I Quit (Again)
quit (intransitive verb) to admit defeat
quit (transitive verb) to set free
“WHAT?! Why?” • “Even after the GRAMMYs?” • “But I thought you liked it?”
When I started to disclose my decision to leave my creative role in hospitality, I was prepared for reactions like the ones above. Some of them I knew would be connected to the prestige of the company’s name and what I’d been fortunate to create and experience there. Others were very much a part of what I assume to be people’s frustration with my constant career pivots. They don’t always make sense to everyone and deep down humans love nothing more than things going as planned (hello! It’s me.).
I quit anyway and I’d do it again for the right reasons. If I include my new role, I’ve officially had 8 jobs since I graduated from design school 9 years ago. I’ve left 7 and been laid off from one. If you’re exhausted by me, please know you’re no more tired than I am of starting over and reinventing myself as often as I’ve felt compelled to. Those compulsions were always born of a deliberate pursuit of my creative goals, a hopeful attainment of a salary that matched my cost of living as a single woman in a metro area, sustained work life balance and the beyond fair need to be immersed in an environment where I’m unique because of factors outside of my race.
When I spoke to students from my alma mater this March, I opened with a slide that listed out all of my jobs. I remarked about how I used to be terrified about how it would look to have so many until I had a realization that shifted everything. All of those roles were not an indictment of some deep rooted flaw in me or a stain on my name. How could this fact about my career trajectory be a stain when they were proof that I know how to interview, land a job, how to use every popular project management software out there, build bonds with new teammates and direct reports in both physical and virtual environments along with so much more? I’ve designed for an insane amount of brands and within a wide array of industries. Those experiences have only made me better and have consistently prepared me for the next opportunity.
So I quit (again).
There are no delusions that my new opportunity is perfect (I know with certainty that doesn’t exist and that work is…work.) nor do I have a vision of it being a place I’ll stay at for the rest of my life (does anyone do that anymore?). In my quest to be more present, I can only speak to how right it feels now! It’s the collective best situation I’ve encountered since I left college and has already started to change my life. A week into the new role, I already feel seen. I already feel in community. I already feel so creative and inspired to help others create.
So again, I quit. This time thankfully not in defeat or desperation to leave a situation but in the clearest and most promising pursuit of setting myself free—a most worthy goal.
