In January 2019, I left my job in management consulting at the Boston Consulting Group to begin a new journey as a Product Manager in Facebook’s Rotational Product Manager (RPM) program. While looking to switch jobs, I leaned heavily on my product manager friends. I asked them what their days entailed, how they prepared for interviews, and why they decided to become product managers. I also took them up on generous offers to mock interview me. Of course, not everyone lives in San Francisco and has ready access to friends who are PMs. Knowing how lucky I was to have their support, and in the interest of paying it forward,…
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I moved from SF to Mumbai and back again, here are my thoughts on working and living in a foreign country
Living and working full time overseas headlined my life bucket list. Last May, I took the plunge and moved to Bombay for one year as part of a social impact leave of absence, which conveniently allowed me to keep my job in the US while taking a year to work at an Indian nonprofit. Despite having spent every summer in India growing up, and having completed many internships in Bangalore and Delhi, moving was nonetheless an adjustment. Whether you’re considering moving abroad to India or another emerging economy, I hope my reflections help to smooth your adjustment curve and set realistic expectations! As trite as it sounds, my year in India…
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The best Lewis Howes podcasts to help you move towards a better life: great advice from professional athletes, nutritionists, and more!
I find podcasts impossibly boring, and I’m quite incapable of listening to one for more than a couple of minutes without my mind drifting off. I’ve always been much more of a reader. But for whatever reason, when the podcast is videotaped and I can see the interview happening, a switch flips and I quite enjoy them! For this reason, and also because I enjoy Lewis’s congenial style, I have taken to watching Lewis Howes interviews on youtube whenever I’m commuting, eating takeout, etc. Here are a few I’ve particularly enjoyed. The Science of Hunger, Optimal Health and Body Love with Celebrity Nutritionist Kelly LeVeque Kelly LeVeque inspires me. She…
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Learning New Skills As An Adult
Learning New Skills As An Adult One of the best parts of working in nonprofit, as opposed to in management consulting, is the staggering increase in free time. For all you management consultants out there (no hate, I am very pro-consulting!), I assure you there a world exists in which you needn’t work 60+ hours a week. What’s that you ask? “Can you really go for a date or a dinner or a drink on a weekday?” “Can you really sleep 8 hours a night?” “Can you really dedicate an hour or two a day to developing other skills?” YES YOU CAN. A huge percentage of the gratitude I’ve felt…
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Take account of your year through this reflection exercise
Every day in December, a friend of mine writes down one accomplishment in the last year that makes her proud. By the end of the year, she creates a list of 31 accomplishments. What a brilliant idea! I’ve heard of many “Year in Review” type activities, but always shy away from them…they usually involve copious amounts of self-flagellation, and many of us are too good at that already. New Years doubles as an opportunity for self-reflection and change for the better, but it can also be a lovely time to simply smile at oneself and say, “well done!”. In the spirit of self-acceptance, I’m sharing a partial list of my…
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Tim Ferriss’ exercise to conquer fear by facing it head on with “fear setting”
I’ve digested quite a bit of Tim Ferris’s content over the past year and a half. Over the next few days, I’ll be detailing some ‘quick hits’. Here’s the first: TED Talk, This talk rescued me shortly after my move from San Francisco to Mumbai in May of 2017. After a very lonely first month in Mumbai, during which I spent most of my free time studying for the GMAT, I felt I’d made a huge mistake by choosing to take a leave of absence from my firm in San Francisco. Why had I done this to myself? Could I really make it through a whole year working and living…
