“What do you want to be when you grow up?” One of the most common questions that adults ask children. I always had trouble with this one. “Can I be an astronaut and a playwright?” “Can I be a paleontologist and broker world peace?” Adults always seemed to want a single answer from me and I couldn’t deliver that so I was labeled as someone who was very talented and just hadn’t made up my mind yet. Actually I did make up my mind – I wanted to do a lot of incredible things with my life.
Now I’m a product developer who writes, teaches yoga, spends a lot of time with social media, and has a passion for improving public education systems. I’m not giving anyone a single answer on what I’m going to be when I grow up. I’m multi-dimensional. I’m not apologizing for it and I’m not accepting a label as someone who hasn’t made up her mind. I made up my mind a long time ago to be me and explore everything that interests me.
Historically, the multi-career lifestyle has loads of successful examples: Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Mary Pickford, Frederick Olmstead. In modern times, we have legions of entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, and designers who have simultaneous careers, leading to multiple income streams. Many own their own businesses, teach, write, consult, and run nonprofit organizations. So why shouldn’t you think of yourself this way, too? Why must your day job be the sole definition of your professional life?
The good old days of a 9-5, Monday to Friday work life as a separate entities from our personal lives are rapidly fading from view. That doesn’t mean that the good new days won’t be just as fulfilling. In actuality, I think they’ll be more fulfilling. Institute for the Future, an organization that tracks long-term societal trends, predicts that by the end of the next decade most people will have multiple careers. You don’t have to choose one interest or passion over another. You can be a political activist-jewelry designer-accountant. The only thing you have to do is find your passion and go for it!
Published by Christa Avampato
The short of it:
Writer. Health, education, and art advocate. Theater and film producer. Visual artist. Product geek. Proud alumnae of the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA). Inspired by ancient wisdom & modern tech. Proliferator of goodness. Opener of doors. Friend to animals. Fan of creative work in all its wondrous forms. I use my business skills to create passion projects that build a better world. I’ve been called the happiest New Yorker, and I try hard to live up to that title every day.
The long of it:
My career has stretched across Capitol Hill, Broadway theatre, education, nonprofit fundraising, health and wellness, and Fortune 500 companies in retail, media, entertainment, technology, and financial services. I’ve been a product developer and product manager, theater manager, strategic consultant, marketer, voice over artist, , teacher, and fundraiser. I use my business and storytelling to support and sustain passion projects that build a better world. In every experience, I’ve used my sense of and respect for elegant design to develop meaningful products, services, programs, and events.
While building a business career, I also built a strong portfolio as a journalist, novelist, freelance writer, interviewer, presenter, and public speaker. My writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, PBS.org, Boston.com, Royal Media Partners publications, and The Motley Fool on a wide range of topics including business, technology, science, health, education, culture, and lifestyle. I have also been an invited speaker at SXSW, Teach for America, Avon headquarters, Games for Change, NYU, Columbia University, Hunter College, and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. The first book in my young adult book series, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, was acquired by a publisher and launched in November 2017. I’m currently working on the second book in the series.
A recovering multi-tasker, I’m equally at home in front of my Mac, on my yoga mat, walking my rescue dog, Phineas, traveling with a purpose, or practicing the high-art of people watching. I also cut up small bits of paper and put them back together as a collage artist.
My company:
I’m bringing together all of my business and creative career paths as the Founder of Double or Nothing Media:
• I craft products, programs, and projects that make a difference;
• I build the business plans that make what I craft financially sustainable;
• I tell the stories that matter about the people, places, and products that inspire me.
Follow my adventures on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc and Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc.
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Christa Avampato 
Hey!! Nice post.. Thanks to you, I don’t feel like an alien anymore.. 🙂
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Thanks, Sriram! We’re not aliens – just ahead of the curve 🙂
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inspiring. ; )
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Thanks, Col! 🙂
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Hi Christa,
I found your blog through Katherine Jenkins’ blog and I am really enjoying it. I’m finding some synchronicity in your posts with mine in my blog. I am subscribing to your blog and look forward to following along.
I can completely relate to the multi-career path and I hate going places to meet new people and have them ask me what I do! I never have a good, clear answer, I stumble around and come up with some incomplete answer because I just live my life in the moment and wherever the moment takes me, and it has taken me in many directions.
Thanks for this post.
Aine
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Hi Aine,
So great to meet you virtually! I just subscribed to your blog as well. I completely understand your experience of struggling with the “what do you do?” question. I think the world will see many more of us in the months and years ahead.
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