Written By: Lauren Howard
A few years ago, I left a job that was crushing my soul.
I thought I was going to retire from that job someday. I would be there long enough to get that "Google money" when we sold for billions, and I would be a person of value as a result of it.
When I left, which was never part of the plan but there we were, I had no idea who I was. My identity was so deeply entrenched in the job that I stared into the void terrified that I was no one.
Then, I started talking about the things that I experienced there. I don't know why. I just had things swirling around in my brain that felt like they had to come out somehow. I thought people would respond that they couldn't believe I had gone through that, but that wasn't what happened.
People, en masse, responded with variations of "That happened to me too, and I thought I was the only one."
Wait, what?
The things that were happening were the problem, but isolation was allowing those things to thrive and pummeled people in the process.
We started building things to fiercely fight that isolation. We started a community that is a safe haven in our corner of the internet. We built a site that publishes content on working while female. Simultaneously, I ran healthcare businesses for other people and created programs for thousands of people.
We have tried things that fell flat—hard. We have built things that have grown beyond my wildest dreams.
Now, we're on the cusp of announcing the biggest thing that we have ever done that will see each of those pieces of my brain and heart come together.
Up until now, we've talked about these things to bring attention to it.
Soon, we're going to actively do something about them.
I'm buzzing. I'm excited. I'm terrified. I'm READY . . . ish.
Stay tuned because we're announcing the biggest thing that we have ever done as everything comes together.
Founder & CEO at elletwo