Tag Archives: writing

Endings, transitions and beginnings

This year has been one of heavy contradictions for me. It brought an end to 30 consecutive years of working in research in a structured 9-to-5 environment in offices or remotely for organizations, but it also brought so many unexpected opportunities and new beginnings. 

At the outset of the year, as my industry came under increasing threats of rapid cuts and dramatic changes, I was hungry to use my skills and life experiences in a different kind of way to affect those who were caught under the wheels of the rapid federal changes. A plan for a community conversation series seemed almost delivered to me through a series of flashbacks and revelations during an intense two-week period. Shortly afterward, I began developing partnerships and hosting these cathartic events. When I lost my job as a federal contractor amidst another flurry of cuts to contracts and personnel (the “April Fools RIFs to HHS), I was able to devote more time to the series.

These Community Conversation events provided a space for difficult conversations around the impact of the cuts and changes, as well as a way to learn and practice grounding techniques for managing anxiety, hold empowering discussions reenvisioning the support landscape for those affected, and share in soothing meditations. We left these spaces feeling heard, better connected, and more relaxed and restored.

Early in this journey, I was interviewed by another community advocate.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/hJKpDYUbPt0?si=YZpizdPYm73jgwk-

By the end of November, I had conducted 15 Community Conversation events and three other career transition events, including a Careerchangeapalooza that proudly featured Career Change guru Rishan Mohammed of HiringCoach.ai. Some of the Community Conversations evolved into a youth-driven theme of Multigenerational Conversations about Mental Health and Wellness, and one event was more of a large-scale discussion forum with 10 breakout rooms. I led these events through partnerships with Transfiguration Parish, DC-AAPOR, AAPOR, and The Salt Sanctuary of MD, and as self-hosted events at local libraries and online. This work led to other opportunities I never would have imagined: co-leading a peer support group with a former FDA client, leading a weekly meditation series with the Salt Sanctuary and partnering with Brook Grove Retirement Community, where my daughter and I led weekly meditations, imagination sessions, and focus groups, and held countless conversations with residents and those in the rehab facility.

This was also a time for pro bono work, as I led and contributed to several qualitative studies in service of various partnerships and helped to prepare a statewide listening campaign on behalf of a consortium of local community advocate groups.

I felt deeply connected to my research and professional communities throughout this time. I joined MAFN, which turned out to be an amazingly supportive professional community, from monthly in-person networking events to online communities of practice. I joined the MRX PROs, with weekly sessions, discussion and camaraderie. I participated in AAPOR and DC-AAPOR events and attended the AAPOR conference with the help of colleagues. I learned more about the job-hunting landscape through the Insights Career Network. I met with countless peers in one-on-one networking sessions, learning about the passions and challenges of my colleagues and envisioning future collaborations. All of this happened against the backdrop of my unemployment. This morning marked the end of an era for me, as I attended my last mandatory unemployment session.

This period also led to something new and quite exciting! In September, I founded an LLC that is set to launch next week!

The coming year will be different. Some of these partnerships and Community Conversation events will continue, and a couple of new partnerships are on the horizon. The business will bloom and grow as a collective, and I’ll grow as a business owner through a business incubator program called Founders Rising!, and I’ll trade pro-bono work for paid consulting work. But this new year will be built on the foundation of a creative, supportive, challenging and transformational time unparalleled in my professional career. I’ve shared tears and laughs and intellectual excitement and so much more with my community members, colleagues, and friends and family this year, and more than anything, I feel so much gratitude to be at this particular point.

The COVID pandemic and lockdown brought another transformational period for so many of us, and we are still reckoning with its aftermath. The aftermath of this year will also linger. But may we continue to build on this new foundation to elevate each other through whatever challenges come our way in the future, stronger- as always, together!

Worldbuilding – or: What’s giving me hope?

It has been a minute since I checked in. In this very stressful time of change and transition, my experience has somewhat impossibly become one of hope and connection and new beginnings. Let me explain.

You know how, as a parent, caregiver or babysitter, when the home goes quiet you instinctively know you’ll need to find the child and see what kind of projects are underway? You tiptoe down the hallway to get a quiet peek into whatever room they are in, your heart in your chest with nervous apprehension. Well, take a breath. No need to feel nervous! But let me crack open my door enough to give you a peek at my current projects.

Watch your feet! My metaphorical legos are out. I’m still in a worldbuilding phase, but my focus has shifted a bit. Let me show you around this world that I am helping to shape.

Community support events. Community support activities had been my focus for the past several months, but recently I have pivoted in a few ways.

  • I’m no longer organizing independent events. I may organize something in the future, but for now I am focusing on my ongoing partnerships. These include AAPOR, DC-AAPOR, The Salt Sanctuary of MD and Transfiguration Parish.
  • I’ve discovered the WellFed community. If you haven’t, you should! They have fantastic events and activities to support the FiredFed community in a variety of ways.
  • Some of the community conversation events I’ve been hosting have shifted in topic. Most recently, we have focused on hosting multigenerational conversations about mental health and wellness. There is a big groundswell of support and interest in the topic, and I’m excited to see where it goes.
  • There is an upcoming forum for the AAPOR community to discuss the dramatic changes to the federal workforce and contracting environment. This conversation is deeply needed within our field, and I am really looking forward to this event!
  • The Salt Sanctuary of MD events include weekly online meditations and monthly conversations in the salt cave. Come for the salt cave and stay for the good conversation and collective peace!

Economic worldbuilding. I applied for my own LLC, and I’m preparing for its launch! The LLC will offer research and facilitation services and house a network for independent researchers and entrepreneurs. Building this network involves catching up and collaborating with some of my most favorite colleagues and imagining a way to get ahead of the rapidly changing research environment. I’m really excited to share with you what we are building! Soooonnnnnn

Large-scale community listening. This September, I helped kick off a huge community listening initiative that is a collaboration across AIM, PATH and the MD Just Power Alliance! During this kickoff, over 50 organizations pledged to conduct listening sessions with over 3500 people across the state of MD, developing a unified agenda that reflects the collective struggles and needs of many people across the state!

Sensitive Topics Initiative. AAPOR’s Qualpor group has a Sensitive Topics Initiative that has kept me busy in 2025! In May, we hosted a session and individual presentations related to distress protocols. I was able to combine a few of these together to present at the recent DC-AAPOR conference. This presentation included a deep dive into handling disclosures related to self-harm in research interview situations. And we have a few very useful projects underway, including practical guidance for when and how to develop a distress protocol.

Family business. One big change in 2025 has been involving my kids in the work that I do. As a working parent, it can be very difficult to be present in work and in family life, and one or both sometimes feel neglected. 2025 was the first year that I was able to collaborate with one of my kids on a variety of projects. She is unlikely to follow in my footsteps, but to be able to spend time together in this kind of way is a special treat for someone whose career has been such an important part of my life.

What else is giving me hope? I always look to the Daily Show, Josh Johnson, spiritual guidance from Iyanla Vanzant and the Nap Ministry and so many other voices. And then there was this interview, that inspired me so deeply!

Self-care. I am learning that self-care comes in many forms. It comes from making progress in small but effective ways on things that matter. It comes from knowing what matters to me and living into my values. It comes from building something in the face of an uncertain future. It comes from making and engaging with art and creative pursuits. It comes from connecting to community. It comes from the delightful messiness of community in practice. It comes from finding and embracing love all around me; recognizing the sources of support and the ways in which we instinctively care for each other and ourselves. It comes from gratitude for the people who have stepped into my life in unexpected, but wonderful ways.

In these times of stress, we somehow begin to see the best in each other. The stress is big, but the sources of hope are many. I wish that you feel supported, seen, recognized, purposeful, powerful and empowered, recognized, connected, loved, restored, and hopeful, and I hope that you have the audacity to dream, build and create at a time when so many external forces are trying to box you in. I wish you an unboxing. I wish you perspective.

And I will be in touch as more of the world I am building becomes ready for the light of day.

A dispatch from the field of life

Well, dear reader, I haven’t been blogging much lately, but I do have updates to share! (Look at me invoking my best Bridgerton voice)

I was recently interviewed for the Passion in Motion podcast. I’m really grateful to Mutsa Makufa for the great conversation, and I’m proud to share it with you. Mutsa is a talented interviewer with several engaging conversations around the massive federal shifts and resulting uncertainty on his channel.

It’s been a busy set of months with continually unfolding change and uncertainty. So many of us were caught under the wheels of change with massive federal cuts that continue to affect current and former federal employees and contractors in unprecedented ways. Please, let’s stick together. We are stronger in numbers, and so many of us are going through the same things. We have old structures to mourn and new structures to build, together.

I have a few upcoming events on my eventbrite page that I’m excited about! There are book events (both online and in-person) for people in career transitions. The book events have been nicknamed the ‘no wrong book’ book discussions because any kind of book is fair game. We may be reading skill-building books, other nonfiction books, books that offer comfort in myriad ways, or books for escape- and I greedily want to hear about all of them! Bring your stack and give us a tour. See what others are reading.

I also have two Community Healing Conversations planned; one online and one in-person. These are my favorite events because they offer a chance to listen and be heard, build collective peace and resilience, and find better ways to support each other during these times. These conversations inspire and fortify, and they feed my next steps as a community builder. Message me for details about the next in-person Community Healing Conversation in the DC area (it’s not on Eventbrite).

And there is an upcoming Careerchangeapalooza event through DC-AAPOR. I’m really excited about this event, because it grew directly out of a conversation during a Community Healing Conversation about how career support inherently must look different during this time.

All of these events rethink community support and career support to better accommodate our changing times. There are others in the queue through various collaborations. I’m excited to share them as they go live! Please come join us and please help spread the word! This is a space where everyone is welcome. Come as you are and leave feeling better connected and empowered!

On another front, I am in the early stages of building this community building effort and more (think: research consulting and community storytelling) into a small business. This is very new territory for me, and there is a lot to learn and to figure out. I am very open to advice and very grateful to my network for the advice I’ve already received. It’s exciting, but it’s also overwhelming. I’m wrestling with my best and worst selves to creatively envision a box of wonders that fit together nicely under one umbrella and bring my ideas into fruition through some labyrinthine administrative tedium. It’s not how I envisioned my summer; oh, how I want to be jumping into a cold lake on a hot, sunny day and justtttttt floating. But it’s oddly incredibly fulfilling. I want to hear about your experiences building something! What’s your business building story? Pull up a bean bag and join me in the comments!