I found out April 1st that, come April 30th, my full time employment would be eliminated. My car decided that it wanted to make the sound that could only be compared to the whale in Finding Nemo. And that’s okay because gas is now more than the 412 area code that Pittsburgh resides in. It’s…
Tag: life
Once Upon a Black Woman: There’s Something About April & Change
April always tests what I’m made of… In April 2013, I joined AmeriCorps after being laid off for the first time. In April 2014, I became an American Airlines flight attendant. In April 2023, I was laid off for a second time. This time from my third career as a healthcare IT Business Analyst. I…
Why Not You?
Audacity “The quality or state of being audacious: such as a : intrepid boldness knights admired for their audacity.” I’ve had about four or five careers (I’ve stopped counting), and I just embrace the art of side quest. Why not step out of your comfort zone? Why not learn something new? If you fail, it…
Confessions of an Ex-Millennial Mayor
I imagine 18-year-old me, 28-year-old me, and the me today sitting at a bar. They’d all get along kee-keeing with one another. They’d converse about talking the crying customer out of the plane bathroom before take off, or telling the one man, “I’m as hot and chocolate as he was going to get,” because we…
37 in Less Than 7 Days: Flexibility is a Flex
I will be 37 in 7 days. What am I learning? Mostly, I’ll never have it all figured out. After briefly being a flight attendant, my 9-year career in tech came to a pause. The position got eliminated, so I leaned heavily into pivoting. I will continue to lean into pivoting my entire life as…
Radical Isn’t What You Think It Is
Radical has a negative connotation to it nowadays, but it’s not radical to want equal rights, believe that my tax money should ensure me at the very least, clean air, water, access to healthy food, adequate housing, and a bridge that won’t collapse while I’m on it. Not one working or retired person should starve…
Capitalism Killed the American Dream
Once upon a time, in an American neighborhood, you could buy a house, work through college to pay your tuition with zero student loan debt, and have a child without feeling as if you would never financially recover. The credit score wasn’t even created until 1989. It wasn’t until 1978 that federal student loans were…
Death by Documentation: Do You Want to See Change or Do you Want Credit?
Both can happen in tandem. A good example of why putting documentation before helping people is the April 29th tragedy where 2 people lost their lives and they 300k people in Allegheny County lost power. What was the tragedy? Lack of infrastructure and a lot of wind. The aftermath left a lot of people without…
Leaders Who Won’t Step Aside Are Holding Movements Back
Watching the new Red Lobster CEO excel at his job and also know how to accept feedback is amazing. As someone who voluntarily left corporate America and read that a lot of Gen Z and Millennials would rather work at a cash register than climb a corporate ladder, it doesn’t surprise me. Young people are…
Chasing Passion, Not Paychecks: My Journey Beyond the Grind
“Oh no! I didn’t get that job or opportunity.” Okay, but did you just quit after rejection? Did you just give up? Giving up is not an option for me. I hate capitalism. I would love to be in my “soft girl era,” but I grew up watching my mom hustle. She took us to…
OMG It's Just Daé 