Nova Chief of Staff Celebrates Our Second Birthday!
It was early 2022, and I was sitting on my mom’s couch in New Mexico during a visit. I was transitioning out of my corporate Chief of Staff role and figuring out what I wanted to do next.
I’d finally found a role where I could say, “this job was meant for me.” It was a role I loved, and one I’d built from the ground up. I grew a team of seven or eight, adding each position one by one, getting approval for every hire, and designing every single role, responsibility, template, tool, and best practice myself. Within my first three months, I was rewarded with a $50K equity bonus for performance. I knew I’d found something special. But I also knew it was a lot of work… and that I’d had to learn everything on my own, by hand, testing, failing, and building from scratch.
I was chatting with my mom about the last two years and said, “Isn’t it crazy there are thousands of project management certifications but nothing for Chiefs of Staff? Nowhere for CoSs to get hands-on practice, online, in the daily functions of the job?” She looked at me and said, “Well, why don’t you go build it?”
Fast forward, and here we are. Nova’s course took a full year to ideate, write, build, and launch. And I was pregnant most of that time with my little boy Max, who’s now almost 3. I launched in late June as a solopreneur without branding or a company name, and a few months later on 11/1/2023 we officially became Nova Chief of Staff.
And now two years later:
✅ 1,500 students across 45 countries
✅ 1,300 companies represented
✅ Bootstrapped and profitable from day one
✅ The Nova Promise helping people fund our course
✅ 8+ full-time team members and a dozen contractors
✅ 3 paths to certification (Self-Paced Online, 3-Day Virtual Cohort, 3-Day In-Person)
✅ B2B programs with major organizations across the country
And most importantly for me — a company, team, and life that I find so much joy and purpose in every single day. The ability to be present at home, build cool things at work, and support so many people through our mission at Nova Chief of Staff.
My husband and I were chatting recently about Nova’s incredible growth. He said, “Not a lot of people would know how to do what you’ve done with Nova.” But I corrected him — I haven’t known how to do any of this. But I’ve figured it out.
Through experience, confidence, and the skills I’ve learned along the way — many from the Chief of Staff role itself: incredible focus, a customer-first mindset, building a team slowly, prioritizing fiercely, knowing what I need support in, building relationships, testing & learning, and so much more.
Through experience, confidence, and the skills I’ve learned along the way — many from the Chief of Staff role itself: incredible focus, a customer-first mindset, building a team slowly, prioritizing fiercely, knowing what I need support in, building relationships, testing & learning, and so much more.
Thank you to this incredible community for your ongoing support. Every single referral and mention of Nova continues to brighten this movement. What I am most proud of is that our growth hasn’t just supported students. It’s amplified the Chief of Staff role itself and brought new visibility and opportunity to it across the globe. I hear it firsthand from founders, EAs, and Chiefs of Staff every single week, and the virality of Chief of Staff posts and growing CoS job descriptions on LinkedIn tell the story too.
Here at Nova we deeply believe that, just as Nova isn’t just a course but a movement amplifying the importance of the Chief of Staff role everywhere — the Chief of Staff position itself isn’t just a role: it’s a path to the c-suite for an entire generation of operators that never existed before.
Happy Birthday, Nova!
Maggie
Founder & CEO, Nova Chief of Staff
Follow Maggie on LinkedIn for daily posts about all things Chief of Staff.
Are you interested in becoming a Chief of Staff? Download our Syllabus to see if the Nova Chief of Staff Certification course is right for you!