Linnea Butler is a licensed marriage and family therapy and the founder of Bay Area Mental Health. She has had an interesting and unusual career trajectory with several major pivots that really demonstrate that no experience is ever a waste of time. Linnea’s first career was in molecular biology and genetics, and she completed her first graduate school degree with Nobel Laureate Mario Capecchi. She worked at Pfizer in their research division and though she loved the science, she was dissatisfied with the lack of human interaction. During the dot com boom she made her first major career change from research to marketing, and moved across the country to join a biotech start up. As Linnea climbed the corporate ladder in biotech marketing, she was also doing her inner work with a psychotherapist. The combination led her to realize that her stress and life dissatisfaction were largely due to her living for other people’s values rather than her own. With that awakening, Linnea returned to graduate school for a second time, this time focusing on psychology and counseling.