What exactly do you do?

Many things actually, and something new.

Jobs and careers are peculiar things. They represent only one slice of who we are, but are often relied upon to describe us in full. If you’re like most humans I know, “What do you do?” is among the more unsatisfying questions you have to answer in social settings. What I do has taken me from working for the well-being of people in the poorest villages and most vibrant cities in far off countries, to storytelling on spotlit stages in Brooklyn bars, to dance studios where I’ve donned my very own tap shoes. Even close friends who have a fuller sense of me often wonder — what the hell do you do?

While I was working full time with several immensely respected organizations, or building my own startup, or helping my uncle run his small family business, responding with a singular professional description felt inaccurate, a little disingenuous and wholly unsatisfactory. My posts on this blog have largely been connected to one part of my identity, my “work life”, which itself has been incredibly varied. But like you, I spend my time with several ideas and activities that each connect to different aspects of who I am. Today, my life allows me to fill my time very differently from many people I know.

I am an enthusiastic storyteller.
I am a passionate environmentalist.
I am an attentive learner.
I am a devoted volunteer.
I am a fumbling dancer.
I am a dedicated mentor.
I am a eager mentee.
I am deeply in love with my family and friends.
And yes, I am a philanthropy and social impact consultant.

My decades of life thus far have fortunately allowed me to live all of these things— many at once. Many at once has in fact, become a bit of a theme as I reflect on my life to date.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting, answering the quintessential “what do you do” party question with an excited and somewhat convoluted “many things actually”. If the interrogator is interested, perhaps it will open up a conversation about how my diverse interests and passions come to life for me today and I will get to learn about theirs. If not, I’ll revert to my professional descriptor of being “an independent strategy consultant” and the conversation moves on after a brief explainer and the polite reciprocal query to them. I understand that most people aren’t asking with this level of interest, but if you’re here, and have read this far, I imagine you’re at least mildly interested in my many things.

And so, today I begin to share more deliberately a new facet of who I am becoming. A few months ago, I dared to respond to the what do you do question with a new answer: I am a writer.

For nearly a year now, almost every Monday afternoon, I’ve joined a somewhat random group of individuals in a small classroom tucked away on the second floor of the Brooklyn Central Library for a workshop run by the NY Writer’s Coalition. This little piece captures the workshop perfectly.

I have spent a fair amount of time over the past decade telling my professional life stories through conferences, panels and luncheons, and many of my personal stories through events run by organizations like The Moth. But for some time now, my inner voice has been telling me to try my hand at unlocking my creativity by writing fiction. Life has gifted me with a plethora of wonderfully absurd true stories and I enjoy sharing them, but I also have an instinct to imagine the rich complicated lives of the people my life has intersected with. Who are they? What do their days look like? How have they become who they are? What are they thinking about? Why?

The workshop has helped me imagine the answers to these questions and more. Over the comings weeks and months, I will be sharing some of my writing. It’s all fiction — though naturally inspired by the real world around me.

I write because I find joy in it and am enjoying learning the art of the written word. Perhaps some of these stories and poems will find their way to publishing, but that is not my immediate ambition. Even if they only meet the eyes of a few readers like you, I hope you will enjoy them.

So what do I do? Well, happily many things. Stay tuned for a glimpse into one of them. My fiction writing and poetry….