boulder’s newest resident
You heard that right. As of November 2024, I’m officially a resident of Boulder. It’s been a long time coming and whew, I’m finally here.
In 2021 during the height of the pandemic, I turned 27 and suddenly I was thrust into a late-20s mindset. I was no longer “just out of college” nor a mid-20s gal “learning how to adult.” It was like a switch turned on in my brain and I now felt the need to analyze every aspect of my life to determine what was working, what wasn’t, and what I wanted the last few years of my 20s to look like in order to set myself up for success in my 30s.
This, combined with the pandemic where I spent a year working from my bedroom, led to a lot of time spent reflecting. I wanted my 30s to be about finding stability (both emotionally and financially) and putting down roots. So I had three years both to goof off but also figure out a game plan. Los Angeles never felt like it’d be my forever home, and the film/TV industry wasn’t stable enough, so I knew at one point or another both of those things had to change.
In the meantime, I left my job of 6 years at DreamWorks to pursue a variety of freelance experiences in the reality TV industry, most notably working two summers on Survivor in Fiji. During my two years of trying out the freelance life, I had a lot of amazing experiences and enjoyed having a flexible schedule. But I learned that ultimately A) I craved a more predictable, stable schedule and income source and B) I missed working a desk job that dealt with schedules, data, and teams of people.
I realized one constant in my life was data. I’ve always loved analyzing my financial and health data to learn more about myself and how I can do better, and in past jobs, my favorite tasks involved working with large amounts of data. Not to mention in high school, my favorite subjects were math and coding. So why not go for a career in it? It’d mean I’d also have a career that didn’t require living in LA, thus giving me the freedom to move wherever my heart desired. My heart desired Colorado.
I grew up in Aurora and then lived in LA for 12 years for college then my career. I decided to return to Colorado because I wanted to be closer to family and also experience the wonders of the Colorado outdoors that I took for granted as a kid. Boulder specifically seemed like the right place for me. At the foot of the mountains, family around the corner, and an endurance capital of the country, what more could I ask for?
It’s been a few months now and I feel like I’m starting to find my footing here. I work two part-time jobs in the outdoor retail industry (hello discounts) and am gearing up to pursue a masters in Data Science at CU Boulder. I am slowly developing friendships, getting back into running/climbing/biking/skiing, and finding the best coffee in town. I have a long way to go on this new journey and career transition of mine, but I’m excited to experience every step of the way.