Working In My Teens and Twenties...

Here’s a list of all the odd jobs I had until about age 30.

Like many good midwesterners,

I started working when I was young.

• Babysitting - beginning age 13

• Clerk at a video store - age 15

• Waitress + dishwasher - age 15

• Farm help - age 17

• Factory worker, Stoughton Trailers - age 17

• Dishwasher - dorm, Freshman year college - age 18

• Mini-mart cashier - age 19

• Waitress, Gino’s Restaurant - age 19

• Caregiver/homecare - age 20

• Homecare @ halfway house - age 21

• Administrator - Entomology Department - age 21

• English Teacher, Budapest - age 23

• Law Firm Executive Assistant - age 24

• Brooklyn Handknit, Production Assistant/Manager - age 27

• Big Mouth Productions Intern - 29

• TA, Stanford University - 30

Community Organizing and Advocacy

Career Part 8

After our last sabbatical in 2017, I returned to the U.S. laser focused on committing to civic engagement and community involvement. There was plenty to be engaged about - from resisting Trump’s presidency, showing up for Black Lives Matter, addressing the climate crisis, and surviving a global pandemic.

When we returned in 2017 I got right to it and produced a series of advocacy videos for nonprofit organizations I cared about. With important midterms in 2018, I re-engaged with politics and volunteered my time canvassing and raising money for progressive candidates.

In 2019 I began a 3-year period where I was highly engaged and active with 350 Seattle and 350 WA. During this time I co-led the 350 WA Civic Action Team (CAT), a statewide campaign that organized and mobilized members across the state to advocate for bold climate, racial and economic justice solutions during the Washington state legislative session. I also helped to pass local and state clean energy policy focusing on decarbonization in buildings. I was very active with my kids school and I completed a one-year leadership training program, where the curriculum focused around racial equity and envisioning systemic changes. In 2022 I got a job at Spark Northwest where I am still thankfully employed (more on this wonderful organization later). With Spark Northwest, I’ve managed their communications, including launching a new website and producing three videos, which has been a major highlight.

What a wild seven years it was! Doing all the work eased my anxiety about the state of the world, introduced me to many incredibly committed people and showed Claire and Camille what was important to me. It was a rich, meaningful, intense and intentional time of my life.

In short....

It all makes sense and is quite clear (now that I've completed my 8-part analysis). Here is my career history:

• UW Wisconsin-Madison / Sociology & Women's Studies 

• Aspiring photo journalist / Executive Assistant in Law Firm

• Documentary Filmmaker / Stanford University / NYC

• Program Manager / Agency / Seattle Marketing Industry 

• Community Organizer and Videographer

• Communications and Development Director

(not me) - Amelia Earhart

Shake up

Career: Part 1.

I was 20 years old and something got rattled in me. I started to realize there was more to life than a nice, traditional story of teaching plus marriage and children. Two things happened that caused the shake up.

I had had a serious boyfriend during my first three years of college at the UW Madison-Wisconsin. He was a nice, midwestern athlete from the same, small town in Wisconsin where I grew up. He graduated from the UW with a teaching degree and was embarking on a career as a Physical Education teacher. 

I remember driving the 30-minutes back to campus from his house one Sunday evening. I could envision how my future was unfolding, and for the first time it became clear that this wasn't going to work out. I simply wanted more - though I had no idea what "more" actually meant. It was a quick break up - nothing messy or dramatic. 

That same year, one week before I was to start my final year of college, I went to the UW bookstore to buy my books. As my basket grew heavier I felt a huge sense of dread. Skimming though each of the textbooks another decision became clear: I did not want to be an elementary school teacher. 

I went home and told my mom that I needed to drop out of college. After many conversations, she convinced me not to drop out of school, but instead talk with a school counselor to find out what my options were.

It was the first week of my fourth year of college - and I was back at square one.

Photo Journalist

Career: Part 2.

I did speak with a college counselor and found a path that was better for me. I ended up switching to a Sociology major with a Women's Studies minor. 

I spent my 4th year at the UW taking required courses like Statistics and Research Methodology. I also spent a lot of time researching all the various study abroad programs that would both meet my need for adventure and satisfy my college degree requirements. I chose Hungary and I spent my 5th and final year of college studying abroad in Budapest. 

In the spring of that year, while the majority of other classmates were getting ready to return to the U.S., I was preparing to graduate. I was 23 years old,  and living in Europe. The last thing I wanted to do was return home to Wisconsin. So I stayed. Through friends I had met - I found a job teaching English outside of Budapest. I do see the irony that my first job after college was a teaching job. 

After that year of teaching I lived in Amsterdam for the summer. It was there that I was putting my photography portfolio and application together for a Fulbright scholarship. My proposed plan was to photograph the traditional Hungarian life that was slowly disappearing in the small, Transylvanian village called Sic. I remember one morning, after a few cups of coffee, being so excited about my new-found career goal: to be a photo journalist. I had learned about photography through my friend Tim and was so inspired by the documentary medium. During that caffeinated high - I envisioned myself traveling the world and documenting stories of people living their lives. My heroes at the time were Tim (of course), Dorothy Lange, Diane Arbus, Mary Ellen Mark, Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson. 

New York City

Career: Part 3

I often think about how what would have happened had I indeed gotten that Fulbright. My proposal had me going to a very remote village in Romania and I imagine I would have been lonely and isolated, but it would have been fascinating to document that place in time. 

I ended up staying in Hungary for 4.5 years. I taught English for a year, but mostly worked as an Executive Assistant for the English Partner of the Hungarian Law Firm, Köves & Partners (which at the time, was part of the International firm, Clifford Chance). I would start work each day at 5pm, and would end by 8pm - or late into the night, depending on what needed to be done. Mostly, I typed emails and faxes that had been dictated to me in a hand-held recording device that my boss had recorded prior to the start of my evening shift. It was a good job and I was able to save a lot of money those years.

During the last year in Budapest I constructed a serious plan for my return to the States. I would move to New York City and live with my old friend Tim (the photographer friend) and enroll in Hunter College's Integrated Media Arts program. And of course I would need to find a job.

In 2000, I made the move. Looking for a job was tough! I looked in the classifieds, wrote and re-wrote my resume, and finally found an ad for a "production assistant" at Brooklyn Handknit. This was a Williamsburg-based company that designed, produced and sold hand knit hats, scarves and mittens to high-end stores like Bergdorf Goodman and Harvey Nichols. I managed all levels of international and domestic shipping and managed the schedule for the production team. It was during this time that I took a trip to Kathmandu, Nepal with my boss to meet with Nepalese knitters and to test wool and dye development strategies. 

While I was working at Brooklyn Handknit, I was still searching for what I really wanted to do. I knew it had to involve story telling of some kind. At some point, I had the idea to make a short documentary about where I was working and partnered with a professor at Parsons School of Design (Karen Nourse) and together she and I (and her class of 20 students) filmed and edited a short 20-minute portrait of Brooklyn Handknit. That kick started my desire to work on documentaries and soon made the switch.

Shortly thereafter I left Brooklyn Handknit and started a 3-month unpaid internship at Big Mouth Productions, a production company that produces independent documentaries about social issues. I loved my work during those three months. I was transcribing interviews recorded for the documentary film, Deadline - and soon was able to work as the Assistant Editor. The film was a dramatic documentary about former Governor George Ryan’s decision to grant blanket clemency to 167 death row inmates in Illinois in 2002. At the same time, I started applying to Documentary Film Schools - and miraculously, I was accepted into Stanford University's Documentary Film graduate program. In the summer of 2003, I drove across the country to begin the program. 

I was 30 years old. 

Documentary Film

Career Part 4:

Attending documentary film school at Stanford University was one of the best things I ever did. Never in my wildest dreams did I guess that would ever happen. I met 24 amazing other students, directed four short films and overcame (to a degree) a debilitating fear of speaking in public. 

In between the two years at Stanford, and after graduation, I went back to NYC and worked again for Big Mouth Productions. During this time, I was working on films that were directly contributing to contemporary, societal conversations. One of my own films, Small Town Secrets, was a personal film about about growing up in a small midwestern town with closeted, gay parents. This short film reached a very wide audience and I got a blissful glimpse of what success looked like as a filmmaker.

My partner at the time was also interested in filmmaking and was becoming a very good cinematographer. After Stanford he and I directed, produced and edited a feature documentary about exorcisms in Romania. We went back to his hometown to find out why he had been taken to an exorcism when he was 18. I spent a year editing the film, and we had interest from major film festivals and distributors. We were invited to the prestigious Sundance Producers Conference where we met the film's future producers, Todd and Jedd Wider. It was an exciting time. However, after a very long festival submission process we only received rejection letters. We were very disappointed because we had hoped this film would be our calling card. Together, we would be a documentary filmmaking team and this film was going to jump start our career. This proved to be a major turning point for my career and my personal life at the time.

After a very, very difficult year finishing the film, I went back to NYC and worked again for Big Mouth Productions (via Arts Engine) and this time line produced the first three episodes of Little Pim (a language video series for kids). At this time, I was deciding on what would be next. I felt like I had two options: stay in New York where documentary film was exciting and there were many prospects for a freelance, independent filmmaker career - OR move to Seattle where there was not this prospect, but instead there was the draw of my family (my brother and his family and my mother) and the desire to move to a place where I would stay and settle down (at this point, I had moved every year for the last 17 years).

AHHHH I had just finished the most amazing five years of my life producing and directing documentary films - where I felt successful and creative and challenged in every way. 

However, it had became clear that the lack of financial stability did not suit my personality.  But more importantly at this point, what I desperately wanted more than anything was a family of my own. I hedged my bets that leaving New York City would give me a better chance of making this happen. 

In 2008 I moved to Seattle. I was 35. 

Seattle Tech Industry

Career: Part 5

I moved to Seattle in October of 2007 and started to look for jobs. I knew there was a vibrant, local film community in Seattle but I needed financial stability and health coverage and a retirement savings. I was 35 and hadn't yet had those things and I really wanted them. 

Within a short amount of time, I had three interviews: Vulcan Productions, UW Washington and ZAAZ. I remember it being an exciting time and was thrilled to have actual job interviews. I really wanted the Vulcan Projections job, but it was ZAAZ that hired me.

In January 2008, I started as an associate Project Manager at ZAAZ - a digital interactive agency. I'll never forget the day I signed my contract where it listed my salary. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement. One of my first purchases was a travel suitcase from REI and 10 years later, I still have it. 

Over the next eight years I worked at three different digital companies: ZAAZ, POSSIBLE and Blink. I managed the launch of websites and social campaigns, as well as research and interactive design projects for companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, MOEN, MasterCard, PR Newswire and others. I loved the people I worked with, I was always learning something new and often had the motivation and energy to do other creative projects outside of work. 

During this time, my personal life had finally come together. I was financially independent. I met my husband. I had two beautiful children. I don't write these sentences lightly. These were dreams that became a reality for me and everyday I am thankful. 

ZAAZ 2008

2016-2017 Sabbatical Year Abroad

One blissful year. 

One Story. One video at a time

Career: Part 6: 

When I was 20 I envisioned myself traveling the world and documenting stories of people living their lives. 

Now, 20 years later my desire is still the same.

Like many people after the U.S. 2016 election, I became very motivated to keep informed about what was happening politically. At the time, I was living abroad, and it became my new civic duty to stay informed. Calling and writing my reps became a weekly ritual. 

Soon I'll be returning to the States and my plan is to contribute to current political and social conversations through video and image storytelling. 

I want to tell human stories that inspire -stories about people who are doing great things to make the communities we live in a better place. I want to make videos that help Democrats take over the U.S. House in 2018. I want to tell the stories of "My Reps" - Who are they? How did they get elected? What is their job and what motivates them most? I want to tell a compelling story that somehow, in some way involves human stories of the Washington State legislative session of 2018. 

One Story. One Video. At a time.