My story of how I first ended up in New York City
How I ended up in NYC, tips to become more charismatic, vaccines, makeup and more
Hi friend!
Being back in New York City has always felt right. Even after traveling through 13 countries and 26 cities for a new place to call home, something about NYC keeps pulling me back.
I first fell onto New York City by chance.
While I was in San Diego, I was working at an advertising agency as a web developer creating websites and media (social media ads) for clients all around the US. The clients were not the most recognizable, but work was plentiful, and I was always buried in my computer screen burning the midnight oil.
At that time, I was far from client-facing. I would sit in the dark recesses of the agency, AKA the "dev cave," and come out into the light to receive orders from my project managers. Since the development team was pretty lean, just the two of us, some of the design work would trickle down my way because I knew how to use Photoshop. As time passed, the agency got more and more work, and I would put on whatever hat was required.
One day, a request came through from a pretty well-known company from NYC regarding a pitch for a website redesign. In advertising, pitch work is typically pro-bono, especially for smaller agencies who would kill for a big-name client to add to its portfolio. This opportunity came out-of-the-blue, and everyone's hands were full with paying clients, so the pro-bono work ended up getting passed over to me. (Or so I recall - I still have no idea how such a high-profile design pitch ended up on a developer's desk)
I cherished this opportunity. Every morning and evening was spent researching, designing, and cobbling together, my best attempt at my first pitch deck. I worked alongside a few of my colleagues and, short-staffed as usual, a small design agency to put together and ultimately pitch the project in NYC.
The pitch went exceptionally well, and the company won the project. I started flying between San Diego and NYC every week to work with the client and quickly fell in love with the city. After a few weeks, and with the push from a few east-coast colleagues, I requested to stay in NYC for the remainder of the project to cut costs on flights and expensive hotels.
Now that I was temporarily relocated, I finally had a chance to explore NYC. One of the people I met during that time was a drag queen who took me under her wing and introduced me to all of her friends in the city nightlife. When I first started moved to NYC, I only knew two people from San Diego - a college friend and an old colleague from my first agency job. By the time the project had ended, I had a whole community to call friends.
As the project started to close, my heart longed to stay in NYC. Out of respect for my company that covered my living expenses abroad, I did not interview for jobs while working on the project. I decided to leave my job cold-turkey in San Diego and flew to New York City with two suitcases, a one-way ticket, and a dream.
Looking back, that was extremely crazy/courageous of me to go to NYC without a job or any leads, but everything seemed to work out. My free-fall in the city always brings so much change and evolution into my life.
In the video this week, I share some tips from a book I read recently: The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane. It ties nicely with all of the stuff I've been sharing. (Hint: becoming more mindful with our conversations with others)
I am headed to SF for a week to wrap up some stuff in the Bay Area. Until next time!
Unvaccinated Kids & Our World
What the Measles Epidemic Really Says About America sheds light on how interconnected this issue is with our global trade war, a distrust with the government, and the threat of imminent war. Many of these signs are very similar to the depression and pre-Hitler era, and history has a way of repeating itself.
Dark Secrets of Makeup
The shimmer in most makeup comes from mica, most commonly collected by children miners in India. Refinery29 did a phenomenal short documentary on the harmful impact of these natural minerals and makes you think twice when purchasing cosmetics.
Under-the-Radar Scientific Breakthroughs
Was referred over to this Reddit thread the other day on scientific breakthroughs and discoverings that aren't getting enough attention and there is so much to catch up on. 70-second MRI scans, rapid decline, and the collapse of insect species, schizophrenia associated with our bone marrow. Even if you aren't in the scientific community, the top results will definitely be interesting to you.
The Eisenhower Matrix
I love productivity posts that shed light on REAL insights, and this one is an absolute gem. Tim Urban follows up his previous post on procrastination with a more in-depth assessment of various procrastination personality types based on the Eisenhower matrix of prioritization.
As always, thanks for reading!
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Have a beautiful day!
Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven
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