Hey friends, guess what? I quit my job—yesterday (Friday) was my last day!
To summarize: I have been going through a ~18-months-long mental arc of imagining myself not working at Etsy anymore, mostly as a coping mechanism against these seemingly-never-ending layoffs happening in the industry. I LOVED working at Etsy, so it was a sobering thought experiment. But by last month, I was coming to terms with the possibility, even a little excited at the prospect of taking a break. I had been struggling with a project that I was really excited about, but was wearing me down big time. On the Thursday before Memorial Day, I burned out. I took the long weekend to internalize that quitting wasn’t just about getting out of something, but also about pursuing new things*. Then on the next Tuesday morning, I put in my notice. I felt unmoored—both uncomfortable and freed.
In my goodbye email to my teams, I wrote:
For a while, I’d imagined that I would work here until I retired. Is that embarrassing to admit? Yeah maybe lol! But implicit in that imagining perhaps was an assumption that my growth and evolution would be in sync with Etsy’s the whole time. Which doesn’t seem impossible, but I’m feeling drawn to seek more expansive futures, and I’d like to give myself the space to explore that.
So … yeah! I don’t have anything lined up. We have financial runway, thankfully. I’m really hoping to reset my brain, and explore what else I could do with my skills, experience, and interests. It’s very possible that I return to tech/UX design! But/and/or maybe I’ll pick up something entirely new, who knows??
Thank you for reading this far. I actually have an ask 😅 Normally I’d put it at the top of my email, but I felt all this context was super important lol? Here it is:
If you have gone thru a big career change, or if any of this resonates with you, would you be interested in chatting with me about it? I am happy to come to you if you’re local to NYC or talk over the phone or video call. My schedule is now extremely open!! Hit reply and let me know, or text/call me: +1 917 860 9790.
Finally, a mini-check-in on not-work stuff. Aki is almost 17months! We have reached a threshold of embeddedness in our neighborhood where it’s hard to go outside without running into someone we know—literally a dream come true. We have some travel planned for the summer: France for a wedding; California and Colorado to see Kev’s family. Attaching some recent pics!
Much love and appreciation,
Yoko
*Shoutout to my former (and forever tbh) manager Jess for sending me this article at exactly the right time: after my heart knew I was quitting, but before my brain did.