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.

Sonya Pfeiffer

My first job out of school was as an overnight assistant on the International Desk at CNN in Atlanta. I got friendly with one of the foreign correspondents, Walter Rodgers. He became a friend and a mentor, and he gave me incredible advice: Hamlet, Act I Scene 3. It is the parting words from Polonius to Laertes, and those principles have become my life guide. Read more>>

Julia Katcher

When I completed college I headed out west to California to pursue my career as a dancer. In order to survive I of course needed a steady income to support myself. I obtained my first job as a personal trainer in which I was the only trainer in the facility at the time, the facility was called Gorgeous Women’s Fitness and it really threw me into the fire of how to train women. Read more>>

Mary Howe

I learned a lifetime of lessons in the 8 years I served as an aerial gunner in the US Air Force. Those lessons have all transferred to other areas of my life, however, the value of communication can’t be understated, especially when lives are at stake. Read more>>

Amani Roberts

I started working in Sales for Marriott in 1998 for an extended stay hotel brand (TownePlace Suites), and these sales skills continue to help me today. We are always selling, and as a business owner, we are always looking for various business development opportunities. Once I got promoted to Miami and worked for one of the best bosses I had, Joe Brown, he taught us all how to be creative when selling and making our relationships with our clients personal. This extension of sales skills continues to be effective for me over twenty years later. Read more>>

Akira Nakano

In 2009, I began rebuilding my music career. I worked day jobs as a C-suite level Executive Assistant supporting five different bosses in architecture, engineering and nonprofit with varying degrees of success. Three I have the utmost respect for to this day, and two, I was very happy to walk out on. Read more>>

Carrie Stalk

Everyone says that it’s gauche to talk about money. But as a filmmaker, I have found that, especially as a woman in a male-dominated industry, having an open dialogue about money couldn’t be more important. Read more>>

Kiki Howe

I spent almost 20 years working in Medical Device Sales and Marketing and the most important and impactful takeaway from that experience is what I call BAMA. Be present. Read more>>

Lauren Wolk-Goldfaden

My first job taught me the invaluable lesson of never saying no and finding solutions, no matter the odds. It instilled in me a ‘can-do’ spirit and a resourceful mindset that has served me well throughout my career. I’ve carried that lesson with me and applied it in many different situations, often times on a daily basis, finding solutions and making progress where others might have thrown in the towel. This is a lesson that has shaped my life and career for the better, and I’m grateful for it every day. Read more>>

Kimberly Lewis

Wow. I would have to say my consulting journey has been one for the books. While being pretty good at what I do, there was a time that I lacked confidence in myself. I went through a series of personal matters that caused me to question my worth and doubt my abilities. That can’t be the mindset to thrive in corporate America. Read more>>

Billy Rankin

Over the years working as a guide in high risk environments I have seen a few emergency situations and until you experience real situations it’s hard to prepare for them. While dealing with serious patients in the backcountry or avalanche hazards on slope it gives you the experience you need to make critical decisions and form solid judgment. I take my life experience and develop my curriculum and teaching style to prepare students for real life situations. Read more>>

Marjoriee Lashmet

Before launching my own events company, I worked at one of the largest media and entertainment companies selling and producing marketing campaigns. A lot of those campaigns were mostly media, but my favorite ones included events I got to produce for some of the largest brands. Read more>>

Dannie De Novo

When the stress is dialed up, you still need to be able to make a decision. I’ve had a few careers in my life so far. Prior to going to law school, I was a paramedic. I was working an overnight shift when a priority 1 call came in for a man in his 40s, unresponsive, not breathing. My partner and I got on scene and found a very large man unconscious of his very small bedroom floor. Read more>>

Gabrielle Gustafson

I’ve worked a few “real jobs”, and I’m still surprised how many of the lessons that I’ve learned in real jobs that are applicable to life as a creative. But, I think the most important lesson I’ve learned in a “real job” is how to teach myself on the fly. The same skills I’ve used to pick up programing tricks and engineering skills are the same ones I’m still using to teach myself writing and production. I don’t have a ton of formal musical training, but I do have the ability to learn. Read more>>

Toti O’Brien

Once, many years ago, I was working on an independent movie in various capacities. The director’s wife owned a boutique, and I also worked for her. One morning she told me “the movie team is so happy about you! They all say you are extremely professional!” Read more>>

Rebecca Jankowski Theresa Kopac

We both agree that learning to hold space, for ourselves and for other women, has been the greatest experience our work has offered. As a women’s health acupuncturist/photographer and a motherhood practitioner/postpartum doula, we have seen and experienced the gaps of information and the lack of preparation and conversation as women move into and through pivotal transitions. Read more>>

Marile Hanson

The most important lesson I learned at a job was that my value and worth is not based on title or years of experience. My worth is built on the humble confidence in knowing that what I bring to the table is enough. Read more>>

Ruffin Consulting Services

Important lessons I learned during my undergraduate studies at Auburn University, beyond my studies, are lessons of leadership, resilience, good character personally and professionally, the power of pivoting and cultivating positive authentic relationships. Many of the lessons were through organizations like Executive Society and an independent study course that required me to read Good to Great by Jim Collins. Read more>>

Genevieve Gray

I graduated high school in 2018 with a 4.0 and almost a dozen APs under my belt. I’ve always been an artist at heart but was pressured by my family into thinking that pursuing a degree/career in art would be a waste of my intelligence. As such, I enrolled at the University at Buffalo for biology, too afraid of becoming the classic “starving artist” to pursue a creative field. Read more>>

Tyler Spicer

I doubt many music producers would have experienced a similar school-life to mine. Between ages fourteen to eighteen, I studied at a boarding school in the middle of the British countryside. As if that wasn’t the start of a children’s Disney film enough, it was also a boarding school with a military history, still carried through to this day. It’s a naval college. Read more>>