Your Strengths Can Heal the Planet

In late 2021, I started interviewing everyone I know who works on environmental issues in some way. Personally, I was looking to make a career change but wasn’t sure which direction to take. I asked myself, “Of all the sustainability issues I care about advancing, where am I needed the most? Of all my skills, which are the most useful to the movement?”

After a while, I realized what I was learning could be helpful to anyone seeking to make the world a better, more sustainable place for all, but isn’t sure how. So I channeled my research skills toward documenting the best solutions to the world’s biggest sustainability challenges. I organized the solutions into themes (climate change, energy, food, water, fashion, trash, housing, etc.) and tied them to individualized actions. As it turns out, there are exciting solutions all around us — in every industry and every sector.

This led to a book-writing journey full of twists and turns: at first, it was about cataloging the variety of careers that exist in the sustainability space. Once I realized anyone could have a sustainability impact in any space, the book became about creatively leveraging your strengths to make a difference along whatever path you’re on. One goal was to help young people overcome eco-anxiety and climate guilt. Another goal was to empower all kinds of readers to take action by using their strengths — from skills to assets — to advance sustainability goals meaningfully. Unsurprisingly, this scope became unwieldy. The outcome was a 37,000-word manuscript that I felt was full of insights, but not organized in a way worth selling.

In March 2022, I was starting to think I needed to take my own book’s advice. All along, I had been reflecting on my personal strengths — before finally realizing my strengths are in visual storytelling. I like to write, sure, but what excites me the most is seeing my ideas come to life on a screen. By April (around Earth Day, fittingly), I decided to stop pursuing the least visually stimulating medium for conveying a message — a book — and shifted my attention toward becoming a filmmaker. By September, I had left my corporate finance research job. By November, I had an internship at a local video production company in DC, gaining exposure to not only all aspects of the production process — camerawork, lighting, audio, editing, and producing — but also small business management. Now, as a freelance content producer, one of my many projects is to share all the insights from my manuscript — for free — as audiovisual media online.

Stay tuned for more in 2023!