Several of you have inquired about my post-graduate plans. The honest truth is that, up until yesterday, I had no idea. I applied to a few design jobs in New York. I lined up a few interviews. I got a few rejections. I still have a few irons in the fire — but I've decided to table those options for now.
A few months ago, Crystal mentioned that she would love to have me intern for Rue Magazine in San Francisco for the summer. (I intern for her now, but everything I do is via my laptop.) I appreciated the offer and assumed it would make an excellent back-up plan to my other prospects.
I had this notion, like so many soon-to-be graduates, that being successful would mean landing a job with one of my dream companies, making enough money to pay New York rent, and having the stability that a full-time job entails. But I had this increasingly nagging feeling that taking a position in New York would mean passing up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Working for Rue will not be the most lucrative or stable job I could take. Moving across the country, to a city I visited for just three days at age 15, is unsettling. And the fact that there's no way to predict what will happen after Rue's one-year anniversary issue in September reminds me just how big a risk I'm taking.
And yet I know I would never forgive myself if I didn't take Crystal up on her offer. Words cannot describe how much I have loved writing and interning for Rue — and the opportunity to experience the day-to-day operations of an online magazine excites me more than any corporate job could.
As my parents have reminded me time and again, New York is forever. All my family lives on the east coast, and New York will forever feel like the city in my backyard. But the opportunity to fly to California, live in a new city for three and a half months, and work alongside two inspiring female entrepreneurs is right now. When I redefine success as lifelong learning and personal enrichment, I don't have to think twice about knowing which path is right for me.
From early June through mid-September, I will be living in Crystal's beautiful new apartment and spending my days writing, coordinating photo shoots, planning launch events, making new friends, eating good food, and exploring a new-to-me city. To me, it sounds like heaven on earth.
My life to this point has followed a very average timeline: high school, college, study abroad, intern over the summer. Spending the summer with Rue in San Francisco is easily the biggest decision I have made to date — and I am grateful for the newfound knowledge that it's the best one I could possibly make right now.
I am incredibly thankful to Crystal and Anne for extending this opportunity and to my parents for encouraging me to scratch all my type-A planning and do something totally outside the box. I am grateful to all of you who show up here each day to read and comment and encourage, and I cannot wait to share this adventure with you all.
{all photos from Rue}
