Experience is often valued because of the lessons prior jobs have theoretically provided us with. While hearing about those lessons isn’t a replacement for actually experiencing it, we thought it would be very helpful to create a space where sharp and generous members of the community can come together to share stories and lessons learned at prior jobs for the benefit of others.

Justin Jackson

My prior career I spent 10 years playing professional baseball where I learned how to work well with others for one common goal winning! I feel it’s incredibly important to be able to collaborate and communicate with others whether they be in your organization or collaborators on projects. At the end of the day the project can only be the best when the team puts the best foot forward and that can’t happen with a bunch of egos clashing. Team work makes the dream work. Read more>>

Steven Pestana

I’ve worn a lot of hats in the past, but it’s the insights I gained from throwing a weekly dance party for nine years that I always come back to, even as a visual artist. One lesson that comes to mind is the importance of keeping the audience on its toes, and myself too. It’s difficult to keep party people returning to the same place, week after week, for years. Everyone is on the hunt for the new and the joyful – other flavors, new sights, a different way the air feels on our skin. So, in that hunt, we are all “party people” in our own way. Read more>>

Satori Barrett

Learning has never been linear for me. I have always taken the knowledge given to me and self observed in all my various positions. I always knew that I wanted to be my own boss some day; making my own schedule, saying yes and no to the things that fulfilled me but I never knew what it was going to look like. Over the course of the last five years or so I knew I was getting closer – booking more jobs that felt meaningful, having a part-time hustle and constantly making connections. Read more>>

Allie Kidd

When I was an undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz, I was working toward my BA in Community Studies. The hallmark of this major/course of study was the 6 month long field study program in an area related to your concentration. I decided to complete my internship at the Santa Cruz AIDS Project specifically at their Drop In Center. My focus of study was on harm reduction and how to reduce negative outcomes for folks who used drugs. I was hitting the streets, armed with toothbrushes, safer injection gear, socks and snacks. Read more>>

Jake Hull

You would never think that working as a nurse and being a photographer would have anything in common, but I found that to be wrong. After working as a nurse for over four years I found that nursing and photography have a lot more in common than you would think. As a nurse, I learned so much about the human experience and how as humans we all have the same basic needs. I learned how to communicate with individuals from all walks of life and learned how to listen. This allowed patients to feel comfortable opening up to me and share personal details from their life they may not normally share. Read more>>

E. E. Kono

I graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s in art history and a minor in museum science. My degree gave me a broad perspective on the world and some limited conversational German, but very few career paths that didn’t include grad school (something I longed for but couldn’t afford). Luckily my bad art history German was just good enough to get me a job as a flight attendant for United Airlines. Read more>>

Desiree Bartlett

Several years ago I worked at a very well known yoga media and product company. I was originally contracted to do a yoga video series with them as on camera talent. During talks about the video series, we started talking about the presentation and production for the series and it was clear that they were excited about my new, fresh ideas. The following week, they offered me a job as an executive, and my video series was shelved as they thought that I would not be able to be both an executive, and on camera talent. I enjoyed working as an executive and learned a tremendous amount about yoga and fitness products and video production. Throughout my time at the company, Read more>>

Inktuce

When I was in college, I worked two jobs, as well as a volunteer job that took up my weekends. At one of my jobs, I was always asked to pick up extra shifts, and I usually said yes. I remember my boss telling me I needed to learn to say no, and not spread myself so thin. Having my boss’ permission to say no gave me the courage to do so, and I think about that all the time. It is important for me to balance my current day job with my art, so that art remains fun for me. Before saying yes to something, I take time to consider what is already on my plate, Read more>>

David Sanders

Time management is a critical skill for business owners to master. Effective time management helps to increase productivity, reduce stress, and achieve business goals efficiently. I would like to share with you a story that happened to me about 15 years ago, while still building my brand and business in Southern California. My assistant and I were going to meet a new client and his wife and take a tour of their new home that they were in the process of purchasing. Read more>>

Tucker Garcia

Every adaptive athletes is unique. Each athlete we work with has their own challenges that they’ve overcome or learned to live with in their life. As a result, when we work with athletes we must avoid treating each athlete the same. They have their own physical challenges that we must adapt to. We have to provide different accommodations based off the athletes impairment. There is always a solution to make the athlete feel more comfortable and capable, our job is to find out what that solution is. It can be a lot of trial and error, but the most important thing is to listen to your athlete, have them guide you to find the solution. They know themselves better than we ever could. Read more>>