what career advice would you give your younger self? (career diaries with strangers at SXSW 2026)

healing your inner child + building a business

Welcome to Dear EverMore — today we’re highlighting the career story of Noa Stisin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/noastisin/], one of our beta users. Noa founded her coaching company, Rewriting Childhood [https://www.rewritingchildhood.com/], where she helps parents, caregivers, and teachers recondition their ideas about childhood. In her coaching practice, she helps them learn to nurture a kind inner voice for themselves and the children they are raising. We wanted to bring Noa on to talk about her career, how she went from working in corporate HR to starting her coaching business, and how important it is for everyone to discover their inner child so we can go from reacting to responding intentionally. We honestly had the best time talking with Noa and we hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did! Follow and learn more about Noa: * Instagram: @rewriting_childhood [https://www.instagram.com/rewriting_childhood/] * LinkedIn: @rewritingchildhood [https://www.linkedin.com/company/rewritingchildhood] * Website: Rewriting Childhood Coaching [https://www.rewritingchildhood.com/] Some of her career advice: * It happens in the workplace, too — when we get triggered, we end up responding at the age of when we were hurt. Noa mentions how she’s seen this happen a lot in the workplace between managers, leaders, and colleagues we work with — “they’re talking to me from their 7 year old self and I’m reacting from my 7 year old self” * When having the hard conversation — Noa shares how important it is to understand yourself first, like how your nervous system is reacting, and being open and honest. If you need space from the conversation, consider saying “I’m not feeling very safe right now, and I need to take a little time to come back to this.” More often than not, people completely understand. * You have so much to give the world — Noa initially went into HR because she really enjoyed helping leaders and employees work better together. However, she later questioned, “what am I doing with my life?” after having her daughter. Through listening to her gut and learning more about herself, she realized how much parents, teachers, and caregivers needed support to better support the children they are part of raising. * Why it’s really helpful to work with a coach — Noa shared how impactful it’s been for her to work with a coach, especially getting the “outside perspective” to know herself better. Whether it’s 1:1 or with a tool (like EverMore), getting a fresh perspective and someone to hold you accountable can propel your growth. Resources: * Courtney’s article — “Who Am I If I’m Not Achieving?” [https://courtneyannebranson.medium.com/who-am-i-if-im-not-achieving-93116057989d] * Courtney’s article — “The Future of Work is Unfolding” [https://www.evermore.so/post/the-future-is-already-unfolding] * Request an invite to our beta [https://www.evermore.so/jointhebeta] — join our Seedlings and own your career story via curated career coaching, growth paths, and building a shareable portfolio that’s unique to you! Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537848/fan_mail/new] Have a burning question you'd like answered on the pod? We'd love to give you advice! Submit your anonymous question [https://airtable.com/appL00dEAfed4SFdk/shrVmSi2YTZgulpra].

what career advice would you give your younger self? (career diaries with strangers at SXSW 2026)

Welcome back to Dear EverMore!  A few weeks ago, we did something very special — Kelsey, Courtney, and Courtney's 10-year-old daughter (Henley) hit the streets of SXSW 2026 to interview people about their career. We heard how they got into their current job, the bobs and weaves they took to get there, advice they would give their younger self, and the movie (or genre) that would best describe their career story. Here's what we took away from the conversations: * Be kind to yourself — some talked about how they put a lot of pressure on themselves when younger to be perfect and do it right the first time. They mentioned how this wasn’t realistic and didn’t make anything better. * Sometimes things don't work out the way you want it to — but ultimately, it always works out for the best in the long run. * Prioritize working for a company where you don't feel like a little fish in a big pond — one individual talked about being a new grad getting into the workforce and how important it was for them to work in an environment where she got coaching and was treated equally to everyone, no matter the role or level. * Figure out what you're good at and enjoy — how important it is to not listen to whatever everyone else tells you but listen to yourself first. Take the time and space to figure out who you are on your own without anyone else telling you what to do. * Life is supposed to be fun and we should play more — we couldn’t agree more! It’s important to see life (including work) as a way to build a craft, grow, and reflect on what gets our best energy. * You are never doing too much — being the most passionate person in the room is one of the most valuable skills you can have and it can inspire others to show up as their fullest self, too. A huge THANK YOU to Henley for bringing her personality, talent, and curiosity to the Dear EverMore podcast. She did an incredible job, and we hope there will be more opportunities to highlight her perspective from the next generation. We hope this gave you all the chuckles and smiles it gave us, too! 💜 More things for you: * Feeling stuck or unsure about where to go next in your career? We’ve got you! We built EverMore so you can take ownership of your career story, track your impact and growth over time, and (coming soon) automatically update your resume + portfolio based on your reflections. Join the beta to try it out! [https://www.evermore.so/] * If you love a good career story, we have career diaries featured on our blog [https://www.evermore.so/blog/categories/career-story]. If you want yours featured, reach out to us [hello@evermore.so] so we can get you scheduled on our blog + podcast. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537848/fan_mail/new] Have a burning question you'd like answered on the pod? We'd love to give you advice! Submit your anonymous question [https://airtable.com/appL00dEAfed4SFdk/shrVmSi2YTZgulpra].

how can I use AI to build the career I want? (part 2)

Welcome back to Dear EverMore! In this episode, our founders Scott, Courtney, and Kelsey continue the conversation on AI and the future of work. If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, go back and start here [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537848/episodes/18830213] — we covered what AI is good at, where it falls short, and how companies are misusing it. In Part 2, we talk about how to harness AI to make your career better, how we're building EverMore differently, and what the future of work might actually look like. What we get into: * How to build critical thinking and comfortability with friction — knowing how to prompt AI, questioning the results you’re getting, and letting it pause will help immensely with critical thinking. We also recommend getting out of your house, your comfort zone more, and letting yourself be bored. Synchronicity won’t find you if you’re staying in the same circles. Consider joining a book club or going to community events to engage with people you don’t know. * How we're doing this differently in EverMore — we're focused on reflection, taking action outside of the tool, and helping you know yourself better. Unlike other tools (like ChatGPT) where they want to keep your attention, our incentive is to give you value and results — solving problems with you, not having you doom spiral into the platform. * The future of engineering — in the past, engineering teams would have a product owner, several engineers, and 1-2 testers working on a single product. In the future, you might have 5 product owners spinning up massive updates, but only 1-2 engineers focused on architecture and design. AI is changing the structure of how work gets done. * How this could lead to more entrepreneurs — we believe there will be more people building businesses with AI supporting the accounting, coding, testing, and thought partnership to build something from the ground up. This is where EverMore can come in — helping you focus on your why and how it relates to your North Star, so you can harness AI to build the career (or company) you actually want. If you're looking for a way to take control + own your career in the age of AI, we invite you to join the EverMore free beta [http://www.evermore.so/]! You’ll get early access to our career tools, plus discounted pricing. Resources: * EverMore: The Future is Already Unfolding: How Work and Society Evolve by 2030 [https://www.evermore.so/post/the-future-is-already-unfolding] * Fridge Friends: The Art of Serendipity [https://rfs.beehiiv.com/p/fridge-friends-the-art-of-serendipity] * Anthropic CEO: Study the Humanities (and what they look for when hiring) [https://fortune.com/2026/02/07/anthropic-cofounder-daniela-amodei-humanities-majors-soft-skills-hiring-ai-stem/] * Vice: Gen Z is the First Generation Dumber than Their Parents [https://www.vice.com/en/article/gen-z-is-the-first-generation-dumber-than-their-parents-neuroscientist-claims/] * Steve Jobs Made 12 Predictions in 1990. They Just Came True. [https://medium.com/activated-thinker/steve-jobs-made-12-predictions-in-1990-they-just-came-true-fdd38ef7b17d] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537848/fan_mail/new] Have a burning question you'd like answered on the pod? We'd love to give you advice! Submit your anonymous question [https://airtable.com/appL00dEAfed4SFdk/shrVmSi2YTZgulpra].

will AI really take my job? (part 1)

Welcome back to Dear EverMore! In this episode, our founders Scott, Courtney, and Kelsey talk about AI — especially around the fear of how this will impact work and if AI will really take our jobs. We hear this fear a lot in our social networks, and it’s a real one. However, we think AI is a great tool to make our work better, so we have more time to be creative and come up with ideas. This is a multi-part conversation — make sure to follow or subscribe so you don’t miss part 2 around how AI will affect the future of work and our advice for how to harness it to make your career better. What we share + talk about: * What AI is genuinely good at today — pattern recognition, synthesizing or compressing information, and being a thought partner. Think of AI like a bicycle: it doesn’t replace your legs, but it can help you get there faster. * Where people are overestimating AI — it can’t produce original insight, handle long-term reasoning, provide accountability, make ethical judgments, or offer contextual empathy. AI recombines what already exists; it can’t create something truly novel. * The creativity concern — if electricity went out tomorrow and we started over, we’d still have creative thinkers, but AI wouldn’t be able to create anything from the ether. AI should remove tedious tasks so people can be more creative, and we believe the extra time should go back to you for thinking time, not be repurposed for more work in the antiquated 9-to-5. * The layoff mistake — we’ve seen companies lay off workers expecting AI to replace them. However, Salesforce recently admitted they regretted their layoffs due to negative customer experiences. There’s a mismatch: people want AI to better their work and experiences, not replace the human element. * AI amplifying bias — we’re concerned about how AI will amplify the bias in our data: in the responses it gives that could shape worldviews, in decision-making tools, and in how it engages with people. When bad decision-making from leaders and work systems is the foundation, building AI on top of it only makes it worse. If you’re looking for a way to take control + own your career in the age of AI, we invite you to join the EverMore free beta [http://www.evermore.so/]! Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537848/fan_mail/new] Have a burning question you'd like answered on the pod? We'd love to give you advice! Submit your anonymous question [https://airtable.com/appL00dEAfed4SFdk/shrVmSi2YTZgulpra].

mini-sode: the future role of the manager + how you can prepare for it

Welcome back to Dear EverMore! This episode is an extension from our recent conversation on our predictions for the future of work — not some distant vision, but the shifts happening right now and what we see coming next. In this episode, our founders Kelsey + Courtney talk about the future role of the manager — and why we believe the traditional manager role is way too bloated and needs to evolve. Join the EverMore free beta [https://bit.ly/beevermore] to take control + own your career story! How we see the role of the manager + work changing: * Career guides instead of the traditional manager — self-organizing teams are changing how work gets done. We're seeing a shift toward official roles for mentors, career navigation, feedback, and being a sounding board instead of one person doing it all. * Gentle parents begets the gentle manager — managers want to be there for their teams and help them avoid what they went through. The Millennial generation seems to be breaking patterns at work, at home, and also in society (and we’re here for it). * Transparency in promotion cases — most companies don't offer this (it's VERY rare), but it's critical for growth. EverMore as a tool can help you (or your team, if you’re a manager) build your own promotion case and track your progress even when your company doesn't. * Building your own User Manual — share what works best for you with colleagues, your manager, employees you manage, or when getting hired. Help people know how to show up with you. Resources we shared: * (article) The Future is Already Unfolding: How Work and Society Evolve by 2030 [https://www.evermore.so/post/the-future-is-already-unfolding] * (article) A Manager's Guide: To Coach or Not to Coach [https://www.evermore.so/post/to-coach-or-not-to-coach] * (article) The Little Lies That Keep Work Unfair [https://www.evermore.so/post/the-little-lies-that-keep-work-unfair] * (app) EverMore as your Career Companion [https://bit.ly/beevermore] If you're looking to take ownership of your career, navigate a transition, or want to be a better leader, EverMore is a space built for reflection, growth, and career storytelling. While we're in our early beta, we'd love to have you try it out and invite others with your very own referral link 💚 Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537848/fan_mail/new] Have a burning question you'd like answered on the pod? We'd love to give you advice! Submit your anonymous question [https://airtable.com/appL00dEAfed4SFdk/shrVmSi2YTZgulpra].