Chief Change Officer
#325 Nina Sossamon-Pogue: Reinventing Before Reinvention Was a Buzzword
Sat, 26 Apr 2025
Nina Sossamon-Pogue didn’t build a personal brand around change—she built a life out of it. In this first of a two-part series, she shares how elite gymnastics hardwired her resilience, how journalism sharpened her communication instincts, and how a strategic leap into tech proved that reinvention is less about following trends—and more about knowing who you are at the core. For Gen Xers who’ve quietly navigated identity loss, layoffs, industry shifts, and market crashes, Nina’s story is a masterclass in evolving without losing yourself.From Falling Down to Rising Up“Gymnastics taught me resilience before I even knew the word.”Nina explains how falling and failing hundreds of times a week built the muscle memory for lifelong adaptability.Losing an Identity, Finding a New One“I had to figure out who I was without gymnastics.”She shares the emotional collapse and slow rebuilding that came after losing her first major identity—and how it shaped every future chapter.From Laundromats to Live TV“One walk through a TV station—and I knew this was it.”Nina recounts the random campus job that led her from washing football uniforms to anchoring live television for 17 years.Laid Off at the Top“Voted favorite news anchor—and still shown the door.”She talks about navigating a devastating layoff that blindsided her mid-career—and the recalibration it forced.Jumping to Tech Before Tech Was Cool“I didn’t know what SaaS was—but I knew where the world was going.”Nina shares how she mapped her next career move by combining self-awareness, external advice, and market trends—long before career pivots were branded movements.________________________Connect with us:Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Nina Sossamon-Pogue --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.15 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 3% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>150,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: Who is Nina Sossamon-Pogue and what is her journey of reinvention?
Thank you so much for having me on, Vince.
It's a pleasure. Nina, you've had such an interesting and meaningful journey. Early on, you were a professionally trained gymnast, but eventually you had to say goodbye to that world and transition into TV and journalism. Then you pivoted again, moving into tech, And now you are a speaker, coach, and consultant. A lot of changes.
In my eyes, you truly embody the role of a Chief Change Officer at heart. We're going to dive into these transitions, the trends you've seen, and everything in between. But first, let's start with a quick intro. Tell us about your background and journey, and then we'll dig deeper into different aspects of your experience.
Excellent. Thanks, Vince. Yeah, I feel like I could steal your name and I could be the chief change officer with all the changes in my own life. I was, as you said, I was a young gymnast and that was from childhood back when I was four or five years old, all the way until I was almost 20. So my big bulk of my childhood was gymnastics and I was on the US team, traveled all over the world.
Chapter 2: How did gymnastics build Nina's resilience and shape her identity?
And then I didn't make the Olympics. Very crushing blow and very sad time for me to regroup and figure out what's next. And then I became a collegiate athlete back on top of my game, happy again, doing my thing. And then I got injured and another big change in my life. I had to figure out who I was without gymnastics. And then I found television and I loved that.
And I had big success in television.
became a reporter and then a news anchor and won some awards and then I had another big change in my life and had actually a very difficult time at 37 in those years and then when I was 40 I changed again and I went from television to tech and then jumped into that space and did that for a dozen years and then changed once again and became an author and a speaker and now
I'm out here talking about just that. How does someone change something that very much is part of their life and they identify with? How do you go from one thing to another and not just survive some of the big changes in our lives, but to thrive through them and really find bigger success on the other side?
People often associate change with resilience because, let's be honest, You need a resilient mindset to get through a transition, to survive before you thrive. And Nina, the reason I invited you to the show is because the kind of resilience you've developed is something truly unique. Unlike most people, you were in professional sports.
You spent about 15 years in gymnastics in the early part of your life. And you know that any professional sport requires intense training, like a form of military training in my eyes. It demands focus, resilience, constant competition, and the ability to bounce back from failure quickly. Can you share more about your experience in gymnastics? How did you get into it?
Why did you choose gymnastics? And how did that experience shape your resilience? I imagine it was a crucial foundation for the resilience you've carried forward into the rest of your life.
Absolutely. It's very much what defined my early resilience. And I think gymnastics is a great example of resilience. You literally fall down and have to get back up all day, every day as you're learning new skills. And I was very young and active when I was little and the youngest of four kids. And my parents put me in gymnastics. as an outlet for all of that energy that I had.
And then I just got really good at it really fast. I was competing at six or seven. And then I moved away from home at 13 into an Olympic training center near Washington, D.C., here in the States. And I made the U.S. team. And I get to travel all over the world, Japan, Hungary, Germany, Australia. So I'm out there doing it. And that resilience, that being coachable resilience,
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Chapter 3: What led Nina to leave gymnastics and how did she cope with that identity loss?
They were amazing, incredible, winning all round medals. Wow, that looks intense. That looks magical. So when you told me gymnastics was your day-to-day life back then, I was seriously impressed. But as you also shared, there came a point when you had to leave the sport, not because of the Olympics, but for other reasons. Could you tell us more about what led you to step away from gymnastics?
Yeah, I love it that you love the 84 games. Those are the ones I was training with Mary Lou Retton and Bart Conner. That whole group was who I traveled all over the world with. So I blew up. So I first I didn't make the games simply because I was not the best. I bombed a competition going into it. Only a handful of girls make it. The U.S.
team probably has 20 girls on it, had about 20 girls on it back then. And then six make it to the Olympics. Now only four. So it was not that I injured myself or anything. I just wasn't the top. But then when I got to college and competed, I actually did injure myself. I bombed. The meet, not to make the Olympics, happened to be a balance beam routine.
And then in college, I did a beam dismount off the balance beam and I blew out my knee. So lost my sport altogether at that point. And It was a very difficult time for me because I had to figure out who I was without gymnastics. Because as you said, I mean, you watched it on TV. We all did. It was such a big sport in the U.S. and around the world.
And to be a part of that was such a cool thing to be a part of. And even when I went to college, it was still part of me. But when I could no longer do the sport, I had to figure out who I was without gymnastics. One of the biggest changes in my life. Who is little Nina? I was only 19 at the time. Who is Nina without gymnastics? What was I going to change into, to use your word change?
What was I going to change into? What was the next version of me going to be? And it was very difficult for me to, one, accept that I could no longer have that identifier as a gymnast, and two, figure out what was going to be next for me.
You studied communication in college, then went into TV. So why communication? What drew you to it? And what made it compelling enough for you to turn it into a career?
Yeah, so when I blew out my knee in college, in order to keep my scholarship, and my family didn't have a lot of money, so I had to have a scholarship to go to college. So in order to keep my scholarship for gymnastics without being a gymnast, I had to work for the university.
And so I ended up working in the laundry room, like not washing cute little leotards, but in an athletic laundry room washing like... men's football and basketball uniforms. Like, it was not a fun job. And I would sit outside that room. I'd switch out the laundry and I would sit outside in the sunshine while the laundry was going.
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Chapter 4: Why did Nina choose communication and how did she transition into journalism?
First as a reporter at different small TV stations, and then I got an anchor job and really loved being a news anchor and being part of a community.
So TV was what really sparked your interest. Made you think, this is it. That's why you started your career there. But then once again, you went through another transition and eventually moved into technology. How did that come about? And by the way, how long were you in the TV industry before making that switch? And what actually triggered it?
Yeah, so I was in television for 17 years. It was a long stretch of my life as a reporter and then a news anchor. And during those years, I had some big changes too. So in my 30s, when I was on television, I did three shows a day, live TV, three shows a day, every single day, Monday through Friday. And... During those years, I went through some of my own changes.
At one point during that time, I was let go from a TV station and big nationwide layoffs, budget cuts. They let me go and I had to figure out. And I had just one favorite news anchor. I was just voted favorite news anchor for the seventh year in a row. But they let me go and I had to figure out. They just... pulled me into the office and said, we're releasing you from your contract.
And so I had to find a new way forward and I went to another TV station. So that was one really difficult time. And I also went through a divorce during that time. So that was a big change in my life. So I had a lot of changes there. And I was involved in an accident during my time on television.
And I won't go into all the details for your viewers because you guys don't want to hear all the sad stuff. But it was really sad and I wasn't at fault or anything. It was just a sad thing to be a part of. And I had a hard time figuring out how I was going to be happy again on the other side of it because I was so sad.
And I went through a very dark time then and decided during that rediscovery of who I was and wanting at times to end my life, it was very difficult. I realized then that maybe TV was not going to be my forever. And I started looking for what is the next thing. And so I decided to get out. And I had a friend who had a startup who made me a great offer. And so I jumped from television to tech.
And that was a huge change. And I could talk to you more about why I chose this specific team, this specific company. There was a lot that went into it. But then I had to learn technology. I had to learn a whole new world. And that was a very scary time to make a big change. I was really excited about this next chapter of my life as I look at it. That was one of my biggest changes.
And that one I made on my own. That was not a forced change. That was one where I said, you know something? I'm going to do something different and bigger now that I've decided that I don't want to be front and center and on TV anymore. I want to be the next version of Nina. That was a big change.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Nina face in her journalism career and how did she grow from them?
A guest on the show, an executive recruiter, once told me I would meet a great executive recruiter myself. At first, I was surprised. Recruiting wasn't something I've ever considered. But she pointed out that my ability to support talent, connect with people, and bring the right voices onto the show demonstrated qualities that could be valuable in her industry.
So, just like your own story, it's about being creative and open-minded when exploring new directions. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to see what we are really capable of.
Absolutely. And be creative in your own head as you're thinking what you're good at. But I really encourage people, too. You might not have seen that about yourself, but she did. Same thing for me. I didn't see that in myself. Other people said, oh, you could do this. Having conversations with other people that ask them, what do you think I'm good at, is really interesting.
You really will learn a lot about yourself. It's hard when we're in our own head. One, we might not see our skills. Two, we might not see our skills. something that other people think is really valuable that we can do. For us, it may be second nature. We don't even think of it as a skill. It's just who we are. So really cool to look at it that way. She saw something in you you might not have seen.
I had the same situation when someone saw something in me. So for your listeners, maybe get an outside opinion, figure out what else you might be good at that you don't even see.
Just now, Nina shared with us about her long journey, her training, her trials, and her setbacks. Tomorrow in part two, we'll explore the tools Nina has developed over the years to help others rise above their challenges. Tools like the reverse resume and successful timeline. We are not talking about your typical resume or conventional ideas of success. We are going beyond that.
Thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard, don't forget, subscribe to our show, leave us top-rated reviews, check out our website, and follow me on social media. I'm Vince Shen, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care.
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