After two years of freelancing full-time, I decided I needed to make a change. While I enjoyed the flexibility and independence that freelance gave me, I realized I missed working on a team toward a focused goal. I am incredibly lucky that I had the chance to take the risk of freelancing for as long as I did, but I knew it wasn’t working for me anymore. When I came to this realization, I made a list of all the things I wanted out of a job. My top three requirements were: 1) a design role within a team of creatives 2) a mission-driven employer and 3) a remote position.

A little over a month into my search, I came across a posting on the Ladies Get Paid slack channel for a Graphic Design & Project Management position for education reporting site Chalkbeat. As terribly cheesy as it sounds, while reading the job description I knew I had found what I was looking for. I applied immediately, connected with another woman on Ladies Get Paid who works at Chalkbeat and had my first interview the next day. A month later, I was offered the position and told that my first week I would be flying to Montgomery, Alabama for a team retreat.

“Chalkbeat is one of the largest nonprofit news organizations in America, and is committed to covering one of America’s most important stories: the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education.”

I was lucky enough to start right as my team members were preparing to visit The Legacy Museum and Memorial for Peace and Justice. The experience was profound. We took a self-guided tour throughout the museum and memorial and then reconvened as a group to discuss the experience and how it will shape our work moving forward. Visiting the museum and memorial gave more context, and a stronger foundation, in understanding America’s history and how the past has shaped the present.

Was it a little jarring and uncomfortable to talk about slavery, lynchings, and mass incarceration with my new colleagues during my first week of a new job? Certainly, but I think it’s important to engage in these conversations and I am incredibly grateful to be working for an organization that recognizes the importance. During our conversation, we set individual goals and one of mine was to discuss this experience with friends, family, and colleagues when I returned. I haven’t made the time to discuss it as in-depth as I’d like, so if you’re reading this and want to hear more about my experience and what I learned please don’t hesitate to reach out.

The most common question I’ve been asked since telling people that I’ve started a new job is: will you still freelance? The short answer is: yes, but less.

The long answer is: now that I’ll only be able to work on freelance projects during nights and weekends, I will be more selective about the projects I take on. I would be doing a disservice to my clients, my new employer, and myself if I tried to maintain the freelance workload that I had been while freelancing full-time. That being said, I love working on fun creative passion projects. So if you’re interested in working together you can still fill out my new client survey and I’ll let you know if I have the capacity to take it on. I also hope to continue blogging, posting on social media, and producing my quarterly newsletter, but it will probably take me some time to figure out the best way to keep up with it all.

Here’s to starting 2020 in a new role while still working on projects that I love. Cheers!

I can’t recall when or where I first heard of Make a Mark, a 12-hour creative make-a-thon benefiting local humanitarian causes, but as soon as I did, I knew that I had to participate. I firmly believe in using design as a tool to make the world a better place, so once I heard that I could be paired up with a local non-profit and donate my time and expertise to help them solve a creative problem I was hooked. My interest in participating was only increased knowing that I would get to work on a team of creatives.

 

I’ve never run a marathon, but I imagine this was the design equivalent. From learning about the client, their goals, and their audience, to rounds and rounds of revisions, each of the challenges could’ve taken 12 weeks instead of just 12 hours.

 

As a freelancer, I don’t often get the opportunity to collaborate with other designers. And prior to freelancing full-time, I worked in-house on a team of just two or even one. Up until this weekend, I hadn’t realized that it had been years since I’ve collaborated in this capacity. And never before have I been on a team of creatives that worked together so seamlessly. Perhaps this was due to the time constraints, with only a day to work, we knew there was no time to mess around. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the last time I worked with this many designers I was an undergrad working on a fictional project where the stakes were much lower. Regardless, it was an honor to work on such a wonderful team and such a worthy cause. Thank you Aly Agoff, Aurelia Kare, Esen Pence, and Ian Kimble for being the best team-mates.

 

12 hours + 5 designers + 1 non-profit = 1 book cover, 2 event schedules, 20 infographics

 

Urban Creators tagline is “Educate, Energize, Empower, Unite.” They use food, art, and education to build equity and self-determination in their neighborhood. For the past 10 years they have made a profound impact on their community in North Philadelphia. I have lived most of my life in the Greater Philadelphia area so it was very meaningful for me to be able to help a local cause that is doing incredible things including transforming 3 acres of land into a network of farms and gardens and providing 117 jobs for local youth.

 

I am in awe of what Urban Creators has done, much as I was in awe of seeing what each of the other non-profits has done and what their creative teams were able to accomplish in a day. From branding, promotional videos, to a functioning app (seriously, how did they do that in 12 hours?!), it was an inspiring day. I definitely plan on returning for Make a Mark PHL 2020.

I have been waiting to see this show since 2015. I’ve talked about it with almost every single person I’ve interacted with over the past four years. I’ve listened to the soundtrack on my way to work, at work, at the gym, on runs, in my car, in my friends’ cars, at friends’ houses… And for the first time, I listened to the soundtrack after having seen the show. Two days after seeing Hamilton live, I put on “Cabinet Battle #1” (not even a sad song) and I started crying. I just burst into tears. I finally achieved this goal. For four years it has been my dream to see this show and experience the magic first hand. I’m thrilled I saw it, it was everything I imagined and more, but now, I don’t know what to do with myself. What do you do when you finally do the thing you’ve been dreaming of? Obviously, I have other things in my life that I’m working towards, but this was such a big part of my life for so long. I am now left wondering:

 

What comes next?

 

It’s horribly cliché, but fall has always felt like a transition period for me. For most of my life (and for many others), it’s the transition from summer break back into the school year. But even post-school and post-college, big changes have happened for me in the fall. Fall of 2015: I moved back home after my internship ended in NYC. I had hoped it would lead to a full-time job but unfortunately, they didn’t have a position available for me at the time. (Ironically, this internship was my first introduction to Hamilton) Fall of 2016: out of the blue my supervisor was let go and consequently, I took on a new role at work. Only a year out of school and I went from being a Junior Designer to a one-woman design team. Fall of 2017: after trying to make my new role work and realizing it was no longer a good fit, I left my job to pursue freelance. Fall of 2018: I took on a new role as an adjunct professor, transitioning from student to teacher.

 

And now here we are: Fall of 2019. In the past three weeks alone I’ve been incredibly lucky to see one of my favorite bands perform live (Vampire Weekend), I traveled to a place I’ve never been before (Hawaii), and I saw this incredible show that I’ve been dreaming about for years. So much has happened and yet something still feels off. I feel a change coming. It’s time for me to take my next step and conquer my next challenge. I’m not sure what my next challenge will be, but I am sure that no matter what it is, I am not throwing away my shot.

Indecent
not conforming with generally accepted standards of behavior or propriety; obscene.

Indecent is powerful. I have never left a show so at a loss for words as I did when the lights when down at the Arden Theatre Company on Sunday afternoon.

I first hear of God of Vengeance (the play within the play) a few years ago when the New Yiddish Rep staged a revival. I did not have a chance to see the show and then the title faded in my mind. When I heard that the Arden was producing Indecent the title popped back into my mind. Throughout the run I had numerous friends recommend the show to me. Not only were people raving about the production, they knew it would strike a particular cord within me – an American Jew who has loved theatre for as long as I can remember.

The show itself is a play within a play and covers themes of Judaism, sexuality, freedom, oppression, and the power of art. Needless to say, I was hooked. Though I’ve never felt very religious, I genuinely enjoyed learning about Judaism in Hebrew school and while studying for my bat mitzvah. I remember reading Night in my 8^th grade English class and learning the phrase “never again.”

“the play is eloquent and contemporary in its themes of freedom of expression and the universality and the ubiquity of oppression” –Marty Tuzman, Honorary Producer of Indecent

Earlier this week, while still processing my feelings surrounding the show, I read this NYTimes Article that I had bookmarked about Immigrant Children being detained at the border. I sat on my couch and cried reading about the conditions they are being kept in. Overwhelmed with thoughts shooting off in every direction, I kept coming back to two questions: How is this treatment not considered indecent? and How can I help? While I still do not have an answer to the first question, I have come up with an answer to the second.

In an effort to play my part, I am having a sale on my Galentine’s Day Greeting Cards. I will be donating 100% of the proceeds to HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) a global organization that “helps refugees rebuild their lives in safety and advocates to ensure that all displaced people are treated with dignity.” You can read more about their mission here, their response to the border crisis here, and their Charity Navigator rating here. I know this is a small step, but it’s something.

You can check out my greeting card designs here and place an order through this form.

“art has the power to save us, save our souls, and our society, from the darker forces of the world.” – Rebecca Wright, Director of Indecent