Hey Reader,
It’s been a minute since you’ve heard from me. That’s been intentional.
The start of this year has been very full - in the best way. I’ve been going through a big transition: I started graduate classes for mental health counseling, and the program has given my weeks some much-needed structure.
Being surrounded by people who share similar values has been genuinely energizing. I’ve loved deepening my knowledge and expanding how I can support clients.
The biggest shift from corporate to mental health counseling? People actually want to see me succeed. So much of corporate life is high ego, low care. Bad managers are everywhere: taking credit for work that isn't theirs, going cold without explanation, delivering feedback like punishment, being performatively supportive in public while privately critical.
At the same time, I’ve also been doing some research with women in tech. Over the last 2 months I’ve had over 20 conversations about what work actually feels like right now.
I went in with some suspicions. I left with confirmation.
One of the women I interviewed said it perfectly: "If you want to go somewhere where you are not celebrated, you go to corporate."
Woof. I felt that.
These conversations made it clear that layoffs are leaving a mark - even on people who weren’t directly impacted. Survivors guilt. Hypervigilence. A persistent sense of doom, even in stable roles. And the emotional residue isn’t disappearing when people land somewhere new. It’s following them.
I also learned that managers are everything right now for people who are still working. They matter more than mission, comp, or the work itself. The quality of the manager relationship was the single biggest factor in whether someone felt okay or not.
And underneath every single conversation whether someone was working, job searching, or on a break, the same question kept surfacing:
What do I actually want now?
If this sounds familiar, now that you’re not alone. Not even a little bit. Over the next few months, you’ll see new programs coming from me intentionally designed around exactly this.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for something specific, reach out. I read every message.
With gratitude,
Roberta
A deeper look at the themes that surfaced most consistently across my conversations. It's a reflection of the moment we're all living through.