Among nurses, Donna Cardillo is something of a celebrity. Creator of the popular Dear Donna column that runs in Nursing Spectrum and Nurseweek magazines, Cardillo, RN, MA, is an author, a motivational speaker and an award-winning career guru.

Owner of Cardillo & Associates, a career development firm based in Sea Girt, N.J., Cardillo has been named a Diva in Nursing by the Institute of Nursing in New Jersey and is a winner of the Athena Award, a national leadership award for women.

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"Being Dear Donna is a lot of fun and has brought me some fame within the nursing niche — no paparazzi — but I do get asked to autograph books," said Cardillo, who has been a nurse for more than 30 years.

When her audiences and readers see Cardillo, they sense that she's an experienced nurse, a confident businesswoman and a funny and insightful speaker. That wasn't always the case.

"Fifteen years ago, I was in a scary place," Cardillo said. "I was feeling very down — turning 40 — and looking at where I had been and where I was going in my career. I had done lots of stuff as a nurse and wanted to find a way to pull it all together."

Cardillo had performed various nursing roles, including working in an emergency room, in a medical weight-control clinic and for an insurance company. She also had been a psychiatric nurse and had directed hospital health care reimbursement and quality assurance programs.

For nearly 10 years, Cardillo had thought about becoming a public speaker and producing career development seminars for nurses. But just when she was ready to launch her business in the early 1990s, her husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

"I wondered if I should scrap my plans and stay with a steady paycheck and benefits," she said. "I decided that my family and I would be better off in the long run if I was creatively free to pursue my own vision. I believed in myself."

Power of positivity

Cardillo began listening to motivational tapes and reading inspirational books.

"When you immerse yourself in positive thinking and begin hanging out with motivated, upbeat people who you aspire to be like, it rubs off, and keeps you propelling yourself forward," she said.

Cardillo struggled for four years and endured the growing pains that come with starting a new business. At first, running seminars was labor intensive and didn't always pay well, but speaking engagements were a financial success from the start.

"It was all worth it and I have a lot of confidence in myself now," she said. "I've always discovered amazing things along the way. For instance, I didn't know that I had a writer inside of me."

Cardillo had never enjoyed writing, but a publisher convinced her to pen a book for a series aimed at people just starting out in their professions. She wrote "Your First Year as a Nurse: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional," which was published in 2001.

"The health care environment is so much more challenging than when I entered it," Cardillo said. "Too many young nurses had reality shock and were dropping prematurely out of the profession. I wanted to help prepare them."

Her book is popular at nursing schools and with hospital staff orientation programs. A second edition will be out next year.

The latest book

This month, Cardillo's newest book — "The Ultimate Career Guide for Nurses: How to Thrive at Every Stage of Your Career" ($29, Gannett Healthcare Group) — has hit the bookshelves.

"This book is the culmination of my 14 years in business, and all that I learned in my various nursing roles," Cardillo said. "Career management is about continuing to enhance yourself. A career should be growing and changing on a regular basis."

The guide addresses how to market yourself, how to transition between nursing roles and how to get the most from a field with many job opportunities.

"People always think nurses are by the bedside, but nurses are healers, teachers and nurturers," Cardillo said. "There are all sorts of nontraditional jobs that they can do.

"Someone said that most of us only use 10 percent of our potential in a lifetime, because we are afraid to try things. I tell nurses that the only way to find out if you're good at something is to try it."

TIPS FROM A NURSING CAREER GURU

"You are in charge of your career, and career development needs to be an ongoing process if you are going to keep your work interesting and yourself productive and happy," Donna Cardillo said.

Here are some nuggets of wisdom from Cardillo:

• Get into a continuous cycle of education. If you're not learning, you're stagnating. Look at career and personal development topics as well as clinical ones. Focus on your formal education by getting an advanced degree or getting certified in your specialty. Also take continuing education courses and seminars.
• Get involved with professional organizations. They help you meet people, develop support systems and stay current in your field. A network of professionals can become a lifeline when you want to manage, grow and develop your career; discuss problems; gather information; or just let off steam.
• Look for career-building opportunities within your present job. Find opportunities that will showcase your skills and talents, expand your horizons and let you learn new skills. Some examples: Write a department newsletter, train co-workers, do community education or speak at a conference. Step out of your comfort zone and increase your visibility.