Last week I made a commitment to myself to post at least 1x a week—to show up more authentically and share a bit more with all of you.

All week I’ve been thinking about this. Then this morning, I had a random thought:

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙙𝙙 𝙟𝙤𝙗𝙨 𝙬𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮?

The ones that shaped us at the beginning, tested us throughout, and gave us the foundation of experiences we stand on.

Maybe they fell off our resume in attempts to oversimplify ourselves. Maybe they felt irrelevant and unfitting for the roles we wanted so desperately that we were willing to erase parts of ourselves. Maybe they didn’t align with the image we were trying to build.

By leaving them out, we aren’t just protecting ourselves—we’re also missing chances to connect with others on a deeper level because let’s be honest, humble beginnings are often what make us the most relatable.

I am also guilty of this.

So in the spirit of sharing more of my professional journey, here’s the short version of my story:
1. I worked for a local newspaper, with some very late nights/early mornings
2. I did airbrush tattoos for a bit, and ran photo booths at corporate events
3. I delivered parts to automotive repair shops
4. I worked a stint as an Assistant Mechanic at an auto dealer
5. I had a blast for a few years during college as an Audio Engineer & Events Technician
6. I did some Social Media Marketing for dental practices & surgeons
7. I worked at a print art shop that also did local business marketing
8. I dipped my toes in the world of startups and freelance marketing
9. I picked up work as a marketing consultant, eventually onboarded at a mid-size tech startup
10. I was part of an acquisition by a large corporation, and spent the next few years climbing the corporate ladder

And in between? I’ve done mix of odd jobs and experimented with other career paths like:
– Designing and selling banners for soccer teams
– Digitizing home videos and photos
– Pitching local businesses to run Google/Facebook ads
– Interning at a real estate firm
– Working as a wedding DJ/MC
– Building houses as a construction worker
– Designing products that never materialized
– Launching a drop-shipping site, selling it months later
– The list goes on…

I’m sharing this as an invitation—to connect beyond the overly-polished LinkedIn profiles we hide behind. Because if we all took the time to share our unfiltered career journeys, just imagine what we’d learn from each other.

To paraphrase the quote below from Trevor Noah, 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬?

“What we don’t realize is that the small talk is what separates us as people. So if you have the foundation of a lot of small talk you find similarities and exist in the same reality. Then you can build up to the big talk, like asking someone how they voted.”