Hi friends,
Welcome to fall, my favorite season--it's motherfucking decorative gourds season! I love falling into fall (here's my autumn in NYC playlist). There is nothing better than the start of the academic year (still the official marker for me), crisp fall air, crunchy autumnal leaves beneath your feet (if you're not in LA), and most of all--layers--the best fashion! Also, pumpkin spice latte--cues basic bitch. I'm writing to you much more upbeat with new life updates! A new apartment! A new job! A new relationship! The control freak in me wants to time release everything good but you can't microdose life. I'm learning to trust good things in my life instead of defaulting to defensiveness and suffering. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for these changes I've strived for a very long time. I have this quote on my mirror that reads "remember when you wanted what you have now."
It's easy to fixate on the negatives in life, moving onto the next thing after each accomplishment, and ruthlessly optimizing to infinity without truly being grateful for what you have. This past year has been one of the hardest and darkest years in my life. I call it my "Heart of Darkness" journey through venture capital and freelancing--all while facing my fears, self-doubt, and truly seeing myself in the rawest form without the veneer of a sexy job or shiny brand affiliation. I've lost friendships during this period and I've formed new friendships bonding over shared struggles and hardships. I've depleted my savings in hopes of jumpstarting a venture fund. I've vacillated between two cities (SF-NYC) for almost two years only to realize I love both differently and equally despite my tendency for black and white thinking. (NY currently wins in my heart but I still miss SF) <3
The new j-o-b...
Two week ago, I started a new job as Director of Product at
Bravely. Really the universe conspires. So many signs pointed to Bravely. I collaborated with Steve Schlafman during my year in venture. After joining Primary Ventures as a partner, he told me about Bravely as a star Primary portfolio company. My friend Alex Tryon put me in touch with Toby Hervey who blew me away with his authentic and human vision for transforming the future of work. During The Wing's No Man's Land Camp upstate I found out my cabin buddy Nicole was a coach, working for the Bravely pros network. The theory of synchronocity happened: I saw the VC perspective for why Bravely is an unicorn seed stage startup tracking for Series A, the coach's perspective on why Bravely was special, and the personal friend perspective on why the founders are amazing. If you had told me even a month ago I would have landed my dream job working on the most human product, transforming company cultures I would have laughed. Btw, we are
hiring for mid to senior level software engineers AND a head of engineering to be my counterpart! Know anyone emotionally intelligent, curious, and passionate about humanizing technology? If so, hit me up!!!
Like Oprah said, "luck is preparation meets opportunity." I trust Oprah, always except when it comes to pathologizing overactive thyroids. You can only connect the dots looking back. My year in venture helped increase my luck surface area and equipped me with the due diligence skills to vet opportunities from a VC and product perspective. I am now a PM and investor hybrid vigor. I'm so excited that I also get to play a critical role in our Series A fundraising process.
On letting go...
After six tech companies and accumulated tech trauma as a result of toxic work environments and institutional biases, I'm actively working on releasing the emotional weight and scars that no longer serve me. I had so many moments in my career when I wished I had access to Bravely coaches. A good friend and former coworker recently advised me to "keep what you have learned but let go of the emotional burden." Like all women in America right now, I am tired, angry, and disillusioned as a woman first, minority second, and woman in tech third. During the past year, there were days when I didn't want to see another person, when I wanted to decline all my VC meetings, when I realized that I had mirrored the other person's calculated vulnerability in order to protect myself. Sometimes I questioned the person I had become as a result of cutthroat environments, boardroom dark arts, and professional trench warfare. Then I remember why I started and the countless friends, mentors, sponsors, and loved ones who told me to keep believing and striving for what's right.
Recently, I found my 24 year old Tumblr angst-ridden post on life:
So here I am at 24 w/ no idea or clear trajectory except that I want to continue building disruptive technology, learn to code, go to business school, live in Norcal once and leave before it makes me too soft and live in New York once and leave before it makes me too hard. I always ask myself what would Bo from 10 years tell me? She’ll probably tell me that getting out of an unhappy relationship just opened a whole lot of doors; that the small chips will fall into place once I lay the big pieces down; that working on something hard and something you LOVE will pay dividends; that great things will happen when you’re not busy planning for them; that having your heart broken is a part of growing up and surviving; that having “FOMO” (fear of missing out) is technologically induced modern day comparing w/ the Jones’; that “YOLO” (you only live once) should really be spelled YLOO (you live only once) grammatically; that worrying your 20s are not living up to what you want in your 30s is a waste of time; that once you’re in your 30s, you’ll look back fondly on your 20s and wished you hadn’t worried and stressed so much about your future b/c the best gift you have right now is a sense of possibilities.
It's funny how not that much has changed six years later. I still want to build humane technology that changes people's lives for the better, I want to change the ratio one hire at a time, one angel investment at a time, one introduction at a time. We lift while climbing. I want to continue fighting for diversity and inclusion, liberal arts thinking, creative careerpathing, and democratization of venture capital. But all this will take time and I have to be kind to myself first before I can continue the good fight that countless other women and men are doing every day. I need to learn to rest and cultivate a sense of abundance again. I need to diversify my happiness and self-worth outside of work. I need to be kind and patient with myself to trust again. I want to remember why I started.
Live bravely and work bravely,
--bosefina
