After 17 years working for a major retailer, and rising the ranks from writer to the VP of Creative, I made the difficult decision to walk away.

I started at the company — a well-known $19B corporation located about 30 minutes from my hometown — in my early 20s as a copywriter and instantly loved it. I was launching new brands, working with cool creatives, traveling to fun places and laughing a lot. And I was pretty good at it. I found myself getting promoted very quickly (yay!), promoted again (yay) and again and again (…yay?) until I woke up one day, over a decade later, and was in a high-up executive leadership position that was so far removed from the aspects of the job I once loved. Instead of being creative, I was spending my days discussing how to build efficiencies (code for layoffs) in a windowless boardroom that smelled of stale cologne. As sales continued to plummet, I realized the culture had changed and so had I.

So, I took a big risk and walked away from the career I had worked hard to build. It was frightening and exhilarating … but mostly frightening.

And now what?

After a few months of de-stressing, soul searching and binging every single season of Love Island UK, I’ve realized the world of writing is where I began and where I belong. I’m currently working on a couple of different creative projects and would love to take on even more!