Jessica Drapluk: From Pediatric Oncology to Building Health, Wealth, and Ownership✨The Career Pivot Playbooks Series
Jessica shares how a career in pediatric oncology and flight medicine evolved into combining healthcare and macro markets to build assets and a portfolio career designed for decades.
This Career Pivot Playbook features Jessica Drapluk, a Substack bestseller and the writer behind NP Fellow, a platform that connects health, markets, and disciplined thinking.
She began in pediatric oncology, then moved into flight medicine, transporting critically ill patients and making high-stakes decisions mid-air.
Over time, she started exploring other fields. Markets. Macroeconomics. Writing. She realized the skills she had built in medicine did not belong to one industry. They could be applied elsewhere.
Emotional regulation. Pattern recognition. Decision-making under uncertainty. Clear communication under pressure.
Her shift was not dramatic. It was layered. Curiosity turned into disciplined study. Study turned into consistent action. Writing became infrastructure, not expression.
Today, she operates at the intersection of nervous system regulation, macro markets, and capital allocation. Her Substack is not a side project. It is an asset built to compound.
In this Playbook, Jessica shares how clinical precision translated into market discipline, how she moved through identity friction, and why building for decades changes how you think about income, risk, and control.
✨About Career Pivot Playbooks
A public archive of modern career blueprints…
Most careers no longer follow a straight line.
People pivot gradually.
They extend their work beyond institutions.
They combine roles, platforms, and income streams.
Career Pivot Playbooks is a weekly series curated by Katharine Gallagher documenting how professionals build resilient, future-ready careers by turning existing skills into income, often combining Substack with consulting, teaching, research, creative work, or business ownership.
The focus isn’t outcomes.
It’s about how careers are shaped in practice.
Join free to get the Skill-to-Income Discovery Tool and uncover practical ways to turn your existing skills into income.
About Jessica
Jessica is the writer behind NP Fellow, a newsletter about health, markets, and disciplined thinking.
She is a Substack bestseller, nurse practitioner, stock trader, and former pediatric hematology oncology and flight nurse who rebuilt her career around sovereignty.
Today, she blends healthcare, nervous system science, macro market analysis, and writing to help others think clearly, build financial literacy, empower people to become the CEO of their health, and design work on their own terms.
You can follow her work here →
Jessica reflects:
“Can you share a bit about your professional background and the path that led you to where you are today?”
I began my career in pediatric hematology oncology nursing, where I spent five years caring for children and families navigating life-threatening diagnoses. After that, I worked four years in flight medicine, transporting critically ill patients and making high-stakes decisions mid-air.
Healthcare trained my nervous system. In oncology and flight medicine, clarity under pressure isn’t optional. You learn to regulate emotion, assess incomplete information quickly, and act decisively.
However, sitting with families whose lives changed overnight also shifted how I viewed stability. When you witness that kind of uncertainty regularly, you start thinking differently about time, income, and control.
That awareness expanded beyond medicine. I began to see fragility in professional identity and income structures. Depending on one employer or one title felt increasingly narrow.
At the same time, I had always been drawn to markets and writing. What started as curiosity became discipline. I studied macroeconomics, trading psychology, and capital allocation seriously. I also immersed myself in functional medicine and mental health, initially to optimize my own health, then to empower others.
NP Fellow became the intersection of health, wealth, and disciplined thinking mixed together.
“What sign, moment, or slow realization told you it was time to diversify, and what did you have to push through to actually act on it?”
There wasn’t one dramatic turning point. It was a slow realization that I didn’t want to rely on a single structure for income or identity.
Working in high-acuity medicine made uncertainty normal. I didn’t fear volatility, but I wanted leverage and ownership. I wanted skills that compounded beyond a salary.
The hardest part wasn’t learning markets or writing publicly. It was pushing through identity friction. Expanding beyond “nurse practitioner” into markets and publishing felt vulnerable.
What helped was recognizing that healthcare, markets, and mindset are all systems. I wasn’t abandoning one world. I was translating skill sets into a broader arena.
“Which skills or experiences from your previous career unexpectedly became an advantage in what you do now?”
Pediatric oncology and flight nursing prepared me for markets in unexpected ways.
Both require emotional regulation under pressure. Both demand pattern recognition and disciplined decision-making with incomplete data.
Trading is not just analytical; it’s psychological. If your nervous system isn’t regulated, your execution won’t be either.
Healthcare also trained me to translate complexity into clarity. Whether I’m explaining dopamine regulation or sector rotation, the goal is the same: simplify without diluting.
“How did you decide where to build visibility or credibility (Substack or elsewhere), and what role does that platform play in your overall career or income mix?”
I chose Substack intentionally. I didn’t want to build inside algorithm volatility. I wanted ownership, depth, and longevity.
Substack allows me to build intellectual assets; not just posts. Through NP Fellow, I write about nervous system regulation, resilience, and functional medicine. Alongside that, I share macro market analysis, asset class tracking, trade ideas, and disciplined capital allocation strategies.
The platform supports long-form, thoughtful work. It’s part of my income mix, but more importantly, it’s my long-term intellectual infrastructure.
“Who is your work really for, and what problem do you solve so well that people are willing to pay for it?”
My work is for people who want sovereignty, freedom, and absolute personal power.
People who want to think clearly in volatility.
People who want financial literacy instead of financial fear.
People who want to optimize their health instead of outsourcing it.
The problem I solve is fragmentation. Many people treat health, money, and mindset as separate. I help them see the connection. Internal regulation strengthens external decision-making. And disciplined decisions compound over time.
“What turned out to be harder than you expected when you started… and what was easier than you imagined?”
Harder than expected: consistency without immediate validation. Writing weekly. Studying markets daily. Publishing publicly. Staying steady when growth is nonlinear.
Easier than expected: connection. When you write honestly and clearly, people respond. Substack readers appreciate depth and frameworks over noise.
The biggest lesson? Compounding requires patience.
“How have you found the journey? What advice/strategies and tips would you give to others wanting to grow their audiences?”
My journey on Substack has been deeply positive. It rewards thoughtfulness and attracts readers who value long-term thinking.
My advice: write timeless work. Don’t chase trends. Build frameworks that will still be useful in five years. Focus on clarity and consistency over virality.
And own your audience. Build an asset, not dependency.
“What nearly made you quit, and what actually kept you going?”
There were moments when it would have been easier to retreat to one professional identity. Markets are volatile. Writing is exposed. Income isn’t always linear.
What kept me going was perspective. Oncology teaches you what truly matters. Flight medicine teaches composure. Markets teach patience.
Volatility is structure; not failure.
“What advice would you give to someone considering a similar pivot or looking to monetize their skills in a more flexible way?”
Learn evergreen skills and multiple high-income skills. Layer your skills intentionally. Don’t abandon your foundation, build on top of it.
Learn how money works. Understand markets. Develop diversified income streams.
But equally important: build internal capacity. If your nervous system collapses under uncertainty, diversification won’t feel empowering.
Future-proofing is both internal and external.
“What other platforms, audiences, or income streams are part of your portfolio career… and how do they work together?”
My portfolio includes nurse practitioner expertise, pediatric oncology and flight experience, functional medicine education, Substack publications, paid digital products, active trading, and macro market education.
Each layer reinforces the others. Health strengthens clarity. Clarity strengthens capital allocation. Capital allocation strengthens optionality. I’m not building for trends. I’m building for decades.
“Looking back, what’s one decision that changed everything… and what’s next for you?”
One decision changed everything: choosing to build assets instead of outputs.
When I took markets seriously, I understood compounding in a new way. Capital compounds when allocated wisely. Ideas compound when structured intentionally.
NP Fellow is becoming a timeless content and asset-generating machine — an archive on health, wealth, and disciplined thinking that readers can return to for years.
Next, I’m focused on expanding that infrastructure. Deepening the frameworks. Growing the intellectual library. Allocating capital strategically with a long-term vision toward philanthropy.
Markets change. Systems shift. Disciplined thinking and emotional regulation are timeless. That’s the foundation I’m building on.
Links & Resources
Connect with Jessica…
NP Fellow Collective Spotify link:
Related Articles
How to overcome imposter syndrome →
The importance of psychological wellbeing →
The Science of Feeling Better: Three Habits That Will Transform Your Health, Energy, and Longevity
How curious people make the best leaders →
Curiosity Is What Keeps Us Learning and Growing
Read More
Behind the Pivot
Learn how to turn your current skills and experience into income and build a portfolio career beyond a single job, so you’re more resilient and in control.
The Career Pivot Archive
Real-world career pivots, portfolio paths, and practical lessons from some of your favourite Substackers you can apply to your own next move.
Career Questions Answered
Practical, strategic answers to the career questions ambitious professionals are asking as work, security, and opportunity continue to change.
I’m Katharine — a future-focused career strategist helping professionals build income options and stay relevant as work evolves.
🙏 I appreciate you being here and supporting this growing archive… and thank you to all the creators who contribute, it’s such a pleasure to learn from them.
❤️ Loved it? Restack 🔁 and share ✅
🤔Is there a question you wish had been asked?
Drop it in the comments, and let’s keep the conversation going.
 | A guest post by
|
Hi, Katharine! this article came out amazingly! I'm pumped, thank you so much for this top-tier opportunity. 🫶🤝
I enjoyed reading this article as a RN myself and in a pivot to building a framework to retire bedside nursing. I’ve also found a way to utilize my experience. I have experienced a breath of fresh air since joining this platform. Thank you for sharing!