Shifting Focus + What's Coming Next
Eleven months ago, Grace Bonney let our team of 7 know that Design*Sponge would be closing. It was surreal. 5 years of writing and scouting and feeling supported by one another and another 7 years before that of fan-girling, inspiration-gleaning and daily reading was coming to a close.
Long before I ever worked at Design*Sponge, I was a senior in college trying to make a pivot in my career before I even had my degree. I was about to graduate with a major in Housing Policy and a Design Studies minor. While I really loved the content of my classes, I was panicked that I’d never find a career that I’d enjoy. While trying to take my mind off of my job anxiety, I visited Design*Sponge for probably the 700th time. I decided to write Grace an email.
I shared my fear of entering into a career of government housing or policy making when all I wanted to do was connect regular people to beautiful design. I asked if shifting my career with the wrong degree was even possible. To my complete surprise, she wrote back. “Of course you can!” was the opening line followed by some advice on how to work hard and create the experience needed once I was out of school.
A change in career doesn’t seem too crazy to think of now but 10 years ago, people were just thankful to find jobs in their fields—pursuing a dream job or creating one out of thin air didn’t seem very wise. Tiny pivots and small steps allowed me to work as an intern for a home improvement website, a design assistant to an interior designer, a real estate marketing assistant, an editorial and photography assistant turned editor and producer of a magazine, a designer, to an editor at Design*Sponge and freelance interiors writer/stylist.
When the last Design*Sponge post went up on August 30th, I felt so proud of Grace. She had questioned if she could pivot from a business she created to do something else. And of course she could. And I’m so glad she did. I’m going to, too.
Every position, no matter how unrelated it seemed on my resume at the time, has given me so much. I’ve learned more than I ever could have in any major in college. I’m so grateful for the permission that someone I looked up to so much gave me. But I know now that I could have given myself that permission, I was just too afraid to.
I’ve been thinking and praying about what my next shift will be—How to be fully at home with Hyler while helping with all the design questions that come my way. How to connect regular people to beautiful design. How to support someone else’s question of “can I even do this?” when it comes to DIY and design. I’m really excited about it. I’m so incredibly passionate about what I’m building and I can’t wait to share it with you.
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