I am the Queen of Prototyping 👑
Photo: Justine Anweiler, Pride Make-up Selfie, 2024.
Since leaving my job in publishing, in 2018, I’ve been on a quest for a career in purpose.
What I actively prototype are strategies that will guide me to the answer:
What do I want to do for work?
Below are the yearly strategies and their subcategories:
🍀 = hope the “right” people find me
🧭 = try to land on “a” path
💝 = share what excites me to share
🧭 2017 ~ Pursue Side Hustles & Hobbies 🏄🏼♀️
Tried as many interesting things as I could: learned to salsa dance, attended personal development workshops, and surfed in Portugal.
🍀 2018 ~ Embrace the Bridge Jobs 🌁
Gained experience in areas of interest from 2017. Lived in the South of France at a yoga retreat to learn Ayurvedic cooking and worked as a seasonal educator at Lululemon to experience an L&D-focused company culture.
🍀 2019 ~ Take the Path Presented 🛝
At lululemon the Curator role was introduced and I stepped into it.
🍀 2020 ~ Rest, Recovery & Recalibration 🧘🏼♀️
The pandemic gifted me time to self-reflect. What worked well? What do I not want to repeat?
🧭 2021 ~ A Return to Education 🎓
Completed university-level courses on Coursera in Indigenous Canada, Feminism & Social Justice, and Leading Diverse Teams.
🧭 2022 ~ Fake It Till You Make It 📣
My year of cohorts, boot camps, and online coaching programs. I officially launched my business as a Website Architect & Communications Consultant.
🍀 2023 ~ One Brand to Rule Them All ☂️
I rebranded my company to The Witchen to encompass all my skills, interests, and experiences. I (still) struggle with my labels and self-description.
💝 2024 ~ Welcome to My World 🦚
Embracing the messiness of life and being open about my current endeavors rather than searching for perfect labels.
I have tried to make sense of who I am and package it into a singular brand.
Yet, success came when I stopped trying to make sense to others and instead made sense to myself.
We don’t know what we don’t know, so this strategy is about inviting others in. It’s much easier and more fun to share our experiences and let others help shape the journey.
Stay tuned for one of my BIG ideas: a Joshua Tree concept cafe that brings the outside textures, integrity, and otherworldliness in.
Article FAQs generated by Chat GPT:
1. How can prototyping different career strategies help find a purposeful job?
Prototyping different career strategies can help in finding a purposeful job by allowing you to experiment with various paths, learn from each experience, and refine your direction over time. It offers a way to explore what truly resonates with you, rather than committing prematurely to a single track. By testing multiple strategies, you can gain insights into what aligns with your values and strengths, gradually guiding you toward a fulfilling career.
2. Why does reflecting on and labeling each year with a strategy help the career seeker?
This provides a structured approach to understanding their personal and professional growth over time. It allows them to clearly see the patterns in their decisions, actions, and experiences, which helps identify what has been effective and what hasn't. By naming each year's focus, they create a narrative that gives context to their journey, making it easier to track progress, learn from past mistakes, and adapt to new opportunities. This process also helps maintain motivation by highlighting achievements and giving a sense of direction, making the often chaotic career search more intentional and focused.
3. How does embracing the "messiness of life" contribute to career clarity and success?
Embracing the "messiness of life" helps with career clarity and success because it removes the pressure to conform to a single label or definition. Instead, it opens up opportunities for growth and exploration by allowing you to be authentic and adapt as needed. By focusing on self-understanding rather than external expectations, you create space for genuine connections and unexpected opportunities, ultimately leading to more satisfying career outcomes.