Meet Debra Olshan Cooper
Founder, Your Career Design Lab
Has Spoken at:
I am a Serial Entrepreneur with 30 years of PR & Marketing experience.
With over 30 years of experience as a CEO and founder of successful public relations and marketing firms—including Real Life Communications & Marketing in New York City and FreshConnect Solutions in Miami—Debra has honed the art of strategic storytelling and brand positioning. Her work has secured national exposure for clients in major outlets and networks, and her deep understanding of media, narrative, and personal branding now informs her coaching philosophy.
At YourCareerDesignLab, Debra guides young professionals, recent graduates, and career changers through a transformative process of self-discovery, narrative design, and strategic job search techniques. She specializes in helping clients articulate their authentic value through compelling personal stories, build standout resumes, develop interview confidence, and expand their professional networks.
Debra’s approach blends practical career strategy with powerful storytelling, empowering her clients to navigate today’s competitive job market with clarity and confidence. Her signature tools—such as the “Ta-Da! List”—help individuals uncover their true passions and translate them into purposeful pursuits.
Before transitioning into career coaching, Debra’s dynamic professional journey included luxury fashion and lifestyle public relations, where she led high-profile campaigns and built strong industry relationships. Today, she brings that same expertise to YourCareerDesignLab, shaping careers one compelling story at a time.
My Mission:
To lead young professionals on a journey of self-discovery of who they are and how to put their passions into a paycheck.
Writing and producing clients stories to bring them to their rightful place in the spotlight, just like I did for 30 years placing people on television and in newspapers or magazines. I have experience in designing and producing stories on behalf of my clients to craft the perfect pitch.
In addition to crafting, telling, and selling a client’s story I am instrumental in guiding the client through role-playing, branding a resume, and designing a killer cover letter. Once the client is ready for their close-up, I will open the doors for the client to garner their dream career. I guide the client step by step through the career land mines and into their perfect career.
I am a graduate of New York University with a BA in communications and journalism. Certified in Mindfulness Training, NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) certified practitioner, and certified in advertising and marketing from New York University. Debra and her husband reside in South Florida and New York City. My daughter is a business major at Montclair State University in New Jersey.
For more information, e-mail info@yourcareerdesignlab.com; or contact Debra at 917 -847-8035.
Why Hire Me
I architect and design the right processes to find the right career. Not only a person’s first career, but ongoing. It’s a unique, very personal process not just about resumes, and cover letters, but more importantly, in my mind is the ability to shape you into the right candidate for a particular job or career. How to tell your story in a way that is memorable where the interviewer is urged to take action. In addition, my networking capabilities ensure to find you the right mentor, interviewer, industry experts, and people that do hiring at major firms that you would want to be employed at. It’s a relationship that I wish existed when I was first looking for my career over 20 years ago.
More importantly, it doesn’t stop at the first job. Once you achieve that first job, it might be how to network within your firm to get to the next position or ask for a raise. I have a network of CEOs, executives, and business owners who all communicate with me about what they continually hear and what they more importantly “want to hear” from you!
A career coach is a very valuable relationship and I would encourage you sincerely to have a conversation about what I can offer and how it might be beneficial for you now, but likely over your career. Here are some of the reasons a person like me can land you your dream career.
- I have helped numerous people and clients to find a better path in work and in life.
- I help you to craft, tell, and sell your story.
- Discuss what hasn't worked and set you in a new direction.
What is the career path you want, not just getting a job. I can explain how crucially different this is and how an interviewer can tell a candidate that is looking for a job with them vs. a career. Nobody wants to spend money and time training someone who will leave and the training and ramp-up time is a cost to the firm, so are you the right person to spend the money on. These questions and more are what you need to overcome on paper and in the interview. This is what I and YourCareerDesignLab can do for you.
