Journey to 35: Retail to Fortune 50 Realization

So here’s the thing...I’ve been hustling for a minute now and I loveeeeee goals. But I woke up one day and realized I’d achieved some major goals but hadn’t thought past what I’d be trying to achieving next. Did I think my goals wouldn’t become my reality? I was lost. I had my dream job and I was expected to be able to talk to our leaders about my career trajectory but all I could think was I just spent a decade HUSTLING to get here...let me just stand still for a minute. But then, that’s also not who I am. I don’t stand still....I have a 1 yr, 5 yr and 10 yr plannnnnnnnn! Wow, typing that out makes it sound exhausting.

7 years ago I came to Chicago and made the decision I was going to move here...somehow, someway! For years I’d wanted to leave OKC but I didn’t know how. I didn’t see a way out. After visiting Chicago I laid out a plan. I took on a side hustle, minimized spending, paid off credit card debt, gave a 6 month notice at my full time employer, found & trained my replacement, sold 2/3 of my belongings, had a bomb ass going away party and moved to Chicago with enough money to make it for 6 months. 6 months to find a job in a city where I had ZERO friends and resources. Pause...29 year old me didn’t know the magnitude of this but 34 year old me thinks of that girl as a bad ass bitch!

Why did I fall in love with Chicago?
It had everything I wanted!
Public transit. Diversity. Art. International airport. Culture. Amazing food. Neighborhood vibes. Kind humans.
And the list could go on for days.

My mom had never been to Chicago but the moment we arrived on move day she looked at me and said “I get it. This city is you. You’re going to do great here.” When I reflect, I can’t help but wonder what the months leading up to this move must have been like for her. Her baby was moving far away to a place she’d never been to. I’d no longer be a quick car ride away. But she was always supportive & never doubted my decision to move.

My side hustle in OKC was at a retailer that let me transfer to their Chicago location. I can remember the confusion when I started telling people I was moving with out what they considered a “real” job. I was going from an office to retail. I was cutting my annual income substantially. I didn’t care b/c it meant I was getting out. I didn’t know why I wanted out so badly but there was something inside me telling me I was not in the right place for me to flourish....and I was right.

My first office job in Chicago SUCKED! I only stayed for 3.5 months but I will be forever grateful because I met one of my closest friends there. Daniel and his boyfriend Chris are family. We might not see each other often but I can call them any day, anytime and they’ll be at my place in 15 min. with bells and whistles on ready to take on whatever task I just can’t do on my own.

My second office job in Chicago also sucked. The owner of the company was on drugs and there were often mice in the warehouse turned hipster office space where we worked. And those are just the highlights . The thing is I wouldn’t remove that blurb for anything. I met more besties there...Chanel’s Uncle Chris & Uncle Kyle. I also learned that I’m really good at sales BUT I don’t want to do sales for a living. I’m thankful that the leadership at this crazy place liked my CSR pitch and allowed me to connect our company to nonprofits in a new way by starting an employee community engagement program. Doing this extra work gave me the edge I needed to land my dream job!

My third professional job in Chicago came in 2017...and was what I’d been hustling for. Everything was aimed at landing a CSR role at a Fortune 500. I now work on strategic implementation of employee community engagement programs....WOW! That’s some crazy shit. It’s my job to develop policies and programs that incentivize and connect employees to community....WTF, I have my dream job. Pinch. Me!

So how’d it happen? Blood, sweat, tears...but most importantly through determination. Sometimes I look back through my notes. I reflect on conversations I had with CSR professionals. I am grateful for everyone that I reached out to on LinkedIn or after hearing them speak at an event b/c they took the time to meet me...they took the time to get to know me, my dreams, my work ethic and mostly my determination. They took that knowledge and invested in me. They provided resources, invited me to CSR events, introduced me to peers, shared job openings, and recommended me for roles...they took a risk and spent their time mentoring me on Chicago & the CSR landscape. It’s humbling to think about how many strangers were more than willing to help. I can only pray that I do them justice in my ability to pass that torch to the next person. I have a notebook with notes from informational interviews. I asked the same 5 questions of every CSR professional - I was gathering data, looking at trends, learning everything I could about the profession.

And in the final push after so so soooooo many rejection emails I hired a career coach. She said my resume was ready, my industry networking was on point and my informational interview strategy was exactly what she’d advise someone at the beginning stage of their search to do. That was hard to take. I wanted to hear that I was going about things all wrong. Learning that I was doing the right things but somehow I hadn’t landed THE job was hard to process. CSR is hard to get into b/c the role is a cost center (we’re not bringing in $ we’re spending it!)...so there’s just not that many openings and people tend to stay in CSR roles for a while. My career coach and I decided I needed to diversify my target job BUT then I got an interview so we shifted to interview prep mode. I remember being so nervous about this interview and then feeling so at home with the interviewers. I wanted this woman to be my boss and I wanted to work with the people on that interview panel...it just clicked. Then another interview and another and viola! dream job achieved. I was shocked. I didn’t even fully understand what it meant to work at HQ for an international company with 150K+ employees. I hadn’t told friends or family about these interviews b/c I’d had so much rejection. I was startled by the extreme enthusiasm when I told family and friends where I was going to work...everyone seemed to know how big a deal this was but me.

The greatest thing I gained on the journey from retail to fortune 50 is the separation between my personal and professional lives. In Oklahoma my identity was intertwined w/ my job...which was okay for that period of life. Moving to Chicago meant I got to explore. I got to reinvent myself. I got to have options. I got to aim for my dream job and dream life. On this journey I realized that my work is not me and I am not my job. I may love my work but there’s so many things I love doing that have nothing to do with work. Chicago has given me that independence...showed me that I have value outside of what I’m being paid for. One of the first questions I used to ask ppl was what do you do? Now I’ve come to realize I have close friends that I barely know what they do for work; however, I know everything about what they do for fun...I’ve gotten to know them (not their job).

Jobs will come and go but I will still be me and that’s what I choose to share with the world - ME.