The Newest Journey

I've been away from this blog for a little more than four years, owing mostly to my last job which had some level of Fight Club Rules 1 & 2 about it. While there was plenty of content to discuss, I didn't feel that I could reliably do so without endangering my contract.  I avoided writing at all to ensure that I wasn't at odds with the job. I'm still bound by a contract, but I have other things on my mind.

A lot happens in four years. When I last wrote, I'd returned home to New Jersey after working in California for 2+ years. I was in the midst of an in-between job that entailed gift-wrapping goods from a small local overpriced boutique (and you can head over to Head2Desk if you really want to know how thrilling that role was).

In October, I was hired by a company in St. Louis, Missouri to be a specialized on-site consultant at a company in Connecticut. I did two weeks of "training" in St. Louis (where I found that I adored this "Gateway to the West" and the people were just about the friendliest you could hope for, and the food was fantastic). I moved to Connecticut and consulted for 10 months before the host company decided I was a good fit and I was hired there as a full time employee.

 

St. Louis: Home of the friendliest people, the best barbecue, and the worst sushi

 

I worked first as Help Desk support, then eventually as a process engineer in 2012-2013. And to be honest, I kind of loved it there. It was stressful and hard to get things done, but I relished working in an environment where my ideas mattered and my coworkers were willing to challenge me. And somewhere in there we had this test.

On the scale of soft-skills acceptance, I'm probably somewhere in the middle. I accept things like the MBTI and discussions about gently coaxing your staff to do what you want like a 10-week-old puppy with general understanding and a few grains of salt. I 'get' it, but I also think people should challenge these "tools" and "scientific schema" because accepting blindly isn't really how science works and it's not how I like to approach the world anyway.

So, this test. A lot of the new-agey stuff about how you are thinking about your work and your role and, ok, yes, yourself. This was a real opportunity to truly consider what what made me happy and was I 'working toward' that happy goal? If not, why not? What was I doing, not working toward being happy?

So there I was, in the middle of this mandated self-reflection having a little bit of an identity crisis. What do I love to do? Lots of things. I have a hobby-problem. Too many of them. But I like baking. And I like feeding people. And I like making other people happy. And it's hard to be unhappy when you're being fed. I've always kind of thought about opening a bakery or a tea shop. Well, why the heck not?!


But here's the thing. I don't have any experience running a business. I don't know about supply chain, or really managing people. I don't know about negotiating contracts or doing the books. I don't know about tax law. Man, there's a whole wealth of things I don't know, and Wikipedia can only get me so far.

The answer to life, the universe, and everything you wanted to know about 30% of life on earth. 

For the other 70% you'll need to conduct your own research.

My mother had been talking about me going back to school for years. Well, for Biology, but still. As the first person in my family to graduate from college, I thought I was already doing ok, and frankly, getting more (and more expensive) education wasn't high on my list of things to do to achieve success in science... it just doesn't pay off at this point in American society. But Business School is probably exactly what I need if I'm going to start . . . well, a business.

And so I began the harrowing process of applying to schools. A lot of them. Cornell, UNC, UofWashington, UofArizona, Penn State, Georgia Tech, UofIllinois. And school visits. God, that was exhausting. And interviews, and resume writing, and talking with a smile and a twinkle in my eye, like I know they want me to. As a pretty hardcore introvert, this process was daunting and terrifying and so unlike anything I wanted to do. I wanted the knowledge, but not the process. But that's not how the world works.

I'll probably relate a little bit more about the admissions process some other time. A lot goes into it and I'm already teetering on the edge of long-winded here. But the end result, is that some schools received my resume and did not immediately assume I was a know-nothing poser or incapable of completing the work. And some schools even offered me excellent encouragement to attend their particular institution.  And that is how I wound up at Penn State.

 

Hope you like mountain lions. They're obsessed with them here.

You're going to be seeing a lot more of this guy. 

And I moved into an apartment that I currently don't share with anyone (though that might change), and I get treated to beautiful views like this at sunset.

The aftermath of a sudden thunderstorm lights up Happy Valley. 

Taken from my back porch.

What remains now is the rest of the journey. I've got 2 years of Business School ahead of me, and 6 years of real-world experience behind me. I'll be giving a little bit of first-hand account of women-in-the-workplace discussions and more importantly, personal anecdotes of my experiences. Not just business-related but life experiences too. Let's take a meander together, shall we?

Misti's Link of the Month - Association of Smith College Blogroll

Well, it's a brand new year and one of my resolutions is to blog more and get more connected with the other alumnae from my college. So it was perfect when the I received the Smith College Alumnae Quarterly which contained a quarter-column blurb about the Alumnae blogroll that had been created. I already have a list of about 15 blogs that I read on a regular basis, but I can always make room for more, particularly those written by fellow Smithies.

The blogroll is hosted on Wordpress and the founders are aiming to have at least one blog from every class between 1960 and present. Obviously, more recent classes are well-represented, but the most interesting writing (I've found), comes from bloggers in the classes between 1960 and 1989. These are women who are living their lives well and have made great advances in their careers. They sell houses, they are politically active, they have children, do crafts, travel... There is so much LIFE to be found here.

The Smith Alumnae Blogroll can be found at http://smithalumblogs.wordpress.com

My favorites so far include Mamarazzi, What Not to Buy, and A Girl's Garden of Menopause. So go ahead and check the blogroll out. Let me know what you find! Staying connected is what it's about in '09!

You Go Girl! Lauren Wolfe

I was pleased to read in my alumnae newsletter from my alma mater that the woman who was my 'big sib' in college is now one of Michigan's 28 superdelegates. And at 25, she's one of the youngest in the country.

While in college, she made a name for herself, heading up the Democrats club (with a campus membership of over 500 students), and becoming more and more involved in the politics of both our college town's community and that of her hometown. Once she graduated from college, she became a strong voice for the democratic party and a leader for students throughout the nation. In 2005, she was elected the president of College Democrats of Massachusetts. Now, she holds a position as the president of College Democrats of America.

AND she's studying law. AND she has a blog with the Huffington Post which allows her to air her views.

Congratulations, Lauren Wolfe! You've worked hard and you earned it! For Lauren's take on politics and the current presidential candidates check out her blog at The Huffington Post