• Jay Wallace left his sales job in March 2024 after months of frustration with the contractor role.
• His plan of solo traveling and exploring business ventures didn't work out as he'd hoped.
• Wallace has found the job market tough to navigate, and said he left his role too hastily.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 34-year-old Jay Wallace, from England. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I got excited about the sales world when I landed a recruitment job in 2013.

I spent years in sales roles, both as a self-employed sales contractor and as a company employee. I really enjoyed talking with people and making sales that directly correlated to my earnings.

I started a new job as a self-employed sales contractor in June 2023, but quickly became frustrated with the role. As a contractor, I'd tell the company my available hours and they would share sales leads with me. I'd make sales and get commission for products installed.

I felt I had too much freedom and not enough clarity. Because I couldn't tell whether I was succeeding, I felt like I was failing.

After three to four months of frustration, I decided to leave the job in March 2024.

I didn't really know what to do next. I'd always wanted to go solo traveling and I also had a loose plan in mind for new business ventures in content creation and coaching.

But chasing freedom didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. I've since struggled to navigate the job market and find work that I can do to support myself while building up my business and YouTube Channel. I realize I left my job too hastily.

Spending time abroad didn't go to plan

I'd considered leaving sales before in 2020 because I no longer felt challenged. But COVID felt like a bad time to be moving careers.

When I left my job in 2024, I planned to spend a few months in Southeast Asia, mostly living off my savings and passive income from an investment property I partnered with my father on in 2020.

I hoped the lower cost of living in Thailand could help dramatically reduce my bills while I worked on my business idea.

The loose plan was to put more time into the YouTube channel I'd been running for a few years and also facilitate some kind of coaching business.

Thailand wasn't as I'd expected. It was nice for about two days, and then I sat there thinking, "What am I doing?" It was lonely — I'd left my family and my girlfriend behind to travel.

I wasn't in the right headspace to run a business, so I ended up coming home after a few weeks.

Back in the UK, the job market has been tough

I went through a period of real darkness. My last sales role knocked my confidence, I'd failed to find freedom in Thailand, and then felt like I'd failed my relationship when I came back.

I wasn't mentally in a good place, so I wasn't making a concerted effort to grow my YouTube channel.

I still had savings because I'd come home earlier than expected, but I didn't want to go back into sales. I enjoyed manual work before my sales career, so I started applying for trade jobs.

The market was more difficult to navigate than I expected. When I was younger, I moved easily from job to job. I don't know if it was my age — I was in my 30s, trying to do trade work — or the current economy, but I applied for hundreds of jobs and only heard back from a handful.

By the end of 2024, my savings were coming to an end and I needed more income than my property was providing. I found a job at the Royal Mail post service in late 2024.

Previously I was trying to find a new career, I'm now focusing on paying my bills so I have space to grow my channel on the side.

I'm working five days a week through an agency as a postman. I make less than I did in sales, and feel like I have to work weekends because it pays more.

I'm in a much better place than when I went traveling. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to be successful. Now, I've learned to take that pressure off and enjoy exploring different avenues.

I'd consider going back into sales, but I've realized how important community is to me. As an contractor, you spend a lot of time on the road or alone.

I was too rash when I decided to quit my job

With hindsight, I was too hasty quitting my last sales position. I should've tried to get some clarity from the company, so I felt happier in the role.

Being self-employed, I had enough money and time to build my coaching business and channel alongside working. I could have waited until my business income matched my sales income and then slowly transitioned.

Before leaving sales, I saw so many people making content on social media about quitting their jobs, saying it would all work out. Lots of creators were encouraging people to go full-time on YouTube and pointing to their own courses on how to make that happen. I didn't know their backstory, like how they financially supported themselves.

It made me think quitting and starting a business would be easier than I found it.

If you're committed to leaving your job, there's nothing stopping you from working on your CV and or applying for interviews while employed. If you're starting a business, work on it in the evenings and on weekends.

In my experience, the stress of not having money far outweighs the stress of being in a job you don't like.

I want to warn others to really consider what they're doing before they commit to quitting their job. There's a lot of online content out there that can make you believe the grass is greener on the other side, but it isn't always true.

Do you have a story to share about quitting your job? Contact this reporter at [email protected]

• Parul Gupta has been promoted twice at Meta since she joined the company in 2021.
• Her formula for success has three components: The cake, the icing, and the cherry on top.
• She said technically competent engineers may struggle to get promoted if they lack a personal brand.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 30-year-old Parul Gupta, a production engineer at Meta from California. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

When I started a full-time job at Meta in February 2021, I struggled with imposter syndrome.

I faced similar struggles while I was studying in India. I did my bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, where there weren't many other girls — I wondered if being an engineer was the right path for me.

At Meta, where I was hired as a production engineer at an "Individual contributor 3" level after doing a summer internship, I was surrounded by really brilliant people, and I once again questioned whether I was the right fit.

My worries affected my performance, and I wasn't delivering to my full potential. It took me some time to overcome those concerns and turn things around, but I managed to break out of my shell and get two promotions at Meta in late 2021 and 2022.

I'm now an IC5 engineer, and my responsibilities have changed significantly. IC3 engineers mostly focus on learning how the company works and how to deliver code, and IC4 engineers work on small projects. An IC5 is a more senior engineer who collaborates with other people to think about bigger projects and a vision for their area of work.

My promotions have come with a big pay bump, from less than $200,000 to more than $500,000 in total compensation a year.

Here's how I built up my confidence and achieved these promotions. My formula for success involves three components: the cake, the icing, and the cherry on top.

Mentors helped me improve my performance

When I joined Meta, I had a lot of male colleagues. Everyone was really nice, but I struggled to open up and didn't connect with the topics they discussed at happy hour.

Because I felt I wasn't fitting in, I wasn't performing to my full potential. I was used to being an overachiever, but now I found myself being extra cautious and slow with coding tasks because I was scared to fail.

My manager suggested I find a female mentor, and we worked together to help me find one. I liked the idea of having a female role model I could relate to better and look up to.

I started with one mentor and then built a network of them. They helped change the way I thought by encouraging me and my abilities. I was able to share problems I was having at work and get their perspective, which really helped.

I got promoted for the first time at the end of 2021 to IC4. This was after I'd decided to take ownership of a project when the previous lead went on paternity leave. I was initially intimidated about this new project, but my mentor helped me strategize on how to make a start.

By my second promotion in 2022, I think I was continually exhibiting leadership skills and technical excellence. As I grew to new levels, I also built a network of mentees, creating a human chain. Some people were pulling me up, and I was pulling others up.

The key to success lies in technical skills, soft skills, and external contributions

My formula for performing well and getting promoted can be described as a cake.

Your technical skills are the cake itself, your soft skills and influence among colleagues are the icing, and your external contributions to the industry are the cherry on top.

Soft skills can enhance your résumé, but being technically strong as an engineer is essential.

In the run-up to my second promotion, I had to deepen my technical knowledge. My advice is to brainstorm with other engineers to learn on the job. I also often review my old code to see if I can improve it. If I know how to write it better, then I know my skills have improved.

I recommend reading technical books and supplementing them with podcasts. Books are good for learning more foundational topics, but they become outdated quickly. Podcasts keep me up-to-date with the latest developments in my industry.

I also worked on the soft skills of establishing relationships and communicating across teams. I had to improve how I communicated with people in less technical roles. I was often going too deep into technical language, and the other person would be lost. I think that learning to work well with our legal and security teams on a project helped contribute to my second promotion.

To build my network and give back to the industry, I've spoken at conferences, judged hackathons, and attended meet-ups.

In the past, I have mentioned these external contributions in my performance reviews, but I don't know if they've influenced my promotions, and I see them as a cherry on top. It's going the extra mile that others may not have done. If you don't have the cake there, a fancy cherry won't help.

Don't underestimate the value of soft skills when it comes to promotions

I've seen a lot of technically competent people struggle to get promoted in tech.

I think the reason is that they haven't invested in having a personal brand or influence. It's a soft skill that's really important to have. As you move to more senior positions, you're expected to lead a team and influence others. You can't just work in isolation.

One piece of advice I have for influencing people is this: People will remember small things that you do. Even as a senior engineer, I've made very small bug fixes and helped junior engineers with their projects.

Small acts of kindness go a long way. People remember if you help them, and are more willing to pitch in when you have a problem. This shows that you're influencing people and are known in your company. Having a strong personal brand means that when a promotion committee is reviewing your work, managers can say they know of you, have seen your work, or have heard you talk about your vision.

It helps you stand out from the crowd.

Do you have a story to share about getting promoted in Big Tech? Contact this reporter at [email protected]

• Tesla owners have found themselves in the crosshairs of political protests across the world.
• Elon Musk's involvement in the Trump administration has had a knock-on impact on his EV company.
• One Tesla owner sold his Cybertruck, another told BI they sold company shares but kept the car.

In recent months, backlash against Elon Musk has spurred a Tesla boycott movement, pushing some owners and shareholders to ditch the brand — and, in some cases, leading to vandalism incidents.

Business Insider spoke to four Tesla owners about their concerns on ownership amid a growing campaign against the EV giant.

While one owner returned his Cybertruck as a precaution for his kids, the other three owners said they don't plan to get rid of their vehicles, despite the rise in anti-Tesla sentiment.

The following stories are based on transcribed conversations with Tesla owners. Business Insider has verified their identities and vehicle ownership. Their words have been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a big Tesla fan, but returned my Cybertruck because my daughter was worried about getting bullied

Ben Baker is a Tesla owner living in Sacramento, California, who sold his Cybertruck.

I'm a huge fan of technology. I already own a Tesla, which I absolutely love, and I really wanted a Cybertruck.

I think Cybertrucks are freaking awesome. They're really fun to drive. They're roomy and spacious. I wasn't buying it for other people, I was buying the Cybertruck because I wanted to drive the future.

Not too long ago, after the election, somebody keyed my Tesla Model Y, and I was like, "OK, that's no big deal." I live in California, which is a Democratic state, and so I kind of figured that there would be some of that stuff. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal until I went and bought a Cybertruck.

The first week I drove the Cybertruck, I took my family to Starbucks in it. My family went in and I took some cool pictures. As I was doing that, three people walked behind me and started looking at me and laughing. Then one of them called me a Nazi.

I go, "What are you talking about? I'm just buying this awesome truck. I think it's awesome. I'm not a Nazi." They were like, "Whatever, Nazi."

I thought was weird.

Later on, one of my daughters told me that if I kept the Cybertruck, she was going to get bullied. My son, who leans right, said I should be able to drive the car I want.

I started thinking about if one of them is driving the Tesla Cybertruck and someone started vandalizing it. My daughter is young, she's had her license maybe a year. That's terrifying to me.

I'm a father and I have to do the right thing by my kids. If I could afford to own a Cybertruck myself and then send them to school with another vehicle, then great, it would be on me if it got damaged. But I can't have that happen to them in that vehicle. And who knows how far these guys will take it. They could harm my kids physically — and I couldn't live with myself if that happened. To me, it just wasn't worth seeing my daughter live in fear of the vehicle getting vandalized at their school.

I ended up taking it back, and Tesla was really cool about it. I was able to unwind everything.

I think people should have the right to protest — but they should have the right to protest without destruction. That's where the lines have been crossed.

Read more about Baker's story here.

I no longer align with Tesla, but I have no interest in taking down the company or selling my cars

John VonBokel is a 45-year-old Tesla owner living near St. Louis, Missouri. Business Insider has verified his shareholder status.

I have appreciated and admired Tesla for some time. I was under the impression that it aligned with my personal beliefs in terms of environment, which also overlaps with my personal political beliefs.

Now I feel as though I was wrong all along, or something has changed — but I certainly don't feel like I align with the company and the brand anymore. The shift has been uncomfortable and difficult.

As of October last year, I had hundreds of Tesla shares, and I sold all of them in the last few months.

My decision to sell was primarily financial. After the election, the stock just started going up, and I couldn't figure out how Elon Musk and Trump being together was beneficial to Tesla — and certainly not to the degree that warranted its market capitalization to nearly double.

For me, that meant it was overvalued and I needed to cash out. But I'm under no illusion that selling my shares had any impact on Elon's personal wealth or are somehow a repudiation of his actions.

I feel like what Elon Musk is doing politically is negatively impacting the brand and the company. But I'm more interested in protests that are focused on Elon Musk and Donald Trump's specific actions, or politics in general.

The name "Tesla Takedown" itself evokes something negative to me. They're trying to take down a company that I believe is still full of good people who just happen to be led by somebody I don't support anymore.

While I'm not interested in taking down the company, I'm also not interested in supporting it.

I drive a Tesla pretty much daily and haven't experienced vandalism, so I'm not worried about that. But I certainly would struggle to buy a new Tesla now.

Coincidentally, though, they don't have anything that I really want. I have multiple Teslas that I'm happy with. I have test-driven the newer versions, but there aren't any improvements that make me want to get a new loan at current interest rates.

The future is difficult to predict. My decision to purchase another vehicle would depend partly on what they come out with.

I've been laughed at for my Tesla, but I'm not deterred from buying another one

Mitchell Feldman is a Telsa owner living in the UK.

I'm a gadget enthusiast, and I was drawn to buying a Tesla because it had all the things I wanted in a car. It was easy to use and environmentally friendly. I liked the idea of never having to go to a gas station again. The safety features, like assisted driving and situational awareness, also drew me.

I bought my Model Y in 2022, and it's performed over and above my expectations.

In March, I experienced the first negative reaction to my Tesla since I've had the car. I went to a concert in London, and while I was in the parking lot, I saw a guy with his wife and daughter pointing at my car and laughing.

The guy came up to me in a very confrontational way and said, "Do you support Elon Musk, then, driving a Tesla?"

I was quite aghast. I felt quite violated by the question and didn't know what to say.

I've always admired Elon Musk because I think that a lot of the technology he creates is for betterment. I like that his businesses are data-driven, whether it's Neuralink, SpaceX, or Tesla.

I hadn't considered the impact his work at DOGE was having on the US government; as someone based in the UK, I'm somewhat removed from what's happening. I think Trump has brought in someone who will look at the situation through the lens of a CEO.

The incident made me realize how the perception of Musk impacts his brands. It hasn't put me off from buying another Tesla, however. I'm hoping to have the new Model Y in a few months.

Everyone is allowed an opinion, but I'm proud of the fact that I don't conform to the crowd and choose my personal preferences over listening to what everyone else says.

Read more about Feldman's story here.

I don't think people should make assumptions about my politics because I own a Tesla

Michele Pierog, a 57-year-old Tesla owner from New Hampshire.

I got myself a Tesla Model Y in 2023. I wanted something that was convenient, and I didn't think that any competitor brands had charging infrastructure as robust as Tesla's.

I wanted to try out the car, but thought I'd probably sell it in two years. After three months of driving it, I was amazed by how much I enjoyed never having to go to a gas station.

The utility has been great. I often use its self-driving driving capabilities. There's plenty of room, and it has a "frunk" — a trunk and the front where I keep games for my granddaughter when we're traveling. We call it the "frunk of fun."

I'm not a huge news watcher, so I wasn't really aware of the Tesla controversy. I knew Elon Musk had been put in a position of power, and people weren't happy, but I wasn't aware this impacted Tesla drivers until a friend called me a couple of weeks ago. She asked how I felt about driving my Tesla.

My response was that nothing had changed for me. The utility of the car was the same.

I did some research afterward and saw that there were protests at Tesla dealerships and some violent acts around Teslas. Regardless of what people's political views are about my vehicle, I think it's wrong that people are vandalizing Teslas.

Recently, when I was driving my granddaughter, someone in a truck behind me drove up aggressively close to me and sandwiched me between them and the car in front. They started beeping and yelling at me. I don't know if this was because of my Tesla, but I assumed that it was because it coincided with media reporting of Tesla vandalism, and there aren't many other Teslas in my area.

Even though this is speculative, I'm now wondering whether my vehicle choice is putting me in a bad position safety-wise.

I don't yet feel unsafe enough to get rid of my Tesla, but it saddens me that I may have to make a decision about changing my car based on other people's perceptions.

Driving a Tesla doesn't automatically mean I support what Elon is doing or have a particular political view. I don't think people should make assumptions about me because of the car I drive.

Do you have a story to share about the anti-Tesla movement? Contact these reporters at at [email protected] and [email protected], or via Signal at aalt.19 and charissacheong.95.

• When Shruti Mangawa tried applying for jobs after taking a career break, she was often ghosted.
• She felt guilt about being unemployed, particularly when people said she was "just a housewife."
• Returning to work after her break taught Mangawa how to view success differently.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 35-year-old Shruti Mangawa from New Mexico. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I grew up and studied in India. In 2018, I joined Hindustan Unilever, a subsidiary of Unilever, where I became an area sales and customer manager.

In 2021, I took a sabbatical due to a spinal injury. I came to the USA, where my husband worked, to spend some time with him and recover.

But after a few months in America, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, so I couldn't go back to work. My company extended my sabbatical, but my health got worse.

I knew I couldn't go back to India or my job. I spent most of the following two to three years in treatment and recovery.

When I started looking for work again in the US in 2024, I had a hunch that the huge gap in my résumé was preventing me from finding a job.

I've struggled with guilt about being unemployed because I tied my identity to my job. It's taken me a while to embrace my career break and adopt a different view of success.

I struggled to find employment in the US after my recovery

My role at Unilever was my dream job. I was in a leadership role managing a team.

I was used to being financially independent and I tied my identity to my job. I saw the shine of pride in my parents' eyes about what I had achieved. In our family circle, people younger than me looked up to me as an inspiration.

Then it all went away.

My diagnosis turned my entire world upside down. The cancer was pretty aggressive and had a big toll on my body. Thankfully, I had financial support from my husband and family.

I was more worried about my professional life than my recovery. I was conscious that any time spent in recovery was increasing the gap in my work experience.

When my doctor said I was cancer-free, I thought I'd be able to pick up my career from where I left off. It didn't happen that way. My energy levels weren't the same, and I didn't feel as motivated as I was in my 20s.

I felt guilty and like I was worthless because I wasn't working

When I was cancer-free but still dealing with long-term side effects, people would ask me what I did for a living, and it made me feel empty inside. Some acquaintances said: "Oh, so you're just a housewife, then?" I don't know if their intentions were bad, but I felt guilty. My parents spent so much on my education, but now I was sitting at home.

Being a housewife isn't a bad thing. My mom was a homemaker. But in my generation, everyone's used to working. I felt like if I wasn't, I was worthless.

When I tried to re-enter the workforce in 2024, people advised me to figure out a way to cover my gap by doing some freelancing or not putting it on my LinkedIn. We may preach that it's OK to take a break and not attach our image to job titles, but people do.

I applied for marketing roles and any jobs where I thought I had transferable skills, but I'd get ghosted or rejected even before the interview stage. I felt like I didn't even get a chance to explain my story.

Once, a recruiter told me that because I had a big career gap and all my prior work experience was based in India, I might need to lower my expectations for the roles I was going for.

I'm focusing on building a personal brand and have changed the way I think about success

Since I was so drained physically and mentally, I forgot what I used to be able to handle professionally. I started to feel that nobody would hire me, and this was my future.

Thankfully, my husband snapped me out of my negative thought patterns.

Around October 2024, I decided that instead of waiting for opportunities, I'd create my own. I thought by developing a personal brand, I'd stand a better chance in the job market. With such a big career gap in a rough market, I needed to find a way to stand out.

I stopped applying for jobs and focused on my writing — posting essays on Medium and producing a newsletter. Getting positive feedback from readers gave me more confidence.

I've decided to focus on brand-building for at least a year and a half while I figure out how I want to transition my career.

Though people have advised me to hide my career gap, I've decided to be more open about it, disclosing it on my LinkedIn.

Embrace detours in working life

In life, you'll have to take detours. I know people who've been laid off or who've had their life disrupted for other reasons. I'm in my 30s and have had to restart my career. Things aren't always linear.

I no longer think success is just about your career and money but also about other parts of life. If my husband says, "I'm lucky to have a wife like you" — even that is success to me now.

Now, when challenges come, I don't just panic. I ask: "What is this here to teach me?" That mindset shift is what I consider my biggest success.

Do you have a story to share about your career break or sabbatical? Contact this reporter at [email protected]

• Miles Schwartz moved from Montreal to Miami to lead a US expansion for his business.
• Schwartz finds it easier to meet well-connected people in Miami compared to Montreal.
• He said it's harder to succeed in the competitive US market, but he likes feeling like an underdog.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 34-year-old Miles Schwartz, CEO and founder of the fintech company Zūm Rails. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

My business started at a kitchen table in my parents' house in Montreal.

My cofounder and I publicly launched Zūm Rails — a payments company that helps businesses move money and provides them with tools to become banks themselves — in 2020.

I initially wanted to build a business worth a couple of million and have enough to support my life and my family. I never expected to be crossing 75 employees like we are now.

Our Series A last year raised 10.5 million CAD. The goalposts move when you start getting traction.

In September 2024, I moved from Canada to Florida to lead a US expansion effort for Zūm Rails.

I've found that the US market is much bigger and more competitive than it is in Canada, which puts us in better stead to become a unicorn company one day.

I moved to Miami in response to the demand for our services from US clients

The impetus to expand into the US came a few years ago when some of our large SaaS partners told us that they needed something like us in the US. These partners, who have a presence in both countries, said they'd definitely use us if we had a US presence.

We started working on the expansion in 2022, and spent a couple of years on back-end work, like incorporating in the US.

We initially hired a professional to help us expand. As time went on, the work felt too critical to delegate, and it was better for my CTO and I to move to Miami, where several fintech companies we'd connected with also had offices.

I'm not one to overthink a decision. Within a few weeks of starting to consider the move, I found a place and secured an L1-A visa.

I've been in Miami since September 2024. Since my previous fintech experience was based in Canada, scaling our operation in the US has been a learning curve.

Having my boots on the ground in the US has been helpful for business

Right now, the majority of our team are based in Canada. Though we have coworking spaces in Canada and Florida, we've always been remote first.

There are advantages of being in Miami instead of Canada. I wanted our existing clients to know we're commited to our US expansion.

In terms of optics, I think people take you more seriously if you're based in the US. The fintech scene in Montreal wasn't as lively and none of our clients were based there.

I'm always hosting clients here, which helps form deeper connections. I chose to live in an affluent area to meet potential business connections. It's like I'm at a country club or conference every day.

I'm happier living in Miami, which makes me more efficient. I live near the beach, where I can swim and walk my dog. In Montreal, during the winter, the snow and cold made even simple things difficult.

I haven't been back to Canada since I moved, but I plan to visit this summer. My goal is to bring my family to the US with me.

I'm so focused on my work that I don't pay attention to political drama. Fortunately, Trump's tariffs don't affect us, but looking back, I think we moved at a good time.

The US ecosystem is bigger and more competitive

The US fintech ecosystem is bigger and more entrepreneurial than Canada's. Banks here want to innovate because it's a dog-eat-dog competition. Meanwhile, in Canada, there are five big banks that seem comfortable with their market share. Banks in the US are more excited to talk to us.

I felt Zūm Rails was very well known in Canada, but in the US, I feel like a small fish. I like being the underdog.

Making it in the US means you've really made it. But the competition does make it harder to succeed. You need to find a specific niche, which has been a learning curve for me.

We're planning a big hiring push in the US, but our brand isn't big enough yet to attract the talent we need. We have a great Canadian team, but the US is more competitive.

We wouldn't be able to hit unicorn status if we stayed in Canada

It's easier to get noticed in Canada if you build something amazing. If you're from Canada and know the gaps in the market, you have a huge leg up.

If you're trying to build a smaller business, Canada's the best place to do it. They have government grants and some capital gains exemptions to benefit small businesses. But if you're trying to build a billion-dollar or 10-billion-dollar business, Canada's probably not the best place.

I want Zūm Rails to be a unicorn. I feel like there's a clearer path now that we're in the US, but we'd have zero chance of doing that if we didn't move. In my experience, investors really care about US growth because they know the Canadian market can be limiting.

Our Canadian business is great, but there's a ceiling to it.

Do you have a story to share about moving countries for work? Contact this reporter at [email protected]

• Robert Furst is a wealth advisor at Merrill Lynch and the father to a four and six year old.
• Furst said investing and charitable giving are core habits he wants to instill in his kids.
• He has also set up 529 plans for each child and he and his wife live frugally to build wealth.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 38-year-old Robert Furst, a senior VP at Merrill Lynch, a wealth management division of the Bank of America. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was really fortunate to have amazing role models in my life, and I'm very intentional about being a role model for my kids.

I joined Merrill Lynch in 2013. I provide wealth management advice to our clients, who include business owners, professional athletes, doctors, and lawyers.

At my job, I've focused a lot on educating the next generation about finances. It's given me a cheat code for dealing with my own kids, who are six and four.

Here are some of the key ways I've decided to teach my kids about financial literacy and how I'm planning ahead to set them up for financial success.

Encouraging charitable giving

I don't think my children are too young to learn about gratitude, compassion, and appreciation. If we start those habits early, they will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

My kids save money in piggy banks for charitable giving. When they've accumulated enough funds, they'll choose, with a little guidance, where to donate those funds. At four and six, my wife and I want our kids to focus on saving for charities and helping the less fortunate.

When my six year old turns seven and starts first grade, I'll introduce him to investing and we will explore what stocks he would want to create his first portfolio.

My kids have a head start in life with two loving parents with good jobs. We've already started putting money away for college. I want to teach them that once a family has "enough" it is crucial to give back.

Letting them try out investing

My dad worked in finance and would cut articles out of the Wall Street Journal for me to read. He treated me like his "junior partner" and talked to me about business decisions he made at work.

When I got birthday money as a kid, I told my dad I wanted to invest it. He let me and this spurred my interest in the market. I saw the power of making a good investment.

I'm planning to introduce my oldest child to investing soon. I want him to use his money to pick some companies to invest in, so he can feel the impact of decisions he makes. Nowadays, it's relatively easy to open a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) account and let my children pick some stocks.

I do a lot of investment coaching with the children of our clients. Once, a 12-year-old visited our office. We pulled the research reports for companies he'd picked and discussed what can indicate an advisable or ill-advised investment. By pulling research reports of companies he selected, the child felt heard and respected.

The child learned financial terms associated with stock research, so next time he wants to do some digging, jargon will not be a barrier to entry. I absolutely intend to do this with my children.

It's not about getting kids to have amazing returns. It's about getting them engaged. If they invest for long enough, they can also see the power of compounding. Time in the market beats timing the market.

Teaching them the value of hard work

I once asked my parents for a video game system, and my mom told me she wouldn't pay for it.

I ended up working in a friend of my dad's factory doing simple jobs like packing boxes. Soon, I had enough money to buy myself the game system.

I won't have my kids working in factories, but they do know that their parents value hard work.

Sometimes, my children will ask why my wife or I have to work late. We let them know that we strive to provide a good life for the family and that we work hard to earn money to pay for food, our home, and their education. I want them to know that nothing is guaranteed in life.

I intend to pay them for chores. It could be as simple as making their beds. That's not a high-value item, but it's worth something to me if my wife and I don't have to do it.

Saving for their future

One of my financial goals is to send both of my kids to college debt-free, so I set up a 529 plan as soon as they had Social Security numbers. A 529 is a tax-advantaged education investment account that can help a child to attend college without incurring debt.

Each child has their own 529. This is important because my children are of different ages and I'll invest in their 529s in line with when they go to college. As we get closer to college, we'll lessen the risk level because the money will need to be spent sooner.

I also want to accumulate enough wealth to give my children choices in life. If one wants to work in finance or tech, they may not need help from my wife and me. But if one of them wants to become a social worker, the financial rewards might look a little different.

I don't want my kids to be held back from doing amazing work in the community for financial reasons. We want to support them so they can make that choice without worrying about the salary difference.

Several families I have counseled help subsidize a child who worked diligently in a less lucrative career, and this is something I admired.

We're planning for this by setting money aside and only buying what we need. We can afford to buy more luxury goods than we do, and that's by design.

I'll probably tell my kids that we've got this money set aside for them when they're around college age. I don't want to tell them too early as I wouldn't want them to rely on it.

Do you have a story to share about planning for your children's financial future? Contact this reporter at [email protected]

• Tahmina Watson's law firm helps founders and businesses apply for employment visas.
• She said Trump's immigration executive orders are making her clients fearful.
• Businesses are worried about raids and clients have faced unexpected consulate issues, she said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation from early March with 49-year-old Tahmina Watson, a business immigration lawyer based in Seattle. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I've enjoyed working in immigration law because I can impact people's lives and do challenging and interesting work.

I opened the doors to my law firm, Watson Immigration Law, in 2009.

We help foreign-born entrepreneurs find the best visa pathways for starting their companies in the US and provide immigration assistance to companies that are trying to expand into the US.

Many companies we work with are looking for top-notch talent, so they often hire people graduating from Ph.D or master's programs on student visas who will require a visa sponsorship. We help people in various industries — including health and tech, since Seattle is a tech-savvy area — apply for various visas, including H-1Bs, O-1s, and EB-1s.

Since the Trump administration has come to power, new immigration directives are creating fear and resulting in increased scrutiny for my clients.

I'm seeing fear among clients about Trump's executive orders

The executive orders that have come down one after another have caused a lot of fear among the clients I work with.

Let's take the birthright citizenship one as an example. We're seeing suggestions that no one except green card holders and US citizens would be able to have children who receive citizenship at birth. This leaves the potential children of a lot of the visa holders we work with out of the equation.

Often, those with H-1B visas — a temporary employment visa — live in the States while they're trying to get a green card, so they continue to extend their visa.

Life doesn't stop while you're waiting for a green card; there is at least security for their kids if they had children during this period.

It's difficult to predict whether this executive order will be implemented. Judges have blocked the order. Birthright citizenship is guaranteed under the US Constitution, so there'd likely have to be a constitutional amendment.

I'm seeing people looking into alternative ways to get a green card, and some people are looking to leave the country. There's a lot of interest in Canada because of the time zone and also the proximity, which is useful for business operations. In 2023, Canada launched a program to attract US H-1B holders, and the application threshold was met within 48 hours. I think we'll see more interest in the coming months and weeks.

People are afraid of raids

Businesses, particularly those in the hospitality industry, are nervous about raids, during which immigration officers check if businesses have undocumented workers. While they've verified employee work authorization documents, they can't be certain if these documents are authentic.

Raids have already happened in multiple states, and businesses have been asking how they can prepare. We've guided our clients so they have their paperwork ready for audits.

I'm concerned about how businesses will be impacted

The Trump administration made an executive order to enhance vetting at consulates, and I think this is partly why some of my clients have experienced issues at consulates. We recently had an L-1A approved for a client. When they arrived at the consulate in Brazil, the embassy initially refused it and asked for a lot of documentation before approving it.

That same day, we heard of an unexpected refusal of one of our clients in India for a visa for religious workers because the consular officer questioned the nature of their work.

While increased scrutiny at consulates can occur, the timing and severity of these cases indicate a possible influence from recent Department of State directives. This development makes me concerned about future visa approvals across the board.

We recently received a denial for an EB-1 visa for a well-qualified startup founder. Months ago, I think filing for him wouldn't have raised any questions at all. We're trying to figure out what to do, but it's having knock-on effects on his team already.

These are things we've never heard of before. It's almost like they're throwing spaghetti on the wall at every single aspect of immigration. For the moment, everything is sticking because the litigation that has followed will take time to unfold. In the meantime, the damage is being done to people.

I'm concerned about the potential impact of these changes on the American consumer. If businesses have work visas denied, their services will be strained.

I've lost hope that we'll see positive changes for highly-skilled workers

Many changes to immigration policies are still in process, and we're yet to see how they'll unfold fully.

During Trump's first term, my team saw heightened scrutiny of H-1B and O-1 visas; I think more is coming.

My line of work is stressful. Livelihoods and an ecosystem of businesses are affected. If one person goes, there's a domino effect. I'm trying to make sure I take care of myself this time around.

I actually felt some optimism before the inauguration. H-1Bs were receiving positive attention following statements from Elon Musk and other leaders, and during his campaign, Trump also said graduates should get green cards.

I thought that maybe we'd see some positive effects for high-skilled, legal immigration.

But so far, we're not seeing that, and I've lost hope that we'll see good changes.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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• Jatin Sharma's flight to London turned back to LA when a power outage closed Heathrow Airport.
• Sharma, who works in energy and infrastructure insurance, was shocked by how vulnerable the airport was.
• "A fire in one place shouldn't completely disrupt something in another place," he said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 40-year-old Jatin Sharma from California, a managing partner at Nardac, an energy and infrastructure insurance brokerage. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I boarded a flight to London on Thursday around 3:50 p.m. and was meant to land at Heathrow Airport the next morning. Around five hours into the journey, the pilot announced that we were turning back to LAX.

I'd been heading to Italy for the weekend before a week of meetings in London. The captain didn't give us many details but said that we couldn't land at Heathrow or any other UK airports, so we were turning around.

There was disbelief in the cabin. Thankfully, I'd paid for internet on my phone, so I was quickly able to find out that a fire had broken out at a power substation close to Heathrow, shutting the airport down.

I work as an insurance broker in the energy and infrastructure sector.

Rare events like this show how vulnerable critical infrastructure like Heathrow is — a fire in a nearby substation meant an entire airport lost power.

I found out we were turning around and started researching what was going on

I fly for work pretty often. I've probably been on over 20 flights this year, but this was the first time a flight turned around midway through.

On the day of my flight, I took some work calls, went swimming, and headed to the airport. I like to have a few cocktails and then fall asleep for the remainder of the flight. I've had mixed experiences taking sleeping pills, and fortunately, I didn't do that on this flight.

The pilot made the announcement about halfway through the flight — a point where people usually would have eaten, watched a couple of movies, and gone to sleep.

I immediately messaged my wife. She didn't believe me until she Googled it and saw there was a fire. At the same time, I was using the internet I paid for to check what was going on.

Some British people on the flight were just trying to get back home. One guy I spoke to was hoping to see his son play in a football game.

I was hoping we wouldn't go back to LA. I wanted to get to New York or somewhere closer to London. But these are first-world problems, and I'm just glad that no one seems to be injured.

Once we landed in LA, I was back at home by about 2:30 a.m.

The incident shows how vulnerable our critical infrastructure is

Once I knew about the fire, I realized I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. I communicated my situation to colleagues in London and did some light investigation.

Given that I work in energy and infrastructure insurance, I kind of geeked out trying to understand the potential financial impact and what it means for risk management.

My first reaction to the incident was, "How can this happen?" The media reports said a fire at the North Hyde substation meant all of Heathrow had lost power. It seemed very strange.

I thought it could be an energy security issue, where there was a deliberate attack — but these events are more likely to be mundane causes like contractor negligence or defective material. It could also be that this incident occurred when critical components were due to be upgraded.

Something like this happening is incredibly rare. We're all focused on the fact that a single-point failure has had such a significant economic impact for one day. It shows how vulnerable critical infrastructure is.

There aren't a lot of specialists who really understand the energy and infrastructure space, but I've been in this business for years. It gives me a bit of a unique vantage point.

My company, Nardac, works with energy and infrastructure companies on their investments. We act as a broker — helping our clients get appropriate insurance coverage when they invest in things like critical infrastructure projects.

Typically, larger losses in the energy infrastructure market are driven by natural catastrophes like hurricanes or floods.

It doesn't seem like any natural issues were involved here. From what I understand, there wasn't lightning in the area that could have caused the transformers to catch on fire. It seems more like a man-made issue.

I think a big takeaway from this is to have more redundancy

It's early on, but I think lesson No. 1 from this is that when you have a piece of critical infrastructure like Heathrow Airport, there needs to be redundancy upon redundancy for auxiliary power supplies.

The North Hyde substation — where the fire was — isn't that far away from Heathrow Airport, so I understand the connection. But a fire in one place shouldn't completely disrupt something in another place. There is an element of shock that it was this easy to disrupt electrical infrastructure without any potential involvement of bad actors.

As a Brit living in the States, I think if there's going to be investment in an additional runway for the airport, maybe we should also make some additional investments in redundancy.

It's not just about the economic loss and disruption for people — it's about the UK's reputation.

I don't want to discourage the perception of the UK as a business center because it's a very resilient country — I'm quite surprised that something like this happened and there wasn't a workaround solution.

The UK is characterized by its stiff upper lip — pulling yourself up by the boots and focusing on how to get things back up and running.

I'm excited to see how the country learns from this.

Do you have a story to share about the Heathrow airport closure? Contact this reporter at [email protected]

• Elon Musk's DOGE has been laying off federal workers and canceling government contracts.
• Erin Kennedy runs a résumé-writing business and said federal workers are contacting them in a panic.
• Those who want to leave federal work should tweak their résumés and embrace LinkedIn, she said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Erin Kennedy from Michigan, CEO of Professional Resume Services, Inc. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Things at my business have gotten really busy as far as the federal sector is concerned.

Government workers finding us are panicked and bewildered.

I've been running Professional Resume Services, Inc. since 2001. We offer résumé-writing services — working 1-1 with clients to weave together a dynamic story about their work experience. We also help clients write their LinkedIn profiles and offer career coaching.

We have team members who specialize in résumés for those looking to switch from military to civilian jobs or who want a résumé for a federal job — which can look very different from corporate résumés.

Here's how recent changes to the federal government and government contracts have impacted people I'm speaking to in my line of work — as well as my tips for those who are thinking of leaving the federal sector or who are fearful about losing their government jobs.

We're seeing a wave of interest from federal employees and government contractors

We always get a huge influx of interest in our services when there are mass layoffs — like at Tesla and Microsoft.

We recently started getting calls from job seekers in the federal sector. In February, I shared a post on LinkedIn telling laid-off federal workers about our services which led to increased interest in our business.

Over the past few weeks, two private companies that are government contractors have asked us to rewrite résumés for their employees because their contracts have been terminated or aren't up for renewal. Another company asked us to do a webinar about résumé-writing.

One person at a contractor company told me, "Nothing is normal." They're experiencing sudden chaos and want to be prepared.

Some federal workers are looking to switch to the private sector

I've been contacted by federal employees who've been laid off and those who are still employed but are looking to leave the government.

I've spoken to federal employees who say they received DOGE's email requesting their accomplishments for the week. They reached out to me because they're unsure about the future of federal employment.

A senior employee who had to figure out what to tell their staff about how to respond to the email reached out. She said it's total chaos.

She's still employed but said she and some of her colleagues are looking to leave the federal sector. She said everyone is on edge and feels like their employment may be terminated at any moment.

We've spoken to dozens of employees who want to switch from federal to corporate jobs, which is unusual because federal employees we work with typically want another federal role.

Here are my top job seeking tips for federal employees

When it comes to transitioning out of a federal career, I'd advise removing things like a veteran preference statement, citizenship status, salary, and the hours you've worked from your résumé.

Many of these can be required on a federal résumé, but you don't want them on a corporate one. Divulging too much personal information may expose you to bias, unconscious or otherwise.

I notice a lot of federal résumés list every course the person has taken in college, but you need your degree. I've also noticed federal résumés including objective statements, a sentence focusing on what kind of role you want. However, I think it's better to include a career summary — a paragraph that highlights your skillset and what you bring to the company — instead.

We advise employees who have been laid off to say on their résumé that the company downsized, hence the layoffs. For laid-off federal workers, saying that they have been affected by the widespread cuts is enough. I don't think they should go into the whole story.

For those who are scared about losing their jobs, my first piece of advice is to think about what you want to do next. Ask yourself if you like your role and if you want your next job to be similar.

I'd also encourage you to start using LinkedIn. Comment and engage with other people's posts, like the pages of companies you want to work for and connect with people who work at those companies.

Once you've developed a relationship with contacts at a company, you can say you're looking for a role and ask about openings. Warming up your network is the best way to go.

That said, you still need to have your résumé ready. If someone does reach out to you about an opportunity on LinkedIn, they're probably going to ask for your résumé. Or, if someone has your résumé and looks you up on LinkedIn but sees your profile is really sparse and lacking detail, that's not helping them either. You can't have one without the other.

The job market's especially competitive right now, so all of this couldn't have happened at a worse time. We're just trying to help as many people as we can.

Responding to a request for comment from Business Insider, a representative from the White House said: "President Trump returned to Washington with a mandate from the American people to bring about unprecedented change in our federal government to uproot waste, fraud, and abuse. This isn't easy to do in a broken system entrenched in bureaucracy and bloat, but it's a task long overdue. The personal financial situation of every American is top of mind for the President, which is why he's working to cut regulations, reshore jobs, lower taxes, and make government more efficient."

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• Paul English cofounded Kayak, a travel search engine that sold for $2.1 billion in 2013.
• He has bipolar disorder and has experienced manic and depressive episodes during his working life.
• He says being vulnerable about his illness helped to create an open team culture at Kayak.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Paul English, 61, a serial entrepreneur who founded the travel website Kayak. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I started Kayak when I was around 40 years old.

I'd previously sold a company called Boston Light Software. One day in 2003, I met with another entrepreneur, Steve Hafner, through a mutual connection, to talk about a travel company he wanted to start.

Steve wanted me to come on as the CTO. I said would, but only as 50/50 partners. It was a bit arrogant of me, but Steve agreed. It was the beginning of a 10-year journey. In 2013, Kayak was acquired for $2.1 billion, and I left shortly afterward.

Years before starting Kayak, I was diagnosed with bipolar illness at 25. I was going through a manic period: talking really fast, not sleeping, working through the night and having panic attacks. It was affecting my marriage, so I went to a doctor and got a diagnosis.

Having a label was a tremendous relief. I read everything I could about bipolar illness, but hid my diagnosis for over a decade. I was fearful people would find me crazy.

I eventually told a few trusted people, which helped me feel less burdened. By the time I started Kayak, I'd learned to be more open about it.

Having bipolar illness affected my time at Kayak. I was sometimes reckless with decisions and sometimes overwhelmed my team. However, I think my vulnerability about living with bipolar illness also helped me to build a team culture where people could be open about their struggles.

Building a great team was my No.1 priority at Kayak

After I agreed to start Kayak with Steve back in the early 2000s, I went home and played around on Expedia's website for about 15 minutes. I'm embarrassed I did so little market research, but I felt confident I could design a simpler, faster website.

Upon reflection, this confidence was probably a combination of my faith in my design chops plus some grandiosity that comes with bipolar illness.

During my career as an entrepreneur, I always operate on a team-first, customer-second, and profit-third basis. Magical teams build magical products, and magical products build magical profit and loss sheets.

At Kayak, I hired people who were fast, smart, and had good team skills. I brought on the four best engineers I'd worked with and asked them to bring in who they thought were the best. If we hired someone who was rough on other people and caused stress, we'd fire them if we couldn't cure them.

We were also extremely customer-focused at Kayak.

I took most of the customer support calls myself for the first year. Then, I got our engineers to do customer service — engineers became very motivated to fix problems, and customers were blown away by getting replies straight from the engineers.

We sold Kayak for $2.1 billion in 2013

We took Kayak public in 2012. We'd become very profitable and felt confident in the company.

We agreed on a deal with Priceline that year. They acquired Kayak for $2.1 billion in 2013 based on the purchase value at the time.

I stayed at Kayak for several months, but I wanted to try something new, so I stepped down as Kayak's CTO in December 2013.

Having bipolar illness has its good and bad sides. I learned how to live with both at Kayak.

I was open about my mental health while working at Kayak. I would email the company during Mental Illness Awareness Week, tell them a bit about living with bipolar illness, and let people know they can talk to me if they're struggling. I'd always get floods of appreciative emails back in response.

Bipolar illness had a big impact on how I showed up at work. During depressive days, I couldn't get out of bed. But during manic episodes, I was wild and reckless about wanting to try different things.

The hypomania that comes with bipolar illness gives you a sense of grandiosity and confidence, which can be good when you're trying to do something new. At Kayak, I'd get new ideas every day and come to the team with suggestions, but the team felt they couldn't handle all those ideas.

A senior VP started telling engineers not to do anything I asked them unless I asked them twice. When I found out years later, I was sad at first, but I can see that it was a good idea in hindsight.

There have been upsides. I've made some incredible friends through the Bipolar Social Club, a nonprofit I started in 2023. It's helpful talking to people with similar experiences.

I learned, even during the Kayak years, how to take advantage of the good parts of bipolar and manage the bad parts.

I think Kayak would have taken longer and may not have been as successful had I not had bipolar illness. Because of the enormous energy and grandiosity I had at Kayak, people would see my drive and how hard I worked, which led them to work hard too.

I've often said people follow confidence but are loyal to vulnerability, and I try to be both.

I'm very confident in some aspects of my life, like my product design capabilities, but I also try to expose my weaknesses.

I think people have followed my confidence but have also felt comfortable asking me for support if, for example, they struggled to focus on coding because they have ADHD.

We created a place where people worked really hard but would also be open about their struggles in private conversations.

Do you have a story to share about mental health in the workplace? Contact this reporter at [email protected]

• Mitchell Feldman bought his Tesla Model Y in 2022 and was immediately enamoured by the car.
• As a tech CEO himself, Feldman has always looked up to Elon Musk and his companies.
• He was shocked when he was confronted about Elon Musk in a parking lot in England.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 53-year-old Mitchell Feldman, CEO of Jam 7, an AI-powered marketing platform, from the UK. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I bought a Tesla Model Y in 2022.

My previous car — a convertible — looked amazing, but as a gadget enthusiast, I felt I was missing out on technology and the user experience. There was no touchscreen, integration with my phone, or smart driving.

I was drawn to a Tesla because it had all the things I wanted. It was easy to use and environmentally friendly. I liked the idea of never having to go to a gas station again. The safety features, like assisted driving and situational awareness, also drew me.

I spent around £65,000 on my Model Y, and it's performed over and above my expectations. However, last week, I was confronted by a man who was mocking my Tesla. I've also been seeing negative sentiment toward Elon Musk online.

The sentiments have made me concerned about the resale value of my Tesla, but I still like the car and plan to buy another Tesla soon.

A man approached me in a parking lot and confronted me about my Tesla

Since I've had my Tesla, most people who've gotten into my car easily draw the connection between my love of technology and the car.

Last week, I experienced the first negative reaction to my Tesla. I went to a concert in London, and while I was in the parking lot, I saw a guy with his wife and daughter pointing at my car and laughing.

The guy came up to me in a very confrontational way and said, "Do you support Elon Musk, then, driving a Tesla?"

I was quite aghast. I felt quite violated by the question and didn't know what to say.

I've always admired Elon Musk because I think that a lot of the technology he creates is for betterment. I hadn't considered the impact his work at DOGE was having on the US government; as someone based in the UK, I'm somewhat removed from what's happening. I think Trump has brought in someone who will look at the situation through the lens of a CEO.

But it made me realize how the perception of Musk impacts his brands — which led me to post about the incident on LinkedIn.

The post attracted a lot of attention. There was a lot of polarization between people in the comments; many were negative. Some people were astounded that I said I admired Musk and that I'd damaged my personal brand because of the post.

I respect Elon Musk and like his data-driven businesses

My current business specializes in building AI for marketing purposes, but I've worked in technology for 30 years and have built and sold several technology businesses.

I respect Elon Musk and like that his businesses are data-driven, whether it's Neuralink, SpaceX, or Tesla.Tesla is a pioneer company. Musk is setting new standards for the industry.

Everyone is allowed an opinion, but I'm proud of the fact that I don't conform to the crowd and choose my personal preferences over listening to what everyone else says.

I plan to buy another Tesla

I'm aware that some Tesla owners are trying to distance themselves from the brand. I've seen a trend where people are buying bumper stickers for their Teslas that say things like, "I bought this before Musk went crazy."

This turn of events has made me think, but it hasn't put me off from buying another Tesla. I'm waiting for the new Model Y to arrive in the UK, and then I'll place my order.

Maybe I'll make more of a loss than I thought when I try to get rid of my old Tesla, but that doesn't bother me.

Being in a vehicle that I feel will save my life in an accident is more important to me than the personality or brand of Elon Musk.

I bought the car for the experience, safety, and technology, and that hasn't changed.

• Hootsuite CEO Irina Novoselsky was a content consumer but never saw herself as a creator.
• Since becoming a top exec, she had to overcome her fears of posting to build her online presence.
• Novoselsky said it's important to meet customers where they are and be relatable as a CEO.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Irina Novoselsky, CEO of the social media management platform Hootsuite. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Before becoming Hootsuite's CEO, I lived on social media and consumed my news, information, and trends online — but I was more of a passive consumer than a content creator.

When I became CEO in 2023, I leaned more into content creation. I felt the role of CEOs was changing, and I wanted to interact with our customers directly online.

It's a scary jump to go from passive consumer to content creator. I've sat across from dozens of executives who are hesitant about social media. Many leave dealing with it up to their 22-year-old intern or social media team, but leaders need to interact directly with customers.

Reports suggest customers are more likely to buy something if the CEO has a strong social media presence. Leaders need to show up where their customers are at. We don't have the luxury of deciding whether to post. You're late if you're not doing it.

I was scared to put myself out there, but authenticity is important to customers

When I started posting as a CEO, the first thing that came into my head was fear. I wondered what to say and was cautious about putting myself out there. Though I still feel nervous now, I've also received overwhelming support. People are hungry for real voices.

A lot of the CEOs and customers we work with want to talk about their company and product, and that's it. However, from surveys we know people want to see posts from brands and executives that showcase an authentic point of view.

This involves putting yourself out there, which can be scary. It's your name, face, and thoughts. You're opening yourself up for debate. Executives want to make sure we're protecting our company and brand, and talking about our own personal thoughts can put that at risk.

I started making video content to post on LinkedIn

I have accounts on multiple social media platforms, but I only post on LinkedIn, where I have over 18,000 followers. It feels like the right professional environment for me to post on. I set aside at least 15 to 30 minutes a day to engage with people online. Over the past year, I've increased my LinkedIn follower count by several thousand.

I started ramping up my social media efforts by commenting on other people's posts and following executives and leaders I was interested in. The more time I spent listening to what my customers and peers were saying online, the more ideas I had about things I wanted to say.

English is a second language for me, so I find writing more difficult than talking. Though I started with written posts, I found creating videos easier. I could just open up a camera and go, even when walking to a meeting or in the back of a cab.

I've shared personal and professional stories to give people a peek behind the curtain of my life and often include lessons I want to pass on to other business leaders. For example, I recently posted about being daunted by networking events and why the discomfort is a great opportunity to grow.

The videos aren't live, so I can decide not to post them later. Sometimes, if there's background noise, I'll have someone make some edits, but they're mostly what you see is what you get. The more raw and authentic it is, the better. They tend to drive impressions, bringing awareness to the brand, which can also bring in potential revenue.

It's important that leaders have control over what's posted on their account

In the past, especially early on in my journey, I've asked people to double-check my posts to make sure I wasn't doing anything to put the company at risk. I think it's a healthy thing for leaders to do.

I've also asked our social media team if they had ideas about what I should post about or for suggestions about how to improve posts. It's useful to get help from the experts, but at the end of the day, it's my voice, my thoughts, and mostly my language.

I'm sure there are people who have ghostwriters who do everything for them without them reviewing it, but the whole point is it needs to be authentic. It's my face recording the videos, so I have to believe what I'm saying.

Leaders should use any help they can get, but since it's your voice and your name, having final control over it is really important.

I've journeyed with how much of my personality to share online

When I became a CEO for the first time at a previous company, I thought I needed to act and talk in a certain way and that I shouldn't use emojis or exclamation marks.

I got tired of having a double persona, and once I leaned into who I actually was, it made my leadership life a lot easier. Now, I embrace emojis and show my authentic self in my videos.

One of the biggest vulnerability points was when I shared a picture of me and my parents, celebrating my immigration anniversary. I was thinking about how many years we've been in America and what it's meant for my family.

I felt so vulnerable posting it and called my social media team to ask if I'd made a terrible decision. Self-doubt is normal. More leaders should talk about it and embrace it.

It's scary to put your thoughts out there, but that's the role of a leader.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Steve Yegge, a 56-year-old from Washington, about working at Amazon — founded in 1994 — from 1998 to 2005. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

When I was still finishing up college, I started working for a software company, and one of my college friends told us the saddest news ever: She was going to work at an online bookstore.

It sounded like she was going to be a librarian, but it turned out she was onto something: She was one of the first Amazon employees.

Later on, another friend upped and went to Amazon, saying he got an offer he couldn't refuse. I started poking around and was next to leave — I joined Amazon in 1998 as a technical program manager.

I worked my way up and eventually found myself working on a secret project for Jeff Bezos himself. He was a hands-on leader with an unmistakable magnetism to him, but he didn't seem to care about anything other than his mission. Despite the fact that I disagreed with the company's practices, Bezos himself was difficult to dislike.

It's hard not to like a person who's that smart.

I could tell Bezos was on to something big when I started at Amazon

When I joined the company in the late 90s, Amazon was hiring like crazy. Bezos was on a mad mission to get big fast. As soon as I got there, I started interviewing other candidates. At times, I was scheduled for two interviews at the same time, so I'd run back and forth between the rooms to ask them questions.

The Amazon office was unlike the conventional startup atmosphere I was used to. The building was grungy and the offices were dark and dingy.

Despite that, once you stepped into the building, there was a crackle in the air. You could feel that something really big was going on — and it was all centered on Jeff.

I worked across multiple parts of the company, including on a secret project for Jeff

To get hired at Amazon, I asked my friend who left before me to deliver my résumé. After interviewing, I wound up in the technical program management organization. My job for the first year was to help coordinate projects that spanned across multiple teams.

Then, I spent roughly two and a half years in customer service tools and led the engineering team for a year and a half of that time. The craziest things would happen in that part of the company: There'd be transportation mishaps, and we'd send people the extraordinarily wrong thing, but then we'd go overboard trying to make things right for the customer. We had all the best stories. I then became an engineering manager in developer tools.

Toward the end of my time at Amazon, Jeff asked me to work on a secret project. He was always dreaming up stuff and assigning tasks that seemed impossible. The project was meant to be something like Reddit.

I didn't know enough about distributed computing to pull off what Jeff wanted in his desired timeframe. I felt the project wasn't feasible at the time, but I was scared to deliver that message to Jeff.

Meanwhile, Google offered me a great package, so I left Amazon in 2005 to work there.

I didn't like working at Amazon, but I actually really liked Jeff

Jeff was a very hands-on leader. He'd often come to our customer service meetings and look at the data showing why customers were contacting us.

I've worked under other CEOs, including Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and they didn't typically pull senior employees together for impromptu chats, but Jeff would do this quite often. He'd reset us and change how everyone in the company thought about things.

He challenged people every day, but I never saw him get mad or swear in my almost seven years there. He had this electric presence, a magnetism to him that was unmistakable.

However, I found Amazon could be a horrible place to work. I'm still a customer and don't boycott them because of their practices, though I disagree with some of them.

While I worked at Amazon, there was this pressure that everybody had to work all the time, and people avoided asking for time off. Some employees would berate others. A friend of mine worked in a closet because that's the only place where there was room for a desk.

From what I could tell, Jeff is a hear-no-evil, see-no-evil kind of person who was focused on the mission. It didn't matter if the toilet was dirty or if engineers were being paged all night long. He seemed to only care if it started slowing him down. Maybe that's the kind of leader you have to be. Successful leaders don't take no for an answer.

Working with Jeff and his leadership team was normally calm and serious with a sense of urgency, like in a war room. People were very cautious with their words around him. When people raised concerns to him, he'd sometimes laugh in their faces.

I felt like Amazon employees could never say if something bad was happening at Amazon. You could be brave and raise issues, but you were swimming against the stream.

In 2011, years after I left Amazon, I accidentally publicly shared a private post about working at Google and Amazon where I described Jeff as a control freak. The post blew up and made it into the Wall Street Journal. I heard through the grapevine Jeff was aware of the post and got a laugh out of it.

Jeff was likable, so I was glad to hear he wasn't angry. He consistently came across as calm and keenly interested in everything everyone has to say. He wasn't afraid to ask questions or appear ignorant. He was never difficult to work with, even though he could be difficult to work for at times because of his super-high expectations.

He tries to keep things very real, and it's kind of hard not to like somebody like that.

In response to Business Insider's request for comment, an Amazon spokesperson said, "Business Insider declined to share the information needed to verify this individual's account from over 20 years ago." They added, an "anecdote from one person isn't representative of what it was like to work at Amazon then or what it's like now."

BI reached out to representatives for Jeff Bezos but received no response.

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• Building relationships well is widely considered to be a desirable soft skill in the workplace.
• You might call it 'networking.' But Langni Zeng has been calling it 'biz rizz.'
• Zeng, who learned people skills at McKinsey, shared her top tips for developing 'biz rizz.'

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 25-year-old Langni Zeng, based in LA. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

During my college years studying business at Queen's University in Canada a lot of my fellow students' parents were VPs at big organizations.

There's a certain culture to their backgrounds around the way you dress, how you speak, and what you talk about. One big culture shock for me was learning how to pick wine at dinner.

My dad is an engineer, and my mum is a former lecturer, so I wasn't very exposed to corporate America. I didn't grow up around corporate functions or know what investment banking or the consulting space was like.

At college, I learned more about consulting and saw it as a good field for someone like me who wanted to be a generalist and work on problem-solving. I took part in consulting extracurriculars and landed an internship at McKinsey for the summer of my third year.

After the internship, I joined McKinsey full-time as a business analyst in 2021.

I stayed at McKinsey for around two years and then left to take on a director of strategy and business operations role for a tech company. My tenure at McKinsey strengthened my ability to build relationships in professional environments, a skill that has helped me throughout my career. I've also been using a fun term to describe this skill: biz rizz.

Mentors helped me with relationship-building skills

When I started at McKinsey, I was linked up with a professional development manager who helped staff me on projects. In consulting, you don't really have a set manager and team — it's all project-based. Every few weeks or months, you're working with new people, clients, and often in new cities.

There are obviously hard skills consultants should have, like making Excel models and analysis, but also soft skills — the ability to build relationships with clients. Some of this was formally taught, such as in a training session about trust, but I also developed soft skills organically.

One of my biggest barriers to developing relationships in the workplace was confidence and comfort. At McKinsey, you can be 21 sitting in a room with C-Suite executives, which can be intimidating. You overthink in those situations about what's appropriate to say.

When my parents found out I had this job, they advised me to keep my head down, but I think professional relationship-building is important. I tried figuring out how to network and make small talk.

I was lucky to have great mentors on my first projects. One of my managers coached me to present to a C-suite executive. One of my mentors told me to think about the executive as my friend's uncle or someone I know in real life to make things feel more familiar.

At first, I struggled to relate during some conversations with my peers. Travel came up a lot; I didn't grow up skiing in the Alps or playing golf. Going to business school helped train me for these conversations, and my background wasn't as big of a constraint as I thought. I think the key is to be authentically yourself.

Having 'biz rizz' has helped me throughout my career so far

I used feedback from the teams I worked with to gauge how well I was developing my relationship-building skills.

On one project, I was tasked with preparing a celebration at the end of our off-site. It was a circle of appreciation. Everyone had to say what they appreciated about someone they were assigned, like a secret Santa.

I wrote a funny poem with silly rhymes about the person I was assigned, who was a client. I was more experienced at that point, so could confidently gauge what was appropriate. Earlier in my career, I wouldn't have done something like that. Afterward, the key stakeholder from that client referenced the poem for months after the off-site.

Soft skills like this can strengthen your reputation and relationships at work. They have been helpful beyond my time at McKinsey.

In a previous job, I was a director of strategy and business operations for a tech company. I was trying to facilitate change management and worked with leaders across different functions. You have to build trust-based relationships to get people to align with your vision. This can be hard when you're younger or new, but my time at McKinsey taught me how to engage with senior stakeholders.

At times when I've done coffee chats or mentorship sessions with students, a lot of their questions are about what grades they need or tactical skills they should build to get a certain job. That's all important, but another really important part is how you network and build a personal brand.

Here are some of my top tips for building 'biz rizz'

I've been casually using the term 'biz rizz' among friends for years. "Rizz" became a popular slang term used to refer to charisma, so we'd use 'biz rizz' to describe professional relationship-building. I posted a TikTok about this last year, which really took off.

One of my relationship-building tips is to end every interaction with the question, "How can I help?" or tell them, "If there's anything you need, let me know." This can be seen as strategic because people like it when you help them, but it's also a generally positive thing I'd do with people in my network.

Another big piece is communication. People really respond to a good speaker who is concise and eloquent. I was not naturally a good speaker, but being part of an international case competition team at college and doing presentations at McKinsey helped me with this.

Be authentically positive. Don't think of networking as a ploy to advance your interests, but think about how you can have the most fun working with people.

Many people perceive networking as kissing up to senior leaders, but I think it goes beyond that. I've learned so much and gotten so many opportunities from it.

Do you have a story to share about professional networking? Contact this reporter at [email protected]

• Deborah Fleischaker worked for the Department of Homeland Security and ICE under President Biden.
• Fleischaker witnessed the Trump administration make changes to immigration guidelines she worked on.
• She said she's feels that federal workers are being vilified and finds it sad to watch.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 52-year-old Deborah Fleischaker, from Washington, D.C. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

On election night, I knew I was out of a job.

I'd been working for the Department of Homeland Security as a political appointee under the Biden administration. I was hopeful about staying in my position under a Harris administration, but when Trump was elected, there was no question I was going to be leaving in January.

Political appointees serve at the direction of the president, and I didn't think President Donald Trump would ask me to stay on, or that I would stay on if asked.

I've always appreciated working for the underdog. I took my first job at the DHS in 2011. It was a departure from my background in nonprofits — I enjoyed trying to support both the system and the people in it.

I held multiple career and political positions within the DHS until January 2025, including as the chief of staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Since leaving my job, I've been following updates on immigration policies in the news. It's been hard to watch changes being made, including to guidelines I was particularly proud to work on. I'm also disheartened to see how — in my view — government employees are being vilified right now.

I wanted to help shape policies in a political capacity during my career

I hadn't aspired to do government work, but it sounded interesting. My first role was in the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the Department of Homeland Security. I ended up loving it and stayed for almost a decade.

I handled allegations of civil rights violations in DHS activities and ICE issues. I worked through the first Trump administration and wasn't thrilled about some of the changes.

After the Biden administration came in, I worked for the DHS Office of Policy on policies that put up guardrails around immigration enforcement near courthouses, schools, and medical facilities.

I became the assistant director of regulatory affairs and policy at ICE in 2021, shifting from government employee to political appointee, which is an ally of the party in power. I've held political roles ever since, including ICE's chief of staff and chief privacy officer.

There's an assumption that ICE employees are cold and on one side of politics, but that's not my experience. Many of us were trying to do the right thing, even if we didn't agree on what that was.

You can understand that immigration requires enforcement, including detention and removal, but also support legal pathways to migration. I tried to walk that line.

The Trump administration has rescinded a policy I was particularly proud of

I'm particularly proud of the guardrails around enforcement I worked on at ICE, such as the sensitive locations policy. It made me sad to see it reversed in the first week of the Trump administration.

I feel that previous administrations were able to enforce immigration laws with the policy in place. I don't think making people scared to go to the local police, hospitals, or schools is good for communities. Since the guidelines were rescinded, there have been reports of school attendance dropping among immigrant communities.

It's hard to watch the policy changes unfold because I know the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into creating previous policies. I've been taken aback by the speed and scope of change since the Trump administration came in, even though intellectually, I could have predicted some of it.

I feel my former colleagues in government jobs are being vilified

I was sad to leave my job after the election. There was so much more I wanted to do and so many ways I thought ICE and DHS could continue to improve. There are lots of people in the department who I respect and would be honored to work with again.

I could have gotten another career job at the DHS, but I've decided to work as a self-employed consultant, mostly on immigration. We'll see if I like it.

The vast majority of government employees are nonpartisan, hardworking people who are trying to do the right thing with taxpayer money. But especially now, I feel they're being vilified through accusations of waste, fraud, and abuse by Trump and DOGE. There are certainly changes to the civil service I would agree with, but I think we should do that work carefully and thoughtfully.

It's incredibly disheartening to watch the hard work and careers of thousands of people be disparaged.

I'm proud of the work I did over the past four years and the relationships I've made throughout the department, including with people I have different political viewpoints from.

When asked to respond to Fleischaker's statements that the White House had suddenly reversed ICE guidelines, was vilifying federal workers and disparaging the hard work and careers of thousands of workers, a spokesperson for the White House replied that the Biden administration's handling of the United States border security was "incompetent" and "Biden officials who oversaw that four-year disaster have no authority or standing to comment on the Trump administration." DOGE, ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to BI's request for comment.

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• Tim Jordan, M.D., a counselor who supports young girls, also provides CEOs with parenting support.
• He said successful parents make the mistake of overscheduling their kids in extracurriculars.
• They also overindulge their child's requests for new things, feeling that they can't say no.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Tim Jordan, M.D., 70, a counselor for teenage girls from St. Louis. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I've been a counselor for around 30 years. For the past 15 or so years, my practice has been exclusively for middle school, high school, and college-aged girls.

I've been married to my wife for 43 years. We both started out in medical careers but then developed our own business focusing on parenting classes, talks, and weekend retreats.

For many years, we've worked with YPO, a membership community for chief executives, creating family events to support members with parenting and giving talks in their various chapters around the world.

I've noticed executives are very hungry for information about parenting. Although their business lives are set, and they're pretty successful, they're still open to learning more about raising their kids.

Across my experience meeting chief executives and helping families through my counseling practice, I've spotted some key mistakes successful parents make when raising their kids.

1. Overscheduling kids in extracurricular activities

Successful parents want their kids to be successful. They want them to be at the top of their class or on the best soccer team.

Everything is about their children's future, as opposed to what their kids like to do.

I once saw a high schooler in my counseling practice who was so burned out. She was on the cheer team, so had to go to practices and games, but she also did competitive dance, which was what she really loved. She wanted to quit cheerleading but said her parents wouldn't let her because they were concerned about how dropping out would impact her college prospects.

Parents are coming from a place of fear that their kids will get left behind. They want their kid to have a leg up. It's a rampant fear in our culture.

I think it's important for kids to pick their activities but also have some free time.

I recently spoke to another family with a daughter in sixth grade. She does volleyball and gymnastics, among other things. I told her dad there was something missing in her list of activities: play and downtime. Time to do things she enjoys, like reading or doing artwork — not because it's going to be in her portfolio, but because she likes to draw.

Unsupervised play is a great way for kids to learn, but they have little time for it these days.

2. Trying to be the driving force behind your child's motivation

When parents push their kids, they'll ask me, "How do I motivate my daughter?"

I tell them they're asking the wrong question. It's not your job to motivate your kids. A better question would be, "How do I support my child's intrinsic motivation?"

A good way to support a child's motivation is to ask them questions to make them think about why they want A's at school or why they like soccer.

Once, my wife and I were speaking to a girl who was a gymnast. We asked what she liked about gymnastics. She started talking, but her dad interjected and told her to show us her trophies.

We could tell her awards weren't what drove her, so we repeated the question. She said her favorite thing was the floor routine. She liked it when all eyes were on her, and she entertained people. That was her intrinsic motivation for loving gymnastics. We derive more satisfaction from things if we're doing them for our reasons instead of to please others.

Listen to why your kid enjoys something and use that understanding to encourage them. You're not always going to be there to push and micromanage your kids. They need to learn to push themselves by focusing on why they want to do things and how it's meaningful to them.

3. Overindulging your child's requests for new things

I've found that the executives I work with are very worried about whether their kids will be spoiled or if they'll have ambition. Many of these parents worked hard but are conscious that their kids don't have to do that because they're born into affluence.

Some have even said they're worried flying first class could spoil their child.

My wife and I tell them it's amazing their child can receive education through wonderful trips. That won't spoil them, but what will is if you immediately comply every time your child asks for something new.

Affluent parents sometimes think they should grant requests because they can afford it, but I encourage the attitude that the money parents have created is theirs, not their children's. Kids aren't entitled to one cent of it unless the parents gift it to them.

Get your kids to earn things and put some sweat equity into it. It will allow them to develop a work ethic.

Once when we were out with my son, he wanted a new Lego pirate ship. We told him we weren't willing to buy it and he could use his allowance money. However, it was around $75, which shocked him. We encouraged him to rake some leaves and do jobs in the neighborhood if he really wanted it.

4. Not sharing your stories

Kids look up to their moms and dads and see the finished product. They see a successful business or happy marriage, but they haven't seen the parent as an awkward 12-year-old struggling with self-doubt or when a parent didn't make the basketball team.

Every entrepreneur I've talked to has had at least one business failure, if not many. Successful parents can show their children that things aren't always smooth by sharing stories of failure.

I think parents don't tend to think about sharing their stories with their children. But when a child makes a mistake and is really bummed out, sharing a relatable story shows you know how they feel. Kids love hearing stories and it connects them on a deeper level with their parents. It makes them feel safe to share things in return.

Do you have a story to share about parenting as a chief executive? Contact this reporter at [email protected]

• Waabi, Raquel Urtasun's AI company, has raised $280 million across two funding rounds.
• Having a strong cap table has been part of Waabi's strategy for success, Urtasun said.
• Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi and Nvidia's Jensen Huang have been key supporters, she said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Raquel Urtasun, the founder and CEO of Waabi, an autonomous driving startup headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I've been working in AI for 25 years after first being exposed to AI research in my undergrad.

I started my career in academia, focusing on technology capable of human reasoning. Around 15 years ago, I became interested in self-driving technology.

I joined Uber in 2017 and became the chief scientist of its self-driving unit. I wanted to push self-driving technology in the real world. However, I felt like the industry was using a capital-intensive approach that I didn't think could scale self-driving vehicles. I saw an opportunity to build my own company with an AI-first approach.

In 2021, I founded Waabi. We're an AI company focused on developing self-driving trucks. We've raised over $280 million, receiving investment from best-in-class investors like Nvidia and Uber.

Waabi raised large amounts during our two rounds of funding so far, but I'm not building the company for an exit. I want to transform the world. Having the best people in the industry supporting us has been a huge help in the endeavor.

I started Waabi with a focus on unleashing the power of AI

I spent nearly four years at Uber. It was a great stepping stone for entrepreneurship. I learned so much about building a business and being an executive. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's CEO, became a mentor to me, which has been an asset in my career.

Had I started Waabi as an academic, I don't think I would be as successful today.

I started Waabi because I didn't think the industry's capital-intensive approach, which has historically involved fleets of vehicles driving physical distances for tests, would generate scalable technology that could be deployed in the real world.

Instead of a system with bits and pieces of AI playing a small role, I wanted to build a single AI system that can safely perform all the necessary tests for self-driving.

This meant building an Al-generated simulation system for testing and training vehicles that was the same as the real world. My background in AI helped me foresee this technology years ahead.

Waabi is headquartered in Toronto, where there's a lot of AI talent. We have trucks in Texas that are driving autonomously on public roads for commercial operations, both through a partnership with Uber Freight and also direct-to-customer.

We've raised more than $280 million and are backed by investors like Uber and Nvidia

We've done two rounds of financing. Our Series A was led by Khosla Ventures. It was too large to be a "seed" round, but it was done in the company's first week. We raised $83.5 million.

Our Series A investors are all excited about Waabi. Vinod Khosla, who founded Khosla Ventures, is himself very bullish about our potential. This support is so valuable because as a company continues its journey, your current investors and your reputation help to tell your story.

In our brief three-and-a-half-year history, we've hit ambitious milestone goals. When I pitched during our Series A, I mentioned our plans for the simulator and trucks, and we managed to hit our milestones exactly as I pitched. This resonated well with investors for our second round.

There have been some challenges. There was an accident with an autonomous vehicle in 2023. The market was quite tough after that, and investors were concerned about how one incident could significantly reduce the value of the investment.

There were also concerns about whether the population wanted self-driving in the first place. Investors will always ask you about risks, so we explained them. Our safety approach, which is simulation-first and avoids adding risk to the roads before the technology is ready, resonated with investors.

Our cap table explained

We announced our second round of financing last June and raised $200 million. It was a very oversubscribed round, and we had to say no to people. We ended up raising more than we intended to.

We were very strategic about the types of investors we wanted to bring to our cap table so that we'd have the best in class to help us in the company's next stage.

On one side, there was the AI bucket. We had investment from Khosla Ventures — who really understood generative AI before anybody else and have also invested in OpenAI — as well as Nvidia.

With logistics, we wanted a forward-looking shipper, which was Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, who operate IKEA. We also had participation from Uber, who jointly led the round.

Additionally, we wanted original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), which is very important when you build technology for self-driving. We had Volvo Group Venture Capital, Scania Invest, as well as Porsche Automobil Holding SE, invest in us.

Our differentiated technology is one reason behind our success. Investors were coming around to Gen AI for the physical world and saw Waabi as at the forefront of that.

Having tremendous supporters has been very helpful

Nvidia is one of our investors, but we also partner with them to build the generative AI compute that drives our trucks.

My personal relationship with Nvidia goes back a decade. Jensen Huang has always been a big supporter of my research. When I was an academic, he'd come to academic events. He's very personable and someone I look up to in terms of building a business.

We have a tremendous roster of supporters behind us, including Jensen and the team, Geoffrey Hinton, and Dara Khosrowshahi. It's very important to have a diverse set of voices you can bounce ideas off of. For me, building a company is not really about the money you raise, it's about who's on your cap table and helping you build the best possible company.

I'm not building Waabi for an exit but to transform the world.

• Michael W. Sonnenfeldt started TIGER 21 so he could learn about wealth preservation from peers.
• The network now has nearly 1,600 members who all have a minimum net worth of $20 million.
• The biggest concern members have is probably how to not screw up their kids, Sonnenfeldt said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 69-year-old Michael W. Sonnenfeldt, the founder of TIGER 21, a membership organization for high-net-worth individuals. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I'd sort of made it in life by the time I was 31 years old.

I achieved significant success in the real estate development world by developing the Harborside Financial Center — my partner and I bought an industrial warehouse when I was 25, with a vision to turn it into a modern computer center, and we sold it a few years later.

My next venture wasn't successful, and I lost money. I then went on to build a real-estate merchant bank called Emmes, which I sold in 1998.

When I sold Harborside, I didn't know the term "wealth preservation." At 30 years old, you're more focused on your next deal than preserving wealth, but losing money on my next venture was a wake-up call for me, and I wanted to avoid losing the capital I'd created after selling Emmes.

In 1999, I started TIGER 21, an organization for high-net-worth individuals to connect and discuss their finances and lives. I wanted to learn from other smart people about how they were grappling with wealth preservation.

Within the organization, ultrawealthy members are able to confidentially share and receive feedback on their investment portfolios, as well as discuss how not to screw up their children. It's produced some magnificent learnings.

I started TIGER 21 to support entrepreneurs who'd sold businesses

Although I'm the founder and chairman of TIGER 21, my first role is "member No. 1."

I started the group with six people who I'd connected with through Vistage, a coaching organization for business executives. These people, like me, had sold their businesses at a similar time and were no longer CEOs.

I invited these members to form a new group focused on the transition from entrepreneurship to investing and wealth preservation.

The group was born out of the realization that once you sell your business, you need a new body of knowledge about the next stages of your life. It's not just about finances but also legacy, children, health, and community.

Our members are primarily first-generation wealth creators, such as executives or entrepreneurs who've sold a business. They didn't grow up with that wealth, so managing it is new to them.

Some members have inherited wealth and have to manage it. The mix of wealth creators and inheritors helps wealth creators get insight into how their children might react to their wealth, and inheritors can connect with the entrepreneurial spirit of their ancestors who created that wealth.

Members share issues they're facing and talk about their investment portfolios

In 1999, the original threshold to be a TIGER 21 member was a minimum of $10 million of investable assets. Now, our community is for members with a minimum net worth of $20 million. We have nearly 1,600 members.

Net worth is just one factor in our rigorous application process. We look for individuals who meet the "five Cs" of membership: character, contribution, capacity, conditions, and capital.

A TIGER 21 membership costs roughly $33,000 a year, plus an initiation fee of $5,000.

At the core of the community experience is a full-day monthly meeting in small groups. We start with a world update or "personal board of directors" segment. Everyone in the group shares how the news in the last 30 days has impacted their views on investing and life.

Then, groups will discuss a few key issues that members have mentioned they're grappling with, like a family issue or investment consideration.

We tend to have a speaker at every meeting sharing on a topic, like biodiversity or China. Lastly, there's a portfolio defense. One group member will present their investment portfolio to the others for about an hour and a half. Everyone is bound by confidentiality.

Members also discuss parenting and passing wealth onto children

If you plan on leaving money to your children, you have to think about the estate tax impact, but there are also non-financial issues about how you treat each child. Do you treat them equally, how do you set up an estate plan?

These issues are talked about in every group, but we've also set up a family office division to address this. It's for principal leaders of single-family offices — private businesses established by families for financial management — who meet separately from our core groups to discuss themes like estate planning, family governance, and succession planning. It costs $50,000 a year with a one-time $5,000 initiation fee to be part of this division.

Throughout all of TIGER, the No. 1 concern probably isn't how to preserve wealth, but how to not screw up your kids. I'd say that some part of every meeting always touches on a situation happening with a member's children and how to address it productively.

I was in a family office group recently where two members shared their parenting approaches. One member talked about making their kids rake leaves or do odd jobs and telling them they'd have to pay for their first car because they wanted their kids to appreciate the meaning of labor and wealth. Another member shared their family "charter," outlining the family's values.

We discuss best practices all the way around.

It doesn't matter how much money you have, if you do something smart, it'll pay off. And if you do something stupid, it'll kick you in the butt.

Do you have a story about networking you'd like to share with Business Insider? Email the reporter at [email protected]

• Dhruv Loya came to the US to study in 2020, but he struggled to find a job for after he graduated.
• He landed a job at Tesla but had to field questions about visa sponsorships along the way, he said.
• International students face job searching hurdles when it comes to visa sponsorships, he said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 22-year-old Dhruv Loya, from Buffalo, New York, about job searching and landing a role at Tesla. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I did over a year of job hunting before I landed my first job after college, working for Tesla.

I started looking for jobs in the summer of 2023. Back in 2020, I moved from Pune, India, to study biomedical engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo. I spent a lot of money, took student loans, and received financial support from my parents to study in the US, but it was really difficult for me to land a job. I applied to hundreds of listings, but I often didn't hear back or got rejected.

Although I have a job now, I'm aware that it's a very tough time for students looking for work. There are particular difficulties for international students who rely on companies to sponsor their visas.

I kept getting ghosted or rejected for jobs. Being an international student made things even tougher.

I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do after college, but growing up, I always wanted to get into a company where I could use my tech skills to do something innovative with an impact.

I did several internships while at university and also had an on-campus job helping students and faculty with tech problems. I wanted to use my time at college to figure out my future career.

In the summer of my third year, I started applying for full-time jobs. I wanted to be employed by December so I could enjoy my last semester and the following summer without worrying about finding a job.

I had an interest in entry-level sales engineer roles but wasn't having much success because I didn't have sales experience. I pivoted toward quality engineering roles because I'd done an internship in this area.

When I applied for jobs, I got ghosted or received automated rejection emails. I tried changing my résumé templates and making YouTube videos to sell myself to recruiters, but nothing seemed to be working.

Things seemed to improve in the fall of 2023 when I started optimizing my résumé for ATS, the tracking software employers use to assess whether your résumé matches the job description. I got ChatGPT premium and asked it to do an ATS analysis on my résumé using the job descriptions for the roles I was applying to. I'd try to keep my score at about 85% because I thought this could help me avoid automated rejections.

I don't know for sure if ChatGPT helped, but when I started using the tool, I saw a difference and received more callbacks.

But I faced another obstacle too. During the application process or interviews with recruiters, there would be a question about whether I'd need a visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Because I was a STEM student, I had access to three years of OPT — optional practical training — with my student visa. This meant I wouldn't need sponsorship for three years after graduation, but I'd still answer yes to the question because it asked if I needed sponsorship in the future. After admitting this, I'd receive rejection emails.

Being unemployed was difficult, but I eventually landed a job at Tesla

When I graduated in May 2024, I still didn't have a job. My parents didn't come to my graduation because they decided to financially support me in my unemployment instead of spending money on the trip from India. I was very upset about it.

My lease expired in August, and I had nowhere to go. I stayed with friends instead of spending money on rent.

I was job hunting on borrowed time. I had 90 days to find a job on my OPT, which took me to late October.

A friend who I studied with got a job at Tesla and recommended me to the recruiter. I sent my résumé, and they interviewed me.

When I spoke to the recruiter, I mentioned I'd have authorization to work for three years through OPT, and it was fine if they didn't sponsor me after that. They gave me a job offer in October 2024 to work as a Powerwall technical support specialist. The role involves troubleshooting the Tesla battery product, which stores solar energy for powering people's homes. It's also more customer-facing than the quality engineering jobs I was applying for previously.

I'm hoping I can move up in the company and get a role where I'd be sponsored and take on more engineering and managerial responsibilities. However, if I have to move back to India after three years, I'd happily do that.

It's a difficult time for students to find work

In the end, getting a job wasn't as tough as the journey. Tesla was hiring new people, and the timing was right.

I have many friends who are struggling to find jobs right now, both international and domestic students. In 2023, there were so many layoffs at big companies that more people were put back in the market.

Companies are trying to cut costs, and it seems to me like they're avoiding sponsorships for international candidates. There are a limited number of visas available in the US, so there's much uncertainty around whether candidates will actually get a visa, even when the company is spending so much money on them.

I don't think mass-applying to hundreds of jobs is effective in the current job market. Instead, candidates should focus on quality over quantity. Be strategic, reach out to people, and try to get referrals. Connections and referrals can significantly improve job search outcomes.

• Lee McKeeman found out he was autistic in his late 30s while he was working at Meta.
• Being autistic has made it hard to navigate office politics and communication at work, he said.
• His neuro differences have also set him apart in positive ways, such as with hyperfocus, he added.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 42-year-old Lee McKeeman, from Texas, about navigating Big Tech as an autistic person. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

As a child, I felt different, but I didn't know why.

When I was a teenager, I found out I had ADD — my mom took me for an evaluation after my teachers gave her feedback that I was sometimes disruptive.

Later in my life, one of my wife's relatives suggested I had some autistic behaviors. As time went on, I read more about autism and became interested in getting an evaluation.

Finding someone who evaluated adults was difficult, but I managed to get an evaluation in my late 30s. It confirmed I was autistic and also had sensory processing disorder. At the time, I was an engineer at Meta.

I've worked in tech my entire career, including for Big Tech companies: Amazon, Meta, and Google. Though I haven't always known I'm autistic, looking back, I can see that it's impacted my ability to handle office politics and communicate in the workplace. However, my neuro differences have also come with superpowers that help me stand out as an employee.

I've struggled to navigate the workplace because of my neuro differences

I got my first full-time job in 2004, shortly after finishing a computer science degree. Multitasking can be difficult for autistic people, and unlike in school, where I had to manage multiple classes and tests, I found it relieving to enter the workforce and have one focus. I showed up, did my job, and went home.

However, it wasn't clear to me how to approach job searching. I didn't know about salary expectations and didn't negotiate my first offer. I'm generally uncomfortable with conflict and wasn't willing to ask questions or look foolish. I feel like this is part of social differences related to autism.

Once I was in the workplace, I found navigating office politics challenging. Early on, I didn't know how to ask for more money or get promoted. I thought that if I kept working, things would go fine, which I now realize is naive.

I joined Amazon in 2012 after a recruiter reached out to me. I hadn't worked at large tech companies in the past and wasn't used to rigorous processes around promotions.

At one point, I was trying to get promoted as an engineer, but there was always some reason it didn't work out. I think some of those gaps were about salespersonship — self-advocacy and visibility — and knowing the right people. I struggled with these things because of a lack of social and situational awareness.

I felt I was doing good technical work and that if I solved senior engineer-worthy problems, then I was succeeding. However, I was often doing this in isolation, and I didn't understand the importance of showing other people or getting their input.

In 2021, I joined Meta as an engineer. They had a team-matching process, which I really struggled with. It took me months to find a team to join. I didn't know how to approach a new work environment. I'd been at Amazon for almost nine years. I knew how things worked and how to join a team there, whereas now I felt the expectations of me weren't very clear.

I've been working at Google for the last two and a half years. Last year, I was in discussions with managers about improving my performance, and I felt like I was at risk of losing my job.

With autism, I notice that my performance ebbs and changes, and I can get tired quickly. Sometimes, this is because of autistic burnout, but outside this, if I'm struggling with a problem and don't know how to get help, it quickly exhausts me. I worked with a psychiatrist to try to build up my capacity, which I think helped me to overcome some of my challenges.

I struggle to understand some requests. Like when asked to "pull something out" of a document, I wonder whether I'm meant to put that content in a new document or just remove it.

I can be very verbose, thinking that if I provide a lot of extra detail when communicating, I won't be misunderstood. However, this can be distracting for others. One manager suggested I write a TLDR above my message, which has been helpful, but it's still a work in progress for me.

My neuro differences have also helped me stand out in positive ways

Hyperfocus is one of the superpowers that comes with my neuro differences. Where other people might give up investigating a problem, I'll keep digging until I solve it because of my curiosity.

I spend days digging into issues. If it's not high-priority, people can think I'm "wasting" time, but at times when I'd get all my tasks done and solve something additional, it would impress people. It's distinguished me from others during my career.

Since I see things differently when it comes to problem-solving, I often make suggestions when reviewing other people's work. Being able to identify unseen problems is a very valuable skill in my line of work.

However, I've had to learn to get better at communicating those suggestions in a way that can be heard since I've been told I'm too blunt or inflexible when giving feedback.

Getting support is crucial for people with neuro differences

I'm part of a group for autistic individuals at Google. Having support and asking if others have experienced similar problems to me is helpful. You don't have to have an official diagnosis to be a part of groups like this, but getting an evaluation was empowering for me to feel I belonged.

I also use other resources like occupational therapy and psychiatry for support with different aspects of my neuro differences.

If you have neuro differences, finding support is critical. Learning about yourself and how to support yourself can be really powerful.

It's exhausting to think you just need to work harder and be like everyone else to succeed.

Do you have a Big Tech career story you'd like to share? Email the reporter at [email protected]