Tag Archives: Who do you want to be today?

Monday Musings: On work, life, and finding your passion

Posted on October 29, 2012 | 4 Comments

I recently attended the inaugural edition of The Blogcademy, a workshop on how to be a professional blogger from Gala Darling, Kat Williams (Rock n Roll Bride), and Shauna Heider (Nubby Twiglet).  Now, while the dream is alive of someday having a job that is more task-focused rather than punching the 40-hour-per-week clock, I don’t know that I’ll ever manage to be a professional blogger.   I’m quite inspired to try, now, though!

Attending this workshop was amazing.  Here are three women who are living the dream – doing work that they are passionate about; that doesn’t feel arduous or painful or that they wake up in the morning dreading.   Sounds fabulous, right?

Continue reading →

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Monday Musings

Tagged , , , , , ,

Who do you want to be today? Eric, Recording Studio Producer

Posted on October 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

guitar

Describe your job – what does a producer do?

One of the things that I love about it is that there’s no such thing as a typical day. Every day is completely different. So I’ll work on – well, today is probably as good of example as anything else. So I started the day working on finalizing an album project for a band – the final stages of mixing the last couple songs, and getting that all together before that goes out for mastering.

Then I jumped into a music search for a documentary film.  They are looking for music from both independent artists as well as needle drop library music.  We do a lot of licensing of both of those kinds of music.   Music supervision is the job role [there]. And that’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s really fun. I do it more often for ads than for films, but it’s really fun to get to do it on films.  I got to supervise the music for this full feature that we are going to finish tomorrow, and it’s just – it’s really fun to get to sort of just have that much creative control over a film, ‘cause it really – the music totally steers your emotions. And especially this was a really emotional topic. It was about school teachers who go travel to Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, and they go visit orphanage, and all sorts of other things.  It’s one of the most creative parts about the job, and I just love being able to do it. And we’ve done probably 7 or 8 features already this year, which has been great.

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Who do you want to be today?

Tagged , , , ,

Who do you want to be today? Janelle, Director of Communications

Posted on October 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Janelle has worked for a number of non-profit organizations in many roles.  Her most recent job has taken her to Queensland, Australia.

What is your title?

I work for Family Planning, Queensland, and my title is Director of Communications.

Tell me a little bit about your job – what is it that you do?

We are a total reproductive health organization.  One of the central functions is communication, and we manage all aspects – internal communications, external communications, media, which consists of both proactive and reactive communications.  I will respond to articles or interviews with people that we think are presenting misinformation, or provide another side of an issue that we want to have an opportunity to communicate about; or, something we want to specifically communicate about.

We are currently launching the publication of a book around understanding and responding to sexual behaviors in children, and so we are lining up a bunch of interviews nationally and locally to talk about what’s normal, what’s not, how to protect kids from childhood sexual abuse, and inform parents about normal sexual development and that sexuality is a normal part of growing up.

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Who do you want to be today?

Tagged , , ,

Who do you want to be today? Christie, Freelance Science Writer

Posted on September 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

Christie is someone I’ve known since Middle School, and it’s been fascinating watching her career since we left college.  She’s written for many publications, including the BBC, Health, Smithsonian, and Slate.  

What do you do?
I’m a freelance science writer.  I’m a journalist, but I also do storywriting that is less journalism and more personal.

On a basic level, I’m a storyteller.  For some of the stuff I write, I take research and translate it into something that a lay audience can understand.  That can be a news story about a new piece of science that has come up, or a new piece of the puzzle, and I describe that new piece, kind of putting it together with the existing stuff.

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Who do you want to be today?

Tagged , , , , ,

Who do you want to be today? Jenevieve, Birth Doula

Posted on September 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Jenevieve was our doula when our daughter was born a year ago, and even though I ended up having a c-section, she was tremendously helpful (perhaps especially because of the c-section – she took a lot of the fear out of that process for us).  While working with her on our own impending birth, I became interested in what, exactly, the job description for a birth doula was.

How would you describe your job?

A doula provides physical comfort and emotional support during birthing.

What do you do in a typical day?

It’s very flexible, but also unpredictable.  Labor is very situation-dependent. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Who do you want to be today?

Tagged , , , , , ,

Who do you want to be today? Ken, Director of Live Events

Posted on September 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

Ken directing at Lollapalooza – photo by Lollapalooza

Ken directs live music for such events as Coachella and Lollapalooza.  His interview is one of the first that I did, and it incorporates both the Who Do You Want To Be Today and How Did I Get Here information.  That’s handy, because I will be on vacation for the Sept. 12 post.  I will return with a new post on Sept. 19.

How would you describe what you do?

I would describe it like I’m a painter.  The cameras are my palette and the music is my inspiration, and I’m painting.  Because I don’t shoot stuff with the idea that …I direct it based on the band and the music and the moment.  So much concert video you see out there looks the same.  To be honest with you, it looks like sports coverage.  (Most people directing concert videos) don’t understand song structure.  They have to have an assistant director sitting next to them saying, “okay, the chorus is coming up…there’s a guitar solo coming up.”  I take pride in the fact that each of the shows I’ve directed doesn’t look like anything else.

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in How did I get here?, Who do you want to be today?

Tagged , , , , ,

Who do you want to be today? Rachel, Kundalini yoga teacher/studio owner

Posted on August 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

What do you do?

[Working with one other teacher to start] a studio, but also really to bring together the kundalini community in Colorado, also some retail products that are associated with kundalini yoga.  We’ve got a lot of things that we’re percolating at the moment, in addition to me just getting out there and teaching.

I just got back from West Africa, where I was teaching yoga for three months – volunteering.  So, that’s closer to the beginning of this shift in careers.

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Who do you want to be today?

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Who do you want to be today? Jen, Holistic Nutritionist

Posted on July 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Jen is a holistic nutritionist and an independent businesswoman.  We talk about what that means, how she gets her clients, and what makes her passionate about this job.

What is your title?

I am a holistic nutritionist.  I use food and supplements to help heal people with numerous conditions, and people come to me with a lot of different things that they would normally go to a doctor with, but the doctor doesn’t seem to work, or they put them on too many different drugs.  So they come to me instead and we help heal through nutrition instead.

How would you describe a typical day?

I answer a bunch of emails – I usually have a lot of client questions.  Then I will see clients throughout the day, based on what their schedule is – I don’t really have set hours, because a lot of my clients have very intense schedules.  Some need to come in the evenings, some need to come early, some see me on weekends, and I try to work around my clients’ schedules.  I will work on menu plans, and shopping guides, chemistry results, or my newsletter.

What kind of training did you have to do?

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Who do you want to be today?

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Who Do You Want To Be Today? Jennifer, Paparazza

Posted on July 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

What’s it like to be a member of the paparazzi?  I talked to Jennifer, now a retired paparazza, about how she got started and what her work entailed.

Tell me a little about your job – how would you describe what you do?

A typical day the first year was highly, highly stressful – there was a lot of hazing by the other photographers.  It was an extremely competitive environment.  They were trying to block your shots and trying to harass you so that you’d get out of the business.  But after you get good and gain respect, then people start to leave you alone, and it becomes really interesting.

It’s a highly, highly technical form of photography, so it takes a couple of years to perfect it – or more.  It’s fascinating, just the interaction you have with Hollywood and the individuals – the celebrities.  That’s something the world dreams of and it’s your day-to-day life.  It was extremely surreal for the first year and a half, and then it got a little stale and not very exciting anymore.  You get sick of seeing celebrities, and you just want to get the picture and get out. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Who do you want to be today?

Tagged , , , ,