VP, Career & Strategy

You’re the CEO and Founder of your own Career. I’m Kayla MacVicar — VP, Career & Strategy for you here at Executive Function.

I’ve built a career I’m proud of inside corporate — growing from entry-level to VP over a decade of navigating shifting priorities, managing high-performing teams, and learning how to thrive inside a structure that wasn’t built with most of us in mind. I’ve worked hard. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve asked for too little. I’ve learned to ask for more. And I’ve helped a lot of other people do the same.

This project was born out of loss — or more specifically, the anticipation of losing something I’ve loved. Things are changing in my career in ways I didn’t expect. While I still get to help shape those changes, I no longer feel aligned to the direction we’re headed. And even though I’m not rushing out the door, I’ve started grieving what I thought my job would be.

So I started asking myself: what exactly am I sad about? Because I’ve always said — famously, if you ask people who know me — that I’ve loved something about every company I’ve worked for. I know I can build again. So what is it that I’ll miss?

The answer was easy. I’ll miss the people. The mentoring. The coaching. The off-the-record conversations with someone who just needs help navigating something hard. The chance to build people up — even when the system is flawed.

That’s what I love. That’s what I’m good at. And that’s what Executive Function is here to do.

I used to envy people with clear, freelance-able skills. My best friend is a graphic designer, and I’ve always admired that if her job disappeared tomorrow, she could lean on that skill to bridge the gap. For a long time, I didn’t think I had a skill like that. But over the last decade, I’ve come to realize that I do — I help people navigate the chaos of corporate and come out stronger, clearer, and more confident on the other side.

Since that lightbulb moment, the floodgates have opened. It turns out I’ve got a lot to say. And more importantly, a lot to share — advice I’ve given to friends, coworkers, my mom, my boss, even strangers. I’ve given that advice 100s of times. I’ve built trust by showing up, listening hard, translating messy realities into clear action, and helping people feel just a little more powerful at work.

I don’t claim to have invented any of this. Most of what’s here is my interpretation of someone else’s great or terrible advice. But the lens I bring — shaped by a decade of experience, tested across every level of an org chart — is mine. And it’s yours now too, if you want it.

At Executive Function, I’m showing up in a role I invented just for this: VP, Career & Strategy for you. I’m not here to glamorize corporate life or romanticize career ladders. I’m here to demystify the system, acknowledge its flaws, and help you get what you need out of it.

Corporate isn’t a calling. It’s a structure. And you can learn how to work it — without selling out or losing yourself.

That’s what I’m here for.