Encouragement for taking a break from work, even when there’s less to look forward to. A note about privilege: this article mainly addresses people who are employed and currently have unused time off available to them, as well as those who are self-employed and have the financial flexibility to take time off from work. Since the pandemic began, I’ve had countless conversations with my coaching…

An essential conversation for managing up and moving forward — Your relationship with your manager is often a defining factor in your satisfaction at work. As the saying goes, “people join companies, then leave managers.” It’s easy to look to your manager to set the terms of your relationship, but it doesn’t have to be that way. As a leadership…

What it is, how it works, what it’s for—info galore. — Coaching is a practice that helps people grow and get unstuck in work and life. It’s a partnership designed to uncover your own truth and creativity. A starting point There are different philosophies of coaching, and they have a lot in common. I won’t unpack the differences here. At Cocoon…

Rent the Runway, Trunk Club, Stitch Fix, Tradesy, fancy schmancy, secondhand—I tried just about everything so you don’t have to. That is, unless you want to too. — I had a lot of wardrobe shame when I moved to San Francisco. My suitcase was packed with clothes from previous lives: thick, dark H&M sweaters from Berlin; bright, breezy dresses from Atlanta; wool dresses and thick stockings from Boston.

What it is, how it works, and how I got into it. User experience (UX) writing is my main craft, and I get a lot of questions about it. Here are a few answers to the most frequent. What is it? UX writing is the practice of designing the words people see and…

It’s taken me three years to find a way to get to work that works for me. In case you’re in a similar position: a woman with options commuting within the city and looking for a better way, I thought I’d share my “path” (ha.) here. This story begins with…

Dear Diana, Packing for my flight today, my stomach churned, as always. I’m scared of heights. I’m claustrophobic. I have a wild imagination. Flying is my perfect storm of misery. Today’s different. I’ve triple-checked that I’ve got both my passport and my license. I’ve made even more sure that nothing…

It wasn’t always obvious to me that there was a problem. Adrienne Rich, the groundbreaking poet, gave a talk at the Radcliffe Institute my junior year of college. I had just been accepted into the creative thesis program in poetry, and my advisor, Peter Richards, made me go. …

In late September 2010, I went to bed with glowing skin and sculpted calves from running outside every morning. I fell asleep counting my to-dos for tomorrow. I added one to the long list: withdraw from sixth course. A full course load was only four. I went to bed with…