Amy R. works in digital marketing.

At 18, where did you envision yourself at this age? What jobs most appealed to you as a young person, and did you study towards this then-goal?

Naturally, I assumed I would be much more successful. I studied Cross Cultural Studies with an emphasis in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I did do this for a bit. I knew I’d need a Masters to be able to really turn this into something, however, I didn’t have the money.

Do you feel your professional or academic life was impacted by the recession?

The recession hit me hard. I was laid off and struggled to get by for years on freelance opportunities until I tried studying something else simply for the ease of having a full-time job. I struggled to land anything in that field either and when I did I was underpaid, had a huge commute and eventually was laid off again!

What do you do now and what do you hope to do next?

I work in digital marketing, primarily in social media. I would like to continue in this field more on the strategy and community building side as I feel that is where my strength lies.

What is your least favorite millennial stereotype?

Probably that millennials are lazy. I have worked extremely hard in my life and, to be honest, have had days where I worked extremely hard just to get by and in circumstances where I was battling depression, etc. Furthermore, I feel like we live in a time where there is an expectation that you work really hard and prove that by having lunch at your desk, being available to your employer 24/7, etc. We put in a lot of work that we don’t get paid for and we aren’t seeing any wage increases, either.

Do you have student loan debt? How has that affected your approach towards financial planning?

Yes. Financial planning is not a thing I have been able to really do. I’ve had to cash out both my 401Ks to survive being unemployed.

I’ll be honest. I’ve struggled in the workforce a lot and I don’t think it’s because I lack the skills or capability. I think it’s just because I started out in a narrow field and have had to kind of reinvent my career and that came later.