A year ago, I was laid off from my job. I felt blindsided and was absolutely devastated. It took me TEN MONTHS of applying and interviewing to land a new one. Almost a year of no full-time income, watching my savings dwindle to nothing.

Experiencing financial ruin is not how I imagined starting my 30s. Spent all of my 20s building a safety net and setting myself up to be comfortable, just for it all to be gone in less than a year. It’s the most deflating, discouraging feeling that you wouldn’t fully understand unless you’ve gone through it yourself.

But sometimes you have to fall apart to fall into place. March of this year, I picked myself up and went back to my roots: writing. Inspired by my layoff and the hypocrisy I’ve experienced in nonprofits/philanthropy over the last decade of my career, I launched philanthropy unfiltered. It’s a newsletter where I write about the nonprofit industrial complex, how it undermines true liberation, and challenge these institutions to rethink the ways they approach social justice work.

Since then, philanthropy unfiltered has grown to over 3,000 subscribers. I’ve also been invited on 3 podcasts, featured in Inside Philanthropy, and selected as the 2025 Artivist Writers’ Resident for Social Art and Culture to finish a book of essays about breaking up with nonprofit culture. I’ve been told that “this is hands down the most important work I’ve ever read exposing the nonprofit industrial complex.”

Additionally, I landed a job as a public relations manager at the California Black Power Network and will be relocating to Los Angeles, California next year. My time in DC is coming to an end, and I can’t wait for this next chapter.

It’s been a HARD year. But you know what they say: rejection is redirection. I wouldn't be where I am right now and where I’m heading if I had never gotten laid off. I have faith that I’ll get back everything I lost tenfold.

What I write about is probably the reason why it took me so long to land something new. But staying quiet and “playing the game” didn’t protect me from being laid off. I’m doing things my way now. And I was still able to land a new role without silencing my voice or compromising my values.

To anyone going through a hard time right now, go back to your roots. You never know where it might take you. 🌱🤎

Photos by the amazing Lori Gottschling.