Dear reader,
The average working person will spend somewhere between 65,000 to 80,000 hours of their lifetime at work! Considering how most of that time will be concentrated around our best years, loving what we do for work is imperative, and we don’t talk enough about it.
Let’s face it—falling in love and staying in love takes effort. Quitting Corp exists to help you think about designing a work life you can love. “For real” love. Every post is a small dose of encouragement for you to reflect on and reshape your relationship with work.
During the Covid pandemic, when we had to make our homes our offices or our offices our homes, our understanding of work and life shifted. One bled into the other. Somehow, the disappearance of boundaries changed our relationship with work.
Work didn’t become harder—it was always that way, which is why our bosses pay us and why we look to work for some of the most rewarding challenges we will face. What changed is that we started seeing work as a burden we carry unwillingly. It’s as if we lost sight of the reasons—beyond pay—for feeling invested in our jobs.
Much has been said about finding purpose at work to staunch the malaise and growing sense of dissatisfaction. But purpose won't appear out of thin air. It requires us to dig deep, to “look right down to the bottom of our souls to see what we have inside,” as Diana Morales sings in one of my favorite songs ever, “Nothing,” from A Chorus Line.
The love we feel for our work—or anything—starts within ourselves. It’s shaped by our experiences and evolving understanding of the world.
The title Quitting Corp reflects my journey to leave a corporate environment and pursue writing and solo entrepreneurship full-time. It also mirrors the courage it takes to break away from jobs that don’t excite us, overcome the fear of risk, and choose something else—something better.
A little bit about me
If you stay a while, you will get to know me well—I tend not to have too many filters and will always write authentically about whatever is happening with me.
On LinkedIn, you’ll find all the dates, titles, and details of my 30+ years of work experience. It went like this:
The way I tell it to a new friend goes like this:
After studying journalism, I started as a correspondent in Washington, DC, working for some well-known Brazilian publications. Over 15 years, I oversaw the closing of two news bureaus before I left to pursue a more stable living.
I was the first lead of the Brazil Information Center, which promoted Brazil in Washington, DC. That was my first job in Public Relations, though I did not know it yet.
I left the BIC to join the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. There, I had the privilege of running their communications office, telling stories about an island of excellence built from the sheer determination of people who loved to fly. Google came calling, and I fell for it much faster than I ever had, staying for 12 years before leaving.
Quitting Corp reflects my recent “quitter” journey. I left Google to start my next chapter by doing something independently—something that I love. I’m writing full-time and sharing ideas that I hope will help others design the work lives they love.
If you become a paying supporter
If I get this right, Quitting Corp can become a community of like-minded people and a catalyst for many good things to come.
Most of my content will always be free, but as I build Quitting Corp, I’m also considering how it can become something bigger to support emerging talent—people who are ready to take bold steps, ask for feedback that challenges them, and invest in their own growth, even when resources are tight.
Right now, every paid subscription remains untouched in a bank account. My long-term goal is to create a coaching fund that can help others overcome barriers in their work lives.
If Quitting Corp resonates with you and you’d like to help shape what it can become, I will be very grateful.
To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.
