When I first moved to New York in 2017, I drank the Kool-Aid: work hard, play hard. I had just finished university and another journalism internship in Vienna, and flew across the Atlantic with one suitcase and my résumé in hand. It felt like a scene from a movie. For eight years, I lived a Sex and the City lifestyle on a budget: strutting down the streets in high heels, heading to my first corporate job with fire and hope in my heart.
But that advice was followed during a different time and for workplaces that were designed to keep you in line, not further your career. In today's fast-moving workforce, clinging to outdated relationships, toxic workplaces, or unfair structures isn't loyalty. It's self-sabotaging. It's time to rethink what was once considered the norm. Sometimes burning a bridge isn't reckless. It's strategic. It's the first step toward building something better in your career.
I was always interested in the medical field. Unfortunately, I didn't get into medical school, so I thought traditional Chinese medicine was the best alternative. It offered me a chance to practice as a clinician, but in a different role and setting. During my studies, we had a biostatistics computational module. That's where I realized that programming and computational work can be quite interesting.
Within three months, this capable professional was questioning their entire career, and the isolation bled into relationships with their partner, family, and friends. Then came the turning point: seeking help through their Employee Assistance Program, working with their GP, and finding the language to name what was happening. Today, they report stronger team bonds, restored creativity, and clarity of thought.
I got rejected from every single internship I applied to last summer - consulting, finance, tech, and entertainment. At the very end, I settled for a role at a startup called RecruitU as a social media intern. I grew their Instagram from 0 to 100,000 and my own account from 0 to 50,000. I also grew the company's user base by 400%. I was pretty much their only distributor.
I'm an attorney from Atlanta and have practiced for three decades - 25 years as a prosecutor and five in defense - but I've always had a creative side. I was always baking and entertaining, and my friends would even pay me to bake for them. Eventually, I realized I could turn it into a business - Delights by Dawn - and it blossomed. My niche became alcohol-infused cakes and cupcakes, which drew a lot of attention.
She wrote her first script in 2022, sold it to Imagine Entertainment in January 2023, saw director Luca Guadagnino sign on to direct just three months later, followed by the addition of major cast members like Julia Roberts, and the project went into production by June 2023. In August 2025, it premiered at Venice. In September, it opened the New York Film Festival.
Dionne Foster, 52, built a steady career as a business analyst contractor before losing her job in April 2024. A year later, she found herself taking on an eight-week summer internship at an IT company, where she made $20 an hour and worked alongside a high schooler. 'I haven't made $20 an hour since I was in college,' Foster said. Foster accepted the internship offer after roughly a year on the job market, where she cast a wide net of applications for both full-time and contract opportunities.
He says, 'Hold on for a second. You mean to tell me you're leaving this company for some tiny, little internet bookstore that nobody's ever heard of ... that has got to be the stupidest decision I've ever heard anyone made,' Risher recalled.
"There's this misconception that because I'm the first to do this thing-and still no one else has done it-that I'm booked all year long for speaking engagements," she told CNBC Make It. "I get things here or there, but I can't make a living from it."
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dana Schoolsky, a 24-year-old working in monetization strategy and operations at TikTok in New York City. It's been edited for length and clarity. When I worked in investment banking as an analyst, everything felt urgent, as if a fire alarm was going off at all times. I felt on edge even after leaving the office, never knowing when I might be called to action to do more work, which took a toll on me.
I grew up in a family where music was at the heart of everything. From an early age I studied piano, solfège, and voice, and my parents encouraged me every step of the way. Even though my father was a mathematician and physicist, he believed in exposing me to the arts-he sent me to folk dance, ballet, and later I graduated from the Conservatory in Budapest with a major in classical singing.
I started my career at IBM in digital marketing. My brother used to say to me, "You're always going to have a job." I've been through layoffs and worked at companies that shut down, but I never really had to look for a job in my role. My last position was as director of e-commerce at Badcock Home Furniture. I made $120,000 as my base salary.
With three world records and two Olympic gold medals under his belt in swimming, Ryan Held's new challenge isn't in the pool. It's at 200 West as an analyst in cyber risk at the elite investment bank Goldman Sachs. He's raced alongside teammates like Michael Phelps and Caeleb Dressel, yet when he started his new job this year, he admits he felt a bit like an underdog.
I was super happy when I received the news. It was so unexpected because I knew that so many people were applying since it was the first M.S. in Climate Finance in the U.S. It was good news, not only for me, but also for the nonprofit sector. We don't have these two topics together in many universities. I'm working for an NGO that does worldwide conservation.
I didn't go to college. I joined the Army at 18 and served for nearly five years. After I got out, I worked the front desk at a gym. I kept seeing a group of guys who wore nice clothes and drove nice cars. I asked them what they did for work, and they told me they worked for CDW. Even though I had no experience working in tech, they helped me get hired in tech sales. I went to work for CDW in 2008.
For Love & Money is a column from Business Insider answering your relationship and money questions. This week, a reader feels she's the only one working hard while her husband pursues his dream job. Our columnist spoke with personal finance author Ramit Sethi, who suggested having a series of conversations. Have a question for our columnist? Write to For Love & Money using this Google form.
"I'm enjoying my life," Southgate told the PA news agency when quizzed about a potential return to management. "I've got quite a lot on. "I'm in the middle of writing a book, I've got several business interests. I do some work on leadership, help with some young coaches. "But I've also got time to travel and play a bit of golf, play a bit of paddle tennis, so yeah, I'm very much enjoying that balance."
When you're thinking about how you want to rebrand yourself, it's not just about your aesthetic or your job title - it's about realigning your public image with who you are becoming professionally and personally.
After enrolling in a cybersecurity boot camp, I landed a contracting position that paid me about three times my previous earnings, and within two years, I reached a six-figure salary.
To stand out in my job applications, I decided to pivot from recruiting to sales by using visual decks instead of traditional cover letters, I personalized every slide using each company's branding.
