I sometimes feel like I am the only person that didn’t get into birding during pandemic lockdowns. But, it turns out, there were plenty of people that were into birding before the pandemic too, and one of them—Angela Co—was smart enough to create a whole company out of it: Bird Collective.

In February, I had dinner with a former colleague who works in the tech industry and is currently keeping her head down at her job and coasting (a very fair choice). In passing, she mentioned that her true dream was to make movies. I came back to that topic and asked her what had happened to that dream and if she was still interested in pursuing it. Her answer: “Oh no. It’s too late.”

Dominique Luster is a renowned speaker and archivist who has worked with museums, universities, and libraries to provide the necessary context and storytelling for their exhibits. I loved this conversation with her in which we covered everything from her transition from in-house archivist to running her own for-profit business to how Teenie Harris inspired her to take an independent leap.

For those of us that are overly sensitive to others’ needs and nervous about taking up space or appearing selfish, I have this to report: your "selfish" acts can help lots of other people in ways you may never know.

Behind the scenes of every successful career path is a very messy and non-linear adventure of emotional and financial ups-and-downs. And yet, many of us feel like indecisive fuck-ups when we we look at our past and see nine different job titles across five industries.

Have you ever thought about who is behind the success of those people in the spotlight?
Tons and tons of other people!

Listen, and believe me when I tell you: you are able and more than ready to do the things you want to do. Everyone around you knows it.

Even if you aren't at a moment where you want or need a transition, I highly recommend building up and fostering your outside-of-work community. You will never know when it could come in handy.

Though my path appears wandering, each move has felt less abrupt to me than it looks to the outside world. I understand the links and the story.

Yes, I do understand why it is so tempting to say you'll do everything. Nobody wants to leave potential money on the table!

If you have years of work experience, what's more important is (a) what you believe you can do and (b) the way you talk about and connect your past work to the new direction.

This is the conversation I have with myself about everything every day. It's the one I struggle with most when I am working out what to do in my career. There are so many shoulds!

Will people think I'm dumb if I can't quickly and clearly answer the question, “So, what do you do?” at a cocktail party?

Dear Friend,
It's obvious from the outside that you are miserable. It is difficult to witness you being underpaid, undervalued, and overworked…