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.

There’s so much to learn from times when there are industry wide U-Turns and so we asked so we asked the community to share stories of such reversals that they’ve witnessed over the course of their careers.

Tad Anderson

Years ago, while I was still in college studying landscape architecture, I landed a plum part-time job as a draftsman (think drawing board and T-square, mechanical pencil and pink pearl eraser, vellum and blueprints) for a civil engineering firm. My college design projects had always been conceived as thoughtful, contemplative, experiential concepts… “I wonder what that textured series should be? What color palette should I implement? What rhythms do I want, as a positive influence to the users’ experience?” For me, that often meant mulling the project’s goals, staring at a blank 24 x 36 sheet of torn-off bumwad, or contemplating a blank page in a sketchbook. “Creative inspiration is never spontaneous”, might have been my young-self’s motto. Read more>>

Paulina Morning

I never set out to be an entrepreneur. In the beginning, I just needed a job. A stable one. Something that would help me take care of what needed to be taken care of. So, I took a position in a place that looked promising on paper but once inside, it was a different story. Read more>>

Zach Patrick

The biggest lessons I’ve learned is being patient. One of the other jobs I have is at a gym working their sports integrated daycare called (Kids Zone). Working with kids can definitely be a very challenging task as kids don’t necessarily like to listen and or follow rules all the time. Not to say that all kids are bad but their are definitely a few bad seeds who give myself and the other workers a hard time. A few months ago a kid who wasn’t listening and finding it hard to follow instructions ended up almost throwing a tantrum because he got eliminated from one of the games we were playing. Read more>>

Dr Brendly Clark Singleton

I have been exposed to poor leadership in past positions. Because of that experience, I ensured I was the opposite of what I had experienced. In a world where leadership is often equated with authority and dominance, the concept of a humble leader stands out as a refreshing and necessary paradigm. I am a humanistic and humble leader. A humble leader prioritizes the well-being and growth of their team over their ego. They lead with empathy, listen actively, and foster an environment of trust and collaboration. Unlike traditional leaders who may rely on authority, humble leaders inspire through their actions and integrity. Read more>>

Emily Hogg

Prior to starting my real estate career, I was a bedside a nurse for 10 years. I loved being a nurse and although I stepped away to create a better work/life balance for my family, I learned valuable lessons and I do miss aspects of it. The biggest lesson I learned from my time as a nurse is that sometimes the best gift I can give is my presence. I get choked up thinking about the times that impacted me most as a nurse and almost every one of those memories is a time that I slowed down, set aside my task list, and offered my attention and listening ear to a patient. Read more>>

Paul Farahvar

Before I did comedy, I was a trial lawyer. I practiced law for over 15 years and the last few years overlapped with the rise of my stand up career. Since comedy was going so well and I had some great opportunities, I decided to leave law to do comedy and closed my last solo law firm on March 1, 2020. Bad timing. Everything went away for a while. Read more>>

Chris Moss

During my corporate career, I always had jobs focused on serving others – supervising, coaching, training, developing soft skills. I’m a very calm person by nature, which naturally lends itself to thriving in what others perceive as stressful situations. The latter part of my corporate career saw me working in HR. Read more>>

Jessica Burner

An important lesson I learned is if you want to be sure your standards for sanitation and disinfection are up to par, you need to go out on your own so you can be in control. I worked at a spa that was filthy. I explained how cross-contamination worked to them many times and they just didn’t get it. They didn’t wash their sheets properly – they’d overload the washer and didn’t use hot water as dictated by state board regulations. One day I mentioned how the floor was visibly dirty and the mgr said “Oh, I didn’t mop it this week, actually I didn’t mop it last week either” Gross! So if I wanted to ensure the standards of my practice were in line with state board regulations and met my own personal standards, I was going to have to go out on my own. Read more>>

Jazmin Ocampo

I worked in youth development for most of my career and at the time, I was running a leadership program for middle school, Black and Latinx youth on the south and west sides of Chicago. The goal was to incorporate youth voice in the decisions that elected officials and school leaders make that impact young people, particularly as it pertained to issues of safety and violence in their neighborhoods. Read more>>

Ellen Jean Diederich

What helped me from the most from the beginning is protecting my painting time. After 5 years of college (I have a B.F.A. in Fine Art) there was much to be learned about painting and business to make me marketable. This was gradual and continuous. Both were worked on. In fact, it took me a year to develop a routine that worked. Read more>>

Dr. Rodney Rogers

SInce the early age of 12 years old my father showed me what were the most important lessons of starting a business and working the business to feed a family and grow a reputable business. I am the product of a father and mother that worked hard to build a small business. My father a Vietnam veteran from the rural area of Selma Alabama landed in Columbus, Ohio after the war. There he began to work towards a vision of business ownership. He started a small fish market and a janitorial service while my mother drove the local city bus in Columbus. Read more>>

Amanda Peshek

I am in a unique situation where I get to work full time for a large company in their HR department, while fulfilling my performing passion on the side. If it’s any lesson I have learned about working professionally in both corporate America and having worked professionally in the performing arts, it’s that both of these professions (whether a “passion” or not) can become draining. And that’s okay. It does not mean it does not fulfill your soul anymore, or that you don’t enjoy your passion anymore…but hard work is hard work – whether that’s sitting at a desk or dancing on a stage. Try to savor each performance and treat it as if it’s the first one you’ve done. Read more>>