We asked some brilliant entrepreneurs, artists and creatives to reflect on lessons they’ve learned at prior jobs. We’ve shared highlights below.
Erin Malfi
Recently, I took on the role of Lead Character Designer on a volunteer short film project. My responsibilities were to design characters and props, and to work with other designers to help the director maintain her vision of the film. Read More>>
Emily Fanjoy
Fresh out the Peace Corps doing development work, I returned to the states and got a job at a community non-profit that provided advocacy services to survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence. I went from one intense job to another, but the training I got for advocacy made my brain blow up a little bit. Read More>>
Linda Ta Yonemoto
One of the most important lessons I learned came from managing multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns in corporate, agency, and tech environments. By day, I was entrusted with overseeing large-scale advertising budgets, analyzing ROI, and making strategic decisions to drive growth. But behind the scenes, I was also budgeting every dollar of my own “9 to 5” paycheck on a mission to become financially free after growing up poor and in the negative. Read More>>
Brianna VanValen
I had a career in retail for many years before venturing out on my own with my photography business. The foundation of the company I worked for was rooted in the customer experience: Was it easy, memorable, and positive? Did the customer feel like there was added value? Did their exposure to our brand leave them wanting to come back and/or recommending us to their friends and family? Read More>>
Maurisha Tucker-McFadden
There are two that came from the same experience.
I was working at a school a few years back and my daughter was really young. We lived a good 30 mins away, not to mention the morning traffic rush, AND we had to make a daycare stop… mornings were rough. I had a hard time making it to my classroom exactly at 7a every morning. My principal noticed my tardiness in the kindest way. Read More>>
Denise Dalzell
I’ve learned from every job that I’ve had. From working in banking, or the movie theatre that I worked at while beginning college, I learned how to interact with a large variety of people. Read More>>
Karen McPhail-Bell
Two very different jobs taught me that to lead creatively, you have to trust your inner voice, even when no one else sees the vision yet.
Earlier in my public health career, I had a conviction that art and health belonged together. It was uncommon at the time and art was often medicalised (where non-medical issues are reduced to medical problems like disease or illness) or sidelined. Read More>>
Vivian Liu
I spent my full-time internship working at Houston’s Premier Corex in the summer of 2024 with PhDs, million-dollar machines, and more acronyms than I could ever hope to learn how to spell. I was a high school student in a lab coat that was a bit too big on me, trying to look as though I had a clue what “permeability analysis” was. Read More>>
Dr.gattem Venkatesh
•One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever come across is: “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” It’s a simple but powerful reminder that action is the key to progress. Waiting for the “perfect time” or feeling fully ready often leads to stagnation. Read More>>