“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
IN BRIEF
Author, journalist, digital product manager, and licensed New York City tour guide. Creator and host of NYC's Secrets and Lies. Alumna of the University of Pennsylvania (BA), the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA), Arizona State University (Biomimicry), and the University of Cambridge (MSt in Sustainability Leadership).
I build digital media platforms, report on urban climate resilience and biodiversity, and produce live narrative experiences that connect communities to history, nature, and place.
THE DEEP DIVE
My work centers on a single thread: building systems and stories that foster deep connection to our shared world. Across digital streaming, environmental reporting, and live civic storytelling, I design experiences that help people understand complex ideas and the environments around them.
DIGITAL PRODUCT STRATEGY & MEDIA LEADERSHIP
At Carnegie Hall, I serve as Digital Product Manager, leading product strategy, operations, and technical delivery for the video streaming platform Carnegie Hall+. I translate artistic mission into scalable, high-performance streaming architecture that reaches audiences globally. Previously, I led agile product and delivery teams across operations and compliance at American Express, managed Broadway theatrical productions and national tours, and guided strategic initiatives across cultural institutions.
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM & AUTHORSHIP
As a freelance journalist, I investigate how living systems, urban infrastructure, and human culture intersect. My reported features on urban decarbonization, biodiversity, coastal resilience, and biomimicry appear in publications including Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, Mongabay, Natural History Magazine, and Foreign Policy Magazine. In fiction, I write the Emerson Page young adult novel series, alongside upcoming historical fiction and nonfiction works on New York history, mythology, and human resilience. I also write Togetherhood, a LinkedIn newsletter focused on urban ecology and community restoration, and co-host the podcast Frameworks in the Wild.
LIVE EXPERIENCE & CIVIC STORYTELLING
As a licensed New York City tour guide and live event producer, I transform urban landscapes into shared narrative encounters. I created, produce, and host NYC's Secrets and Lies, an interactive live storytelling series staged across cultural landmarks including the New York Transit Museum, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the historic tall ship Wavertree. I also design and lead site-specific walking tours exploring coastal ecology, food history, and neighborhood evolution, often with partners at Climate Week NYC and the Natural Areas Conservancy.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING MEDIA
Through my independent production studio, Double or Nothing Media, I develop ventures across media, ecology, and public history:
Digital Products & Strategy: Architecting scalable digital platforms, streaming experiences, and operational models for mission-driven institutions.
Environmental Reporting & Publications: Delivering long-form reporting, books, and newsletters grounded in climate resilience and regenerative design.
Site-Specific Live Storytelling: Producing immersive live shows and educational walking tours that engage public audiences in community history.
CONNECT
Website & Production Hub: doubleornothingmedia.com and christaavampato.com
Newsletter: Togetherhood on LinkedIn - linkedin.com/newsletters/togetherhood-7273771832221089792/
Instagram & Threads: @christarosenyc
Emerson Page Novels: emersonpagebook.wordpress.com/
View all posts by 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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