new job AMA 🍵 just some tea #44
plus why I took a break from writing!
Hello from the second half of the year 👋
I have been (very intentionally) missing from our weekly touch points through this newsletter. Sorry about that, I missed it too!!
Feel like we should kickstart it again with a good old AMA kinda thing.
How do I know what you would wanna know?
I have mixed up a few DMs from my close friends checking in on me (been quiet on all fronts😅) and a few from an insta story I posted.
Let’s get into it.
Wait, haven’t seen you writing recently? All good?
Yess, yes all good. 🫶
Writing for me has always come from a place of joy - and I would hate for it to become a metric-driven OKR or feel like a chore that I dread.
My writing frequency very much reflects seasons of my life - and the last few months were intense. I also wanted to stop trying to do all the things, all the time. So it just naturally made sense to take a break for a bit.
However, the last two weeks of June brought back this tingling urge to write and share, and so you are here reading this.
If you are looking on my advice to get out of a creative rut, I would say don’t be afraid to hit play-pause-play. Doing nothing about a creative project for a while also does a lot at times.
How has been the new job?
To be fair, it’s been 6 months now so not so-new anymore. I joined Preply at start of this year. You can go on Preply, share the language you wanna learn, and your budget and we show you some amazing tutors all over the world.
I joined as a lead designer to lead design for the tutor experience side and the B2B side (a lot of companies offer Preply as a perk with fixed monthly balance you can use!)
Preply has been intense, but in the best way possible. There are days where I am totally mentally exhausted, but at the end of weeks/month I can see a stark difference in me as a designer/leader/person.
So I have to keep reminding myself “This is what you wanted Chhavi!! You love this!! You asked for this!!”😂
Sometimes I shout this for myself, sometimes I rely on S and my mom to shout this at me.
Did you move to a manager role?
Yes I did! My manager (who btw is an amazing human and one of the best managers I have had) decided to move on to other adventures in April.
I was already supporting my team of four on a day-to-day basis on people and product and career things so that transition felt very organic.
The best part - it’s a all women team for now!
How has it been being a lead designer and a people manager?
I love it, it’s kinda the role I wanted for myself.
I have a wonderful team I got to work with closely and build a rapport with before this transition. So that helped a lot.
It’s a hybrid role - so I am still in Figma all day, tweaking and nudging projects along, and also leading a few broader strategy topics.
But then I also get to support and work very closely with them on their career plans and inhibitions and mindsets that hold them back (this is something I feel strongly about, having been on that journey myself).
I get to create and hold spaces where they can feel safe and share.
NGL, it is kinda hard because it’s certainly more disappointing to let people down than to mess up a feature. But then again I remind myself “I wanted this!!”
What’s been more challenging that you expected?
Working remotely is hard for me. I thought it would be all fun since my H1 was also travel heavy. I think I very much like going into a shared office space a few times a week, even if it’s just to take bathroom selfies.
..and what’s been easier?
Being a manager/leading a team comes very naturally to me and so far has been less painful than I expected.🤞
What’s next? Summer plans?
Nothing. Just gonna aim to enjoy a brat girl summer lol.
…and try and get back to writing to y’all weekly (my notes app is overflowing).
📕 Reading
Thank you to Carley Fortune and Emily Henry for being productive queens and releasing a new book every summer. I pre-ordered and read both of them.
I am also now into reading long essays, will share my favs in coming weeks.
🎧 Listening
Obsessed, and I mean OBSESSED with Sabrina Carpenter’s Please Please Please. Also been listening to All Too Well the 10 min version a few too many times. I have no idea why.
Back into listening to podcasts, and I would highly recommend Lenny’s episode with Amy Vohra. The part that resonated with me the most was how as women we get a lot of feedback and sometimes - sometimes we can decide not to act on it.
📺 Watching
Catching up on Config talks, and watching reruns of Modern Family. My fav talk so far is this one by The Browser Company on leaving fingerprints.
Talk next week,
Chhavi xx
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Yay you back! 🤩 Ahhh, I love Ami Vora! It was time Lenny interviewed her!