I'm in business as an entrepreneur with a staff for ten years, speaking at the IOFM conference in Orlando, Florida!

Grace Chlosta: Absolutely! It's incredible. What a career trajectory. The first step is huge. I mean, you changed my mindset of just looking at things that I want to do, looking at it like a mountain. But, no, just take one class, talk to one person. People are so receptive to wanting to help others, and I feel like that's something people need to hear. It's intimidating, as an introvert, to go up to someone to ask for help, to go up to someone and ask for advice. But if someone did that to me, I'd be so happy to share.

Madelyn Mackie: All the time. And we love telling our career stories, right? I tell everyone to open up the conversation, just go in and say, "Could you just tell me a little bit about yourself?" And people are like, "Well, okay, sure." "Tell me how you got here. Tell me about your daily life. What is your daily list of things you do?" And just explore. There's no harm in that. There's no commitment. It's a low entry point. And you might be surprised at what is revealed to you and your spirit.

Grace Chlosta: That's incredible. Thank you so much, Madelyn. So happy to have you, have you here on the podcast and here at IOFM Spring. We'll see you soon. We'll talk to you soon.

Madelyn Mackie: Talk to you soon, Grace.

Grace Chlosta: Thank you.

Madelyn Mackie: Bye-bye.

Grace Chlosta: Thank you so much for listening to the IOFM podcast. Remember to head on over to the Member Forum to discuss today's episode and provide ideas for our next one. And to stay up to date on IOFM's current events, both in-person and virtually, head on over to IOFM.com.

Continuing Education Credits available:

Receive 1 CEU per hour of listening time towards IOFM programs:

Receive 1 CEU per hour of listening time towards maintaining any AP and P2P related program through IOFM! These programs are designed to establish standards for the profession and recognize accounts payable and procure-to-pay professionals who, by possessing related work experience and passing a comprehensive exam, have met stringent requirements for mastering the financial operations body of knowledge.

Continuing Education Credits available:

Receive 1 CEU per hour of listening time towards IOFM programs:

Receive 1 CEU per hour of listening time towards maintaining any AP and P2P related program through IOFM! These programs are designed to establish standards for the profession and recognize accounts payable and procure-to-pay professionals who, by possessing related work experience and passing a comprehensive exam, have met stringent requirements for mastering the financial operations body of knowledge.