A Geologist's 7-Year Pivot to Caregiving and a New Career

Natasya Pawanteh left a career as a Shell geologist in 2018 to help care for her parents. She planned a two-year break. It stretched to seven and a half years. When she finally looked for work again, her old industry was closed to her. She found a new role at a Kuala Lumpur soup kitchen instead.

Pawanteh, 45, spoke to Business Insider about the transition. The following is drawn from that interview.

At 36, Pawanteh was a mid-career geologist in Sarawak, Malaysia, working weekends and late nights. Her parents had both had strokes years earlier. Her sisters were the primary caregivers. She decided to move to mainland Malaysia to give them a hand and to step away from the stress she had built up.

“I planned to take a maximum of two years off,” she said.

The two years became seven because her father’s health deteriorated, then her mother’s did. Pawanteh and her sisters provided full-time care. Her father died in December 2022. Her mother died in August 2024. “We didn't have time to grieve because my mother's health went badly downhill,” she said. “When she died, everything finally sank in.”

By then, her savings were nearly gone. She started looking for geology work again. Informal chats with industry contacts did not produce offers. One person told her she would have to start from zero. “It would've been an uphill battle to get people to take a chance on me,” she said.

She also realized her own interests had shifted. Caring for her parents, she said, made her want to work with people rather than rocks. She started volunteering with Kechara Soup Kitchen Society, a nonprofit that distributes food. A moment with one of the people in the queue pushed her toward the switch.

“One of the ladies saw that my T-shirt had ridden up at the back,” Pawanteh said. “She pulled it down very gently, rubbed my back, and waved, since she wasn't really verbal. I stood there and wanted to cry. Her kindness led me to realize I wanted to be someone who helped people in need.”

A volunteer asked if she would consider paid work at the organization. She met the general manager and got an interview on the spot. In the interview, she emphasized transferable skills from geology: managing stakeholders, logistical planning. In a second interview, the interviewer focused on how caregiving shaped her thinking about community. She was offered a job as an assistant to the general manager in late 2025.

“It felt great that the interviewer didn't dismiss my seven-year break, but made it the focus of the interview,” she said.

Pawanteh said the hardest part of the break was the loss of professional identity. “In the corporate world, you build your identity around your career achievements,” she said. “Once I left, I felt a bit invisible. I wondered if my friends in the industry would still take me seriously. I wondered if I was getting stupider.”

She said those thoughts faded once her parents’ health declined. “I had to switch them off to focus on spending whatever time I had left with them,” she said. “It was a privilege to look after them until the end of their days, and I think that will be the greatest achievement of my life.”

Pawanteh said her career break taught her patience and how to deal with other people. “I'm more gentle and understanding,” she said. She encourages others in similar situations to try paths they had not considered before. “Working for an NGO wasn't on my bingo card, but I'm really happy that I've ended up here for stage 2.0 of my life.”

Shell did not respond to a request for comment.