• Kate Collins has worked on an all-female nonprofit team since starting a new job in 2024.
• In the past, she's worked in male-dominated media workplaces with rigid, then lenient, boundaries.
• Collins says that an all-female team brings both a supportive culture and blurred work-life lines.

When I walked into work last year on my birthday, there was an envelope with my name written in cursive on my desk. I was less than three months into a new job and hadn't announced my birthday. Being an introvert, a slight discomfort rose as I opened the envelope.

The discomfort dissipated as I read the personalized messages written by my colleagues. I was grateful for the simple gesture; this was the first time I received a birthday card at work. A few months later, I returned from my honeymoon to find another thoughtful card and a wedding-decorated desk.

My colleagues' acknowledgment of these milestones is proof that after a midlife pivot, I've landed somewhere good. The all-female leadership and team where I work prioritize the organization's mission by fostering a kind, encouraging atmosphere for clients and employees.

While I see the perks, I've also experienced some downsides to an all-female workplace.

I started my career in offices with boundaries

I entered the workforce during an era when professionalism stressed a clear delineation between work and personal lives. In the offices of the media companies where I worked as a photojournalist and reporter, employees refrained from divulging details of their outside lives. I welcomed these boundaries.

By the mid-2010s, successive rounds of layoffs in my industry resulted in a less diverse workplace. Management became mostly men who I remember using sports analogies, mansplaining, and all-caps emails — controlling tactics that diminished my sense of worth.

A decade later, bias issues forced the last media company I worked for to adopt policies stressing safe, inclusive workplaces. The personal became political, and the movement to normalize almost everything took hold. Before long, a workplace culture emerged where revealing intimate personal information was commonplace.

Yet there still wasn't a shift away from the male-dominated culture. Many of my female colleagues who survived layoffs exited the industry. Before long, I was planning my own exit strategy.

It was difficult to separate myself from a profession I once loved

For a few years, I worked on reinventing myself by expanding my skill set through classes and freelance work. I was eventually offered an environmental communications position. While the job didn't last, it launched me into the nonprofit sector.

I live in a region with many nonprofits. The local nonprofits I'm most familiar with are primarily led and staffed by smart women passionate about helping others. This isn't surprising, as studies concerning the differences in personality traits have found that women are more nurturing, tender-minded, and altruistic more often and to a greater extent than men — traits necessary to do lower-paid, sometimes emotionally taxing work.

When I started nonprofit work, I felt acknowledged and supported

I started my current communications manager position in early 2024. Since transitioning to nonprofit work, I've experienced how an all-female team can promote a kinder, more collaborative workplace. Have an idea for something not in your job title? Share it. Need help with a project? There are always offers to assist, even for projects requiring time outside normal schedules.

There's also the celebration of achievements. Our leader frequently shares our team and individual accomplishments publicly. She gifted us with bright yellow smiley face bells to ring when we complete a difficult project. After years without recognition of my professional achievements, it feels good to have my contributions acknowledged.

The professional respect ingrained in our office culture extends beyond job tasks. If we come in late or leave early for an appointment or emergency, we can do so without advance approval. Leadership even encourages us to take personal days when we're feeling stressed.

This kind, empathic leadership style trickles down. Recently one of my coworkers was out for a few days with the flu. Knowing she lives alone, we reached out with "get well soon" texts and offered to pick up her prescription and deliver it to her home.

There are also challenges

While working in an all-female office has been a positive change, certain aspects can be trying. There's inherent pressure to participate in optional group activities such as weekly team lunches and afternoon walks, which can be stressful for someone who cherishes alone time like me.

Recently, a mandatory retreat escalated into a cold plunge. Voiced statements about not liking cold water were countered with emails about "team building." Days before, a colleague said that she couldn't partake due to a medical issue.

In the end, a few of us watched the cold plunge through the window of a warm house. I was already nervous about an overnight cabin retreat. I wasn't fond of the planned kayaking and swimming, but I also didn't want to hurt the feelings of my colleagues planning it.

The blurring of lines between work and play can also result in unexpected workplace tension. When a new colleague joined our team recently, she misinterpreted the relaxed atmosphere as "any topic goes." While I appreciate an informal office, some of the topics she discussed made me uncomfortable. I eventually spoke up about my new colleague's crudeness, and the issue was addressed.

I question whether the easing of professional manners has veered too far off-track

I wonder if a single-sex environment contributes to this. I wonder if my colleague would've acted differently around male colleagues and if a male would've been terminated for similar behavior around female coworkers.

I'm not looking to leave my job. If I ever return to a workplace with both men and women, I'll bring what I'm learning about collaboration, kindness, and celebrating achievements with me.

Kate Collins is a writer and nonprofit communications professional. She lives in Ithaca, New York, with her husband, stepson, and two foster dogs.

• Daliana Liu was a data scientist at Amazon and a startup before leaving to start her own business.
• She now works as a coach for data scientists looking to accelerate their careers and brand.
• Liu said she still gets cold DMs from recruiters at Meta and OpenAI because of her online presence.

This as-told-to-essay is based on a conversation with Daliana Liu, a data scientist and career coach. Business Insider has verified Liu's employment with documents. It's been edited for length and clarity.

After finishing my undergraduate math degree at a college in China, I moved to California to get my Master's in Statistics at the University of California, Irvine.

In January 2014, I started working at a startup, before being recruited by Amazon a little over a year later as a business intelligence engineer.

I started at Amazon in Seattle, working on an A/B testing platform for their retail website. I created various statistical analyses and reports and supported product managers.

I trained employees on how to use A/B testing to make better product decisions, eventually starting my own newsletter for Amazon employees to share experiment insights from across teams.

An internal Amazon newsletter was my first content creation

The newsletter was my initial content creation. I learned to create engaging titles and make my writing concise and interesting.

During that time, I began writing on Medium about technical data science. Once, I wrote a viral post about saving money by picking the right month to start renting an apartment. It was exciting to help people make better decisions using data.

I started posting to LinkedIn in 2019. I wanted to share the unfiltered truth about being a data scientist and getting a job at Amazon, after seeing misleading posts about the industry. A couple of my posts blew up, but the majority of my following was organic from posting regularly. I now have nearly 300,000 followers on LinkedIn.

I then started a public newsletter. I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur and thought having public channels would help me find investors in the future.

I moved up the ranks at Amazon and started a podcast

In December 2020, I moved to San Francisco to work for Amazon Web Services as a machine learning engineer. I got promoted to senior data scientist in 2021 and had to work with a lot of external customers.

I read books about communication and influencing stakeholders. I wanted learn good communication for my own leadership within the company, as well as our clients.

In 2021, I launched a podcast interviewing data scientists on their day-to-day work, how they tackle technical problems, and their career journeys.

One of the guests I interviewed invited me to a dinner with his CEO, who offered me a job to work as a data scientist for his startup, Predibase. I quit Amazon in June 2022 to work at the startup.

During the year I worked at Predibase, I continued to experiment with my podcast while also creating a career course for data scientists, teaching them essential communication and influencing skills.

Between 2021 and 2023, when I posted weekly episodes, my podcast had 50,000 subscribers across platforms. My startup job supported me in pursuing a side business, and I started making income from sponsorship and events through the podcast. I started getting sponsorship in March 2023.

I quit Big Tech to start my own business

As much as I loved working in tech, I always wanted to do something of my own. Once I got to the point I had business contracts in place for my podcast, a plan for my course, and some savings, I decided to quit my job and start my own business in September 2023.

Around the time I quit the startup, a VC firm tried to recruit me for a platform community growth role because they like my content and the podcast I built. I didn't take the job because I wanted to focus on my own business.

I now have a career accelerator course teaching data scientists communication skills, how to get promoted, and how to build their brands.

Being a thought leader opens job opportunties

While working for Amazon and the startup, I had recruiters from top companies like Apple and Netflix getting in touch. Even after leaving Big Tech, I still get messages from people at companies like OpenAI and Meta trying to recruit me.

They mention they like my experience in data science which they can see from my LinkedIn. They can also see my Medium blog and my podcast. I was able to get jobs through my podcast and recruiters often reference my content creation when they've reached out.

It's very important in this job market to be a builder, and a great way to demonstrate that is to publish blog posts or create a demo for recruiters to stand out.

I think Big Tech companies value my technical skills and industry thought leadership, which I post about on blogs and LinkedIn. Having a large following makes it easier for these recruiters to find and trust me.

Startups and VC funds seem to value both my technical skills and content creation skills, also that I've built a community.

By publishing my thoughts, I've opened myself up to data science roles, as well as developed transferable skills. If my path as a thought leader doesn't work out, I think it would be easy for me to find a job in data science, marketing, or a community role.

I'm not tempted to return to tech or startups. There's uncertainty as an entrepreneur, but I get to choose my clients and projects. I can take time off and travel. I'm not married or a parent yet, but when that time comes, I want the freedom to be fully present.

• Keith Anderson secured a role at Meta in 2018 after beating 2,000 other candidates.
• He applied after feeling drained in his previous Big Tech roles at YouTube and Google.
• Anderson used a five-part strategy, including a 'value project,' to stand out and get the offer.

When Keith Anderson, 36, came across a job posting at Meta (then Facebook) while scrolling LinkedIn in 2018, he was feeling completely drained.

He was in his third Big Tech role — working as a program manager at YouTube — after spending two years at Google and two years at Uber since breaking into the industry with no tech experience in 2015.

"I'd hit a wall," Anderson, who now runs Career Alchemy, told Business Insider. "I was physically exhausted and emotionally depleted."

A few months later, he beat out 2,000 candidates for the Meta role.

He wanted a dramatic career shift

Anderson wanted something new and resonated with Meta's mission, so he applied for the role on the global education team.

After three months of silence, he was invited to an in-person finalist event at the company's headquarters. The hiring manager at Meta told him he'd been selected as one of 300 top candidates from 2,000 applicants.

He said that email alone felt like a win, but it was short-lived when he realized the stiff competition he'd need to one-up to actually land the job. He decided he'd try something different to stand out from the crowd.

Here's the five-part strategy that Anderson used to ultimately win the job offer from Meta.

1. Using curiosity and connection points to overcome imposter syndrome

When Anderson first arrived at the event, his excitement turned to anxiety. As an employee who came from a background in teaching, imposter syndrome started to grip him.

"I reminded myself that curiosity is more powerful than self-doubt," Anderson said. "Instead of trying to impress anyone, I approached team leaders and engaged them in meaningful, peer-level conversations."

Anderson said the event started with 30 to 45 minutes of networking. Next, five team leaders presented on the state of the team, explaining their goals. The team leaders then spread out around the room to talk to candidates.

"There were like 15 to 20 folks swarming around each of them, awkwardly trying to get their chance to ask a question," Anderson said.

Anderson worked the room, saying things like, "I just learned about the project your team's been working on, and I'm impressed by what you've achieved! My team's facing a similar challenge, and I'm curious: how has your team approached that balance?"

He said the goal wasn't to deliver a pitch but instead create a conversation rooted in genuine interest and shared experience.

2. Following up with a warm, non-pushy message

Anderson initially didn't get a callback, so he sent a warm, friendly voice note to the recruiter.

"I thanked her for inviting me and reflected on how humbling it was to be in a room with such incredible talent," he said. "I mentioned my conversation with one of the team members and even included a helpful tool we used on my current team at the time, asking her to pass it along." Anderson believes that the most important part of his message wasn't what he offered — it was how he framed it.

"I told the recruiter, 'I know your plate is full juggling candidates for multiple roles and navigating the needs of different hiring managers. If this role doesn't work out, no worries. I just wanted to say thank you,'" Anderson said.

Within 48 hours, the recruiter called Anderson back to schedule a formal screening for the role.

3. Turning the screening into a strategy session

Anderson viewed the phone screening as an opportunity to gather intelligence about both the company and role.

"I wanted to understand the team's internal goals and pain points before I ever stepped into a formal interview loop," Anderson said. He asked questions like "What are the top priorities for this team over the next quarter?" and "How does this role contribute to those broader goals?"

The recruiter provided valuable insight into the team's dynamics and signaled that he understood how to contribute at a high level.

4. Building a 'value project' to show understanding of team pain points

After the phone screening, Anderson sent a warm follow-up email that led to an invitation to speak with the hiring manager. To prepare, he created a four-slide 'value project,' — a mini case study based on a challenge faced by the team he was trying to join.

"I gathered intel on the main pain points the team was facing," Anderson said. "From those, I took the one that seemed the most pressing and created a simple project from that."

Anderson's value project included:

• A short overview of what he understood about the team's current structure
• A breakdown of one key challenge, informed by conversations with the recruiter and event contacts
• Examples of how other companies were solving similar problems
• His personal experience addressing this kind of challenge
• A few practical, creative solutions tailored to Meta's ecosystem

Anderson invited the hiring manager and others who interviewed him into a conversation to discuss it.

"I framed it with, 'I'd love to get your thoughts on this,'" he said. "Suddenly, I wasn't just a candidate answering questions. I was a collaborator helping solve problems."

5. Making yourself easy to remember

The recruiter sent Anderson an email with the names of the people he was going to meet with. Anderson sent brief, friendly email introductions to each of his future interviewers, expressing his excitement about speaking with them.

During the actual interviews, Anderson made a personal connection with the hiring team. "At the start of each call, I asked, 'What's been the highlight of your day so far?' he said. "It's warm, it's disarming, and it instantly transforms the tone of the conversation."

About five months after applying, Anderson received a job offer from Meta for an instructional designer role — his entry position that he later parlayed into a management role as head of learning, global agencies, over his three years at Meta.

Anderson's manager told him something he'll never forget

"After I started, my manager told me, 'If you hadn't accepted, we would've restarted the entire hiring process — no one else came close,'" Anderson said. "That kind of validation reminded me that thoughtful risk-taking really does pay off."

Anderson said that this hiring experience taught him you don't have to follow the traditional script to be taken seriously in Big Tech.

"Throughout every step of the process, I anchored my message: I'm someone who notices problems early and works toward clear, communicative, creative solutions," he said. "My goal was always to show, not tell, who I was through every interaction."

• Hugh Morris made just over $250,000 at JP Morgan before he left in August 2024 after his divorce.
• The 31-year-old said a higher-up told him he was making a big mistake leaving to start his own firm.
• Morris initially regretted his decision and had panic attacks, but now has his dream practice.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hugh Morris, the president and senior wealth advisor at The Morris Group at LPL Financial. Morris's prior employment and financials have been verified with documents. It has been edited for length and clarity.

At 30 years old, I had been working as a financial advisor at JP Morgan Wealth Management for nearly three years, making just above $250,000.

I loved the company, the people I worked with, and my job, but after getting divorced in January 2024, I had a reset.

Since entering the workforce, I've always wanted my own business. As a young person with no partner, kids, or obligations, this was my opportunity to see if I could make it in the business world as a financial advisor.

Additionally, I wanted the freedom to set my own schedule so I could volunteer and get involved in my community.

I liked the idea of taking on the number and types of clients I wanted. With my own business, I could take on fewer clients than I managed at JP Morgan and make the same amount of money because I would take home all my fees.

I also thought in 30 years' time, if I were making $1 or $2 million in revenue I could sell the business at three to four times that amount to fund my retirement.

Preparing to quit my job

To prepare for my resignation, I created a monthly budget of my essential costs. I used this as a guide for my savings, so I could cover myself if the business failed.

My divorce was finalized in March 2024. We sold our house, ridding me of a $6,000 monthly house payment. I started renting, which cost less than $2,000 a month. I wanted to reduce my expenses, knowing that I would need to invest a lot of my own money into the business.

Each month, I tried to save between $5,000 and $6,000. I wouldn't have any income initially, and I knew I needed a fund to supplement my income and pay for my living expenses.

I also started networking with friends and family, thinking about where I would get my clients once I launched.

My goal was to get to $10 million in assets at a 1% fee, which is about $100,000 in revenue, in the first year.

I had panic attacks after I quit

After months of planning, saving, and networking, I resigned in August 2024. A higher up said to me, "This will be the biggest mistake of your life."

That comment stuck with me. For three months after resigning, I had panic attacks and woke in the middle of the night, sweating, my heart racing. I couldn't sleep or eat.

I thought about my old salary and the salary I could've been making had I stayed. Fears about bankruptcy crept in, and I thought about how I'd have to find a new career if this failed.

Until December 2024, I regretted leaving JP Morgan, thinking I had done what my higher-up had predicted — made a big mistake.

During the first two months of my business, I had zero income, living off the money I had saved in preparation. My first clients were family and friends, excited about my new venture, but it was difficult to grow my client list.

My grandfather's encouragement got me through those first months. Every day, he told me: "You can do this," and, "It's going to work."

I also didn't want to let down my new clients. They trusted me.

It hasn't been easy starting a business, but I have more freedom

Despite my fears, I stayed consistent. I didn't take a salary for the first two months, but by December, I was making an average of $1,500 a month from my assets under management fee.

I got referrals from existing clients and learned how to market myself to get new clients. In January, I started paying a company to do my marketing.

In March, I hired a business coach because I wanted to cut down my learning curve and grow my business faster. She helped me see that I had the skills to make my business successful.

I expect to generate $100,000 in revenue in 2025 with around 40 clients.

I still work between 40 and 60 hours a week, but set my own schedule and can volunteer in the middle of the day or leave early on a Friday.

I've also had the freedom to spend more time with my clients at dinners or golfing. I like getting to know my clients and building trust with them. I want to personalise their experience.

I occasionally feel lonely, working for myself, but I've built up a network of financial advisors in the same position as me. We talk or text often.

My income is tied to the stock market

My income is directly related to the stock market. I try to live as lean as possible and have a safety net to manage the current market volatility.

I have future clients in the pipeline, which could boost my income, but they don't want to move over right now because of the economy.

If the stock market is down 20%, my revenue will be down 20%. But it also works in reverse, when the market is up, I will get a bump in revenue.

Despite the current economy, I no longer regret my decision to start my business. I've had enough initial wins to feel like I'm going to make it work.

I have the practice I've dreamed about. There is no turning back.

Editor's note: JP Morgan declined to comment when approached by Business Insider.

• Todd Sheridan Yeary spent 13 years working at the FAA Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center.
• He says air traffic control is a high-pressure job with unpredictable challenges and safety concerns.
• The field is facing staffing shortages, which is stressing the National Airspace System's safety.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Todd Sheridan Yeary, a pastor and former air traffic controller who left the job in 2002 and is now based in Baltimore. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I spent 13 years as an air traffic controller before pivoting my career. It's a well-paid but very stressful job.

Many dynamics can change your shift altogether. On a normal cloudy day, if a thunderstorm starts, it could get tense — you can't control the weather and must respond in real time.

There's heightened pressure when responding to constantly changing situations. If there's an aircraft incident or a midair collision — which are rare but shocking — the responsiveness needed takes hyperfocus.

Additionally, the government needs to do more than pay lip service to the needs of the National Airspace System to sustain this field.

Some controllers are adrenaline junkies — we like the pressure

I grew up in a house with two air traffic control parents, which influenced my decision to enter the field.

After passing an air traffic control civil service test and completing 10 weeks of training, I chose to work at the FAA Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center since my stepmother was working there, and my father and I worked together in the same area for almost six years.

I enjoy busy periods, like when I lined up the planes going into O'Hare and Midway, but air traffic controllers need time to recuperate. In today's environment, some controllers work up to a mandatory six-day week with overtime, and there's little reset time available.

Pay is determined by the complexity of the facility you're assigned to. At the end of my career, my base was over six figures annually. With overtime, it's possible to make double that.

Each day has a baseline of predictability, but there's always uncertainty

The midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January is a complicated analysis. When these events occur, air traffic controllers must respond immediately to ensure that the incidents don't cause other incidents. You rely on your training much more when things are shifting than when things are routine.

We can't minimize the significance of these incidents, but we also can't lose sight of the reality that the National Airspace System (even with tech and staffing challenges) is still safe. We still can't take that safety for granted — there is a tipping point.

I think it's safe to fly into Newark Airport right now

The reduction of flights into Newark Liberty International Airport is partly due to concerns about equipment, but the most active runway at Newark is out of service until next month due to runway improvements.

That alone requires the number of flights to be reduced to avoid potential safety issues. Airline demand has still been growing, and companies are often resistant to cutting back on slots at major airports and airline hubs.

There have been countless stressful moments in my career

I was working on 9/11, and we had to clear the airspace over the US immediately. That meant something as simple as telling a commercial flight that may have left DC for LA that it needed to land in Moline, Illinois.

If the pilots said, "That's not on our flight plan," we might counter that it was an emergency. If they refused, we had instructions to notify our military counterpart, the National Guard fighter jets, to escort commercial planes to the ground during an unprecedented national emergency.

Some pilots initially questioned the instructions, but the available information was changing quickly. Between ATC communications and airline flight dispatchers, we kept military interdictions and escorts to a minimum.

There's a shortage of controllers and the system's safety is being stressed

The job is exciting, the controllers are dedicated, and the training is rigorous. However, much more intentional effort is needed for this field to continue to be rewarding.

There's a shortage of air traffic controllers, and others are pending retirement. If the government doesn't step in, you may see more controllers going out on disability because the system's safety is being stressed, and the controllers are being pushed beyond their limits.

I started pastoring a small church in 2001, and I decided to leave my job in air traffic control in 2002 because my congregation needed more of my attention. I moved to Baltimore in 2007 to pastor Douglas Memorial Community Church. I thought I might return one day, but the opportunity never presented itself.

Do you have a story to share about working as an air traffic controller? Contact this editor at [email protected].

• Chikara Kennedy was a senior HR manager at Meta and helped guide the company through layoffs.
• She was devastated to learn in 2023 that her role had also been affected and took a solo Bali trip.
• She became a coach and now leads retreats for women who are transforming their lives and careers.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chikara Kennedy, the 42-year-old CEO of Chikara Power Coaching, who splits her time between Mexico and Washington, DC. Business Insider has verified Kennedy's employment with documentation and edited her words for length and clarity.

I'd been working in HR for nearly 15 years when I was hired by Facebook, now known as Meta, in 2018 as a senior HR manager.

I was working out of the Chicago office and then became a remote employee in 2020 during COVID. I moved to DC in 2022, still as a remote worker, to be closer to family while going through a divorce.

At Meta, I worked closely with leaders on things like coaching, performance management, recognition programs, morale-boosting, restructuring, and organizational development.

When the company began implementing layoffs in 2023, part of my role was helping guide the company through the process. I felt passionate about doing layoffs the right way — a way that was respectful to people.

In the end, I was shocked and devastated to learn that this very Meta layoff would impact my role, too.

Despite being a high performer, I was laid off

Growing up, we're taught that if you go to school, get good grades, and do a good job, things will turn out the way they're supposed to. As a society, we make work a big part of our identities.

I'd worked for Meta for nearly five years and was a high performer. I had received great ratings, had good relationships, and was acknowledged for exceeding expectations.

But in 2023, the company laid off 10,000 employees and withdrew 5,000 open roles it had yet to fill. I was part of a team that was very severely impacted.

Despite my intimate knowledge of the process, the experience was more challenging than I anticipated. I went through all the stages of grief. I was mad, sad, embarrassed, and in disbelief. Following my divorce, I was anxious about finances, and with so many tech companies doing layoffs, I was worried about not finding another job.

I remember there was a moment when those of us impacted were all messaging each other online and saying things like: "Who has the connections? What are the next jobs that are hiring? Let me connect you."

It was encouraging, and I was happy to be among a group of star players who were helping each other. But I had to ask myself if jumping right back into a new job was really what was best for me.

Ultimately, I decided to take a step back

I'd always been empathetic toward people experiencing layoffs, but living through one in such a tough economy helped me understand the transactional nature of employment. Things can change at any time, anywhere, and so much isn't in our control.

Although it was devastating, I also began to tune into my own voice. I wanted to honor myself and not be influenced by other people, so I decided to take a solo retreat.

I booked a trip alone to Bali from DC and went with no itinerary — just the intention to enjoy myself, enjoy the sights, and look inward to figure out what I truly wanted moving forward.

The trip felt like I was on a Black woman's version of "Eat, Pray, Love." I turned off my phone and computer, connected with strangers, and did things like breath work and meditation, just trying to get my mind and thoughts together.

These practices helped quiet the noise and fear of being laid off. It shifted the way I viewed myself and the possibilities I could see for myself.

It was like I became the main character of my own life. Before the layoff, I would often ask, "What can I do to make this organization better?" But now I began to ask: "What are my goals, my strengths? What would I love to be doing on a day-to-day basis? If I'm not reacting out of hurt, embarrassment, or the need to prove I'm good enough to land another job right away, what do I truly want to do?"

For me, the answer was founding my company, Power Coaching and Consulting.

I'm now a coach, and I plan to run retreats in the next year

Since my Meta layoff, I'm currently living between Washington, DC, and Playa del Carmen in Mexico.

I've taken on leadership roles at retreats in Croatia and South Africa and am hosting my own power retreat for the first time in January at a private retreat center in Mexico.

The retreats involve women from all professions and walks of life and include activities and sessions like guided meditation, temazcal and cacao ceremonies, astrological and tarot readings, and wellness workshops. In a beautiful setting with like-minded women, I help clients explore their goals and overcome obstacles to achieve meaningful transformation in their careers and lives.

My advice for those going through a layoff

It's normal to have feelings of grief, but it's also important to remember you're not alone. A layoff isn't a reflection of you, your performance, or your value as a person; it doesn't have to define you.

If you're going through a layoff, use it as an opportunity to figure out who you are and what you want next. The biggest challenges in our lives can lead to the biggest breakthroughs if we're willing to do the work.

Do you have a story to share about dealing with a layoff? Contact this editor, Jane Zhang, at [email protected].

• Abigayle Peterson secured multiple job and internship offers by strategically networking.
• Peterson's experiences as an adoptee and challenges in school shaped her career approach.
• She emphasizes cold outreach, attending specialized events, and being a 'go-giver.'

Being an adoptee from China didn't just impact my passion for building inclusive communities — it ignited it. My dream was battle-tested as I grew up, switching schools multiple times, dealing with bullying, and ultimately leaving college early to finish online due to my living situation.

Instead of extinguishing my spirit, these experiences crystallized into a unique superpower: I now understood how to use my voice as an agent for positive change.

I've persuaded tech executives to crown the mental health nonprofit I founded with an award, encouraged others to speak up in class, and ultimately landed multiple internships and jobs.

I'm now 23, and I've secured three internship offers at Bank of America, received offers from multiple startups, and became the first product manager at SeekOut through networking alone. I've landed eight roles in total, both temporary and permanent.

Here are my top three tips to channel your voice to maximize your networking.

1. Master cold outreach

I didn't attend a top school for computer science. Knowing I probably couldn't rely on my environment for an abundance of career opportunities, I created my own.

My first goal was to get a summer internship. I joined free online career communities, such as Rewriting the Code, to meet other ambitious students. I also emailed my favorite professors to inquire about research internships and consistently posted on LinkedIn. This extremely simple concept of asking for what you want and expressing who you are accelerated my career growth.

If you don't know where to start, first identify your top career goal and then write a message to someone who can potentially help. Crafting the ideal message requires three simple steps that I honed for years:

1. Introduce yourself as who you want to be
2. Concise is key — no busy person has time to read multiple paragraphs
3. Include a call-to-action as a question that creates a win-win situation

Many say cold outreach is a numbers game and you just get lucky. While it is a numbers game, solidifying the right approach matters, too. If you follow the three steps and reach out to people on LinkedIn, via email, and other platforms, you'll get closer and closer to your dream career opportunity.

2. Skip school career fairs and attend specialized events instead

My hot take is that most school career fairs won't truly level up your career. If you have ambitious goals, I recommend meeting actual hiring decision-makers at in-person tech events. San Francisco and NYC offer panels, fireside chats, hackathons, and mixers. You can find these events on apps like Luma or Meetup, and by following LinkedIn Top Voices.

Founders at tech companies can make invaluable introductions, invite you to join their teams as an intern, invest in your ideas, or even mentor you. I attended the free Harvard Women in Entrepreneurship fireside chat with the nonprofit Foundess and connected with multiple clients seeking career coaching.

I teach this approach because many driven students and job seekers don't try it, which means competition can be nearly nonexistent. Always try to meet the speakers, introduce yourself, and casually mention that you're looking for your next career move. I've seen multiple people succeed with this strategy and eventually land great opportunities.

3. Be a 'go-giver'

Being a go-giver is a highly underrated hack. If you want to meet decision-makers who can unlock your next career opportunity, ask to interview your role models for your newsletter, podcast, blog, or community.

By giving first, you build genuine connections, strengthen your personal brand, and gain real experience for your résumé. This strategy costs nothing but can dramatically expand both your network and your net worth.

I'm currently a founding team member at Start Your Fashion Business Academy, where we help driven women leave their 9-5s and start fashion empires. These three tips collectively advanced my career in ways I never would've imagined.

Abigayle Peterson is a former product manager and founder. Find her on LinkedIn and at [email protected].

• Ryan Frankel and his wife, Evelyn, launched Thrift Vintage Fashion in 2020.
• The business supplies secondhand clothing nationwide.
• Thrift Vintage Fashion saw a 41% revenue increase after tariffs were announced.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ryan Frankel, a 36-year-old business owner in Miami. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My primary business is Thrift Vintage Fashion, which I launched in 2020 with my wife, Evelyn. We supply secondhand clothing — mostly men's wear, such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, and denim — to stores nationwide. When Trump took office in January, our sales took a steep decline.

Once he came into office, there was a lot of uncertainty. However, we noticed a significant incline once tariffs were announced in February. From February to March, we saw an unprecedented 41% increase in revenue (gross sales). Then we had our best March and April since we started the business.

I can't attribute our growth to anything other than the tariffs.

My family has been in this business for three generations

My grandfather began selling men's secondhand clothing after World War II. In the 90s, my father primarily sold denim and Levi's. When I started working with my father in 2010, we brought the business online and got our name out there.

After I launched Thrift Vintage Fashion, which is primarily a wholesale B2B business, it popped off right away. We did over $1 million in revenue in our first year working out of our garage during peak COVID in 2020. This was mainly due to my experience working with my father over the previous decade and improving the model and ordering efficiency through the TVF website.

Once Trump raised the tariffs, many of our clients reached out to us

Many clients — primarily secondhand clothing stores (big and small), vintage clothing stores, and online resellers — reached out to ask if the tariffs had affected our business. There was a lot of uncertainty, but we were able to confidently say, "No, we're not affected, and we're not going to raise our prices." Since then, we've just seen a slew of new orders come in, in addition to existing clients ordering a lot more.

Consumers preparing for prices to go up is another factor that has increased our secondhand sales. Everyone's talking about how fashion prices are going up, but since secondhand circulates within the US, no tariffs are affecting it at all.

It seems more people are interested in entering the reselling business

People are potentially looking into reselling more, which is positively affecting my wholesale business. We've seen steady growth across the US.

The US has been our primary market for the last three years, and we see increasing interest from new and existing resale clients. Our numbers are growing, our existing customers are doubling down on their business, and there's increasing demand in the secondhand market. I'm biased, as this is my career, but it's an excellent opportunity for shoppers and business owners to consider selling and buying secondhand goods.

There's so much of it out there: eBay, estate sales, garage sales, or storage units. A lot of secondhand merchandise is way better quality than most things produced today, and there's a growing demand for all of it. We're buying more goods and building our supply chain, prepping for growth in both wholesale and retail sectors.

The main challenges are the high costs of collecting, processing, and reselling these garments

Believe it or not, many used clothing articles cost more than many new clothing items made today. So, our company is always up against the perception of selling something used for the same price or more than new clothing. However, this perception is shifting daily, with people recognizing the value of secondhand versus cheap new fashion.

Every day, we're shedding the old stigma of secondhand shops being viewed as "less than." The fact is that the items we sell are in excellent condition. While many brands produce cheap, throwaway fast fashion, older clothes were often made more durably. Whether the clothes were made five or 15 years ago, many desirable styles have become rare by nature and hard to find, thus increasing their value.

The desire for secondhand items will probably continue

If you're already selling secondhand items, that's great; stick with it. You're probably seeing increases already, and I think it will continue. If you're not selling secondhand, especially if you're worried about tariffs, I would consider trying to implement it into your existing business.

There are so many significant factors in buying secondhand that the average American consumer slowly recognizes more each day. There are also opportunities to grow a brand reselling the billions of secondhand garments in circulation. I believe we're past the days of "thrifting" carrying a negative connotation. We're scratching the surface of what's possible with secondhand.

If you're a small-business owner with a unique story that you would like to share, please email the editor, Manseen Logan, at [email protected].

• Taylor Nissi is a senior VP and wealth advisor at the wealth management firm Farther.
• He shared his top tips he would give to clients navigating recent market volatility amid tariffs.
• Nissi said everyone should have three buckets: emergency fund, growth strategy, and retirement plan.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Taylor Nissi, a wealth advisor at Farther. It has been edited for length and clarity.

It's important that people have a financial plan they can refer to during times of economic uncertainty.

In the current climate, people may want to reevaluate their risk strategies for their investment portfolios and cash management.

As a wealth advisor, it's my job to help both small business owners and employees through this time of economic uncertainty. Here are my top tips.

Make a plan and prioritize your emergency fund

We like to say you should have three buckets. The first bucket is your emergency fund, the second is your taxable growth strategy, and the third is your long-term retirement plan.

Having a financial plan gives people a reference point to return to during market fluctuations. It can help with decision-making in times of high anxiety.

Everyone should prioritize building their emergency fund or "first bucket." Your emergency fund is a way to prepare for market risk and life risk.

If your household has one income, you should have at least six months saved in your emergency fund. If you have two incomes — either two income earners, one person with two incomes, or a person with one income and a trust fund — that number could drop to three months.

Any other money you know you'll spend in the next 24 months, a college tuition to pay or a house down payment, for example, should all be added to your emergency fund.

This money should be held somewhere that it can be easily converted to cash without affecting its market price. You want something safe, easy to access, and earning a little interest: High-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, or short-term CDs are all good.

If you're not coping, remove volatile assets like stocks and add bonds

The "second bucket" is your taxable growth strategy: investments to help your money grow, even in accounts where you pay taxes, like a regular brokerage account. We've been talking with a lot of clients about how they felt when the market crashed in early April. Our clients hold a lot of wealth in stocks and were very uncomfortable.

If clients were very stressed or couldn't sleep at night, then we'd look at their "second bucket" and change the allocation of their portfolio to more bonds and fewer stocks.

However, we'd also tell people that selling stocks and buying bonds can impact your long-term financial goals. If you sell stocks when prices are down, you lock in those losses. Buying bonds instead may mean you miss out if the stocks rebound.

If you were emotionally OK during a volatile market, I'd say continue buying stocks. They're the best way to compound wealth. You want to buy companies with strong balance sheets and a strong moat around them.

Do not make reactionary portfolio decisions

If you make an emotional decision to sell everything and go to cash, there could be a knock-on impact on achieving your financial goals.

If my clients call me and tell me they want to sell everything, I generally try to walk them back, share historical data about why that might not be a good idea, and tell them to sleep on it.

Taking your money out of the market, say the S&P 500, when you're most uncomfortable and returning after a couple of days will reduce your annual average returns.

Knowing when to invest back in is the hard part. The best days in the market often come immediately after the worst days. So if you take your money out on the worst day, and wait for some kind of "all clear sign," you will almost certainly miss the best days.

I talk a lot about what we learned through the 2008 financial crisis. A lot of the people who got hurt the most were the people who reacted emotionally.

Consider long-term investments

If you're younger, under 50, I'd advise clients to own mostly stocks in their "third bucket," their retirement savings plan. Stocks have much more growth potential compared to bonds. If you didn't cope emotionally with what happened in early April, you could adjust to having fewer stocks and more bonds, but that will have a downstream impact.

If you are nearing retirement, you should be thinking about moving some of your "third bucket" assets into more stable investments. Or if you cannot handle the market swings, think about building a more stable and less growth-oriented portfolio.

I always try to help my clients who are getting ready to retire be conscious of the "sequence of returns" risk. This is when you have to pull money out of your retirement fund during bad market conditions, which can drain your savings faster than you planned for.

If you retire during a market decline, you'll be forced to sell assets at a discount rather than their fully appreciated value, which will decrease your future value. Selling investments while they're down means you'll have less money left to grow in the future, so your total retirement fund shrinks faster.

If you're preparing to retire in the next two or three years, your third bucket should have an emergency fund of its own. You want to have two years of expenses in cash in addition to the emergency fund you already have. It will protect you against stagflation and market uncertainty.

• Entrepreneur Shira Lazar said Mark Cuban became a true mentor after CBS News dropped her show.
• Lazar said Cuban's encouragement helped her to see herself as a startup founder.
• She said Cuban's advice led her to consultant work and has helped her become an AI thought leader.

I first met Mark Cuban on a red carpet for a movie premiere I was covering as a young entertainment host. At the time, Mark was already a recognizable figure — not just for selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo during the dot-com boom, but as one of the faces of that entire era of internet-fueled wealth. He even made a cameo on "The Simpsons."

Fast forward to 2011: I had just launched "What's Trending," one of the first live digital shows covering internet culture, and CBS News picked it up. We hosted guests like Snoop Dogg, Common, Lilly Singh, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Naturally, I had to ask Mark to join us, too — by then, he was gaining even more mainstream fame through "Shark Tank" and I was starting to see him as a potential mentor.

In all the years I've known Mark, he's never given me a dollar — and yet his support, guidance, and friendship have been worth so much more.

Mark Cuban gave me a reality check that helped me keep my business going

He liked what my team and I were building with "What's Trending," and appreciated the entrepreneurial spirit behind it. But it was a few months later, during a major career crisis, that Mark truly stepped into the role of mentor.

In a single weekend, CBS News suddenly dropped the show. My cofounder and I were devastated, and I reached out to Mark. Was there anything he could do to help?

By chance, he was flying into Los Angeles to film "Shark Tank" and told us to meet him at the SLS Hotel. I showed up in all black, puffy-eyed from crying. I was hoping for a lifeline. Instead, Mark gave me tough love.

I had to negotiate with a Shark

He offered us a deal: He would air "What's Trending" on HDNet, the TV network he owned at the time. But there was a catch: no money upfront, exclusive rights to him, and a revenue share model on advertising.

In an instant, I had to snap out of my grief and start negotiating with a real Shark.

I didn't think it was a good deal and felt he shouldn't get exclusive rights if he wasn't giving us upfront cash. Looking back, I realize I probably should've taken it — we would've figured the rest out along the way.

I sat there, unsure, my brain spinning, and that's when Mark looked me square in the eye and asked: "Are you passionate about what you're doing?" I said yes, without hesitation, and he convinced me that if I truly cared, I could find the $50,000 to keep my show going.

That conversation forced me to see myself as a startup founder

I realized that if I was going to ask someone else to invest in me, I needed to be willing to invest in my own vision first.

Since then, Mark has offered many more moments of tough love — each one a precursor to some of my biggest career breakthroughs. When I got in early on Musical.ly before it became TikTok, I poured a lot of time and energy into it and had a real vision, but I was ahead of the curve. The money wasn't there yet.

Mark pushed me to know my worth and ask to be paid because I deserved it. That mindset shift led me to consulting work and has helped me negotiate with a lot more clarity as a creator.

I've learned some of my best business lessons from Mark

1. Always be selling.

No matter what you're doing — building a company, launching a project, pitching an idea — you're always selling yourself, your vision, and your value.

That doesn't mean everything has to be transactional, but be aware and open to opportunities because they're literally everywhere.

2. There are two kinds of companies: those that are great at AI and everyone else.

When it comes to emerging tech, it's all about following where the money and attention are going and identifying clear gaps in the space.

Right now, and likely for the future, that's AI. During a recent recording of my podcast, "The AI Download," Mark was a guest and reminded me how important it is to create content in this space now — to connect with the right players, to learn by doing, and to test the tools firsthand.

This approach has helped me grow as a thought leader, led to brand deals, and even opened up an opportunity to lead growth and marketing for INSEAD AI Venture Lab, an 8-week global AI training program.

3. Sweat equity is the best equity.

I've mostly bootstrapped my company, growing it through relationships, creativity, and reinvention rather than outside funding.

Building with sweat equity forced me to get scrappy, stay lean, and focus on what truly matters. It made me and the company more resilient, and along the way, it revealed who was genuinely committed.

4. Run your business to be profitable.

Profitable companies don't go out of business. It sounds simple, but in the world of flashy startup rounds and burn rates, it's a powerful reminder.

My own business has definitely had its ups and downs with this.

Running a business without focusing on profitability isn't sustainable. It drains your energy, gives you headaches, and takes time and resources away from ideas that could actually grow. It becomes less of a business and more of an expensive hobby.

Not focusing on profitability also forces you to constantly raise money and put your vision in the hands of investors, which can mean giving up control.

5. Kindness is a secret weapon.

Mark is literally the nicest billionaire I know — not that I have a huge roster of billionaires on speed dial.

He may not respond to every single email, but he's known for being surprisingly responsive, even to cold emails from strangers. I've always been struck by how quickly he replies. It's not always a yes; sometimes it's a quick "not interested." But the fact that he takes the time to respond at all says a lot.

If someone like him can be that timely and direct without relying on layers of gatekeepers, it challenges me to do the same. It reminds me that respect and efficiency go hand in hand, no matter how busy you are.

Shira Lazar is an Emmy-nominated host, producer, and entrepreneur. She's the founder/CEO of the media brand "What's Trending" and cofounder of CreatorCare, a mental health support system for creators.

• Arran Skinner lost his job as a multimedia and press relations expert in 2023.
• Since then, he hasn't been able to find new full-time work and has struggled with his identity.
• As a current gig worker, he's still looking for full-time employment and figuring out his next step.

A recent piece in The New York Times has been making the rounds among my friends. It outlines the struggles Gen Xers working in the creative fields face in the job market and how, in the past few years, they've found that their skills are less valuable.

"I'm 53," writes one commenter on Reddit, "and I already pivoted from one career to the next, and now that's looking dicey. I have a little kid. I'm soiling my pants."

I can relate. It's been just over two years since I opened my email and read that I'd been let go from my 20-plus-year career as a multimedia and press relations expert in the humanitarian field.

I still haven't found new full-time work.

I watched my dad go through this as a kid

I remember when my dad lost his job in the 1980s. He went from owning his own business to moving us out of our fashionable North London neighborhood to a semi-detached in a much different part of town.

My parents gently shifted our lives in a new direction, and they did a pretty good job. We each had to adjust to our new situation. My dad, with bills to pay, had to adjust most of all.

As he looked for another profession, I wondered whether he felt his confidence under attack with each failed interview. Did he look in the mirror and wonder who he was?

I know I feel the impact

Losing a job can significantly change your identity, especially if your job informs your sense of self, status, and purpose. Grief and anxiety can aggravate an identity crisis.

My loss of income heralded substantial challenges for my family, from struggling to find the tuition for my son's special needs school to the inevitable toll on my marriage. Not a day went by when I didn't question my self-worth or feel like a weight dragging my family down.

I spiraled into heavy substance abuse, and on my worst days, I even considered ending it all, my lack of nerve the only thing keeping me sane.

I loved the work I had been doing

My profession certainly informed who I was. In my mid-30s, I was a digital content creator and comms expert at a small nongovernmental organization advising marginalized groups and democratic governments. I worked with Saharawi refugees, Syrian opposition members, and other populations fighting against regimes and oppressive governments that restricted their freedoms.

By 2019, the waves from President Donald Trump's first term were hitting smaller NGOs pretty hard. I jumped to an international humanitarian organization.

When I lost that job in 2023, it took me more than a minute to realize what had happened.

I found interviewing difficult and settled on gig work

At first, I interviewed for positions similar to the work I'd done. My impostor syndrome kicked in, and while I attempted to shift gears to something like PR or media, this time, it felt like the entire ground beneath me was shifting. I picked up a few comms gigs, but the money wasn't reliable.

Eventually, I found work designing book covers and then doing project management for a small boutique publishing company in Los Angeles.

In my previous career, I made six figures. Now, I'm making $25 an hour, plus any commissions I can secure. The financial hit meant we had to seriously scale back our expenses while trying not to let our fiscal situation affect our two small children.

There's nothing like trying to smile, joke, and answer the demands of a chatty 5-year-old while the bills are mounting and you're just trying to keep your head together.

I know I'm not the only one in this situation

There are a lot of Americans in the same boat. The pressure at times of trying to stay afloat while protecting your kids from the realities you and your partner are facing is pretty heavy, and I'm lucky that I have my wife. This isn't her first rodeo.

She's been a freelancer, chasing checks and making those dollars stretch for more than 20 years. When adversity strikes, she relishes the bite.

My wife has taken on more teaching jobs, pitched more articles, and applied for grants, and I know it has taken a toll on her mental health and, ultimately, her feelings toward her partner. For me, shifting from a full-time salary to gig work has taken me a minute to find myself.

I'm working on rewriting my identity

As I stood up at the end of a session recently, my therapist said to me: "You don't know your core personality. Other people are different. They know in their core who they are. 'I know I am a good father!' they say to themselves. You don't know in your core that you are a good father."

The conclusion made me sway as the words slowly sank in. "I don't know what's at my core!" And it's no wonder. In the West, the first question we ask when we meet someone new is "What do you do?"

For today, I have no answer.

I remain optimistic

I'm still hopeful I can find work similar to my past career. Friends still send job descriptions, and I still browse job boards, but I'm also cognizant that my field has changed considerably. I'm realizing it's time to shapeshift for my next chapter, whatever that may be.

For the past two years, every time I've looked in the mirror, the face staring back at me has been one of disappointment. I'm trying to change that and give that guy in the mirror a break.

I think back to my father and have a new appreciation not for what he did for work but for how he showed up for his family in those times of tensity.

Do you have a story to share about job loss? Contact this editor at [email protected].

• Jamey Stegmaier's business, Stonemaier Games, is facing rising tariffs on its China-made board games.
• The tariffs are affecting his costs and potential profitability, which could put him out of business.
• A temporary truce may reduce tariffs, but uncertainty affects his future production plans.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jamey Stegmaier, the 44-year-old cofounder, lead designer, and president of Stonemaier Games based in St Louis, Missouri. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Like everyone else, we found out about the latest tariffs on television.

My company, Stonemaier Games, pays tariffs to the US government for the games we manufacture in China and import to the US. I thought we could work with it when the 20% tariff was applied in March, but then the last month happened, and that changed everything.

We learned we would be hit with an initial 34% tariff on top of an existing 20% one. Then it kept rising to 145%. I was surprised not just by the initial jump but by how much it continued to increase day by day.

American companies, including us, could lose a lot of money or go out of business within a few months.

We work with a Chinese company called Panda Game Manufacturing

I started Stonemaier Games 13 years ago, launching my first title, Viticulture, on Kickstarter while it was still just a hobby. Since then, my team of eight US-based employees has published 20 different modern strategy games, including Wingspan, our best-known title.

My team focuses on the entire creative and commercial process: We design games, handle logistics, and take care of sales and marketing — everything except actual manufacturing.

That happens in China, with Panda. China has entire industries built around custom game components, such as wooden tokens, custom dice, and specialty molds. The US doesn't, and those components are expensive to make here.

Once games are made, about 65% are shipped to the US, and the rest largely go to Europe, Canada, and Australia.

We're the ones paying the tariffs — not China or our customers

We had already started a large print run of 250,000 games before the tariffs were introduced, none of which have sold to customers yet. Some are earmarked for distributors, but distributors pay us after goods are delivered. That's part of what made this so difficult — we'd already invested heavily.

So far, we've only paid around $5,000 in tariffs on a small shipment that left China in early February, right when the initial 20% tariff hit.

If we passed along the full 145% tariff to customers, a popular game like Wingspan, which sells for $65, would suddenly cost close to $200. No one would buy it.

This week, we're starting to ship out that big 250,000-unit run, which will take about three weeks. If things go poorly, we could be hit with 145% tariffs when those goods arrive in June. We'll take the current shipments and cover the freight costs, but I'm already thinking about the holiday print run.

If the temporary truce holds — which slashes China's tariffs on the US from 125% to 10% and the US's tariffs on China from 145% to 30% — we'll "only" pay 30%. That's still painful, but manageable compared to the alternative.

We've been trying to stall by seeing how long we can delay shipments, hold them in China, or temporarily route them through Canada. There's no loophole — tariffs are based on the country of origin, not where the goods enter. Even if we store something in Canada, we still pay when it crosses into the US.

Most of our customers have been supportive

People are particularly sympathetic to how these changes are affecting small businesses. I've been outspoken in the media and joined a lawsuit against the tariffs with a dozen other companies.

Some customers who support the president have taken issue with things I've said, like how I will not stand idly while my livelihood and thousands of other small business owners' livelihoods are treated like pawns in a political game.

On the various blog posts I've written, especially the "We're Suing the President" post, there were a number of inflammatory comments, including some saying that they'll never buy another Stonemaier game again. It's been surprising to me to see such a wide range of reactions.

Right now, we're just trying to move forward

I've looked into onshoring our manufacturing. We do sell most of our games in the US, so on paper it makes sense, but the US just doesn't have the infrastructure or expertise for this kind of manufacturing at scale.

The creative question I've been asking myself is: Could we design games around what we can manufacture in the US? That's interesting from a design perspective — but also creatively limiting.

The 90-day truce period on tariffs ends in August. There's still so much uncertainty, which will likely lead to a more modest holiday run than usual.

I'd like to see Congress step up

I want to see Congress take ownership of the process. I'd also ask for a grace period for businesses like mine, which made decisions before the tariffs were announced. That would show good faith.

If the tariffs don't get pulled back, people will have significantly less money to spend on things that bring them joy, like games. Any publisher without cash reserves is in trouble, especially if they have games in production in China. I think local retailers will suffer the most.

There's no math that makes it work. There's no silver lining. It's a lose-lose-lose situation for everyone involved.

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

• 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]

• Amazon hired 27-year-old Jenny Cho right out of college.
• Cho said she instantly became a high achiever and completely burned out after five years.
• After taking a mental health leave, she switched her focus to trade-offs instead of balance.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jenn Cho, a 27-year-old Amazon software developer in Seattle. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I got hired at Amazon directly out of college in 2019 and made work my life and identity.

I put so much pressure on myself to be a high achiever and to prove I was a valuable employee in my early career. By the end of 2024, I had completely burned out.

I took a 12-week leave to focus on my mental health and realized my job wasn't the issue, it was my mindset. Here's how I identified my burnout and how I'm trying to prevent it from happening again.

Everything was great for me until a stressful project in 2024

When I got hired as a support engineer, my job was really exciting. We moved quickly, and I felt like a sponge, absorbing everything, and craving to learn more.

Then, in 2024, Amazon entered a very stressful layoff season, which greatly affected my team. Our organization underwent a lot of restructuring and reprioritization of our projects.

I started working on a particularly difficult project and really put pressure on myself to be on point at all times. But in the pursuit of doubling down on work and working longer hours, I started lacking motivation, struggling with focus, and feeling emotionally exhausted. I was able to keep up with deadlines, but I felt like I was in survival mode.

When I stopped enjoying my hobbies, I realized I was burned out

The wake-up call that something needed to change didn't come until I realized I wasn't even enjoying the things I love to do — working out, spending time with friends, pursuing hobbies. I knew I was burned out.

A friend of mine who had recently burned out and taken a leave, encouraged me to take my own leave. After sitting on the idea for a while, I submitted a request with the support of my therapist, and I was approved for a 12-week leave at the end of 2024.

Taking a break from work and building something for myself was fulfilling

At the start of my leave, I broke out in full-body hives, which I suspect might've been stress-induced. After nearly six weeks of treating my health issues, I finally settled into my leave.

I explored Seattle more, got back into my workout routine, and even started working on some personal projects like a food blog site. It was so fulfilling to build something for myself. I considered taking a sabbatical or a more extended leave, but ultimately decided to stick with my 12-week plan.

I realized the biggest thing that needed to change when I was to return to Amazon was my mindset. Finding fulfillment through my hobbies made me realize that work shouldn't be my life; it should fuel my ability to live my life and pursue my passions.

When I got back from my leave, it felt like nothing had changed, and I needed to set boundaries

I was concerned about taking a leave, but I don't think it hindered my career at all.

After returning to work, I realized that I was just one of thousands of employees. The company doesn't stop just because one person leaves. As workers, we tend to prioritize work, but our employers prioritize profits, so it's up to us to create boundaries between work and life.

I'm trying to embody my new mindset by setting boundaries. For example, working out is crucial for my mental health, so I've set a boundary that I will not cancel a workout class to keep working. It's a hard stop.

I've also been writing down my to-do lists for the day, but not just making them centered on work. Sure, my work will be at the top of the list, but I've also been writing down the personal things I'm looking forward to doing after work, like getting dinner, seeing friends, or working on the food blog.

I'm focusing on trade-offs instead of a balance

On a day-to-day basis, it feels nearly impossible to find a balance between work and life. I have so many things I want to do, but not enough hours in the day. So, I'm looking at the bigger picture instead.

There will be periods when work is very busy and demanding, and I have no choice but to put my effort into it. But I have to remind myself that life shouldn't be like that 24/7.

Maybe I'm focusing on work in one moment, but later, I can take time off to prioritize something for myself. I'm still learning to strike the right balance, but it's up to me to make sure I nurture my identity outside of work.

If you burned out at work and want to share your story, please email the editor, Manseen Logan, at [email protected].

• Jenny Jing Zhu came to the US as a 26-year-old who spoke very little English.
• Zhu started Lush Decor, a home design company, amid the economic troubles of 2008.
• The company managed to survive the downturn, which Zhu said made her more resilient.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jenny Jing Zhu, 51, New Jersey-based founder and CEO of Lush Decor, a digital home decor company. She shared with Business Insider the challenges of starting a business in an uncertain time and how she overcame it. BI has verfied her company information.

When I started Lush Decor in 2008, I was quietly going through the toughest time in my life.

The economy was collapsing. I was on the brink of divorce. I was learning how to be a parent to my then-1-year-old son. And I was an immigrant in New York still speaking broken English.

But I had already survived a lot of hard things in my life and I think those experiences eventually helped me succeed in business.

I grew up in a tiny, rural village in China. I didn't have electricity until I was in second grade. I was the only girl in my village who went to high school.

In my last year of school, I read a story about a young woman with a similar background to mine who left her village for the big city in China to become a factory worker. She later started her own business.

That moment changed my life. She unknowingly gave me permission to dream.

So, I left my village and went to Beijing. I started as a hotel maid, and later ran a small dry cleaning business.

I immigrated to the US when I was 26.

I didn't speak much English at the time. My ex-husband wanted to come to the country for law school. I didn't really have a choice. I remember when I first got here, I turned on the TV and I felt like I was on Mars.

During that time, as I was learning English, I became inspired by Asian fashion designer Vera Wang. I applied to the Fashion Institute of Technology's fashion design program, but the major was very competitive. The school told me to wait another year and apply again. But I was 28 and I didn't feel like I had another year to wait.

So, I ended up applying to and being accepted to the home fashion and home textile surfaces major.

Growing up in my village, we planted and picked cotton and my grandma would put it into yarn on her big, wooden loom. We would bring the fabric to the market, and that's what inspired my love for textiles.

After I graduated, I worked at a home fashion company for four years. But I always had that entrepreneurial dream, so after learning the business, I felt like I could do better. I saw a blank space in the market for beautiful and stylish designs that were also accessible and affordable.

I started Lush Decor in 2008.

When I started the company, there were just a couple of people working with me. My job was focused mostly on design and product development.

I was working 24 hours a day at that time. I would design during the day and talk to the manufacturers at night because we had a 12-hour time difference.

But in 2008 and 2009, all the big box retailers started freezing their buying because of the financial crisis. They didn't want to take any chances on new vendors.

At the time, e-commerce was still new in the home fashion space. Everyone told me that I couldn't ship comforters or bedding to one customer at a time. They said it would be too expensive and people wouldn't buy our products.

But I really had no choice, because I couldn't do traditional business deals given the economic challenges and my own limited business relationships.

We had this very small warehouse behind our office and at the end of each day, I would go slap UPS and FedEx labels on the boxes one-by-one in my high heels. Not very many people were doing it that way in those days. There was no road map. I just learned on the job.

Our designs were unique in a boring market. Our first collection was inspired by Vera Wang wedding dresses. The bedding had hundreds of little bows on it and it sold out. I also used unique fabrics. I went back to China once and found crocodile skin. I put it on a bag and we sold so many of them.

We differentiated ourselves with unique designs, and that put us ahead in the e-commerce business. Very quickly, we became the major brand on the e-commerce market, selling millions of products to customers.

It was scary starting a business in that economic environment.

I knew that only a small percentage of businesses survive the first three years. I felt so much pressure in those early days because I was all on my own.

I had no built-in customer base when I started. No mentor or support community around me. I had no safety net to fall back on. I had such bad imposter syndrome.

I didn't have an MBA or finance background but I'm very good at numbers. When I met with investors, I told them, I'm not only interested in designing beautiful products; I also design beautiful margins.

All I had was passion and persistence, and that helped me build resilience along the way.

At every point in my life — whether it was growing up in the village or being a hotel maid or nanny — I always found the creativity to make it work. I think that's in the DNA of entrepreneurs.

I was scared to death, too, but you have to take that first step.

We first saw a profit in 2012.

I still remember seeing that number going up and up. I just thought "Oh my god, that's the right direction!"

In 2018, I partially sold to private equity. I stayed on as CEO for another three years and then as a board member. In 2021, the company surpassed more than $100 million in revenue for the first time.

The new management, however, didn't end up working out, so I stepped back into the company fully last year.

The recent tariffs have hit a lot of businesses like ours really hard. Trying to start a business at a time like this is even harder. The 2008 economic crisis was like 1.0; the pandemic was 2.0, and these current times are like 3.0.

We source overseas, and this has definitely reminded entrepreneurs that we need to diversify our supply chains. But even so, there's not a lot you can do to diversify overnight. A lot of things that come from China, other countries can't do as efficiently. The tariffs are not just raising the prices; they're threatening an already fragile supply chain.

A lot of the business community is in really difficult situations right now. Times like these can force businesses to do something that they're likely lagging to do, which is diversifying their supply chains. Yes, it's very overwhelming, but you're not alone. We're all in the same boat.

Entrepreneurs need to understand and accept what they can and can't control. Don't panic. Don't be angry, even though we are angry. Rely on your community, rely on your resources. Every time you go through things that could break you, you are building more resilience and confidence.

• Wayne Dopson runs a renovation business in Brisbane, Australia, and bought a BYD Shark hybrid pickup in March.
• He said it's great to drive compared with his old gas truck, but fears it may be obsolete in a few years.
• Chinese EV makers are expanding rapidly in tariff-free Australia, putting Tesla under pressure.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Wayne Dopson, a project manager in Brisbane, Australia about owning a BYD Shark hybrid pickup truck. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've always been in the property market, flipping houses and doing renovations. I have a small renovation business, working on kitchens, bathrooms, and decks for clients in Brisbane, which I've been doing for about 12 years now.

I bought a VW Amarok diesel-powered pickup in 2015. I wanted to upgrade for a while, but nothing came along that took my interest.

Other combustion-engine trucks like the Ford Ranger were all very similar to the Amarok. I would have been getting pretty much the same car with just a bigger screen, so I waited for something a little bit different.

I bought the BYD Shark hybrid pickup in March for 64,000 Australian dollars, around $41,000.

Ford and Toyota are charging ridiculous prices for their pickup trucks, or utes in Australia. You're looking at up to 80,000 dollars for something that is, to me, inferior to what BYD is charging 60,000 for.

I've only done 2,000 kilometers in the Shark so I'm still learning the car, but so far I love driving it.

The technology, the power, and the smoothness — it feels decades ahead of the Amarok.

Luxury and power on the cheap

The level of luxury inside is incredible for the money. I've owned Audis and BMWs and it feels just as good, just as solid and well-built as a premium car. It also does 0 to 100km/h in 5.7 seconds, so it drives like a sports car.

I use it mainly for work as well as leisure, and there are a couple of advantages to using it for work.

It costs me just cents to run it each day. I've got 30 solar panels on my roof, so my electricity during the day is free.

I pay eight cents per kilowatt hour from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m., which is enough time to charge the car — it takes between three to four hours to charge.

If I set the car to charge at midnight, it's done by about 4 a.m., and it generally costs less than two Australian dollars, or $1.03. I'd be using 13 or 14 dollars ($8-9) worth of diesel a day in the VW Amarok, so comparatively it's very cheap to run.

The other advantage is you've got power outlets in the back of the truck that provide about six kilowatts of power, which you can use on-site to power tools.

It's got a really big tray with a couple of little tricks up its sleeve. You can open your tailgate with a quick press of the key, which is handy if you're walking up with your hands full.

Range is not a problem

The Shark is what they call an EREV, or extended range electric vehicle. It's got two electric motors, at the front and rear, and it also has a 1.5-liter petrol turbo engine that acts as a generator.

The petrol engine means range anxiety isn't really a thing for me.

Generally, I do less than 100 kilometers a day, which will be done in electric mode, but if I do want to go to the beach or further down the coast, I've got the petrol engine right there.

That just kicks in and charges the battery and I'm good to go for around 800 kilometers.

The only thing that would worry me down the line is the resale value. I've already seen that new vehicles are coming out from Nissan, Ford, and Great Wall.

The technology is advancing like crazy at the moment, so my Shark could be fairly obsolete in five years.

It's got a six-year warranty, and I'm planning to keep it for the warranty period. What's it going to be worth at the end is anyone's guess.

BYD puts down roots in Australia

I think having more Chinese EV brands in Australia is great. We're getting longer warranty periods and better quality cars.

Utes are a very important part of Australian culture. One of the issues the BYD Shark will face is that it doesn't have the same off-roading credentials as a vehicle with a diff lock — an axle mechanism that you need to crawl over rocks and rough terrain.

It's fine on the sand and in the mud, but when it comes to really serious off-roading, where you are crawling up huge hills with ruts and boulders, it's going to struggle.

For me, though, the Shark is great. It's a pleasure to drive, and it's nice being able to drive around knowing it's not costing me and not costing the planet either.

• Selma Mouloudj faced layoffs at Meta and a sales startup before landing a job at Salesforce.
• She navigated the competitive market in between by attending networking events and using LinkedIn.
• Mouloudj's six strategies for standing out in Big Tech also include negotiating every offer.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Selma Mouloudj, an account executive at Salesforce in Dublin. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I received a project management job offer from Meta in 2021 while I was living in London. I relocated to Dublin to accept the position in February 2022.

In 2023, I was affected by the global layoffs and lost my job. I had to start over. Even after just a short time at Meta, I had difficulty imagining working elsewhere.

I knew I needed to find work

After trying to run my own e-learning business for six months, I realized the corporate world was more for me, so I started my job search again.

This led me to a sales startup in Ireland, but again, I was affected by another layoff. I was in that same position, uncertain about what to do next.

I remember thinking, If I'm going to be laid off again, it should at least be at a Big Tech company because then I'll be offered a package.

Through these layoffs, I realized how difficult the job market was and how competitive things can become when budget cuts occur. Everyone is competing for the same roles, which means you really need to find ways to stand out.

I landed at Salesforce after interviewing around Big Tech

I interviewed at Google, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Pinterest before ultimately landing my current job at Salesforce.

The layoffs taught me a lot, but landing jobs at Meta and Salesforce and interviewing at some of the biggest tech companies in the world also gave me valuable insight.

If you want to stand out in Big Tech I recommend these six things.

1. Quantify your résumé

One of the biggest ways to make your résumé stand out in Big Tech is by using quantifiable metrics.

Instead of simply listing responsibilities, highlight your impact with data: "I drove growth by 40% in this region" or "I worked on the French market and achieved 115% of my quota."

Always quantify and measure your success, and then showcase it. Big Tech companies prioritize numbers and data. If your résumé lacks measurable results, they'll move on to the next candidate.

2. Attend networking events

One of the most important lessons I learned when job hunting in Big Tech was how valuable networking is.

Most of the interviews I've landed have come from networking events, including my job at Salesforce. When I interviewed at Google, I got the interview because of a friend I made at a networking event, and when I interviewed at Pinterest, that was a networking connection, too.

Networking events give you direct access to hiring managers, who might connect you with recruiters. Sometimes this connection can even help you bypass the initial screening call, moving you straight to the interview and technical test.

If you get it, you get it. If you don't, you try again. If you can make a good impression, the hiring teams may contact you later and say, "We have a position open, and we think you would be a good fit."

3. Build relationships online

You can also network online but that still means building relationships with the person you would like to have a job with, not just DMing them once. Don't head over to LinkedIn, slip into someone's DMS, and say, "Do you have opportunities? Can I work with you?"

Instead, engage with leaders you want to work with, comment on their posts, and try to engage in conversations before asking for help.

When you're in a position where you can ask someone for help, and you find a job you're interested in, send the job ID and politely ask if they'd be willing to refer you. Big Tech companies offer employees a bonus for successful referrals — so if I refer you and you get hired, I get a bonus.

4. Never stop interviewing

When you're job seeking, never stop interviewing — even if you feel confident about an offer.

Before joining Salesforce, I received two job offers — one from Salesforce and another. I ultimately chose the best offer.

There were also times when I made it to the final round of an interview, only for the company to enter a hiring freeze. Or once, a company came back and said they accidentally miscounted their head count and really couldn't afford to hire after all.

When things like this happen, it's helpful to have a Plan B or to have your name out there with more than one company.

5. Follow up, but not desperately

When I was younger, I didn't have the emotional intelligence I needed. When I got rejected from a job I wanted, I would email the hiring manager and say, "Oh, my God. I really wanted this job."

I've since learned not to make yourself desperate. Instead, after interviewing for a job, I simply send a thank-you note.

If I wasn't told when I would hear back, I would wait roughly five business days before sending a short follow-up email about our conversation.

6. Negotiate, and always know your worth

Job interviews are great for getting your foot in the door, but once you've proven yourself and they make you an offer, negotiate.

If I had known better at 25, I would've negotiated more. Negotiation isn't just about salary — you can also discuss perks like remote work options, education plans, or certifications to help advance your career. Some tech employees pursue MBAs or certifications while working, and it's always worth asking about these opportunities.

Another area to consider is volunteer work. At Salesforce, employees receive volunteer paid time off — seven days of paid leave to support a cause or charity.

My advice to anyone interviewing in Big Tech is this: If you get an offer, push back. Say, "This is what I want." Even a 10% salary increase is a win. Never settle for the first offer— instead, always know your worth, and don't be afraid to ask for it.

• John Di Bella III waited in the cold for eight hours to get a good seat for Warren Buffett's Q&A.
• He "witnessed history" when Buffett revealed his plan to step down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO.
• The college student and Berkshire shareholder took photos with Tim Cook and Hillary Clinton.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with John Di Bella III, a 20-year-old college student at Hofstra University in New York. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Eight hours waiting in the cold Nebraska night air was a small price to pay for the experience of watching Warren Buffett close one of the final chapters in the story of a lifetime.

My business partner from college and I had been planning a trip to see the investing icon speak at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting for at least a year.

On Friday night, I flew in from New York City and touched down in Buffett's hometown of Omaha at around 10:30 p.m.

Our hotel was across the street from CHI Health Center, the meeting venue. People were already beginning to camp outside, so I quickly checked in, dropped my bags, then walked over to join the line with an energy drink.

The first gentleman I spoke to was Dean, an excited data analytics guy from Colorado who was camped out with a sleeping bag.

A college teacher and her students were playing poker on a giant tarp they'd brought. I joined in and spent the night flipping cards, placing bets, and waiting.

I didn't notice the temperature dropping off until my body started shaking. It was freezing cold. People in the line were wearing solar blankets and looked like the Tin Man.

Morning rush

As the morning got closer, people got rowdier, and the lines tightened up. Thousands of Buffett fans showed up.

When the doors opened at 7 a.m., it was complete chaos. We sprinted about 10 feet before realizing we had to go through a security checkpoint. There were security guards shouting at us to knock it off and we got the memo quickly.

Once past security, we raced up the stairs, taking three at a time, then attempted to run-walk through the arena to reach the audience seating area. Security were yelling at anyone who ran.

Eight hours of waiting paid off when we slid into the first bleacher row above the floor, maybe one or two sections from the front of the stadium where Buffett would speak.

I've been to concerts in the past, but nothing that compared to a packed out stadium for one man who people really look up to and want to learn from.

Selfie skills

During the break at 10:30 a.m., I went down to the stadium floor to see if I could get photos of VIPs.

I realized Hillary Clinton was still in the room. A few passionate ladies in the line were calling out, "Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!"

I stood there thinking, "How am I going to get her attention?"

I had a phrase in my mind from military school and blurted out, "Madam Secretary, how are you today?"

She turned around with a smile on her face, walked over, and agreed to take a picture with me.

Then Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, walked out. I was determined to get a picture with him.

My partner's mother left her corporate senior management job to work at Apple back in 1997 when Steve Jobs rejoined the company.

Having a photo of Tim Cook would be something funny I could text and be like, "Hey, I saw your boss," but it also had sentimental value.

After failing twice, I caught his eye and said, "Mr. Cook, my mother-in-law works for you. Her name's Meghan. She loves you, sir. Can I get a photo with you?"

He smiled and replied, "Absolutely. She's a great person. I know her. Tell her I wish her well," then posed for a photo with me.

Breaking the news

During the Q&A, Buffett shared advice and interesting stories. I was exhausted, but the more tired I became, the more intently I listened.

At one point he joked about how Tim Cook made more money for Berkshire Hathaway than he ever had. He was totally serious and it was such a humble thing to say.

In the closing minutes of the session, Buffett's mannerisms changed and you could tell something important was coming.

The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Buffett announced he intends to step down at the end of this year and have his planned successor, Greg Abel, take the CEO role.

After the bombshell, the entire audience stood and applauded that man for 10 minutes straight.

I felt like I was personally speaking to Buffett saying: "Thank you. Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for everything that you have done for us. And thank you for the legacy that we will now remember you by."

Memorable meeting

Listening to Buffett provided the cheapest wisdom I've ever received. I put in nothing compared to what I experienced that day.

The waiting, camaraderie, sleep deprivation, listening to stories, meeting Tim Cook and Hillary Clinton, all added to that historic day. I waited eight hours; I experienced a lifetime.

We witnessed history being made — a page in the final chapter of one of the greatest stories written.

All things considered, I think it was a pretty good trip.

• Brook Hansen, 46, has picked up freelance jobs as a data worker for nearly two decades.
• The mom of young kids has worked training chatbots, moderating content, and reviewing ads.
• Hansen said she appreciates the flexibility of this work, but draws the line with some projects.

This as-told-to essay is based on interviews with Brook, a 46-year-old freelance data worker and mom from Michigan. Business Insider has verified her work history. This essay has been edited for clarity and length.

I've been doing behind-the-scenes tech work since 2006 — before most people had heard the word "AI." I started as a freelance crowd worker on Amazon Mechanical Turk, doing tasks like tagging photos, transcribing business cards, filing receipts, and checking if websites worked.

Since then, the work has really changed, and lots of new platforms have popped up as AI has become more in demand. Now, I do everything from training AI voice assistants and labeling harmful social media content to rewriting chatbot responses and recording speech.

I've never had a full-time job doing this. I'm a freelancer, a mom of young kids, and a school board member in Michigan. I've used platforms like MTurk, Appen, Neevo, Prolific, and Data Annotation, among others. Some projects or tasks pay as much as $40 an hour, but these are hard to come by and can be really competitive to get on.

This isn't my main source of income, like it is for other people in the AI gig work space. It's money for extras like birthday gifts and groceries.

I work when I can, usually a couple of hours at night after my kids go to bed. If there's good work available, I try to take it, as you never know when a project will disappear. The flexibility is what keeps me coming back.

I spent 3 years mystery shopping Facebook ads

There are a bunch of random tasks that pop up here and there.

I worked on a mystery shopping project for nearly three years, where I was paid to buy stuff from Facebook ads and report on the quality of the product, whether it was legitimate and matched what the ad had promised.

I'd log into a dashboard, see an ad, and be told, "Purchase this if you can." I could only skip a product if it was illegal, the ad was fraudulent, or it was a subscription. I didn't get to choose what I bought.

There was a $150 spending cap per product. I was reimbursed for all the items I bought and paid $5 per review. On average, I worked around four hours a month — two hours purchasing, two hours writing reviews, and reviewed around eight products each month. I received thousands of dollars in goods.

I ordered all kinds of things: wigs, skincare, Shein clothing, wall art, shoes, sunglasses, and supplements.

Some of it was decent — I still use a Bluetooth speaker and a patio deck box I bought through the task. I'd occasionally land a designer item: authentic Birkenstock sandals, Adidas sneakers, even Ray-Bans.

I kept about half of what I ordered. Lots of what arrived wasn't great, and I got rid of it straight away. Some products were low-quality knockoffs. Others would arrive broken or in weird sizes.

I skipped about half the ads I was shown. Some websites were sketchy — spelling errors, no contact info, scammy-looking payment portals.

I saved spreadsheets of everything I bought — five to nine items a month for three years. That's a lot of mystery boxes at my door.

The project ended abruptly in February 2024. I just logged in one day, and it wasn't there anymore. I was surprised it had lasted as long as it did.

Compared to other gigs, it was low-stakes and kind of fun

I've done a lot of different jobs in this space, and mystery shopping felt simple by comparison. It didn't pay much but was steady and easy to manage.

When work is really good on one platform, I'll concentrate on that. If work dries up, I move on to my next most successful one, and keep a rotation going.

Some of the better-paying work has been voice projects. One had me say hundreds of phrases into a microphone to get it to recognise regional accents, to help train voice assistants like Alexa or Siri.

Prolific — a platform where you can get paid for completing academic surveys from universities, researchers, or data labelling tasks — has been one of the more consistent platforms lately. It pays between $10 to $15 an hour, but the actual wage can fluctuate. I've done data annotation projects on Prolific that pay $28 an hour, though those are less common and can be competitive.

Not every offer is worth taking. I've seen projects on some platforms asking workers to install cameras at their front door or wear a pair of smart glasses to provide training data for AI systems.

Some ask for at-home videos or selfies sometimes used to train AI facial recognition tools. Some of these come with waivers you have to sign promising that no children will appear in the footage. I don't take those jobs.

I mostly stick to what feels reasonable — writing prompts, reviewing, chatbot training, voice work, and data annotating. I'd rather not add my face or living room to these systems, as it feels invasive.

For me, it's not about making a full-time income. I just do it when I have time. I like doing this work with young kids because I can go to their events and not worry about being on my computer at a specific time. That kind of flexibility is hard to find anywhere else.

• Sushma Kukkadapu moved to the US from India for grad school and then broke into software engineering.
• She emphasizes early career planning, networking, and leveraging open-source projects.
• Kukkadapu's journey highlights the importance of proactive networking and skill development.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sushma Kukkadapu, a 28-year-old software engineer in Bentonville, Arkansas. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I grew up in Hyderabad, India, where I got a bachelor's degree in computer science. In 2018, I came to the US to pursue my master's in software engineering at UT Arlington.

I started working for the AI labs at Sam's Club, which is owned by Walmart, in November 2023. I work on innovative automation, developing advanced forecasting computational solutions that transform financial forecasting, real-time system monitoring, and security compliance. Before Sam's Club, I worked at Amazon Web Services.

As an immigrant, I faced complexities in immigration and cultural adaptation, and I also had to build a professional network from scratch. I found four techniques that helped me design my career path to gain internships and then my full-time career.

1. Be proactive and start building your career as soon as possible

I volunteered at my university to set up a booth at the Grace Hopper Celebration, a major convention for women in computing where people come to find internship opportunities and network. I received a partial scholarship to attend the career fair, and my university paid for the trip expenses.

I secured my summer internship at McAfee by talking to a recruiter there who was also a graduate of UT Arlington. We connected, and I shared my journey with her. She loved my story and gave me an opportunity.

You need to start early during your first year of college or grad school. Talk to your university's career counselors and ask them what kind of scholarships and career fairs the universities represent. Can I volunteer there? Can you give me a scholarship to attend a certain program?

That way you can kick-start your career and seize an opportunity.

2. Find networking organizations relevant to you

Groups such as the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers hold careers fairs. Attending these can bring networking opportunities and, in turn, help secure internships and job offers. That's how I secured my summer internship in the Bay Area and how I first got industry exposure in the software domain in Silicon Valley.

The following year, I received a scholarship through the Grace Hopper Celebration, which offers student scholarships for women worldwide. It's a highly competitive process that involves writing an essay, and pitching why you deserve the scholarship.

I was selected for my second year to attend GHC free of cost, including accommodation and flights. That's when I realized the true potential of networking, which could lead to important job offers.

3. Try cold emailing, and don't wait for opportunities to come to you

Prior to attending GHC and other conferences, I cold-emailed the LinkedIn professionals who I knew were attending the conference. This helped me make connections and get into the interview pipeline faster.

I also talked to recruiters before attending GHC. This got me two rounds of interviews with Google Summer of Code, and they did my last round there in person before I landed the internship.

You must not wait for opportunities to come to you. Instead, a short message through LinkedIn, X, or GitHub can help you take a huge step forward.

4. Make the most of open-source technologies

Open source is a real buzzword in tech, but there are a lot of programs being developed on open source, where everybody can contribute to the code. That means the code is fully open to the public and people can plug their own solutions into it, tweak it, develop it, and build it to make it more useful.

I worked on several open-source contributions because they helped me write code at a more sophisticated level, which helped me have strong work experience on my résumé, which helped me land the Google internship.

Companies such as Lyft, Google, Apple, Microsoft, BNY Mellon, and others invited me to conference afterparties because I showcased my work as part of an open-source contribution on my LinkedIn. Recruiters looked for this and reached out to me.

Open source-contribution helps you develop your skills, expand your knowledge, demonstrate results, and build your industry contacts.