This is a new ~bi-weekly series where I share stories from others who’ve built or are building a portfolio career that align to their values, interests, and lifestyle. Want to be featured? Reply to this email and let me know!
A few years ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do next in my career and hopped to LinkedIn to see what other people were doing.
I stumbled upon Julia, who left her seemingly impressive career in Product Marketing at Uber and Disney to start her business, Recess, a corporate retreats company that makes work feel like play.
How could someone do that? It seemed like a far off dream to me. I had to reach out to learn more about her journey, and I’m SO glad she responded.
Now, we’ve planned multiple corporate retreats together across the US and have become friends in the process.
If you’re curious about starting a business of your own, read below for one of the first stories that inspired me.
Jump to:
Julia, thank you for chatting with me! You made a big transition from product marketing to corporate retreats. When did you start feeling your job was out of alignment?
Honestly, I think I spent most of my 20s searching. My bookshelf was filled with titles like What Color Is Your Parachute? and What Am I Doing With My Life?, which probably says it all.
Looking back, I realize I chose jobs for the people rather than the roles. At Warby Parker, I took the job because I could hear people laughing during my first phone screen—I wanted to be part of that.
At Uber, I joined after an inspiring conversation with the woman who would become my manager (shoutout to Nan!). It’s not that I ever felt wildly out of alignment—more that I never quite felt fully in alignment.
Julia at the Global Summit she planned in Cairo that inspired the belief that bringing people together IRL is the most effective way to build strategically aligned, close-knit teams.
For you, there was a moment that changed everything. Can you talk more about how that affected you at the time?
In 2021, my brother Ben was killed in a biking accident. At the time, I was working at Disney, and I’m so grateful they had the resources for me to take a leave of absence.
That space gave me room to grieve, but also to think deeply about how I wanted to spend my time and what my work should mean.
I kept coming back to the environments where I’d felt most alive—camp-like, close-knit communities. Ever since my first summer at Camp in 2000, I’d been chasing that same sense of connection in every workplace.
How did you figure out what you wanted to do?
Six months after Ben died, I picked up small contract projects to pay the bills while I explored next steps. One client, Tia Healthcare, announced an upcoming retreat called “Camp Tia,” and I was instantly intrigued.
I reached out to the CEO to see if they needed help—turns out they needed someone to plan the whole thing.