Andrea Michalek outdoors with palm trees and her van

Andrea Michalek  ·  @ThatAndreaM

Figuring it out in public.

Van life. DIY. Leadership. Not in that order.

Leadership coach, digital nomad, part-time van lifer.

I help tech leaders stop playing it safe.

Also: I fix things myself and document the chaos.

The story

Istarted as a developer. Became a CTO. Co-founded a company, sold it twice, and ended up as VP of Product at Elsevier. On paper, I had figured it out.

Then I had a brain injury.

Recovery took three years. Slow, humbling, and clarifying in ways I never expected. I had to relearn things. I had to sit still when everything in me wanted to keep moving. I had to figure out, without the titles and the calendar and the momentum, who I actually was and what I actually wanted.

It turned out to be the most useful education of my life.

When I came out the other side, I bought a van.

Not because I needed one. Because I had learned what happens when you stop moving long enough to see clearly. Bessie has become my lab for figuring things out myself, my space for thinking, and my proof that starting over is not something that happens to you. It is something you choose.

Now I coach product leaders. CPOs, VPs, CTOs, Directors who are smart and capable and quietly stuck. I know what it feels like to rebuild from scratch. That is a different kind of credibility than a resume.

This page is the honest version of all of it.

DIY Van builds, home projects, fixing things
Van life Solo travel, digital nomad, Bessie
Leadership Coaching and mastermind for tech leaders
Watch the journey → Work with me
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