Welcome back!
We are continuing our exploration of what it looks like to do certain jobs and how people got to the point where they are. We have been following Renee Moseley, LCSW, and Program Director at Bridge Meadows. In Part I, we learned about the early part of Renee's journey and how she found her "tribe." At an early age, she displayed much courage to follow her gut. We continue with Part II and see if she follows her dream to open her own store and where that takes her.
Enjoy!
Part II, continued:
“I realized I was creative.”
We are continuing our exploration of what it looks like to do certain jobs and how people got to the point where they are. We have been following Renee Moseley, LCSW, and Program Director at Bridge Meadows. In Part I, we learned about the early part of Renee's journey and how she found her "tribe." At an early age, she displayed much courage to follow her gut. We continue with Part II and see if she follows her dream to open her own store and where that takes her.
Enjoy!
Part II, continued:
“I realized I was creative.”
Once again, Renee took a break and was intentional about her time and exploring what was going to be her next iteration of her learning journey. In this process, she began doing contract work with a few HIV/Aids clinics in LA mostly focused on women and teens.
This was the time when the idea of owning her own store, which had been lurking on the back burners of her mind for several years, started to move to the front burners. She thought if she was going to pursue this dream, she needed to do it at this point in her life or “take it off the map, “ as she said.
Still working with HIV/Aids patients and their families, she began researching what opening her own store would look like. Her business plan was more conceptual in nature with concrete numbers. (The accounting did actually pay off!) As luck would have it, Culver City, in LA was going through a revitalization period and the economic development office was incredibly helpful. Within two years of leaving Drew, she had found a spot to open her gift store, Freesia.
Merchandising her store was new to Renee. She sought the help of a friend when she first opened, but this quickly became one of her favorite parts of having her own store. It is how she tapped into her creativity, and it was when she realized that she was, indeed, creative.
It was an exhilarating but crazy time for Renee. She had her own store AND was still keeping up her work with the HIV/Aids clinic, Women Alive. When she met with her coach/mentor to try to sort through everything going on in her life, her coach gave her a valuable piece of advice. She said, “Just pick one and be good enough in the other.” A lesson we all should probably heed.
After a few years and having gotten the hang of owning her own store, Renee began to look at options to move Freesia to a better location. She spent a couple of years looking at other places. She knew she needed to do something and closing just sounded sad. During this time, she also realized that there was a downside to owning your own store, too. She didn’t have a team. She went solo to the gift and trade shows. It was a very lonely journey.
Little signs began to show up that she was done with this chapter of her journey. Customers kept saying things about how they were moving on. One customer talked about how he quit his job because he wasn’t “having fun anymore.” Renee also saw another woman’s store which was similar to her own, and the woman was struggling to stay afloat and had even moved into her store because she could no longer afford the rent of her apartment. Renee certainly wasn’t ever going to get to that point. It dawned on her that closing the store because she wasn’t having fun anymore was as valid a reason as any other. It could be that easy, and the reason didn’t have to be complicated.
“Time to dream another dream.”
A few years prior, Renee’s brother had moved to Portland. When she had visited him, she found Portland to be easy, and it was where she started to explore when she started entertaining a new chapter.
She had investigated possibly moving her store to Portland but realized she was fighting for something she didn’t want to fight for any longer. That realization prompted her to immediately return to LA, close her store, and move to Portland. It was ’08 and Obama had just been elected. His campaign was about hope and change, and Renee took this to heart for her own life. It was time to let go and dream another dream.
Moving to Portland was hard. Renee realized what an extensive network she had in LA and had to start fresh in Portland. Looking for a job in Portland was very different than in LA, and she also had to live with her brother and his girlfriend, but the thought never entered her mind to return to LA. She knew she was on the right path.
Renee knew that she really liked exploring personality development. She discovered this when she was working with HIV patients because they were living as opposed to dealing with coming to terms with a horrible, terminal disease. They were dealing with relationships and discovering where to go with the added years of their lives. Social work had evolved from merely coping to fully living. This is what resonated most with Renee.
In Portland, she didn’t want to return to the traditional social work model but wanted to find something that was more inline with some of the work she did with HIV/Aids patients and their families. Unfortunately, of the very few roles available in the depressed economy, they were traditional social work jobs. As hard as it was, Renee turned down one job, took herself out of the running for another, and was thankful an offer went to another person for a third job. She just knew she couldn’t return to that traditional model.
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| Dr. Derenda Schubert, Executive Director, and Renee photo credit: Brooke Van Roekel |
And this is where you’ll find Renee today, two years later, Bridge Meadows in full operation and no two days being the same as we learned earlier.
I have created a set of questions that I hope to ask everyone. Below are Renee’s responses which again provides great insight from someone who has a deep capacity for self-reflection, a quality we can all foster and develop.
1. What have been your most defining moments on your journey (both highlights and challenges)?
Realizing, I believe in my early 30’s, that I didn’t have to hate my job. Changing careers from accounting to social work was a big shift; I had to learn to be more contemplative and comfortable with exploring ideas and theories, rather than facts & figures. It was both exciting but extremely challenging.
2. What kind of support have you had that was most valuable?
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| A little inspiration sitting on Renee's desk! photo credit: Brooke Van Roekel |
3. What about yourself are you most proud?
That most of my life, I’ve done work that I enjoy and have, to the best that I could, followed the trail of signs that lead me to the next place of expansion. Sometimes it’s been graduate school, new relationships, starting & closing a business or moving to a new city.
4. Where do you find inspiration?
I love reading about other people’s journey’s. Reading and listening about the creative process reminds me to look at my life as a creative journey…what am I creating now?
5. What is your sense for what is next for you?
I’m enjoying understanding and exploring how community, connection and purpose increases wellbeing especially as we age. I imagine I’ll continue on this path. I have to stay in work that I have a personal interest in, and am personally interested in this for myself.
The pay-it-forward question:
What is one piece of advice you'd give someone on their own journey?
I think most of us enjoy trying new paths/work but feel we’re supposed to choose one path and stick with it. Be open to choosing a path that resonates with who you are and following the signs that allow you to follow different directions.
Next up, ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.' What does it take to be a jeweler?
