At our 2020 Writing Works Career Day, we learned how to implement creativity in the workday, wrote using prompts related to specific careers, heard about the personal journeys of professionals, found out about jobs in writing that make money—and asked all of our burning questions about what careers look like in today’s world! Speakers for Girls Write Now’s Career Day 2020 included Talent Manager Carolina Alduey, Digital Game Designer Sande Chen, Television Writer Naomi G. Davis, Development & Editorial Coordinator Natalie Guerrero, Drama/Creative Arts Therapist Britton Williams, Cause Lawyer Noelle Yasso, and more!

Couldn’t make it? Watch the full video from Career Day below!

Attendee Testimonials and Stats:

Pre-professionals

We define pre-professionals as youth and young professionals that are starting out in their career journeys.

• There was a 281% increase in number of pre-professional attendees that knew how writing is used in all the careers talked about at Career Day after the workshop
• There was a 259% increase in number of pre-professional attendees that had a sense of what it is like to work in the industries discussed at Career Day after the workshop

Testimonials from attendees

• My favorite part was hearing how all these woman created their own path to their careers. It’s really inspiring and very eye-opening how they created their own opportunities but also had shown an interest in their field in same shape or form at some point in their lives! They all had one common goal of making the world a better place and representing POC!
• I loved hearing each speaker’s different stories and paths, as well as their tips. It meant a lot, especially for me, as a young writer, to see such inspiring women serve as role models for what I can accomplish in life.
• I was surprised that so many people changed their career and weren’t sure what to do, and it helped to show me that it’s okay not to have everything planned out.
• As a mentor, I loved seeing the mentees get excited and inspired by the speakers. I love that they engaged via the chat and were exposed to brilliant, articulate, diverse women succeeding in their fields and being honest about the journey to get there (and the journey as they keep going). I also got inspired and have been thinking more about what I can do to push my career even more.
• Even as a working adult, I learned so much about different careers and heard advice that will be really valuable as I think about my own career and potential changes in my career path. 

Professionals

Professionals in this sense refer to adults further along in their career.

• There was 212% increase in number of professional attendees that understood what it is like to work in all the careers talked about at Career Day after the workshop
• There was a 143% increase in number of professional attendees that knew how writing is used in all the careers talked about at Career Day after the workshop

I Am/We Are

This work was created as a community by combining together all attendee responses to guest speaker Britton Williams’s “I am…” writing prompt.

I am just beginning. I am a butterfly ready to spread my wings to my future. I am Valentina. I am a Tiger pacing back and forth, in wait of what’s to come. I am a violin, my sound flows freely, delicately, through the hearts of others. I am a Hawaiian sweet roll, a nice companion to coffee. I am patiently seeking my path. I am a unicorn and I’m ready to use my magic and spread joy. I am a guitar and I am ready to soothe souls and rock on. I am rice, beans and chicken and I’m ready to fill up your tummy and make you feel warm. I am Jo and I am ready to make my dreams come true. I am a bird because I like to explore the outside world 🌎 . I am pad thai, comforting people. I am a bass, supporting others, hopefully bringing people together. I am a caterpillar, ready to break from my cocoon. I am a violin, too, because it sounds most like the human voice. I am Donna. I am a bird, flying to see and learn as much as I can. I am warm lava settling, calm but ready to create something new. I am a book with a lock that can’t be open so easily, you just have to find the right key. I am a dog, as I have love in my heart. I am a violin, quiet, but powerful and beautiful at the same time. I am a fox, bushy-tailed and curious. I am more than enough, and I am learning to realize it. I am young in my soul, in love with the world and searching for the light. I am pasta: versatile, comforting, classic, sometimes a little rigid, and cheesy at the best of times. I am Italian food, heathy to an extent. I am a grapefruit, always misinterpreted as sweet. I am a bird flying high and looking for a place to touch down. I am a guitar carrying the tune for the band. I am a hotdog that’s salty and warm, celebrating summer. I am strong. I am fierce, sensitive, creative, and alive in the world. I am a mermaid, caught between two worlds. I live on the borderlines of multiple realities, in love with all that is life – water and air. I am a piano because it can sound so sad but so happy at the same time, a perfect representation of my emotions. I am a bowl of Chipotle, filled with a variety of ingredients that are all so different but work so well. I am a quiche, different every time and improvised with whatever’s in the kitchen. I am a guitar for I do not know how to play the tune. I am a sloth, taking things slow one day at a time. I am Irene. I am a butterfly. I like to fly and travel the world and look beautiful while doing it. I am a drum set. I am the steady rhythm that keeps the song in check, the beat that makes people clap their hands and stomp their feet and dance along. I am a potato. I am what made the Irish come to America. I am what makes mashed potatoes, tater tots, french fries, hash browns, and baked potatoes slices. I am a writer. I am a follower of passion, a leader in awkwardness, a supporter and mediator, a romantic, a lover to myself. I am a cello because my sound resonates in the body. I am Jayla. I am Donna, I am a lion calling in the sun, I am a sax my notes awaken the soul, I am a salad a blend of many things, I am in flux trying to arrive at a new place. I am a duck, with my feet paddling and my head above water. I am a cat cute but will scratch. I am humanity. I am a swooning saxophone.