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 in my early 20s as a copywriter and instantly loved it. I launched new brands, worked with talented creatives, traveled to fun places and laughed 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 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 company and 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 spending a few months de-stressing (AKA binging all seasons of Love Island), soul searching and spending some much-needed time with my 4-year-old daughter, I recently dove back into the working world again as a creative consultant. I’m currently available for hire and ready to build my career somewhere new (as long as it doesn’t smell like stale cologne).