What's next for me? For the first time, a "real" job
And now the next adventure begins...
As many of you know, I've been struggling with what I want to do next, and bouncing between whether I wanted to join a startup or a big company, whether I wanted to be a generalist or a specialist, and whether I wanted something in tech or to try out a completely new industry.
I feel like I've had hundreds of conversations with dozens of amazing humans about what I might do next, and I've learned so so much about myself through this process of personal/professional exploration.
And after considering some truly incredible opportunities at great organizations throughout #dctech, I ultimately decided to take a role with Capital One. Hooray!!
I'll be working on the product team for Capital One's Consumer Bank. My official title is Senior Manager, Product Management, but really I'll be on the Chief of Staff team doing work around product excellence. TBH I'm not totally sure what the role will look like exactly, but the team is super smart/candid/awesome, and I'm really excited to be in a role that blends people ops and product.
It might surprise some of you that I decided to go all-out Fortune 100, but in the end it was a pretty easy decision. I wanted to be in a place where I had a lot of smart, senior people to learn from, and where I might find a bit more stability as Tonio and I think towards having more kiddos. (For those of you who haven't yet met Tonio, he's also in the startup world, and two founders in one family is a little extra.)
Clearly this doesn't mean I'm ditching my #dctech fam. I'll still be active in the community - promise! And maybe one day I'll be back in startupland.... but probably not for at least a few years :)
What I've been up to over the past few months...
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I've been doing a bit of consulting, and it's been a blast. I've learned a ton and gotten to work on some pretty cool projects.
Like there was the time I got a call from Ryan Ross asking me if I wanted to apply for a federal grant on behalf of Halcyon... that was due in 2 weeks. We ultimately decided to pitch launching an impact angel group. Within the 14 day period, we secured hundreds of thousands in matching commitments from partners, nabbed approval from the Mayor's Office, and developed a thoughtful plan for how we could launch an angel group in this ecosystem. The grant administrators expressed their reservations since we were starting so late, but we took on the project full force. And we were just as surprised as they were when we won the $300K grant.
And then there was the time Tiffany Thacker texted me about supporting the Greater Washington Partnership with the buildout of the Capital CoLAB Digital Tech Credential, an innovative credential designed as a partnership between local university presidents (e.g. Georgetown, Hopkins, Howard, GMU) and corporate CEOs/execs (e.g. Amazon, Capital One, Northrop Grumman). I was brought on to design the student experience for them. It was such an interesting, complex program to work on, and I'm beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to tackle it.
And then there was some people ops consulting, some partnerships design, and some coaching — all super fun.
I feel so fortunate to have been able to flex new muscles and explore unfamiliar ideas. Many thanks to all of you who helped me figure out the world of independent consulting. It's been real. ✌️
I've also travelled a bit: Beach time and trips to visit family were peppered throughout the summer, and I had a truly incredible experience travelling through Israel with other tech executives (big TY to the Schusterman Foundation for organizing and funding such a special trip).
But mostly I've been hanging out with friends, planning our wedding, and trying (unsuccessfully) to reduce my cheese intake.
Awesome reads (and listens)...
I'm currently rereading Ben Horowitz's The Hard Thing About Hard Things. It's too real. A must read for all entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and innovators.
I started listening to the Throughline podcast, and it's done so much to contextualize the news. Some of my favorites have been "Mass Incarceration," "Before Stonewall," "War of the Worlds," and "Opioids In America."
I just finished Zvi Band's Success in Your Sphere (love the recent onslaught of #dctech books) and really enjoyed thinking more about how to build and manage my network. It's been a big year for Zvi with Contactually's acquisition and now his awesome book, and I'm excited to see what's next for him!
Brilliant stuff my friends are building...
For those of us who are planning a wedding and don't want to spend our life savings on floral, check out Poppy. The ever-fabulous Cameron Hardesty has been talking about her vision for Poppy for some time now, and I'm so excited that she made the leap to build her "direct-to-consumer e-commerce start-up aimed at making beautiful wedding and event flowers affordable, easy, and fun." Finally wedding flowers that don't break the bank.
For those of us who are developing our employer brand, one of my favorite local media properties has begun to leverage their platform to help with hiring. Technical.ly's expansion into employer marketing (a super interesting business model for media!) has been amazing to watch. Major kudos to Chris Wink for what he's built there.
For those of us who are exhausted by all the swiping, Naza Shelley's CarpeDM requires a video chat before texting, helping singles hone in on matches that have real potential. She's bootstrapped to thousands of daily active users, and she's just getting started.
A few ways to help...
I'd love to meet more cool people at Capital One, so if you know anyone please connect me! Looking forward to meeting new friends and mentors. 🤝
In general, I'm kinda nervous about joining a big company, so any advice on how to make that transition is *super* appreciated!
Sending some love...
To some of the many who made the last few months great like Celia Karan, Lia Dean, George Abbott, Lisa Valverde, Amanda Cronin, and Aram Ter-Minassian who helped me find an amazing role at Capital One; like Catherine Buell, Erin Weinstein, Zaynab Malik, Lindsay Johnson, Tom Wood, Ryan Ross, Josh Mandell, Devin Zitelman, Jenn Maher, and Devin Wirt for helping me learn and grow during my little sabbatical; like Dee Dee Helfenstein, Kristin Duckett, Lisa Veasey, Caroline Pugh, David Sullivan, Alicia Fuller, Mike Darman, Theo LeCompte, Crystal Patterson, Lola Han, Hilliary Turnipseed, and Gerald Kierce for their generous advice throughout my job search; like Sacha Litman, Viveka Hulyalkar, Nolan Pollock, Isabelle Fisher, Anaïs Felt, Elena Butler and Matt Tower for helping to prepare me for various interviews and such; and like the countless others who have met for coffee or jumped on the phone over the past few months— I'm the worst and always miss the people that have been most helpful to me.... but I love you all. ❤️
Thanks for skimming this email and being a part of this journey!
🚀Onward and upward,
Amelia
